A Significant Guitarist of Our Era, Pasquale Grasso Offers "Fervency"

Pasquale Grasso: Fervency- Sony Masterworks

Guitar master Pasquale Grasso released his new trio album Fervency February 7, 2025 on Sony Masterworks. It is no wonder how this man is continuing to excite and wow an increasingly larger band of followers for the depth and artistry of this important musician. 

Grasso is an Italian born in Ariano Irpino, a hillside town in the Campania region of Italy. This area of southern Italy is about 132 miles northwest of where my mother and her family once immigrated. With this common regional heritage in my blood, there is no doubt I have a sense of personal pride in discovering such a talented artist that comes from this area. 

Grasso has been honing his skills since the age of five. He has tremendous facility and control over his instrument, but he also carries within him a deep respect for the tradition. He sites pianists like Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Elmo Hope among his influences and was mentored by Barry Harris since the pianist caught him playing in Italy in 1998 and took him under his wing. Be Bop is in his man's veins. Early in his career, Grasso was a student of guitarist Agostino Di Giorgio, an American expat who taught him methods of guitar great Chuck Wayne, who was Di Giorgio's one time teacher.

Looking to expand his technique, Grasso also took classical guitar lessons at the Conservatory of Bologna, under the tutelage of guitarist Walter Zanetti. It is no wonder that  when Grasso moved to New York, the guitar ace Pat Metheny invited the fellow guitarist to jam with him at his own NY apartment, and has become both a mentor and fan. In a 2016 interview published in Vintage Guitar, Metheny recognized Grasso for the talent that he was. "He (Grasso) has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.” 

Grasso's influences, life connections, along with his inherent abilities, have all been part of the impressive maturation of this young man's playing and style. Based in New York City since 2012, Grasso used his frequent appearances at Greenwich Village haunt Mezzrow to experiment with his approaches to some of the canon's less-well-known classics and develop his own set materials. He has released well-received albums that covered the music of Bud Powell (Solo Bud Powell-2020), Duke Ellington (Pasquale Plays Duke 2021- with young chanteuse Samara Joy and veteran be-bop storyteller Sheila Jordan contributing), Charlie Parker (Be Bop 2022), Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk.

On Fervency, now thirty-six year old Grasso, is joined by two very accomplished colleagues whom he has worked with for fifteen years, the bassist Ari Roland and the drummer Keith Balla. These guys navigate some obscure and some better known compositions on the album with finesse and skill. Grasso has shown his preference for mining the canon of be-bop music more deeply. He reimagines compositions that others may have left unexplored and he thinks like a pianist. On this album, Grasso has widened the spread of his casting net and brought in some real interesting, often less treaded jewels that are sure to please.

Grasso leads off with one of his idols, pianist Bud Powell, and his blazing "Sub City."  This one features some tight, quick-paced and swinging guitar work by Grasso, a rousing arc bass solo by the impressive Ari Roland, and some Keith Balla brushwork that recalls the exquisite brush mastery of Jeff Hamilton. These guys know how to cook.  

  

Pasquale Grasso, Ari Roland, Keith Balla (photo credit unknown)

The trio can set speed records for flawless execution at mind blowing velocity if so inclined, but Grasso is always inventing on the fly. You can hear different gems of harmonic inventiveness on his "A Trip to C.C.," a song dedicated to his girlfriend, Miles Davis "Milestones" ,and Ray Noble's always challenging, off to the races "Cherokee."  His lines are swift, never predictable, and he seems umbilically connected to the bebop tradition while bringing it into a new era of modernization. 

Composer/arranger/pianist Tadd Dameron is a favorite of Grasso, and he chooses three of this master's compositions- "If You Could See Me Now," "Lady Bird" and Jahbero." 

