Enrico Rava, born in Trieste in 1939, is undoubtedly the most internationally acknowledged Italian jazzman. In forty years of his career as trumpet player, and composer, he has produced more than hundred recordings, thirty of which as a leader. Being a great admirer of Miles Davis and Chet Baker, his career started at an early age, when he played in clubs in Turin. In 1962, he meets Gato Barbieri with whom, two years later, he records the soundtrack for Montaldo's film "Una bella grinta". In those years he meets Don Cherry, Mal Waldron and Steve Lacy, with whom he plays free jazz in a quartet alternating between London and Buenos Aires (it is in Argentina in 1966 that the quartet records the album "The Forest and the Zoo"). In 1967 Rava is in New York, where he is introduced into the free avant-garde, among which are Roswell Rudd, Marion Brown, Rashied Ali, Cecil Taylor, Charlie Haden, Marvin Peterson etc. After an italian parenthesis, during which he plays with various musicians including Franco D'Andrea and where he records with Lee Konitz in Rome and with Manfred Schoof in Bremen, he returns to New York in 1969, where he lives for eight years. At first he plays mostly with Rudd, Bill Dixon and Carla Bley's Jazz Composer's Orchestra, under whose direction he records "Escalator Over the Hill". Beginning in 1972, when he records his first album as a leader, "Il giro del giorno in 80 mondi", Rava directs quartets (in New York clubs and on tours in Europe and Argentina), nearly always in pianoless groups. The playings and recordings follow one another, in a precious and uninterrupted flow, beside acknowledged italian, european and american musicians such as Franco D'Andrea, Enrico Pieranunzi, Marcello Melis, Massimo Urbani, Paolo Fresu, Pietro Tonolo, Stefano Bollani, Roberto Gatto, John Abercrombie, Roswell Rudd, Miroslav Vitous, Richard Galliano, J.F. Jenny-Clark, Misha Mengelberg, Dino Saluzzi, Lee Konitz, Martial Solal, Pat Metheny Charlie Mariano, Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Archie Shepp etc. He has played on tours and concerts in USA, Japan, Canada, Europe, Brazil, China, Argentina, taking part in important Festivals (Montreal, Toronto, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, New York,Rio De Janeiro,Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Perugia, Antibes, Berlin, Paris Tokyo, Peking, etc). He has several times been elected best musician in the annual referendum conducted by "Musica Jazz", and has also won the title in the "best group" and "best italian album" categories. He ranked the 4th place on the Down Beat 2006 and 2007 trumpet players special chart. At present, he plays in several concerts with several projects including a duo with pianist Stefano Bollani and the Enrico Rava Quintet, composed by affirmed musicians as Gianluca Petrella, Giovanni Guidi, Pietro Leveratto and Fabrizio Sferra. " The third Man", the new Enrico Rava Cd (a duet with Stefano Bollani) for ECM has been released in September 07.
A new album "New York Days" with an all star quintet: Mike Turner, Stefano Bollani, Larry Grenadier, Paul Motian, will be released for ECM records in january 09
Enrico Rava - L'opera Va'
Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
The poignant journey which culminated in Dave Alvin's new album Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women began on one of those San Francisco fall days that seemed to melt back into the bay fog as slyly as it emerged. Dave Alvin was bounding off the stage at the massive, free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Nearly before he was able to set foot on his beloved California dirt, Alvin was grabbed by friend and Yep Roc label co-founder Glenn Dicker. "We've gotta make a record!"
The reason for Dicker's excitement - and the excitement of the thousands of music fans who just witnessed it - was the set Alvin and all female band The Guilty Women had just laid down moments before. Dave and band members Cindy Cashdollar, Nina Gerber, Laurie Lewis, Christy McWilson, Sarah Brown, Amy Farris and Lisa Pankratz blazed through their set, surprising each other at every turn. "It just felt so natural," says Alvin. "It was like I had been playing with them for a hundred years."
You couldn't tell, watching him on stage that day, but the events in Alvin's life that had led up to it were some of the most trying of his life. Six months before, Guilty Men accordionist Chris Gaffney passed away following a valiant battle with cancer. Gaffney wasn't only the accordionist in Alvin's band, he was his best friend.
As support and well wishes flowed to Gaffney's family from friends and fellow musicians, Alvin set out calling some of the biggest names in roots music to come together to honor is fallen friend. The result, Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney will be released by Yep Roc along side Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women on 5/26/09. Artists and friends like Calexico, Los Lobos, Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry and many more coalesced for an album of Gaffney songs benefiting his family and the non-profit Hungry for Music, who provide musical instruments to underprivileged children. "The response from the artists was immediate," remarks Alvin. "They all wanted a chance to help Chris' family and most of all, a chance to pay tribute to him and his songs!"
With the catharsis of the tribute album project in tow, Alvin turned his attention to his next musical move. One thing was clear, he knew he wasn't yet ready to record with The Guilty Men again. The wound of Gaffney's death was still too fresh, the space on the stage where he once stood still too empty. Alvin decided now was the time for something new. Knowing Hardly Strictly was just up the tracks, he called friend and Austin-based guitarist Cindy Cashdollar. Cashdollar jumped in with both feet and the other ladies followed suit. Having played together in various incarnations with several Guilty Women in the past, Alvin was confident the chemistry would be right. "The reality that we'd never played together as a group and that there was no time to rehearse before our debut performance didn't bother me at all. I knew that they were all master musicians who could easily handle any sort of song I could throw at them. And that's exactly what they did and they did it effortlessly and beautifully."
The Austin, TX recording sessions progressed in much the same fashion with Christy McWilson contributing two songs, Sarah Brown one and an Amy Farris/Dave Alvin co-write. The tunes were built around Dave's acoustic guitar work, with the ladies surrounding Alvin with an instrumental blanket that made it clear womanly intuition isn't just an emotional asset but a musical one as well.
Aldo Romano - Palatino
Taking drumming to new heights. For the last 60 years Aldo Romano has been distilling his drumbeats as others savour fine wine: with a certain refinement, which does not however exclude exhilaration. His elegant and extremely melodic playing match his slender silhouette and nonchalant smile to perfection.
With a malicious pleasure Aldo Romano plays a jazz that teases convention: from his free jazz experiments in the 1970s to the Romano/Sclavis/Texier trio, inventors of nomadic jazz, Monsieur continues – innocently - to advance and to change the deal.
Born to Italian parents who had moved to France (he was born in 1941), he first started by playing the guitar and did not take up the drums until 1961. Basically self-taught he did, however, benefit from the advice of Michel Babault and Jacques Thollot. First of all an admirer of Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, he was spotted by Jackie McLean, with whom he played on one of the violist’s trips to Paris. Like Jean-François Jenny-Clark, who he met at this time and from whom he was inseparable for a long while, he was hired by Bernard Vitet and François Tusques, who, in 1964, formed one of the first European free jazz formations. Over the next few years it was Sunny Murray who most directly influenced him. He met Don Cherry and Gato Barbieri with whom he played regularly. With these two musicians, plus notably Enrico Rava and Steve Lacy, he took part in the recording of New Feelings, under the responsibility of Giorgio Gaslini. He worked simultaneously with a number of musicians belonging to the same movement, namely Barney Wilen, Michel Portal and Lacy, and also with less avant-garde musicians such as Eddy Louiss, Jean-Luc Ponty, Phil Woods or Charles Tolliver. He also met Joachim Kühn, who he worked regularly with over a number of years. In 1967, they recorded Transfiguration and Impressions Of New York together on a trip to the United States, where Joachim and Rolf Kühn’s quartet was performing at the Newport Festival. Like Kühn and Wilen he very early on proved to be interested in the possibility of combining the aesthetics of free jazz with the binary rhythm of rock music. This spawned a number of albums in which Romano played a vital part: Barney Wilen’s Dear Prof Leary (1968) is the best example. In 1969, a particularly fertile year, he recorded with Kühn (Sounds Of Feelings), Portal, Lacy, met Keith Jarrett, with whom he worked for a while, and formed Total Issue with the flautist Chris Hayward, Georges Locatelli, the guitarist, and Henri Texier, an interesting attempt at fusion in which Romano revealed a new aspect of his talent because, as well as playing the drums, he sang.
