Saxophone Sounds for the New Year!

 

Over the course of 24 albums, tenor saxophonist and composer Rich Halley has created music that takes from various streams within the Jazz tradition and makes it his own.  Just listen to the first minute of "Corroboration", the opening track of his new album, "Boomslang" (Pine Eagle Records) –– the saxophonist engages in a conversation, sans rhythm section, of short phrases with the bright, tart, sounds of Los Angeles, CA-based cornetist Dan Clucas. One expects the music to go in a "free" direction but when bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Carson Halley enter, the music drops into a jaunty uptempo joyride. Given that it's one of the five pieces (out of nine in the program) that is a group improvisation, the piece is episodic and changes directions several times in the six-minute performance.

The album takes its name from a snake from mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. The snake only bites when backed into a corner and its fangs contain a deadly poison. There's nothing poisonous about Halley's music. "Northern Plains" opens with the younger Halley (Rich's son) playing Native American rhythms on his drum kit that leads to a melody that blends traditional elements of Native American melody with blues.  After a powerful tenor solo over the thunderous drums, the band drops into a rhythm with its roots in the hard bop of Art Blakey.  

Right in the middle of the program is the 12-minute group improvisation "Dispholidus" (also named for a sub-Saharan snake).  The front line really stretches out pushed forward by the urgent rhythms. Bassist Reed takes his own powerful solo, a true solo as he is all alone; when the sax and trumpet step in, he steps out so Halley and Clucas can wrap their phrases around each other.  The rhythm section returns, Halley steps out for another compelling solo which Clucas follows with his own exciting spotlight.

Rich Halley has always been one to create his own trail through the vast landscape of creative music. One should not be surprised by the funky beat throughout the raucous "The Lean" and the fiery tempos pushing "The Converse" into the audio stratosphere.  The energetic music and exciting solos that fill the tracks on "Boomslang" make you sit up and take notice! Kudos to all involved.

For more information, go to www.richhalley.com. 

Here's the opening track:

Braithwaite & Katz · Corroboration - Rich Halley

Saxophonist (tenor and alto) Nick Hempton, originally from Sydney, Australia, has been in the United States, New York City to be exact, since 2004.  His early albums (he now has issued seven) show a player who loves melody, loves to improvise, and has a round sound one associates with jazzmen from the 1950s and 60s playing in late-night venues. After issuing albums on Posi-Tone Records and SmallsLIVE, Hempton issued "Night Owl" in 2019 on his own label – that album featured Peter Bernstein (guitar), Kyle Koehler (organ) and Fukushi Tainaka (drums) with music that hearkened back to classic Blue Note Records sessions that paired Jimmy Smith with the likes of Lou Donaldson and Stanley Turrentine.

Nearly three years later, Hempton takes the same ensemble into GB's Juke Joint, a recording studio in Long Island City, NYC, and lets them loose on a delightful 10-song program. "Slick" (which may be the saxophonist's nickname) slides down into the nightclub right from the opening notes of the opening track "The Runaround".  Nobody is in a hurry; instead, they all jump on Tainaka's solid shuffle-swing digging into the groove creating solos to point to all participants having a great time.  Six of the tracks are originals with four "standards" sprinkled into the program. The first of those tracks is Mel Torme & Robert Wells "Born To Be Blue" featuring splendid, emotionally rich solos, from the guitarist and saxophonist plus empathetic support from Koehler as well as sweet brush work from Tainaka.  Another standard and ballad, "The Gypsy" (composed by Billy Reid in 1945) is oh-so-sweet with Hempton's tenor showing the influence of Coleman Hawkins throughout his solo and on the coda.  

Photo: Caroline Conejero

Still, this band is built to swing. Pieces such as "Frying With Fergus", "Liars Dice", and "Upstairs Eddie" gives everyone the chance to "blow" supported by the infectious swing of the drums and the organists's excellent bass pedal dancing. Then there's "Short Shrift" with leaps out of the speakers sounding liek the musical equivalent of the band running to catch the last train back to the city.  The performance just might take your breath away yet it is joyous and lots of fun.