Dameron played the sultry "If You Could See Me Now" with an orchestra and the fabulous vocalist Sarah Vaughan on her  Musiccraft record of 1946. Dameron's "Lady Bird" and "Jahbero" were on the 1957 Blue Note release with the pianist's  Septet. It included the brilliant Fats Navarro on trumpet, the thoughtful tenor of Wardell Gary and Allen Eager, Curley Russell's anchoring bass, Chino Ponzo infectious bongos and Kenny Clarke inimitable trap work. It is interesting to juxtapose these recordings from the composer and see how Grasso reinvents them for his guitar.

If you appreciate a good ballad like Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now," it's Grasso's sumptuous guitar that cascades his lines, spelling out the wordless melody with sublime sensitivity, as Roland's bass adds another resonating arco solo to the mix. There is no orchestra to rely on here as Dameron had at his disposal, but these two don't seem to need one. They find enough tonal color between themselves to make this one sing, even without Sassy Sarah's wonderful voice.

"Lady Bird" is just a swinging joy. Roland walks with authority as Balla pops and snaps on his snare. Grasso's sound on his custom French made Trenier guitar, just hums like a idling Ferrari. His fluid single notes, often complimented by his unerring chordal accompaniment and chronometric timing, is just superb. There is no warm Gray tenor here, or Navarro's bright trumpet adding different colors, as in the Dameron original, but Grasso and company never seem wanting for being under-armed. They bring energy and excitement to this modern classic and you can't help but tap your feet. Grasso always finds new ways to harmonize on the melody with invention and promise. Balla is given a short feature on his traps and Roland offers another of his signature arco solos. Well done guys!

"Jahbero" had the Latinizing rhythmic punch of Ponzo's bongos in the original Dameron release, so I was looking forward to seeing how Grasso would address this. To my surprise, Ballo's inventive trap work fit the bill beautifully. Grasso's imagination found a fountainhead of ideas on which to portray this wonderfully vibrant, still modern feeling composition on his guitar. 

The remainder of the album continues to unearth some surprises, like  mentor Barry Harris's "Focus" and "And So I Love You." Another Miles Davis; composition "Little Willie Leaps," which once featured a historic tenor solo by Charlie Parker, a rare Coleman Hawkins treasure "Bean and the Boys" and a Milt Jackson favorite "Bags Groove." 

Grasso's title cut "Fervency" has a unique genesis. Grasso was traveling home from a gig in NY riding a subway car in the wee hours of the morning when he glanced over to see an open dictionary and was inexplicably drawn to the word he was unfamiliar with, "fervency." The meaning turns out to be "a warmth of feeling or devotion." It seemed to strike Grasso as the perfect word that describes his own feelings toward his love of this music that he has made his life's work. The music opens with another delicious arco treat from Roland's and his  1930's vintage Jurek upright bass. The Julliard trained bassist is certainly a bit of a throwback and he likes the warmth of gut strings to produce his resonant arco sound. Some have likened his arco work to that of the great bassist Paul Chambers. Needless to say, Grasso follows this splendid intro with one of his most emotive performances, as his guitar creates a liquid flow that seems to have no limit to its harmonic variations. Besides being a brilliant single note player, the guitarist adds excellent chordal work that creates another dimension to his playing and it is just pure magic. 

If you have never had an opportunity to listen to Pasquale Grasso, you owe yourself to get Fervency and just revel in this man and his bandmate's beautiful artistry. If you can catch him live at one of his upcoming performances all the better. It's not often we get a chance to see such talent in his prime and in person so  don't hesitate, you won't be disappointed.

Demonstrating the Enduring Importance of the Musical Legacy of Henry Mancini as one of the best Song writers in the last seventy years.

I have long been an admirer of the work of composer/arranger/conductor Henry Mancini. Of all the most prolific music writers for soundtracks of big-screen or television productions, Henry Mancini, and his musical work stands at the apex of that profession. I am going to try to make a case that his iconic and enduring music makes him one of the most important music writers of the last seventy years.