Whilst pursuing the Total Issue experiment, which became effective in 1970 and led to a record, he worked in Ponty’s group where he encountered Philip Catherine (1971). The commercial failure of Total Issue eventually caused the group to split. Romano then spent most of his time playing as a sideman, often in the company of Jenny-Clark, for French and American musicians, amongst whom appeared a newcomer, the guitarist Christian Escoudé. In 1974, he met Charlie Mariano and the keyboard specialist Jasper Van’t Hoff. He formed Pork Pie with them and also with Catherine and Texier, rapidly replaced by Jenny-Clark. In 1977 he reunited with Enrico Rava who took him and Jenny-Clark on in his quartet with Roswell Rudd. On one of the quartet’s trips to Rome he recorded an album made up uniquely of duos with Jenny-Clark, dedicated to Pavese – this album, as strange as it is exceptional, also includes a recital of the Italian poet's texts. In 1978, he began recording for Owl, the Parisian company; in 1979, he collaborated with Jenny-Clark, Michel Portal et Claude Barthélemy. In 1980, Night Diary allowed the American saxophonist Bob Malik, Didier Lockwood and Van’t Hoff to express themselves fully. In 1983, Alma Latina brought together several young musicians discovered by the drummer, in particular Jean-Pierre Fouquey and Benoît Wideman, and also old friends such as Philip Catherine. The aestheticism of these records deliberately overflows that of jazz in the strictest terms. It was to a rather canonical jazz that the drummer returned in the years that followed, during which he mainly worked in trios with Michel Petrucciani, with whom he recorded several records, then with Catherine (Transparence, 1986) and finally with Texier and Eric Barret, a young, very talented, French saxophonist. In 1988 he formed an entirely Italian group for one record: Paolo Fresu, Franco D’Andrea and Furio Di Castri.
A versatile and original instrumentalist, Romano has gradually proved himself to be an imaginative musician and composer, anxious to go further than the academic boundaries of jazz without however developing any kind of musical demagogy. This was masterfully proved by the trio he formed in 1995 with Louis Sclavis and Henri Texier for a three-week tour of six Central African countries. Carnets de Routes, which contains the musical and photographic (thanks to Guy Le Querrec) memories of the atmosphere and the encounters made over there, is an extremely melodic album, where each note and every rhythm conjures up a whole universe. Three years later the three companions renewed the experience with Suite Africaine, based on a trip in Eastern Africa this time.
This taste for foreign ambiences brought him to compose Corners, released in 1999, accompanied by Tim Miller (g), Mauro Negri (clarinet) and Ronnie Paterson (piano): “Across the world, certain places irresistibly inspire music in me. Sometimes happy, more often nostalgic. For I am nostalgic for a land that I will never know, a land without man’s dangerous lack of concern. I write this music to remember. So as not to forget Tompkins Square or Belleville, these places that got under my skin… and on my skins”. Aldo Romano or nomadic jazz…
Rick Estrin - Twisted
For thirty years, Rick Estrin was the voice and face of one of the country’s best-loved blues and jump bands, Little Charlie & The Nightcats. His huge harp sound, streetwise vocals, razor-sharp lyrics and hipster persona were as much the focus of the band as Little Charlie Baty’s hard-swinging and unpredictable guitar. In fact, Rick was so much the central figure of the band, most newcomers assumed that he was “Charlie.”
Now, with Little Charlie’s retirement from touring, Rick has truly stepped up to become “the man.” With support from the ever-inventive and swinging Nightcats rhythm section of Lorenzo Farrell and J. Hansen, and a new young recruit—Norway’s greatest contribution to American blues, guitar wildman Kid Andersen—Rick has taken the band in a fresh direction, rocking harder and more intensely than ever, but never straying far from the blues.
At the core of everything are Rick’s sly, incisive and often hilariously twisted original songs. They are tales inspired by his teenage and young adult years, hanging with the musicians, lowlifes, pimps and hustlers of San Francisco’s tough Fillmore District and Hunters Point neighborhoods and on Chicago’s South and West Sides. The songs range from rollicking rock ‘n’ roll to subtle and haunting slow blues, all delivered in his patented wry and worldly-wise voice. And along with his vocals, Rick’s harmonica is front and center, proving to the world once and for all that he is one of today’s truly gifted harp players, thoroughly rooted in the blues tradition, but bringing his own sound and vision to the instrument. As Muddy Waters so perfectly expressed it, “You play like a man, boy!”
–Bruce Iglauer,
President and founder,
Alligator Records
Angela Luce - Per Toto'
Angela Luce è già storia della musica, del cinema, del teatro. Storica è la sua voce sublime, che sarebbe da considerare come un monumento nazionale. Chi non capisce questo stà giocando sul tavolo sbagliato dell'arte e non sa cosa si perde.
Angela Luce ha deciso di cantare Totò, dodici canzoni napoletane del principe della risata, che ne ha scritte più di settanta. E' come se queste dodici canzoni stessero aspettando solo che la voce di Angela le intonasse, le restituisse alla vita con la passione di cui è capace. Bisogna dire che Angela Luce fa diventare queste canzoni carne della carne, come se le storie e le emozioni che Totò ha scritto e musicato, lei le avesse vissute in prima persona, come se facessero parte in maniera spudorata della sua autobiografia.
Il titolo di questa antologia non poteva essere più esplicito: "Luce per Totò", umile e rispettoso insieme. Ma anche rivelatore di una poetica che attraversa tutto il disco: illuminare l'altra faccia di Totò, quel suo affascinante cono d'ombra in cui vivono poesia e canzone.
"Luce per Totò" è un disco ispirato, un vero capolavoro, come raramente se ne sentono in questi tempi nevrotici e disperati, in cui la speranza sembra giocare a nascondino.
Angela Luce sa come fare arrivare il suo canto al cuore delle persone e regala vita, come se fosse acqua pura e con la purezza della sua arte riscatta ogni dolore e fa sognare. Così era per Totò, così è per Angela Luce. Imperatore lui Imperatrice lei, meritano igrado più alto, perchè sanno rendere dolce anche la vita più miserabile.
Vincenzo Mollica
The Further Adventures Of Los Straitjackets
When members of the Los Straitjackets say their new record, The Further Adventures of the Los Straitjackets, is "all over the place," they certainly mean it.
From the raunchy romp of album opener "Cal Speed," the hand clap boogie of "Fortune Cookie," the woozy vibrato of "Catalina" and on through to the flirtatious whimsy of "Noctural Twist" - loosely inspired by the 1930s-era jazz standard "Harlem Nocturne" - the new record is a return to form for the band. After spending the last couple of years making records with Kaiser George (Twist Party) and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, rockabilly belter Big Sandy, and East L.A. legend Little Willie G. (Rock En Espanol Vol. 1) the band found itself missing doing what it does best - and that's making straight up instrumental rock and roll.
"It's definitely heavier - more garage-y than our other records," says guitarist Danny Amis. "It's definitely a little more of a punk record than before. I think it's reflective of the fact that we needed to get back to that."
To write and record the new album - its first record of original instrumentals since 2003's Supersonic Guitars in 3-D - the band spent a lot of time listening to its heroes, including Link Wray, and the Ventures. In addition to those artists, guitarist Eddie Angel listened to other bands that may be less likely to be associated with the Los Straitjackets, including Led Zeppelin and The Cramps. He described the process of listening to records for inspiration adding, "Then we drank a lot of scotch, also for inspiration."
"We never try to be meaningful," Angel says. "We're an anecdote to that. Our goal is to bring fun to the party."