"Slick" ends on a sweet note with an uptempo but not fast performance of Allie Wrubel & Herb Magidson's "The Masquerade is Over".  Hempton's alto solo has a bluesy, playful, feel while Bernstein takes off from the melody without ever losing sight of it.  Koehler digs right in cruising atop the easy swing of the drums.  It's the perfect close to a pleasing set of music.  Nick Hempton creates music whose goal is to make you happy, entertain you, and take your mind off of the world outside your door. Nothing wrong with that at all!

For more information, go to https://nickhemptonband.com/. 

Here's the album opener:

Songs We Sing, Songs We Play

Photo: Mercedes Jelinek

John Hollenbeck, a composer, arranger, bandleader, drummer, percussionist, Professor, and now a label owner (more below), received a commission in 2010 from the Frankfurt Radio Big Band and began a project he called "Songs I Like a Lot"(Sunnyside Records).  He enlisted vocalists Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann plus pianist Gary Versace. The album was issued in 2011 featuring songs by Jimmy Webb, Ornette Coleman, Queen, and more.  Four years later, the entourage reassembled (Uri Caine taking over the piano choir for all but one track) and issued "Songs We Like a Lot" (also Sunnyside). That album included songs by Burt Bacharach/ Hal David, Cyndi Lauper, and others including two Hollenbeck originals. At that time, Hollenbeck said that the project would be a trilogy with fans around the world sending in suggestions for the final installment.

For this album, Ms. McGarry and Mr.Bleckmann built a list of the Top 20 vote getters and, without the drummer's input, chose seven songs.  Not surprisingly, the new album is titled "Songs You Like a Lot" and is issued on Hollenbeck's newly-formed Flexatonic Records label (available through Bandcamp with all profits going to Black Lives Matter).  Everyone is back with Versace on all eight tracks. The eight-song program (one Hollenbeck original) ranges from the traditional folk song "Down To The River to Pray" to The Bee Gee's "How Deep Is Your Love" plus James Taylor's "Fire and Rain", "Pure Imagination" (from the original "Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" movie, and a fascinating deconstruction of the Brain Wilson classic "God Only Knows", titled here "Knows Only God."

Starting with The Beach Boys tune (that closes the album), Hollenbeck the arranger switches sentences around, speeds up the tempo, uses Versace's organ to shadow the vocals, and the reeds and brass for fluttering colors, powerful blasts, and thumping beats.  On initial listens, the song is off-putting but subsequent listens unveil brilliant new harmonies and reveals the emotions. The fiery ending is a gas.  The performance is truly a tour-de-force!

Photo: Bill Douthart

No matter how you feel about The Bee Gees, Hollenbeck reinvents "How Deep Is Your Love" with the reeds playing Steve Reich-like figures along with the guitar. Both vocalists embrace the melody and lyrics with great emotion but never overdue. Ms. McGarry and Mr. Bleckmann sing one of the choruses in unison, the latter's falsetto absolutely beautiful.  Steffen Webber's powerful tenor saxophone solo kicks the band up a notch.  The lone trumpet of Axel Schlosser kicks off Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up", sounding like a tribute to the composer's songs for Genesis.  When the voices come in (Ms. McGarry has the Gabriel part while Mr. Bleckmann takes the place of Kate Bush), the song changes directions. Note the lovely deep brass and organ plus the sweet soprano sax right before the soulful/ gospel section sung by Ms. McGarry.  The ending is a hoot, a "revival meeting" powered by the playful electric bass of Hans Glawischnig and the repetitive "Don't Give Up."

The opening track, the traditional "Down to The River...", is a piece you will play over and over.  There is so much going on yet the piece never feels cluttered. Listen for the vocal harmonies, the fine solos (acoustic bass, piano, and Martin Scales on guitar), how the melody and background changes each time through the simple homily/ verse culminating in full band sound that resembles the Shaker Hymn rearranged by Aaron Copland for his "Appalachian Spring."

