Peter Hand has been a prolific and active presence on the New York Jazz scene for many years and has worked with and/or written music for Carmen Lundy, the George Coleman Octet and the Lee Konitz Nonet. On his debut release for Savant Records, the Peter Hand Big Band featuring tenor sax giant Houston Person pays tribute to the music of Harold Arlen and features a lineup of stellar musicians including Don Braden, Ralph Lalama, Cecil Bridgewater, Valery Ponomarev, Jim Rotondi, Richard Wyands and Harvie S, putting a fresh and swinging spin on some of the most memorable songs in the Harold Arlen Songbook. Album includes such Arlen classics as "Come Rain or Come Shine", "The Man That Got Away", "Let's Fall in Love", "Stormy Weather" and more.

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.

The music perpetrated by Jack Walrath & The Masters of Suspense is not easy to describe (with his usual left-of-center humor, Jack would whole-heartedly approve of the verb "perpetrated"). One could say that it is a mix of such disparate elements as classical, jazz, funk, neo-post-bop, world beat, heavy metal & more. The simple fact is that Jack & the Masters' music is one of those all too rare art forms that is substantially more than the sum of it's parts. Modern? To be sure. You won't be hearing any of these tracks on a "Jazz For A Sunny Afternoon" compilation. But all of Jack's music stimulates thought and, most importantly, communicates.

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.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT YOU I DON'T KNOW

BIG SHOT

PLAYING FOR KEEPS

DESERT HEAT

JUMPIN

OUTLAW

DA GIRL

MAN-TI-YA

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE TO GROOVE

IN PRIVATE

YOUR EYES

Some cats just seem to fall out of bed swinging, full of fire & forever seeking those flames - call them the good groove merchants, and make sure you include drummer Cecil in this exclusive coterie. The five extended selections on this record are an apt reflection of an ebullient leader, a collection of skillful players & comfort of place, featuring hard-hitting pianist John Hicks & smokin' sax man Don Braden playing before a full house at New York's famed jazz venue Sweet Basil

Melvin Sparks, the master of groove, funk, soul, jazz, barbeque funk or whatever you want to call it, brings you GROOVE ON UP. See what's made him the funkmaster supreme on this recording. Features the tracks "Mykia's Dance" and the title track "Groove on Up."

On his Savant debut, cutting-edge bass player Plaxico has surrounded himself with the elite of the New York jazz scene: saxophonist Don Braden, pianist Eric Lewis (winner of the prestigious 1999 Thelonious Monk Piano Competition), trumpeter Ralph Alessi, Blue Note keyboardist Jason Moran & others; produced by Cassandra Wilson

IT IS WHAT IT IS

WALKING UPTOWN

SENSEI

ENERGIE

REDUX: LIVE AT THE KEYSTONE KORNER