Enrico Nicola Mancini, was born in Ohio and raised predominantly in western Pennsylvania. He studied the piccolo from the age of eight. His first encounter with what would later become a fascination with movie music was his exposure to a Cecile B. DeMille film titled The Crusades from 1935. In 1942 he attended Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie Mellon) and then Julliard in NYC. eventually studying piano, composition, and orchestration. In 1943, at the age of eighteen, Mancini enlisted in the US Army Air Forces and played with the 28th Air Force Band through the end of the war. 

After being discharged, Mancini worked with a reestablished Glenn Miller Orchestra as a pianist and arranger before he joined Universal-International's music department working on film scores. Here he began a prolific career as a major contributor to the music of over one hundred movie soundtracks. His score for The Glenn Miller Story won an Academy Award nomination.

In 1958 he became an independent composer/arranger where he scored his first television series, the producer Blake Edwards's show Peter Gunn. From there Mancini's career never looked back.

To recall some of Henry Mancini's memorable music tracks from both television and film is to appreciate just how important this man's music was to our musical heritage.  A short list of his more memorable music includes the scores of TV shows Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky. Television movies like The Thorn Birds and The Moneychangers. Television theme songs for shows like Newhart, Hotel, and Remington Steele. Film scores included Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, The Pink Panther Series, and Victoria Victoria, just a few that he did just with director Edwards. He also scored Charade, Arabesque, and Two For the Road for director Stanley Donen. This list goes on with scores for films by Martin Ritt, The Molly Maguires; Howard Hawks' Hatari, and Man's Favorite Sport? ,  Stanley Kramer's Oklahoma Crude; Vittorio de Sica's Sunflower; Arthur Hiller's Silver Streak, and a score to Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy that was ultimately not used.

Mancini's songs have become standards that retain their appeal to this day. They include Mr. Lucky, Peter Gunn, Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses, Charade, The  Pink Panther Theme, A Shot in the Dark, Two for the Road,  Theme from Hatari, Baby Elephant's Walk,  Dreamsville, and perhaps my favorite Lujan also know as The Slow Hot Wind which was originally released in the Mr. Lucky Goes Latin album from  1961. 

My Contention is that one of the true benchmarks used to judge the importance of a composer's work is to see just how many fellow musicians choose to sing and/or play that person's work. Clearly Mancini meets this benchmark.

Let's just use one of my favorite compositions from Mancini. Lujon (also recorded as Slow Hot Wind from the lyrics by Norman Gimbel), is the name of the percussive instrument used in the artist's original release. Though it was not related to anything in the show Mr. Lucky despite being part of the album Mr. Lucky Goes Latin, it did have a durable and endearing effect on the world of jazz music. Here are several different takes on this superb song. Let me know what is your favorite version.

The original from Henry Mancini :

Here is one of the definitive vocal performances of this great song by the inimitable voice of Johnny Hartman with Norman Gimbel's lyrics from his album from 1994.

Here is another version from the album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 with Lani Hall doing her most seductive vocals on the Gimbel lyrics.

Sarah Vaughan is the kind of vocalist who could do whatever she wanted. Her voice was exquisite and she often chose songs that others could only dream of doing justice to them. See for yourself

Who better to express this song's nuanced emotionality on his solo guitar than master artist Pat Metheny from his album What's It All About from 2011. 

The Harmonica and Vibraphonist ace Hendrik Meurkens did a seductively emotional version of this song on his album Hendrik Meurken's Cobb's Pocket from 2013. The group included drumming great Jimmy Cobb, Mike LeDonne on B3 Organ, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Meurkins on chromatic harmonica. Just Beautiful

Ted Nash is a descendant of two of Mancini's original band players.

Both his uncle saxophonist Ted and his father trombonist Dick Nash were active Hollywood studio musicians and often played in Mancini's bands. If anyone can be true to the master composer/arranger's intent then certainly Ted can do so and do so with his own unique read on the song.

Here from his Ted Nash The Mancini Project is Lujon. 

There is a terrific instrumental jazz version of the song performed by the underappreciated multi-reed player Gerry Niewood from his album Slow Hot Wind from 1975 w Bill Dobbins, piano; Gene Perla, bass; Lew Soloff, trumpet/flugelhorn; Bill Reichenbach, trombone and Gerry Niewood, Alto, Tenor, Soprano and Flute. I have it, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a clean youtube to post but trust me it's great.