Each album in the trilogy, all available digitally through Flexatonic Records (link is below), is filled with intelligent arrangements, brilliant vocals, impeccable musicianship, and the overall emotion that music, whether familiar or not, can bring the listener a sense of wonder, feelings of joy, and hope for better times.  Kudos to John Hollenbeck, brava to Kate McGarry, Theo Bleckmann, Gary Versace, and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band––savor all these sounds.

For more information, go to https://johnhollenbeck.com.  To purchase the music from Flexitonic, go to https://johnhollenbeck.bandcamp.com/album/songs-you-like-a-lot.

Here's the Peter Gabriel song:



Personnel:

John Hollenbeck composer, arranger, conductor 

Theo Bleckmann · voice 
Kate McGarry · voice 
Gary Versace · piano, organ 

Frankfurt Radio Big Band 

Heinz-Dieter Sauerborn · alto/soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute 
Oliver Leicht · alto/soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute, piccolo 
Ben Kraef · tenor/soprano saxophone, flute 
Steffen Weber · tenor/soprano saxophone, clarinet, flute, alto flute 
Rainer Heute · bari/bass saxophone, Bb/bass/contra-bass clarinet, flute 

Frank Wellert · trumpet/flugelhorn 
Thomas Vogel · trumpet/flugelhorn 
Martin Auer · trumpet/flugelhorn 
Axel Schlosser · trumpet/flugelhorn 

Christian Jaksjø · trombone 
Felix Fromm · trombone 
Shannon Barnett · trombone 
Manfred Honetschläger · bass trombone 

Martin Scales · guitar 
Hans Glawischnig · bass 
Jean Paul Höchstädter · drums 
Special guest: Claus Kiesselbach · mallet percussion, timpani 

Photo: D'Addario Woodwinds

Massachusetts native, saxophonist, flutist, composer, arranger, and educator Dave Pietro moved to New York City in 1987. Over the past 33 years, he has worked with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Darcy James Argue Secret Society, and spent 1994-2016 as the lead alto saxophonist in the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. His list of sideman gigs ranges from jazz acts to pop/ rock singers to studying and performing East Indian music with tabla master Sandip Burman.  Pietro has issued seven CDs as a leader, the most recent "New Road: Iowa Memoirs" crowd-financed through ArtistShare. For that album, he convened a group that included Alex Sipiagin (trumpet, flugelhorn), Gary Versace (piano), Johannes Weidenmueller (bass), and Johnathan Blake (drums) with perciusionist Rogerio Boccato contributing on percussion.

Those same musicians, plus trombonist Ryan Keberle, reconvened in June of 2019 to record Prieto's new ArtistShare album "Hypersphere."  The title refers to multi-dimensional sphere of four or more dimensions––if you are curious, click here.  These musicians are all first-class improvisors and Prieto writes to their strengths.  But, this is not merely a "blowing" album. The leader writes intelligent, well-constructed, melodies with smart harmonies plus the music often gives the rhythm section the opportunity to determine the flow. Listen to how he makes the six or seven piece ensemble (Boccato appears on six of the nine tracks while Keberle plays on five) sound like a 10 or 12 piece band with his fine voicings and overlapping melodies on many of the themes.  When he and Sipiagin blend their voices (as they do on the title track and on "Incandescent"), the songs remind this writer somewhat of the Andrew Hill especially on his 1999 Palmetto album "Dusk".  Blake, who now plays alongside the saxophonist, Versace, and Keberle in the Maria Schneider aggregation, is a powerhouse throughout the recording.  Just listen to how he and Weidenmueller combine to push the ensemble forward on "Quantum Entanglement" as well as on the opening track "Kakistocracy."

Photo: Jimmy & Dena Katz

The opening of "Boulder Snowfall" features overdubbed flute. Following the intro, Pietro takes off on a long, delightful, solo that uses the song's melody as a touchstone. Versace's richly melodic solo starts as a duet with bassist Weidenmueller that soon adds Blake to the mix––the three rides the rhythmic waves for several minutes.  The chiming sounds of an electric piano leads the ensemble into "Tales of Mendacity" which is a musical comment on the attack on truth going on all around us.  The blend of Blake's martial drumming and the gently chiming electric piano underneath Pietro's flowing solo is a highlight of the first half leading into Sipiagin's dancing solo.