The 13 new tracks on The Further Adventures of the Los Straitjackets will definitely inject a lot of fun into any party. Bassist Pete Curry, who produced the record along with manager Jake Guralnick, said he was shooting for a more straight-up rock sound on the new record, as opposed to the surf-inspired tunes on earlier ones. The record was recorded at Curry's LA studio, the Powow Fun Room, which was named after an Orange County bar.
"The band's been going a long time, I think it's important to try and keep stuff fresh on some levels. We kind of consciously wanted to not sound like the previous records." Curry says. "We wanted to make a more rock and roll-y record than surf-y. And then were some more elements of soundtracks...there's a couple of (songs) that sound like movie songs... There's a pretty good mix. It's kind of fun sonically. We used everything in the studio at some point."
The Los Straitjackets has been making its brand of raucous, instrumental rock since 1994 and have become known as one of the most dynamic and skillful instrumental bands on the planet. Their renowned live show is filled with mind-bending guitar theatrics, group choreography and fuzzed-out experiments in high fidelity rock and roll showmanship.
And, don't forget the wrestling masks each band member wears onstage. Right before the band's first gig - back when they were still just The Straitjackets - Amis pulled out a bag of wrestling masks he'd bought in Mexico City. The Los Straitjackets were born. In the past few years, this gimmick has been brought full circle as the band's last two gigs in Mexico City have been in front of stadium-sized crowds.
The band's music can also be heard in on soundtracks for TV shows including Malcolm in the Middle and at least 10 feature films, including Meet the Parents, Harriet the Spy, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Two Days in the Valley. They appear as themselves in Psycho Beach Party.
They are also a favorite of NBC funny man Conan O'Brien and have appeared on his Late Night program about a half dozen times, most recently in January to perform "Fortune Cookie," from new album The Further Adventures of the Los Straitjackets.
Edward Simon Trio - Poesia
"As I mature, I find myself developing an appreciation of things for which I had none before, such as poetry and art. I now see beauty were I couldn't find it, though sometimes I'm looking in the same old places. This is a time were I'm beginning to look deeper into life and to experience a blossoming of seeds that were planted by many others Poesia is a sound-picture of this special time in my life - as all moments are. The friendship between the members of this trio has blossomed into something beyond our individual selves, even beyond the music itself, it has blossomed into poetry... For this I'm grateful."
Edward Simon
Mr. Simon's touch, light and warm, allows for his music to drift calmly, taking its time to get to where it has to go.
The New York Times
He doesn't go in for dazzle and fleet-fingered runs but contents himself with digging in and mining the music for drama and invention. He often turns these rural sounds into deep emotional statements.
Jazz Journal International
Simon is an important presence on the jazz and world music scene.
Los Angeles Times
While he may be considered as part of a new generation of "multilingual" musicians who have grown up studying classical, jazz and Latin-American music, Edward Simon is inventing a language that transcends any rigid genre. He was born in the coastal town of Cardón, Venezuela where he grew up in a musical family surrounded by the sounds and rhythms of Latin and Caribbean music. After graduating from the Philadelphia Performing Arts School, at fifteen, Edward received a music scholarship from the University of the Arts where he undertook his studies in classical music under the tutelage of concert pianist Susan Starr. Later he transferred to the Manhattan School of Music where he studied jazz piano with Harold Danko. Upon arriving on the New York jazz scene in 1988, his reputation as a pensive, rhythmically astute, versatile player caught the ear of noted musicians Greg Osby, Jerry Gonzalez, Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Mann, Kevin Eubanks and Paquito D’Rivera all of who would later employ him. The diversity of his performance experience enriched his writing while giving him greater scope. Simon quickly discovered that if he wanted to use jazz as a medium of expression he needed to immerse himself in this tradition. Membership in Bobby Watson’s influential group Horizon (1989-94) and the Terence Blanchard Group (1994-2002) were instrumental to this end during his formative years. In 1993, Simon made his first (Beauty Within-Audioquest) of nine critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. The following year, he became a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Since then, he has kept busy writing for the various ensembles he has formed: Edward Simon Trio, Afinidad and Ensemble Venezuela, and documenting his unique voice as both pianist and composer. In 2004, Simon received a Chamber Music America: ”New Works: Creation and Presentation” grant to compose the Venezuelan Suite. Edward Simon is a 2008 fellow in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Hilary Kole - Haunted Heart
"Ms. Kole's poised, sultry ballad-singing has always been easy on the ears. But her smooth melodic lines have never been so consistently infused with subtext, which spells the difference between sounding pretting and having something to say. Her vision of the Dietz-Schwartz ballad "Haunted Heart" stood apart from any other through its translation into a bossa nova..."
New York Time
"I think this recording has the idea of a completed circle. From her winning, swinging sound on "You For Me" and "It's Love" to her wonderful selection of "Blackberry Winter" and " I don't know about your", I truly feel that the listener will get a complete musical picture of Hilary Kole. It's a picture that both salutes and respects the past, while singing to the future. Enjoy !"
John Pizzarelli, December 2008
Hilary Kole co- created and originated the lead female roles in the critically acclaimed, award winning Off-Broadway musicals, "Our Sinatra." (2000 MAC Award) and "Singing Astaire."
Ms. Kole has been hailed by critics as a "musical marvel!" (Rex Reed, New York Observer. ) In reviewing Kole's performance in the New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote,"swinging...sultry....sexy with a sharp-edged hint of brass in her voice...Kole locates the desperation and impatience lurking in Cole Porter's besotted lyrics." And Robert Daniels from Daily Variety said "Kole is quite the prettiest young thrush on the club circuit...it's torch singing at its apex."
Ms. Kole began her professional career at the legendary Rainbow Room as the youngest singer ever to grace the stage. From there, she appeared in a sold-out run at the famed Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, made her concert hall debut at Lincoln Center as part of the "American Songbook Series" with Jonathan Schwartz, and in June of 2007, appeared at Carnegie Hall during a Tribute to Oscar Peterson, and in January, 2008, at the Canadian Tribute to Dr. Peterson at Roy Thompson Hall alongside Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and Nancy Wilson. Hilary has appeared as a headliner in New York City at Town Hall (Nightlife Awards), Birdland, The Blue Note, Iridium, the Jazz Standard, and at Carnegie Hall with Michael Feinstein. Apart from appearing throughout the country with her two shows, "Our Sinatra" and "Singing Astaire," Hilary is also a favorite at the Continental Airlines Arena, singing the National Anthem for sporting events,as well as been featured at the 92nd Street YMHA concert series "Lyrics and Lyricists" and "Jazz in July" with pianist Dick Hyman. In 2005, Hilary debuted in Perugia, Italy, at the famed Umbria Jazz Festival, as well as the Nairn Jazz Festival in Narin, Scotland, and throughout Spain.
In the past year, Hilary had the honor of recording with Jazz legands Oscar Peterson and Hank Jones, as well as master composer, Michel LeGrand. Ms. Kole has also appeared alongside Alan Broadbent, Lee Musiker, Dave Frishberg, Roger Kelloway, Tedd Firth, Houston Pearson, Harry Allen, Joel Frahm, Russel Malone, John Pizzarelli, Paul Meyers, Gene Bertoncini, Lewis Nash, Mark McLean, and Paul Gill among others.
Kole's television appearances include CNN's Showbiz Today, Fox's Good Day New York, PBS, NBC's Today in New York, as well as a half hour feature on CN8's 'One on One with Steve Adubato'.
Hilary began singing and playing the piano at age five. At twelve, she received a scholarship to attend the Walden School for music composition, where she spent her next 6 summers. Her compositions garndered three National Federation of Music Awards. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Delius Award for her work "Piano Trio No.1" which received its world premiere with the Jacksonville Symphony. Upon graduation high school, she was granted a scholarship by the Oakley Foundation to study composition at Manhattan School of Music. Hilary's compositions have been performed by the New England Brass Quintet, the Peabody Trio, and the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Vocal Ensemble, among others.
