There's an old saying that a great jazz musician never plays a song the same way once. That could certainly be said of Jerry Bergonzi. He is an intellectual artist of uncompromising integrity and a bold, original composer. On Jerry's new Savant recording he returns to the organ-tenor trio format after a long hiatus from it. From the opening track, Cy Coleman's "Witchcraft" with it's hypnotic organ vamp and "bewitching" chord substitutions Jerry gives to the first 8 bars, you know this isn't going to be your parents' organ-tenor gig. Bergonzi and his discmates, Renato Chicco on organ and Andrea Michelutti on drums, take these standards down new harmonic paths and use them as a launching pad for fertile and impressive improvisation. The playing is always intense and distinctive, fresh and spontaneous.
It might strike as a paradox, but sometimes the brilliance of certain inventions can be measured by how obvious, how commonplace they seem. The music of Venezuelan pianist Silvano Monasterios is so easy-on-the-ear, so elegantly structured, and has such a casual, lived-in feel that it takes a bit to catch on to how sophisticated his work truly is. It's only after awhile that one notices the harmonic turns, the storytelling soloing, or his rhythmic vocabulary, especially his discreet use of traditional Venezuelan styles. Partly Sunny is Monasterios' second album for Savant, and his choices suggest that he feels no need to accommodate any conventional expectations about how Latin jazz should sound. Whatever someone might argue to be some essence of "Latin," is here integrated into the overall sound. With his working trio augemented with the great clarinetist Anat Cohen, saxman Troy Roberts and the colorful percussion of Robert Quintero, Monasterios has given us an album that is exuberant & visceral as well as personal & considered.
When I go into the studio with these guys, it's not like I feel pressure. It's like, oh boy, let's go have some fun, ays saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, recalling how his previous Savant recordings came together. In short, the acclaimed veteran didn't want the fun to end. So now here we have another terrific recording to complement the reedman's impressive Savant discography and another chance to delight in the exceptionally responsive company he keeps. Revelling in the company of long-time partners bassist Dave Santoro and drummer Andrea Michelutti, Jerry also brings Pasadena-born pianist Bruce Barth into the studio. Jerry doesn't often record with a pianist a€" when one cuts their musical teeth with a pianist like Dave Brubeck the titan's shadow must loom large over the keyboard but he and Bruce have become muy simpatico over the years and their interplay here is remarkable indeed. With Jerry's imaginative compositions and his intense approach to music-making, this is jazz that cuts you no quarter. The whole session swings, communicates and challenges as only Jerry Bergonzi can.
Tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen was born in Detroit, MI, on December 11, 1972. He is a member of the third wave of Young Lion mainstream jazz players. As a young man, he was influenced by the great musicians who stayed in Detroit, but upon his arrival in New York City his real apprenticeship began, as he worked with such notables as George Cables, Betty Carter, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Frank Foster's Loud Minority big band, Butch Morris, David Murray, and Wallace Roney.
When you visit a franchise restaurant, you always know what will be on the menu and what it will taste like. When you listen to a Bill O'Connell recording you may not know what is on the menu, but you're guaranteed it'll be a gourmet delight. As in O'Connell's previous recording the gifted veterans and leaders in their own right, Conrad Herwig on trombone and saxophonist Steve Slagle add their prowess to the mix. O’Connell gives his arranging chops a workout with interesting takes on Willow Weep for Me and John Lennon's “Imagine” and penned some new tunes specifically for this recording.
Famed jazz percussionist and double-Grammy nominee Sammy Figueroa and Brazilian singer/songwriter Glaucia Nasser got together in Sao Paolo and created an album that presents a perfect balance of great musicianship and soaring vocals. Featuring guitarist Chico Pinheiro, pianist/composer Bianca Gismonti and pandeiro virtuoso Bernardo Aquilar this album is full of surprises. Sammy's percussion flows beneath the songs, with bursts of Uruguayan candombe, Cuban bata, Puerto Rican bomba and of course carnival samba, while Glaucia's pure sound is aspirational and heartfelt, transcending language.
Alto saxophonist Jim Snidero brings the sum total of his experiences to the fore on Main Street, including those as a leader as well as a sideman with Frank Wess, the Mingus Big Band, Jack McDuff, and Toshiko Akiyoshi. Here he draws upon a quarter-century of touring experiences for a trip through some of the American experience via a cycle of new compositions and two covers. With bassist Linda Oh, drummer Rudy Royston and Cuban pianist Fabian Almazan, Main Street offers fresh original material, imaginative arrangements, inspired soloing, and cohesive yet spontaneous group interaction.
The sound of a truly fine big band makes a lasting aural impression, combining sheer grandness with the finest, intimate improvisations. We now welcome back to the stage the Peter Hand Big Band. A native of New York City, Hand has been a guitarist in a wide variety of groups, has composed an impressive number of tunes, and has also studied big band arranging and composing with the legendary Herb Pomeroy. The Band, includes a stellar array of New York jazz players ? including Houston Person, Don Braden, Eddie Allen, Valery Ponomarev, Bruce Williams, James Weidman and Harvie S to name a few.
Barbara Morrison has been featured on over 20 recordings choosing her repertoire from a wide array of genres from traditional jazz and blues to gospel and pop. Her powerful voice, with it's two-and-a-half-octave range, allows Ms. Morrison to belt out down-home, soul-stirring blues in a manner which places her firmly in the tradition of Etta Jones, Helen Humes, Irene Reid, and Dinah Washington. Her impassioned renditions of favorite torch songs reveal a consummate musicianship and a firm grasp of a song's deepest meaning.
Giacomo Gates is an extraordinary vocal stylist. He's often credited as a contemporary Eddie Jefferson, but remains a true innovator, not an imitator. For his Savant debut, Gates has chosen a stimulating selection of songs by the influential and controversial Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron made music that reflected the turbulence and increasing pessimism of the early 70s. This material is tailor-made for Gates, who without question is the best-suited performer to deliver the satirical and insightful lyrics of a true American original, Gil Scott-Heron.
Joe Chambers is one of the drummers from the fifties and sixties who, along with Max Roach and Art Blakey has influenced an entire generation of drummers. With an ensemble that includes stalwarts Eric Alexander on tenor saxophone, Xavier Davis on piano and others, Chambers here breathes fresh life into a number of well-known jazz classics. While the overall approach is mainstream, the sound is unequivocally contemporary. It remains reverential to tradition yet with a clear regard for jazz as a living, breathing entity.
When you think of hard-driving swing, daring expression, sophistication and elegance in artistry, formidable technique and a thunderous sound, there are only a very small handful of contemporary pianists you think of and two of them are on this recording! Eric Reed and Cyrus Chestnut have played with a virtual Who's Who of jazz including Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard and others. Captured live in the rarely-encountered two-piano format, they offer enough jazz adorned with uninhibited improvisations, flashes of pop & bop, whimsy and wit to please the most discriminating of jazz aficionados.
Jim Snidero is known to spin out wonderfully clean, inventive lines. His transparent sound and rapid execution evoke the early Art Pepper, as well as one of Snidero's own teachers Phil Woods. He never resorts to aimless scribbling, even at the quickest tempos, while his ballad interpretations are filled with exquisitely oblique lines. This, the saxophonist's second release for Savant, presents a unique ensemble, with no keyboard of any kind, the rhythm section of Paul Gill, bass and Billy Drummond, drums propel the proceedings forward while fret-master Paul Bollenback lays down the changes.