The album closes with "Orison", an archaic word for "prayer".  After a handsome solo bass intro,
Boccato's bells and hand percussion plus Blakes's exploration around the drum kit underpin the lovely three-way melody.  Keberle steps into his short, yet, heartfelt solo, joined half-way through in conversation by Sipiagin's flugelhorn––Pietro on soprano sax and Versace's acoustic piano join the those voices until the four parts join together in melody while the drums create a righteous storm.

"Hypersphere" is intelligent, often powerful, music, an album that blends strong compositions with excellent musicianship without sounding technical or emotionless.  Dave Pietro, the composer, is responding to the world around, to the crazy shifts in politics and, in hindsight, in global health, reminding us we are stronger when working together than standing apart.

For more information, go to www.davepietro.com. To purchase the album, go to https://www.artistshare.com/Projects/Experience/361/515/1/Dave-Pietro-Hypersphere?v=2 or to https://davepietro.bandcamp.com.

Listen to the evocative ballad "Boulder Snowfall":

Johnathan Blake + Chris Potter Reach For The Heights

Photo: Jimmy & Dena Katz

Drummer and composer Johnathan Blake, son of the late violinist John Blake, Jr. (1947-2014), has been a professional musician for over two decades. He has toured with the Tom Harrell Quintet, the Mingus Big Band, and the Kenny Barron Trio - Blake's discography also includes two albums as a leader (Sunnyside and Criss Cross Jazz) and many, many, more (including CDs by Russell Malone, The Black Art Jazz Collective, Omar Vital, and David Berkman).

Giant Step Arts

His third album, a two CD set, is a live date recorded over two nights at The Jazz Gallery in January of 2018 for Jimmy & Dena Katz's Giant Step Arts label.  Dubbed "Trion", the word comes from the study of physics and is defined as "a singlet state from from three atoms of different colors."  In the case of this recording, the three "atoms" are Blake, Chris Potter (tenor saxophone), and Linda May Han Oh (bass).  The drummer has worked with both musicians on numerous occasions and you can hear that in their interactions, their mutual trust, and willingness to put all of themselves into this project.  Both discs open with drum solos - Blake is setting the tone, letting one know these songs are built from the rhythm up.  The next track, "Synchronicity 1" (yes, the Sting tune) opens with an unaccompanied tenor sax solo: once Ms. Oh and Blake enter, the song is taken for quite a ride.  Pay attention to the melodies and rhythm coming from the bass and the drummer's fiery barrage, all of which push Potter to an intense solo.  The bassist plays a hardy solo over insistent drums and, then, then the sax "trades 4s" with Blake.  The next three tracks come from bassists - Ms. Oh's "Trope (Linda Intro)" and "Trope", plus "One For Honor" from the pen of Charles Fambrough which the bassist recorded in 1991 with a band that included Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Kenny Kirkland, and Jeff "Tain" Watts.  Blake, Ms. Oh, and Potter play the piece with tremendous energy with the saxophonist delivering a solo with the thunder of John Coltrane. Blake's "No Bebop Daddy" closes disk one. It's quite a melodic journey for the bassist and saxophonist while the drummer dances below them.

Photo: Jimmy Katz

After the delightful drum statement "Bedrum" opens disk two, the trio takes a wild ride through Potter's "Good Hope."  When this piece gets going, with the pounding drums, the rhythmic sax line, and Ms. Oh's solid bass, it's hard to sit still. There's definitely an African feel to this song and Blake takes advantage, telling his own story as he travels around his kit. Potter digs in on Charlie Parker's "Relaxing at the Camarillo", sounding more like Sonny Rollins and certainly not in a "relaxed" mode.  The bass and drums swing the daylights out of this track. The piece, actually the band's encore, was unplanned.  The drummer pays tribute to his father with "Blue Heart", a previously unrecorded from the elder Blake. The trio makes sure to pay attention to the melody, building both the tenor and bass solos from the handsome tune.  Disk two closes with the leader's "West Berkley St.", a real treat with its soulful melody (sounds like a melding of Smoky Robinson's easy style and Felix Cavaliere's "Groovin'"), is a showcase for Potter's tasty tenor (dig his quotes from other tunes).