Hilary has entertained at some of Manhattan's most prestigious events, including a Democratic Fundraiser for President Bill Clinton; an Emmy party in honor of Oprah Winfrey's Lifetime Achievement Award; the Helen Hays Awards, and as the featured entertainmer at the movie premier parties for Maid in Manhattan starring Jennifer Lopez, and Mona Lisa Smile and Stepmom starring Julia Roberts. Hilary also appeared at the 2004 Super Bowl at the Houston Astrodome..
Tom Harrell - Prana Dance
"What Harrell [does] is spin out improvisational lines filled with instant melodies. Like a lyricist who illuminates phrases with subtle internal rhymes, Harrell's soloing captivates both the hearts and the minds of his listeners."
The Los Angeles Times
A salient constant in Tom Harrell's career has been his commitment to advancing his artistry. Recording as a leader since 1976, he has racked up numerous jazz magazine awards, such as top composer and trumpeter, "best jazz album of the year" by Entertainment Weekly, and a Grammy nomination. On his latest HighNote album, the trumpeter-bandleader-composer-arranger continues to evolve with aplomb. In realizing his ideas, spun on singular chord changes and stunning melodic hooks, improvisation and composed movements, he seems to have chosen the best of bands. Tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery unfurls voicings that offer contrasting tones and textures to the horn master's efforts. Bassist Ugonna Okegwo is solid, picking up on nuances of the themes with ease. Danny Grissett sparkles on piano and Fender Rhodes. Johnathan Blake rides and crashes confidently. Hear why Phil Woods called Tom Harrell, "the best musician I've ever encountered in 40 years of playing!"
With: Tom Harrell, trumpet & flugelhorn; Wayne Escoffery, soprano & tenor saxophones; Danny Grissett, piano & Fender Rhodes; Ugonna Okegwo, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums
Tracks: Marching; Prana; Sequenza; Maharaja; The Call; Ride; The Sea Serpent; In the Infinite
Steve Haines Q.tet. Feat Jimmy Cobb
"perhaps one of the finest inside/outside records of the year..." All About Jazz
"Creative, supportive, and masterfully skilled in playing bass... a bright light in the future of jazz" Dick Oatts
"an excellent bassist and very gifted composer... this recording is a mixture of innovation and swing"
Ipeirotikos Agwn Newspaper
"We are well aware of the benefits of performing the great jazz standards of the past. Now it the time for new compositions, making them new standards by the mere fact that once they are heard, everyone would wnat to play them.
Steve Haines, on "Stickadiboom", is amongst a few of the "new breed" that will ride the glory train of creating music that falls into this category ofr creativity of composition and performance. "Setting New Standards" is what I call It !!!"
Wycliffe Gordon
Second CD release and ZOHO debut of jazz bassist / composer Steve Haines’ Quintet, in a classic New York style straightahead hard-bop blowing session, featuring the legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb, the sole surviving member of the epochal 1958 Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” Quintet. Recorded at the famous Clinton Studios in Manhattan in November 2007, “Stickadiboom” ( a drummer’s term describing the sound of jazz drums) features seven brilliant originals by bassist Steve Haines and a Jimmy Cobb composition, played by Haines’ working quintet of hand-picked sidemen plus guest Jimmy Cobb. Jazz bassist Steve Haines directs the Miles Davis Program in Jazz Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This past year, he has played or recorded with Jason Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Erskine, Jimmy Cobb, Joel Frahm, and Joe Chambers. He has performed with Dick Oatts, Adam Nussbaum, Bob Berg, Joe Williams, Mark Levine, and Jim Snidero.
• Drummer Jimmy Cobb, featured on six of the eight tracks on “Stickadiboom”, has played with jazz greats in the six decades of his career, including Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Dinah Washington, Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Todd Wolfe - Borrowed Time
Blues Leaf recording artist TODD WOLFE and band, plays aggressive and daring blues tinged jam-rock reminiscent of the bands of the sixties and seventies. Todd's band was formed following his five-year stint with Sheryl Crow as lead guitarist and occasional writing partner. Todd toured the world with Sheryl from 1993 until 1998 opening shows for the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Page & Plant among others. Now, with his newest band Todd Wolfe picks up where he left off 10 years ago with his original Bluesadelic-jamming sounds! "Borrowed Time", Todd’s fifth album just released by Blues Leaf Records in North America and soon to be released in Europe by Hypertension Music is mostly comprised of original songs including “California” a song that Todd wrote with Sheryl Crow. Also included on the upcoming release is “Baby I’m Down” a Felix Pappalardi song from the first Leslie West album “Mountain”. Todd is joined by Leslie on guitar and vocals for the remaking of this song making it a new classic! Also joining Todd and the band on the new disc is Susan Cowsill and Mary Hawkins. Todd's songs have been covered by a diverse range of artist such as, Deborah Coleman, Larry McCray, Faith Hill & Stevie Nicks. Todd began playing on the New York scene back in 1979 with his band, Troy & the Tornados performing in rooms such as the Lone Star Cafe, The Ritz, My Father's Place, Lamour's, The Chance, Tramps, Rodeo Bar and probably any hole in the wall in the NYC area that would book the Tornados. Todd or 'Troy' and company opened for a bevy of acts such as, Johnny Winter, Robin Trower, The Neville Bros., Son Seals, Dickey Betts, Omar & the Howlers, Gregg Allman, The Outlaws, Smithereens, Zebra, and his first opener back in 1980 , Albert Collins! Todd decided to head west in 1990 to write and record a demo with a then unknown backup singer named Sheryl Crow. After having that demo passed on by some major labels and not generating much interest after one show case performance, Todd decided to stay in Los Angeles to record and tour with former Textone, Carla Olson. Todd continued to record and perform with Carla and kept busy scoring soundtracks for the Playboy Channel. Sheryl in the meantime, had finished her first album, 'Tuesday Night Music Club' and needed a guitarist for her touring band which she put together in June of 1993 so, Todd came on board and remained until February of 1998. In 1996, Todd relocated back to the NYC area and with Eric Massimino, Mike Lawrence and Crow band mate Scott Bryan founded A & M Record's Mojoson, a modern blend of psychedelic Rock and Blues. Since the Universal takeover of the Polygram group left new A & M acts like Mojoson in limbo, Todd elected to leave the label and dissolve Mojoson, putting his energies into his current band. Between touring and recording commitments, Wolfe and band-mates, Suavek Zaniesienko and Roger Voss, continue to play dates from coast to coast and across the Atlantic.
Eric Alexander - Mode For Mabes
Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander has been exploring new musical worlds from the outset. He started out on piano as a six-year-old, took up clarinet at nine, switched to alto sax when he was 12, and converted to tenor when jazz became his obsession during his one year at the University of Indiana, Bloomington (1986-87). At William Paterson College in New Jersey he advanced his studies under the tutelage of Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."
During the 1990s, after placing second behind Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Alexander threw himself into the whirlwind life of a professional jazz musician. He played with organ trios on the South Side of Chicago, made his recording debut in 1991 with Charles Earland on Muse Records, and cut his first album as leader in 1992 (Straight Up for Delmark). More recordings followed for numerous labels, including Milestone and others, leading to 1997's Man with a Horn; the 1998 collaborative quartet session with George Mraz, John Hicks, and Idris Muhammad, Solid!; and, that same year, the first recording by One For All, Alexander's ongoing band with Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Peter Washington, and Dave Hazeltine.
Eric has appeared in many capacities on record, including leader, sideman, producer as well as composing a number of the tunes he records. By now, Alexander has lost count of how many albums feature his playing; he guesses 60 or 70. While he has garnered critical acclaim from every corner, what has mattered most has been to establish his own voice within the illustrious bop-based jazz tradition.
In 2004, Eric signed an exclusive contract with the New York-based independent jazz label, HighNote Records where he has amassed a considerable discography of critically-acclaimed recordings. Most recent among them is “Temple of Olympic Zeus” (HCD 7172), “The Battle” with Vincent Herring and Mike LeDonne (HCD 7137) and “It’s all in the Game” (HCD 7148) with Harold Mabern.