If these tremendous renditions of this beautiful composition by such an esteemed and talented group of artists are not enough to make you acknowledge Henry Mancini's sustained impact on our world, maybe a few movies that have chosen to use this song in their soundtracks like Sexy Beast, W.E. and Two Lovers and this more famous one may change your mind.  

Eberhard : An Orchestral Homage by Lyle Mays

Lyle Mays : Eberhard Self Produced

The pianist/composer Lyle Mays, shockingly to many of us, transitioned on February 10, 2020. His niece Aubrey Johnson, a talented jazz vocalist, said only that his untimely passing was the result of

 “…a long battle with a recurring illness.”  No further clarification of Mays’ medical condition has ever been revealed publicly.

Lyle Mays Photo credit  Wayne Scott Jones

During his closing days, Mays devoted himself to honing, polishing, and completing a musical project that had consumed him over the years, a recordable dedication to one of his early inspirations, the progressive double bassist Eberhard Weber. Mays first started playing the armature of this composition back in 2009 at a festival in his home state of Wisconsin. The German bassist had suffered a stroke in 2007, and so Mays’ first public performance of this piece was as much a healing, a musical encouragement to Weber to recover, as it was a homage to the man, his work, and its influence. Sadly, Weber’s medical setback was more permanent than originally hoped for. The now eighty-one-year-old bassist has never played again. 

Mays came to national prominence for his work as the collaborator and co-composer of the Pat Metheny Group.  During that period Mays always left his unmistakable imprimatur on some of the group’s most endearing records. The artist won ten Grammy Awards and was nominated twenty-three times over the years.  Despite his importance to the success of the PMG, Mays was satisfied to work his musical and technological magic, mostly avoid the spotlight and be satisfied to play the sidekick to Metheny, his Doc Holiday to Pat’s Wyatt Earp at their musical OK Corral. Throughout his life he was always fascinated with technology, chess, architecture and mu

Mays was playing piano and organ from a young age. He attended North Texas State University (later University of North Texas) and won his first nomination as the composer/arranger for his work on the album Lab ’75 with the school’s One O’clock Lab Band.

North Texas State University Lab'75

While still a student, Mays performed at the Wichita Jazz Festival in 1975 and it is interesting to look at the festival’s performer list from that year as this event proved to be pivotal to Mays' future career. Exploring a musician’s trajectory is always of interest and timely intersections with other musicians often lead to life-changing paths.

 

From WJF 25 years of Great Jazz Compilation by Gary Hess

Mays’ Student Quartet included bassist Marc Johnson, drummer Steve Houghton, and woodwind player Pete Brewer.

It was unpredictable the way new connections casually made at venues like the WJF could be so important to a young musician’s future. For the bassist, Marc Johnson stars somehow cross each other’s paths and the festival likely served as an informal entre to the pianist Bill Evans. Johnson was eventually chosen to replace a departing Gomez in Evans’ last trio with drummer Joe LaBarbera, and he did so from 1978 until Evans’ death in 1980. No doubt a life-changing experience for the bassist. Johnson went on to a stellar career as one of jazz’s most respected bassists. He remained associated with his classmate Mays for years with his sonorous double bass heard on six of the keyboardist’s recordings as a leader including  The Ludwigsburg Concert from 2015. 

Drummer Steve Houghton continued his career as a respected sideman, eventually turning to academia, becoming a respected associate professor of percussion at Indiana University among other institutions. Woodwind artist Pete Brewer would continue his career as a successful freelance musician.