Listening to "Trion" is like sitting in the front row of The Jazz Gallery. The excellent sound quality and these superb performances reminds one of the power of creative music and improvisation, especially in a live session.  Johnathan Blake, Chris Potter, and Linda May Han Oh play with fire and delight.  And, this set is all about playing (in all the positive senses of the word).  Johnathan Blake continues to grow as a musician, composer, leader, and human being.  Play it loud and enjoy!

For more information, go to www.johnathanblake.com.

Here's the Sting tune (arrangement by Chris Potter):

After three albums on ECM, Chris Potter moves to Edition Records for his latest album.  The title "Circuits" is your first hint that this will be a much different aural experience.  Look at the credits and you'l see that besides tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinets, and flutes, Potter also contributes keyboards, sampler, guitar, and piano.  He's joined by James Francies on piano, organ, and synth, Linley Marthe (electric bass on four tracks), and drummer Eric Harland. The drummer, a native of the Houston, Texas, music scene as is the 24-year old Francies, really is the heartbeat of this music. Combined with Potter's melodies and the various keyboards, this is one of the better "fusion" albums I've heard in a while.

With the addition of Marthe (who played with Joe Zawinul in his later years), this music hearkens back to the Austrian-born keyboard master's music as well as Wayne Shorter's fusion albums from the 1990. Potter's music actually has a deeper groove.  Listen to "The Nerve", dig the Middle-Eastern feel, especially at the opening with the overdubbed flutes but don't ignore the elastic electric bass lines and Francies's delightful piano solo.  There's a hint of Jimmy Guiffre in the unaccompanied bass clarinet opening of "Kuotomé" and a delightful sensuality in Marthe's bass lines and percussion.  Again, the leader overdubs flutes to flesh out the melody lines.  The bassist also appears on the title track, a piece that roars out of the speakers and surges forward on a rhythmic melody line (note the bass clarinet holding down the bass line as Marthe dances along with the keyboard).  Potter and Harland engage in a delightful give-and-take during the leader's solo.  After those two raise the temperature, the drummer and Francies spar and party as the latter unleashes an excellent synth solo.

Photo: Dave Stapleton

Potter moves to soprano saxophone for "Queens of Brooklyn", a lovely ballad where the leader's bass clarinet plays the counterpoint.  The melody then is taken up by multiple flutes (note the dynamic cymbal playing) before the soprano retakes the lead.  But, this group seems to be "built for speed" as the next tune, "Exclamation", illustrates.  Here, the saxophones and layered synths play a rapid-fire melody a la Charlie Parker while Marthe and Harland parry beneath.  For the tenor solo, the rhythm section - minus Francies - go all out, creating an intensity that is breath-taking and gooses Potter higher and higher.  The electric piano enters adding more fire to this inferno, leading to an amazing synth solo. The buildup to the finish just might shatter glass.

Photo: Dave Stapleton

The album closes with "Pressed For Time": just listen to the incredible pace that Harland sets - nothing fancy, mind you, just a beat that is so irresistible you can't get enough. Again, the drummer's intensity give the leader the power to unleash a solo that dives and roars, wailing away but never losing control.  Francies's solo gives Harland license to go in several different directions, playing with the beat and how he accents them.  Have to say, I was laughing at the sheer audacity of how far the trio is able to take this music. And, when it's over, you want more. While the music is not "free", the joy of this sound, this band, is freeing. Freeing for the musicians and for the attentive audience.

"Circuits" is a treat for those who love music with muscle, an intelligently arranged and orchestrated program that succeeds because the solos and the interactions keep the listener at the edge of his/her seat.  The album is an impressive showcase for Chris Potter: his decision to include Eric Harland, James Francies, and Linley Marthe proves he's always moving forward, not one to settle into a genre or a groove.  We are the lucky ones - we get to enjoy the fruits of his ideas and their labors.

For more information, go to editionrecords.com/releases/chris-potter-circuits/.

Here's "Hold It" - hold on!