Eric continues to tour the world over to capacity audiences. Using NYC as his home base he can regularly be seen in the NY clubs including ongoing appearances at Smoke.
Thanks to Delmark Record you have the possibility to listen Eric Alexander at 27 years of age when he recorded Mode For Mabes in 1997. It was his fourth Delmark CD and critics were already comparing him to the mightiest and most soulful of classic tenor players like Dexter Gordon and George Coleman. Mode For Mabes features a three-horn frontline with trumpeter Jim Rotondi and trombonist Steve Davis reminiscent of Art Blakey's Messengers which gives the band the fullness of a small big band. Mabes, of course, is the ever-soulful pianist Harold Mabern who drives the Messengers-like title track. Other highlights include the greasy “Sugar Ray” and a cover of Coltrane's classic “Naima”.
Demi Evans - My America
As I sit feeling complete after wrapping this gift for you, my thoughts begin to delete the fear that fails to be true. The loss, the cost, the pain and the shame, through years of pressure our pride still remains. Read closely the lyrics if you care to understand, why I`ve chosen this title to represent my land. From heartaches to headaches to injustice and lies, from boyfriends to husbands from girlfriends to brides.
with ignorance we strive, praying knowledge will arrive, to protect and defend the youth in our eyes.
Don`t bargain and bet for a challenge to appear, because as sure as you breathe the darkness is near.
So waste not this time on guilt pointing fault, let the past use his time to prepare his halt.
While bawling and crawling and grabbing possessions, don`t forget the reason why we were taught a fighter`s lesson.
Survive, by any means necessary.
Welcome President Barack Obama.
Every person that has seen her onstage share a unanimous decision: Demi Evans owns more than a voice, she..s first of all an interpreter of light, but her sincerity and force of conviction with exuberance makes the most blasé audience leave their shell. When Demi express herself she puts all of her energy into her music to serve her repetoire which is written with four hands: herself and her accomplice and mentor Fred Morisset . Demi envoke time after time the innocence of childhood, separation, death, and the roll of a woman in our society with a cofirmed touch of poetry. She will shake your emotions with an undeniable accent of truth . An unconditional fan of Nina Simone, she revendicate the militant and humanistic heritage. Demi propose an unclassable style of music that..s transparent and direct, with a surprising mix of southern soul and committed folk pop. She never forget the gospel and blues which were the props of her childhood in Texas. If this child of the black america sound like a person outside of the musical scene which is often formated and reduced, it..s because of her uncut personality and eclectism, the heritage of her unusual path. In L.A. it..s not by the musical way but on the fashion business that Demi built her name. She wore the colors of Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix from Paris to Milano and Wien. But in the early summer of 95.. in Monte-Carlo a big car accident reduced to nothingness all the years of effort and hard work as an artist. At the term of a long convalescence Demi decided to stop in Paris on her way back to the United States. And for Demi this was the beginning of an overseas adventure that continues today by meeting Fred Morisset. Writing and composing as a couple, the repetoire of Demi manifested with the coming out of her first cd "Why Do You Run " on the Harmonia Mundi label at the spring of 2006, giving her the opportunity to show her real face: the one of sincible interpreter, generous, open to all the problems of the world which she talk about with extreme frankness and a poetry with no make-up. " Like most of us I care about the direction the planet is going in and I..m persuaded it..s by talking about this fear that we will progress in the world situations". This declaration could sound a little bit idealistic if the reaction from the public confirm the ambition of this artist perfectly unclassable. By the success of her first Cd Demi comes back today with this new opus cd "My America" a Harmonia Mundi label Dixiefrog. Produced together with Fred Morisset and the great guitarist Jean-Michel Kajdan. "Since the very beginning of this recording I was really excited by the new challenges of our society. We have to change and it' s urgent now ! The new president of my country carry my hopes to the world. And he need all of us for success, and with this new CD I' m here. I can bring only my voice , my songs and my trust in the people, but I'm here!. This new record of Demi reflect exactly what she is talking about. Breaking the rules, taking the risks to propose some different vibes. Venturing in different areas of music. The soul of this great and very unique artiste is the rope holding together this masterpiece album. " All of our actions have reactions through the world, and by these songs I feel upgraded to the status of World citizen. My concept of My America came from this beautifull song of Jacques Brel called " Madeleine" He sing :........ " elle est mon amérique à moi" After hearing that song it started a love story with my world. Yes ! On stage as on record her lyrics hit the bullseye, wonderfully served by a wonderful voice and an insatiable determination. The fleeting impressions, the words chiseled and subtle, a look tender and lucid in our everyday life...the talented writing of Demi beautifully underlined by the melodies of Fred Morisset, leave no one indifferent, and there..s no doubt that the name of Demi Evans will not be late to become a synonym of big success. After many episodes, Demi comes to the point to reach her objective of her childhood : to serve the others by touching them with the grace of her passions.
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Demi Evans - My America
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Helio Alves - It's Clear
Helio Alves was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1966 and started piano lessons at age 6. Following his early immersion in playing the pop standards and classical music favored by his parents, he gravitated to jazz in his teens. Alves moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music and received his BA in 1990. In Boston he met trumpeter Claudio Roditi, who advised the 24-year old pianist to move to New York City, and urged him to get in touch when he arrived. Alves eventually moved to New York City in 1993.
Since then pianist and composer Helio Alves has received high praise as an in-demand sideman with Joe Henderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D'Rivera, Gato Barbieri, Dave Samuels, Airto Moreira & Flora Purim and Oscar Castro-Neves, to name but a few. Alves has recorded two Reservoir releases with Roditi, Samba Manhattan Style (1995) and Double Standards (1997). He is also featured on Roditi's 2009 release "Brazilliance X4 (Resonance).
From 1995 to 1997, Alves toured extensively with Joe Henderson's Double Rainbow Quartet celebrating the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, and was featured in the Grammy-winning release, Joe Henderson's Big Band (Verve, 1996). Alves was the pianist on Grammy-winning releases by Yo-Yo Ma (Obrigado Brazil, 2003) and Paquito D’Rivera (Brazilian Dreams, 2002), and on the Grammy-nominated Samba Jazz Fantasia (Malandro Records, 2002), by Duduka Da Fonseca.
His growing discography includes releases by Rosa Passos (Amorosa, SONY/Classical, 2004), Joyce (Samba Jazz e Outras Bossas, Far Out Recordings, 2007), Louis Hayes ( The Time Keeper, 2009), Slide Hampton (Slide Plays Jobim, 2002), Gino Sitson (Bamisphere, 2005, and Way To Go, 2009) and Brazilian Trio (Zoho, 2008).
He's also been featured on recordings and performances with The Caribbean Jazz Project, Phil Woods, Herbie Mann, Gal Costa, Sadao Watanabe, Randy Brecker, Don Braden, Santi Debriano, Hendrik Meurkens, Paul Winter, David Sanchez, Harry Allen, The New York Voices, Andy Narell, Mike Stern among many others.
Helio has also released three albums under his own name "Trios" (Reservoir Music, 1998), featuring John Patitucci, Al Foster, Nilson Matta and Duduka Da Fonseca, "Portrait in Black & White" (Reservoir Music, 2004) featuring Matt Wilson and Santi Debriano and "It's Clear" (Reservoir Music, 2009) featuring Romero Lubambo, Scott Colley and Ernesto Simpson.
Eric Bibb - Live à FIP
Eric is at the top of his game on stage, giving performances often met with standing ovations, and all blues lovers concur in saying that an Eric Bibb concert is a truly unique experience. France’s FIP Radio recorded two of these magical moments, on March 13 and December 2, 2008, so Eric’s fans could share the freshness and spontaneity of his music in the form of this double Digipak CD. The first concert (CD1) presents Eric with his full band (including second guitar, bass and drums). For the second performance (CD2), he is backed by his regular drummer and Amar Sundy on electric guitar. CD2 is enhanced by a 20-minute video taped live that night, with additional interview excerpts. This “Live at FIP” double set is bound to become a milestone in Bibb’s career. It shows the full extent of his artistry as he glides gracefully over a repertoire made of his strongest material from the last fifteen years.