If you look at the artist roster for the 1975 Wichita Jazz Festival, the lineup had s a plethora of great drummers that included Max Roach, Ed Soph, Mickey Roker, and Bob Moses (with Burton), but you will also see other important acts including Woody Herman’s Young Herd, Bill Evans Trio, and Gary Burton’s group which included the young guitarist, Pat Metheny. Woody Herman, the legendary bandleader, and clarinetist must have liked what he saw of the Lyle Mays Quartet in Wichita. Shortly thereafter Mays, Brewer, and Houghton were recruited to become new members of Herman’s traveling Thundering Herd later in 1975. Mays was to be the keyboardist for Herman for eight months into 1976 until another Wichita twist of fate would change his path again. Mays and the Metheny first met at the Wichita festival in 1975. They mutually found that they had musically compatible goals. Metheny would leave Burton and Mays left Herman and the two decided to start a new group.  The group would record and release their first collaboration Watercolors in 1977 under Metheny’s name. The collaboration would be a rich one and it would last for most of twenty-eight years through their last recording together as the Pat Metheny Group This Way Up in 2005. By that time, traveling and presumably, health issues induced Mays to call it quits.

Watercolors ECM 1977

Watercolors would be Mays' first opportunity to work with the progressive European bassist Eberhard Weber. Metheny had worked with Weber while he was with vibraphonist Gary Burton on his albums Ring from 1974 and Passengers from 1976.  Mays again played with Weber on the bassist’s album Later That Evening from 1982. There is little doubt that the German’s playing influenced both these young American pioneers.

Despite being strongly influenced by his classical training, a musical history that he shared with Mays, Weber created his own minimalist, ostinato-based, ethereal, and melancholic approach to his work. He was most likely influenced by the avant-garde composers Steve Reich and Terry Riley. By the early seventies, Weber designed and preferred a five-string-electric bass that extended the instrument’s range, adding more depth and drama to his playing. He was never a boisterous performer who commanded attention. Instead, he wanted his music to speak for itself.  Like the free-jazz movement that went off in one direction that veered away from traditional hard bop jazz, or even the frenetic fusion of the early seventies, Weber’s music was a detour that embraced a gentler, more thoughtful approach. There is no doubt Weber’s musical approach, almost chamber-like, was a serious signpost that caught Mays’ attention.

Eberhard is a thirteen-minute opus of pure Mays’ magic. It is a splendid piece of mostly through-composed music. Mays explores elements of classical, jazz, chamber, minimalism, vocalization, and cinematic musical qualities. Typical of Mays’ work, the piece has a tonal depth and emotional reach that displays the man’s expansive concept of what music should be. While the work is a homage to Weber, the music is pure Mays.

Mallett artist Wade Culbreath opens the piece with a repeating tonal movement that creates an almost other-worldly atmosphere upon which Mays solemn pianistic probing floats. Jimmy Johnson’s electric bass bellows beautifully with authority and poignancy in what I have read is a fully composed part. Mays’ niece, the vocalist Aubrey Johnson, enters the scene with a feathery vocalization that has angelic elements as she vocally traces the music lines emphatically. At one point, Mays’ piano has a very bluesy crossed with Americana feel to it that has always been part of his style. Steve Rodby’s beautiful double bass anchors the time with its fluid bottom tone. Bob Sheppard’s flute is introduced for another tonal factor that adds to the orchestration along with some electronic synthesizing effects that seem to be a identifiable part of Mays’ signature style. A quartet of cellos seamlessly adds to the pallet of tonal possibilities. Mallett, piano, flute, bass, and drum interact swelling with energy, and Bill Frisell’s twangy guitar voice briefly makes its appearance. The separate voices of Johnson and Rosana and Gary Eckert almost conjoin. They meld like three pieces of gold transforming into one brilliant ingot by the heat of a scorching crucible that is Mays' music. Jimmy Branly’s drum work erupts like percolating lava, and Alex Acuna adds perceptive percussive accents that just increase the temperature of the rhythmic brew that Mays compositionally constructs. Culbreath and Johnson beautifully match each other’s notes like two empathetic savants.  Mays introduces a jazz septet that gets into a fiery vibe section that is the apex of the piece. The section includes some perceptive organ work by Mitchel Forman, with Mays on piano, the explosive Branly on drums, subtle Acuna on percussion, Steve Rodby’s strong acoustic bass, and the multi-reed master Bob Sheppard’s tenor saxophone. 

Sheppard’s improvised solo runs for a little over two and half minutes and starts at about the 8:24 minute mark. It is a masterwork of controlled passion powered by a internal sweltering fire that he can call on at any time as is needed. Mays’ orchestrates the music to the summit and then allows Culbreath’s gorgeous, resonant mallet work and some of his own synth accents to melt the piece away, like a fading crimson sunset, turns the sky into a brilliant pastel haze.

The more I listen to this, the more I aurally observe the nuances of his orchestration, the more I realize how much we will miss Lyle Mays and his beautiful world of sonic colors. Eberhard could certainly be positioned as Lyle Mays epitaph, his crown jewel, but while it certainly is his last recorded work, I am sure that Mr. Weber will listen to this piece, love it and it will certainly put a bittersweet smile on his face.  This work should excite those of us who have loved Mays'work for so long, to go back and revisit the body of this exceptional artist's life work. If we do this, we will undoubtedly honor this man’s legacy in the fashion he intended it to be listened to, with joy.

Jonathan Kreisberg's "Capturing Spirits-JKQ Live" Germany 2019

Jonathan Kreisberg Capturing Spirits- JKQ Live 

Jonathan Kreisberg is a gifted, post-hardbop guitarist who possesses a distinctive modern tone, blazing facility, and an intriguing sense of melodic and harmonic imagination that can captivate the listener's attention.

Originally from New York, Kreisberg grew up in a household with a great and varied music collection, from John Coltrane to John Williams to the Who and the superband Cream. Kreisberg moved to Miami at the age of ten where he attended the New World School of Arts. After graduating, he received a scholarship to The University of Miami, held the guitar chair on the school's Concert Jazz Band, and got an opportunity to play with the likes of Michael Brecker and Joe Henderson. His early band, The Third Wish, was a progressive rock band that, by his own account, was "...coming up with new textures and being communicative while still playing intense musically."

In the early nineteen-nineties, Kreisberg returned to his native New York and reevaluated his goals as a professional musician. He concentrated on the importance of melody and harmony and honed his instrumental skills by working with a diverse array of talented jazz artists, including vibraphonist Joe Locke, saxophone legend Lee Konitz, drummer Bill Stewart, pianist/organist Gary Versace, and bassist Larry Grenadier to name a few. Jazz and blues B3 master Dr. Lonnie Smith, who had been with guitarist George Benson earlier, was impressed by Kreisberg's jazz vocabulary and offered the young guitarist a seat in his touring trio. It has been a valuable multi-year association. Currently, leading his own group, Kreisberg established his most recent quartet, which musicians pianist Martin Bejerano,  bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Colin Stranahan.

Martin Berjerano, Jonathan Kreisberg, Colin Stranahan and Matt Clohesy (photo credit unknown)

I have been following Jonathan Kreisberg's work since being impressed by his exciting fusion-infused album Shadowless, a cd which I named as one of my Notes on Jazz's Best of Jazz in 2011. Kreisberg expanded his goals in 2013 by recording a moving solo album titled One. In 2018, the guitarist released a  gorgeous collaboration with the Brazilian nylon string guitarist Nelson Varas on their spectacular Kreisberg Meets Varas.

Capturing the Spirits is the guitarist's first "live" recording, and in the hustle of touring, the band members became unaware that they were being taped at a show at the Jazz Schmiede in Dusseldorf Germany on March 15, 2019. Unhampered by the pressure of being "on" for a recording, the spontaneity and free-flowing energy of the group was palpably captured. The inspired music was partially a reaction to the enthusiasm of the crowd, but make no mistake, these guys are acutely aligned, driven by a unified internal desire to stretch and expand their improvisational creativity, and they execute organically like a singular cohesive entity.