"Eric is one of the new, young singers that has appeared on the scene that, much to my delight, has a great voice, is an excellent performer and has a great knowledge about the roots of this music"
Taj Mahal
Eric was born In New York into a musical family. Eric's father, Leon Bibb, is a trained singer who sang in musical theatre and made a name for himself as part of the 1960's New York folk scene. His uncle was the world famous jazz pianist and composer John Lewis, of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Family friends included Pete Seeger, Odetta and actor/singer/activist Paul Robeson, Eric's godfather.
Eric was given his first steel-string guitar aged seven. By Junior High School, Eric was consumed by music. "I would cut school and claim I was sick" said Bibb. "When everyone would leave the house I would whip out all the records and do my own personal DJ thing all day long, playing Odetta, Joan Baez, The New Lost City Ramblers, Josh White."
At 16 years old, Eric's father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show "Someone New". Eric's early musical heroes were from his father's band, and included Bill Lee, (father of director Spike) who appeared on Eric's album Me To You, years later.
In 1969, Bibb played guitar for the Negro Ensemble Company at St. Mark's place in New York and went on to study Psychology and Russian at Colombia University. "After a while it just didn't make much sense at all. I didn't understand why I was at this Ivy League School with all these kids who didn't know anything about what I knew about." Aged 19, Eric left for Paris, where a meeting with guitarist Mickey Baker focused his interest in blues guitar.
When he later moved to Sweden, Bibb found a creative environment which took him back to Greenwich Village during the heyday of the folk revival. Settling in Stockholm, Bibb immersed himself in pre-war blues and continued to write and perform. "I began meeting and playing with local musicians as well as newcomers from all over the world. There was a budding world Music scene going on before it became a market concept."
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based Code Blue label. Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record, Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90’s Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just Like Love.
A Family Affair - The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural Light followed then Friends - 15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with Jools Holland and The Late Late Show. Eric and his band have played at most of the world’s major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and 2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4 W.C.Handy nominations (for the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo' as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's 'Eastenders' and ‘Casualty’, and 'The District' in the USA. Eric's version of "I Heard the Angels Singin'" was included in the feature film "The Burial Society" and Eric appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small World, Big Band, singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling on the ‘Slow Train’. In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric’s lengthy career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian (National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland, Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine On" garnered strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea Of Souls. BBC Radio 2, the UK’s largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents. Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New York (USA); The Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France); Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen, Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric’s latest album, Get Onboard. Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date. The album was recorded in Nashville and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the Nashville band included producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical luminaries. Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete with his own ‘house’ musicians – many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows “My new album Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career. It’s a further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and soul.”
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based Code Blue label. Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record, Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90’s Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just Like Love.
A Family Affair - The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural Light followed then Friends - 15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with Jools Holland and The Late Late Show. Eric and his band have played at most of the world’s major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and 2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4 W.C.Handy nominations (for the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo' as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's 'Eastenders' and ‘Casualty’, and 'The District' in the USA. Eric's version of "I Heard the Angels Singin'" was included in the feature film "The Burial Society" and Eric appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small World, Big Band, singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling on the ‘Slow Train’. In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric’s lengthy career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian (National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland, Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine On" garnered strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea Of Souls. BBC Radio 2, the UK’s largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents. Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New York (USA); The Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France); Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen, Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric’s latest album, Get Onboard. Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date. The album was recorded in Nashville and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the Nashville band included producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical luminaries. Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete with his own ‘house’ musicians – many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows “My new album Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career. It’s a further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and soul.”
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based Code Blue label. Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record, Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90’s Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just Like Love.
A Family Affair - The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural Light followed then Friends - 15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with Jools Holland and The Late Late Show. Eric and his band have played at most of the world’s major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and 2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4 W.C.Handy nominations (for the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo' as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's 'Eastenders' and ‘Casualty’, and 'The District' in the USA. Eric's version of "I Heard the Angels Singin'" was included in the feature film "The Burial Society" and Eric appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small World, Big Band, singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling on the ‘Slow Train’. In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric’s lengthy career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian (National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland, Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine On" garnered strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea Of Souls. BBC Radio 2, the UK’s largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents. Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New York (USA); The Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France); Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen, Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric’s latest album, Get Onboard. Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date. The album was recorded in Nashville and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the Nashville band included producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical luminaries. Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete with his own ‘house’ musicians – many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows “My new album Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career. It’s a further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and soul.”
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based Code Blue label. Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record, Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90’s Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just Like Love.
A Family Affair - The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural Light followed then Friends - 15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with Jools Holland and The Late Late Show. Eric and his band have played at most of the world’s major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and 2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4 W.C.Handy nominations (for the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo' as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's 'Eastenders' and ‘Casualty’, and 'The District' in the USA. Eric's version of "I Heard the Angels Singin'" was included in the feature film "The Burial Society" and Eric appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small World, Big Band, singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling on the ‘Slow Train’. In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric’s lengthy career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian (National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland, Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine On" garnered strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea Of Souls. BBC Radio 2, the UK’s largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents. Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New York (USA); The Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France); Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen, Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric’s latest album, Get Onboard. Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date. The album was recorded in Nashville and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the Nashville band included producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical luminaries. Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete with his own ‘house’ musicians – many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows “My new album Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career. It’s a further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and soul.”
The album Good Stuff was released in 1997 on Opus 3 and American label Earthbeat! and led to Eric signing to the British based Code Blue label. Eric's only release on Code Blue was Me to You, featuring appearances from some of Bibb's personal heroes in Pops and Mavis Staples, and Taj Mahal (who also worked with Bibb on the Grammy-nominated children's record, Shakin' A Tailfeather). The album furthered Bibb's international reputation and was followed by tours of the UK, USA, Canada, France, Sweden and Germany.
In the late 90’s Eric joined forces with his then manager Alan Robinson, to form Manhaton Records, in Britain. The albums Home to Me (1999), Roadworks (2000) and Painting Signs (2001) followed, as did another Opus 3 release, Just Like Love.
A Family Affair - The first ever album recorded together by father and son - Leon & Eric Bibb. Natural Light followed then Friends - 15 tracks featuring Eric duetting with friends and musicians he has met on his travels such as Taj Mahal, Odetta, Charlie Musselwhite, Guy Davis, Mamadou Diabate and Djelimady Toukara
Eric has appeared on major TV and radio shows including Later with Jools Holland and The Late Late Show. Eric and his band have played at most of the world’s major festivals including Glastonbury (4 times this year) and the Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK. He joined Robert Cray on two U.S. tour stints in 2001 and 2002 and opened for Ray Charles in the summer of 2002.
Eric's talent for both performing and songwriting has been recognised with a Grammy Nomination (for Shakin' a Tailfeather) and 4 W.C.Handy nominations (for the albums Spirit and the Blues, Home To Me and A Ship Called Love; for 'Kokomo' as Best Acoustic Blues Song of the Year, and for Best Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year). His songs have featured on TV shows such as BBC TV's 'Eastenders' and ‘Casualty’, and 'The District' in the USA. Eric's version of "I Heard the Angels Singin'" was included in the feature film "The Burial Society" and Eric appears on Jools Holland's double platinum-selling album Small World, Big Band, singing his own composition "All That You Are".
In recent years, the international troubadour has definitely not been travelling on the ‘Slow Train’. In 2005 Eric released A Ship Called Love and toured the world as ever, including a major US tour with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Robben Ford. A Ship Called Love was nominated for Acoustic Album of the Year in the 2006 Blues Music Awards.