The album captures seven songs, six of which are penned by Kreisberg. There is no lack of interest in this guitarist's compositional inventiveness or his tactile artistry which seems to expand with every passing year. The cd starts off with Kreisberg creating ascending guitar lines on "The Lift," which features some driving ostinato piano lines by Berjerano and the pulsing rhythm from the groove-creating duo of Clohesy and Stranahan. The music has a propulsive, fusion-like DNA. Kreisberg's precise, mercurial lines, swirl by in a flash, directionally elevating you into the ozone, offering a wellspring of ideas along the way. The music is complex and swift, employs altering rhythms, modulating tension and release, and never fails to reach its destination.

"Trust Fall" has Kreisberg leading this swinger in front of Stranahan's beautifully paced drums and Clohesy's firmly anchored bass lines. The notes flow out of the guitarist's warm-toned, hollowed-body Gibson like hot maple syrup cascading on to anxiously waiting pancakes. Bejerano offers a beautiful piano solo that just accentuates the melodicism of his approach.

Jonathan Kreisberg ( photo credit unknown)

The ballad "Everything Needs Something" starts off with Stranahan's metronomic drum lines setting the sauntering pace. Kreisberg plays the repeating melody line with sensitivity ala Jim Hall before Clohesy provides a burnish-toned bass solo that struts along, punctuating lines with confidence for several measures. Kreisberg's ES-175 Gibson is his go-to guitar, but on-demand he can modify his sound with electronics that expand his palette of available musical colors. Here, he uses a synth-style device with volume control, that allows him to explore more modern sounds to great effect. Like some other modernists, Kreisberg sparingly uses electronics to create a very clever tonal transition that bridges the cutting edge to the traditional.

"Relativity" has a Pat Metheny feel in the song's melody, drive, and in the attack and tone of Kreisberg's guitar. He modulates his sound to increase tonal interest and he has an impressive ability to stack blisteringly played arpeggios into lush layers of sound, folding them into each other, draping over the sustained melody. It's a sensuous approach that reminds me of layering cloud-like, whisked milk onto a steaming rich, dark espresso. Berjarano's piano work here is dynamic, inventive and cascading in response. Stranahan's roiling drum work follows the music with unfailing aplomb, power, and originality, as Cloheshy's bass impressively anchors the repeating line.

Kreisberg's "Know You Before" is a gorgeous ballad that plays like a romantic waltz. You can almost see a movie scene of two lovers blissfully dancing to the music in a cloud-filled courtyard. Kreisberg's compositional talent is quite fetching and original. The guitarist's melodicism and attack have certainly been touched by predecessors like guitarists Jim Hall and Pat Metheny, but he has his own style and sound, a sound that brings in layers of his prog-rock influences, as he deftly balances the modern with the traditional.

"Wild Animals That We've Seen" was first recorded on Kreisberg's Wave Upon Wave from 2014. This composition opens with a solo guitar intro that erupts with ideas before the main, modal-driven melody opens up. Berjerano's playing is explosive, impressive and recalls the intensity of a McCoy Tyner approach. When Kriesberg enters the picture he shreds with speed, confidence, and determination. Stranahan's drums never stop, volcanic and punctuated with fearless accents and boiling muscularity.

The cd closes with the Johnny Green classic "Body And Soul," the guitarist opening the song at his most sensitive. Kriesberg plays unaccompanied, sans effects, and explores the gentle harmonic possibilities of this memorable melody before the band enters the music. Clohesy's bass tone is beautiful, full, warm and carries a slow, languishing pace before he offers a soulful, pensive solo. Stranahan's brushes are gossamer-like with sensitivity. Kreisberg's imagination explores unexpected harmonic trails, interestingly interpreting the music without completely abandoning the familiar melody. How can a group take a revered classic and find a way to modernize it with artistry while retaining its essence? This group can and they brilliantly make it their own.