Diamond Days was released in 2006 and has become the biggest selling album of the Eric’s lengthy career, receiving universal critical acclaim. The album entered both Australian (National) and US charts (Blues). Eric has been nominated for Acoustic Artist of the Year in the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
Since the release of Diamond Days there have been appearances on national TV in Australia (including a one hour live concert broadcast), France, Finland, Sweden and the UK (including Later with Jools Holland). The track "Shine On" garnered strong airplay in the US on Triple A format stations. "Shine On" has also been used as the opening theme for the BBC drama series Sea Of Souls. BBC Radio 2, the UK’s largest radio station, supported Eric with several prime-time interviews and extensive airplay.
In this same 12-month period Eric performed over 130 shows across 3 continents. Some of the highlights included show-stopping performances at legendary venues/festivals such as Glastonbury Festival (UK); BB Kings, New York (USA); The Bluebird Café, Nashville (USA); Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia); Nice Jazz Festival (France); Edmonton Folk Festival (Canada) and, Sommarscen, Malmo (Sweden).
2008 saw the release of Eric’s latest album, Get Onboard. Eric and producer, Glen Scott, produced an album which, those who have heard it feel, is his finest set of recordings to date. The album was recorded in Nashville and completed in Stockholm. Bonnie Raitt and Ruthie Foster are featured guest performers.
The album features a stellar line-up of musicians - the Nashville band included producer Glen Scott on keyboards and backing vocals, Tommy Sims (Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Clarkson, Eric Clapton) on guitar, bass and backing vocals, Lemar Carter on drums (Carrie Underwood, Joss Stone, India.Arie) and other Nashville musical luminaries. Producer Glen Scott then took the tracks back to Stockholm to complete with his own ‘house’ musicians – many of whom appeared on Diamond Days.
Eric describes his latest creation as follows “My new album Get Onboard is, without a doubt one of the most exciting projects of my career. It’s a further exploration into the place where blues meets gospel and soul.”
Leela James - Let's Do it Again
Leela James Celebrates the Enduring Power of Soul Music on "Let's Do It Again"
When Leela James decided to call her new album LET'S DO IT AGAIN, it wasn't necessarily because she happened to record a profoundly soulful version of that Staples Singers classic. There was a deeper meaning involved for her as one of the most acclaimed soul singers of the new generation. It was all about pursuing her vision of music, the kind she sang about on the song simply titled "Music" on her best-selling debut CD, on which she name-checked Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan and wondered "where's the music gone?" For LET'S DO IT AGAIN, Leela was determined to make music the old-school way, just like they used to do at Stax, Motown and Muscle Shoals, recording live in the studio to capture the spontaneous magic and raw emotion that can only come by recording an in-the-moment performance where the singer feeds off the energy of the musicians. It was a courageous move but Leela was up for the challenge as she translates classic soul into her own contemporary style with unique interpretations of a wide-ranging set of songs. The results leap out of the speakers, making LET'S DO IT AGAIN an irresistible experience of joyous, organic, funky, soul music that is all too rare these days. Slated for March 24th on Shanachie Entertainment, LET'S DO IT AGAIN, is a triumphant
sophomore effort from one of the most electrifying
singers on the scene today.
"I love real music," Leela explains, "meaning I love instruments, I love real musicians playing. I most enjoy performing with my band because I get energy from the crowd and the instruments; it really does something for me. So the opportunity to go into the studio and combine that live energy with the studio was just a blessing."
The spontaneous nature of the music-making on LET'S DO IT AGAIN, which Leela produced, can be heard on the session multi-tracks. When Leela and the band kick into a funk version of The Rolling Stones classic "Miss You", a song she has been performing at concerts for some time, the groove initially is tight but not exciting enough for her taste. "I want you to slow it down, make it FONKY, more dirty," Leela instructed her musicians. They hit it again and you can hear Leela singing to the engineer, Marc Fuselli: "Marc I want you to hit the record button and let it roll...let it roll...let it roll...we tryin' to figure it out right now...but let it roll." She continued some wordless wails and then began singing the familiar verses as the groove got deeper. It evolved into a tour-de-force performance. On her version of Betty Wright’s "Clean Up Woman," as the familiar opening lick is played by her guitar player, Leela sings the "oh, oh, yeah" intro to another classic song, "Mr. Big Stuff." It acts like a sample except of course she was creating it live spontaneously. She had told the band on this one to speed the groove up, make it more "hip hop." Those alterations transform the song into something fresh. Leela’s version of Womack & Womack's obscure gem "Baby I'm Scared Of You," the "steppers" groove had folks dancing in the studio as background singer Andrea Martin spontaneously dropped a Jamaican-style dance-hall rap into the tag. None of these things were planned.
Leela hand-picked all the songs on the album, choosing ones that had particular meaning for her. She decided to do "Nobody Knows you When You're Down And Out" in the style of Bobby Womack's recording because her father had a particular love for his version of the song.
Her take on Bootsy Collins' "I'd Rather Be With You," on the other hand, had been getting great reaction at her shows. But many of the songs were selected because of Leela's desire to pay tribute to the artists who originally did them—Al Green, Betty Wright, Phyllis Hyman, Angela Bofill, The Staples Singers and James Brown among others.
"We were blessed to open up for James Brown on tour in Europe," Leela relates. "I was elated after a show to go meet him backstage and talk with him. He pulled me into an interview on camera and said 'this is a great singer'. This was the King, the Godfather talking about little 'ol me! He said I should carry on the tradition. He gave me a lot of advice. I feel a personal connection with him and an obligation to keep the funk tradition going."
Many of Leela's fans may be surprised that she chose to do songs previously recorded by Phyllis Hyman and Angela Bofill, singers known for a more jazz-inflected delivery than Leela's.
"Phyllis Hyman was an amazing, incredible singer, "Leela gushes. "She had an incredible voice and an amazing range but she wasn't the biggest artist that she could or should have been. I wanted to do SOMETHING by her. I decided to do "You Know How To Love Me" because it was her breakout record and it's uptempo, with funk in it, so it's right up my alley. It's my way of paying tribute to an incredible artist who never truly got the acclaim she deserved. Angela Bofill is still around (though recovering from two recent strokes). Her tone is very distinctive. I can relate to that. People when I was young would say certain things I did reminded them of her. I didn't hear her much because I was on the West Coast. I was just taken by the beauty of her voice. She's another person I wanted to pay homage to. Some singers aren't as known as they should be and as a young singer I wanted to pay respect." Leela James' deep connection with soul music tradition comes naturally. Born in Los Angeles, gospel music was a natural part of her church-going childhood as was the blues, funk and R & B that she heard in her home, thanks to her father's vast record collection. Her performances on the indie live circuit as well as her appearance on hip hop legend Pete Rock's SOUL SURVIVOR II album and stints as opening act on national tours by The Black Eyed Peas and Macy Gray generated a tremendous grassroots buzz. So while her critically-acclaimed debut album A CHANGE IS GONNA COME seemed to come out of nowhere, to those in the know, it was one of the most anticipated albums of the year. With production by Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, Wyclef Jean, James Poyser and Chucky Thompson, and Executive Produced by Commissioner Gordon, A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, boasted a striking slate of original songs co-written by Leela as well as impressive interpretations of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" and No Doubt's "Don't Speak" and bits of acoustic blues. Dubbing the raw, soulful sound of her music "back porch soul," Leela was immediately compared to such luminaries as Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and Mahalia Jackson. "Music," the first single from the album, hit the adult urban contemporary charts. VH-1 embraced Leela as their first "You Oughta Know" artist and played her videos in heavy rotation.
The tremendous momentum that followed the release of A CHANGE IS GONNA COME, afforded Leela James the opportunity to tour relentlessly for three consecutive years, playing virtually every prestigious festival on the international circuit. She even appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival twice and on one of those occasions, was handpicked to open for BB King during his “Farewell Tour.” The legendary bluesman even invited the young chanteuse onstage to perform alongside him!
Over the years, critics, fans and musicians alike have recognized Leela James extraordinary gifts as a vocalist, storyteller and keeper of the great soul tradition. Leela had the distinction of being selected to duet with Ray Charles on a version of Les McCann's "Compared To What" on the posthumously-released Ray Charles album GENIUS AND FRIENDS and was a guest vocalist on Robert Randolph And The Family Band's 2006 album COLORBLIND, proving that Leela's talent ranges across many musical genres. Leela James also toured Japan and was invited to perform with singer/songwriter John Legend in South Africa.
LET'S DO IT AGAIN is at once a celebration of the enduring power of soul music and assertion of its contemporary relevance for a new generation. It reveals new aspects of Leela James' artistry and range as a singer.
"I don't know what I fit a current mode of category," Leela muses. "I try to just do me. I'm a soul singer but there's a lot of music in me, a lot of variety. I love all kinds of music and people may not know that about me. I can't really be pigeonholed. I'm a singer. I just happen to be soulful. I don't limit myself because whatever I do is going to be me. It could be a pop song but once I get through with it there's gonna be some "stank" on it!"
Carl Allen & Rodney Whtaker - Work To Do
In jazz, drummers and bass players comprise more than simply the pulse of the band – they’re the spirit, the life blood, the spiritual connection to all that has passed and all that is possible. When we consider the work of such iconic rhythm section giants as Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, Jymie Merritt and Art Blakey, or Ron Carter and Tony Williams, we hear not only the history of a people, but the hopes and dreams of a generation, and what the future holds for generations to come. Past = prelude.When long time rhythm section partners Carl Allen (drums) and Rodney Whitaker (bass) recorded their 2007 Mack Avenue debut, Get Ready, they wanted their past to inform their present. Culling themes from classic R&B, soul jazz, pop and straight ahead styles, Allen and Whitaker created music that found a wide audience who praised the duo for “taking them back home.” With Work To Do, this estimable Detroit/Milwaukee born and bred rhythm connection – a true rhythm convention – knew they had to let the good times continue to roll.
“As a drums and bass led group,” Rodney Whitaker explains, “we think less about improvisation and we respond more to the audience. If they are not tapping their toes we are not doing our job. When bass players and drummers lead bands they think more in terms of tempos and grooves and time and feel. And in keeping with that we want make sure that everybody is having a good time.”
Again joining past with present, with respect paid to masters of the soul jazz, R&B and mainstream jazz idioms, Allen and Whitaker surround themselves with a stellar cast of musicians on Work To Do. Covering such standards as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Lennon & McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby,” “With You I’m Born Again” (popularized by Billy Preston and Syreeta), and The Isley Brothers penned title track, “Work To Do,” Allen and Whitaker also composed new songs to compliment their all-encompassing, all-embracing approach.
“Often times in jazz, people are afraid to like what they like,” Whitaker says. “People like funky stuff but they might be ashamed to admit it. Their jazz friends might look down on them for liking music with a groove or a gospel flavor or smooth jazz or avant garde. But the great musicians played all kinds of grooves. For us it was important to rearticulate that idea and not do only straight ahead but mix it all together because that is the scene we grew up in, where you played everything from ‘Mister Magic’ to ‘Satin Doll.’ It was all just jazz.”
Joined by a superb cast of musicians arranged in configurations from duo to nonet, Work To Do features George Colligan, piano; Rodney Jones, acoustic and electric guitars; Dorsey “Rob” Robinson, B3 organ; Brandon Lee, trumpet; Kirk Whalum, tenor and soprano saxophone; Vincent Chandler, trombone; and Vincent Herring, alto and soprano saxophone.
Allen and Whitaker change up The Isley’s classic “Work To Do” with a breezy, upbeat swing feel, its indefatigable flow sweetened by a soaring Kirk Whalum solo. Whitaker follows suit with some deep toned majesty of his own.
“We were going to play this with the original folk feel that The Isley Brothers gave it,” Whitaker recalls. “But I said to Carl, ‘Why don’t we swing it?’ We tried it with Vincent Herring soloing, but Vincent thought this would be right up Kirk’s alley. And Kirk ate it up. He was on fire.”
The entire nine piece group contributes to Donnie McClurkin’s plaintively funky “Speak To My Heart,” followed by “For Garrison (Both),” which is named for both the great bassist and Whitaker’s son, Garrison James Whitaker. “It’s an impression, really,” Whitaker explains. “Out of my love and affection for Jimmy Garrison and the fact that I named my son after him.”
Traversing swing and Latin, “For Garrison (Both)” features solos from George Colligan, Vincent Herring and Vincent Chandler, with Allen supplying consistently superb direction from the drummer’s throne. Next up, Carl’s thoughtful “Giving Thanks” is thematically joined to a later album track, “Grahamstown,” both of which were inspired by a recent trip to South Africa.
“A week before we began recording,” Allen says, “I was in Grahamstown, South Africa at a jazz festival. I had been writing for the record, and I wanted to write something to thank the people there. Those cluster chords in the beginning of ‘Grahamstown’ reflect these kids I saw in the street. They were singing and skipping and playing. They sang as if they were a choir. The last part of the melody is them coming together, reflecting their back and forth dialogue.”
“What’s Going On” is super funky and popping, its consummate Allen/Whitaker treatment expressed in Rodney Jones’ beautiful chordal work (stating the theme), followed by warm solos from Whalum and Lee, and the entire nonet relaying a soul message drawing from the past but glowing in the present. As with Get Ready, Allen and Whitaker bring their entire jazz/gospel/R&B performance history to bear in “What’s Going On,” with the excellent supporting cast equally excited to resurrect the Marvin Gaye classic for today’s troubled times.
Performed in sequences of 5/4 and 4/4 as arranged by Diego Rivera, The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” takes on an entirely new slant on Work To Do. Again, Allen’s sprightly drumming, including a highly descriptive time warping solo, makes the entire performance pop!
“I heard Joshua Redman’s version of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ on his Timeless Tales For Changing Times album, and it’s also in five,” Whitaker says. “He used the hook as an interlude, but Diego kept the 5/4 flavor and we kept the hook in 4/4. That part is the blues – ‘All the lonely people.’ Paul McCartney is such a lover of the blues, and you can hear it in that song’s lyric and the feeling. Originally the solo form was one time for each soloist, then we decided to use the 4/4 as the interlude, so the soloists would play over the 5/4.”
“With You I’m Born Again,” another allusion to the leaders’ R&B past, is followed by the exuberant “Grahamstown,” which kicks off with Allen and Whitaker rolling and tumbling ala Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison circa A Love Supreme. Allen’s playful melody darts and jumps, giving everyone a ride for their money. A little known Johnny Mandel song, “A Time For Love,” follows.
“I first heard that performed by Abbey Lincoln on her 1991 album, You Gotta Pay The Band. I really wanted ‘A Time For Love’ to be airy and kind of floaty, that is what it is – just guitar and bass.”
Almost back home, Work To Do plays it breezy and blowing on Carl Allen’s “Relativity,” the kind of Saturday afternoon, good feeling romp that is practically the culmination of the Allen/Whitaker esthetic.
“We grew up in the Baptist church, and that has always been a part of what we do as much as anything else,” Whitaker says. “On Get Ready we played the music we grew up with, Work To Do is a continuation of that vibe.”
“Rodney and I bring the idea that music still has to feel good,” Allen concurs. “I don’t care what it is, if you can’t tap your toes to it, I would rather be watching the basketball game.”
With their exceedingly busy schedules as educators, producers and sidemen, Carl Allen and Rodney Whitaker epitomize the album’s title, Work To Do. Their shared history and deep respect – and their abiding understanding of what constitutes jazz – keeps their partnership and their friendship thriving.
“We’re really close friends,” Allen says. “We’re always on the same page. It’s that way on the bandstand and off. We balance each other. We’re like two old men. When we go on the road, we get to the hotel, light up the cigars and start telling lies.”