Saxophonist Dayna Stephens: Knowing the Meaning of "Gratitude"

Gratitude is a state of mind. A sense of seeing all the benefits that life has bestowed on one and demonstrating a true appreciation for having received them. Sometimes gratitude takes the form of a prayer of thanks to one’s creator. Sometimes it is a simple expression of showing those around you that you care and have not taken their kindness or love for granted. Sometimes it is a simple moment of acknowledgment that briefly crosses past one’s consciousness amongst all the daily clutter. For saxophonist/composer Dayna Stephens Gratitude is a musical expression of joy, appreciation and a celebration of life.

The thirty-nine-year-old Brooklyn born saxophonist grew up in the San Francisco Bay area before attending school at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston on scholarship. He has studied with piano legend Kenny Baron, pianist Ed Kelley, trumpeter Terrence Blanchard and the iconic Wayne Shorter among others and was on his way to establishing himself as one of the top young voices of a new generation of saxophonists when he was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a rare kidney disease, in 2009. After struggling with the limitations of the disease, awaiting a suitable transplant that somehow often seemed just out of, and with the challenge of finding the funds necessary to get the expensive anti-rejection drug treatment needed for the transplant, Stephens finally received a transplant from his Aunt Lauren Bullock in October of 2015. All during the process Stephens maintained his music as his own personal lifeline. Meanwhile the musical community, both friends and fans, rallied for him, planning benefit concerts, outreaching to the public for donations to help the young musician defray some of the costs of his operation and treatments.Stephens sees this new lease on life as a gift that he cannot take for granted and thus this heartfelt album Gratitude is his musical expression to all those that helped, encouraged and stood by him in his time of need.

The music is a splendid offering by a deeply talented musician. His sound is warm and liquid, and conveys great emotional depth with an earnest but joyful intensity.  The band features a stellar cast of today’s most sort after musicians; Brad Mehldau on piano, Julian Lage on guitar, Larry Grenadier on bass and Eric Harland on drums. 

Stephens’ musical selections are marvelously diverse and uber contemporary. He has skillfully distilled the music of such diverse artists as the French composer/violinist Olivier Manchon, the poetic stylings of Rebbeca Martin, the electronica-jazz driven music of Michelle Amador, the Americana tinged work of guitarist Julian Lage, the durable music of guitar legend Pat Metheny and the perennially masterwork of Billy Strayhorn, into a modern interpretation of what this music means to him.

Starting with the beautifully rendered “Emilie,” we get a taste of Stephens deeply personal approach to sound. His tone is honey-throated, an authentic extension of his voice. Pianist Mehldau, exploratory as ever, responds to this sensitive piece with a probing solo that traverses the outskirts of the melody without ever losing its bearings. Grenadier and Harland offer turbulent, but somehow totally in sync backup, that redefines what it means to be provide rhythmic support. 

On the pianist Aaron Parks moving “In a Garden” Stephens sincerely states the melody and then bassist Grenadier takes an ambitious, plucky solo as Lage’s filigreed guitar work provides a delicate backdrop.

On Michelle Amador’s “Amber is Falling” Stephens is again the lead voice. The band swirls around him in a mist of sounds in the intro, until the song takes on a more forceful launch with Stephens again leading the way with his fluid tenor that brims with clarity and purposeful direction. The superb rhythm section builds the song into a flurry of tension that allows Stephens to soar above the roil. Mehldau spins his pianistic magic on a solo of inspired imagination, spurred along in part by the limitless percussive wellspring of ideas that Harland’s drum kit provides. Stephens ends the piece holding a contemplative note to silence.

On guitarist Julian Lage’s cinematic “Woodside Waltz” we are transported back to a time of wagon wheels and five-cent a beer saloon’s with a honk-tonk piano tucked off to the side of the bar. Mehldau employ the “tack” piano to produce the nostalgic sound. Stephens’ offers a plaintive sound on his tenor which is contrasted nicely by Lage’s nimble, Western-tinged guitar solo.  

On Pat Metheny’s ruminative composition “We Had a Sister,” Stephens uses his EWI/synthesizer to create an otherworldly sound. The electronics are nicely counterpointed against Mehldau’s, by comparison, stark acoustic piano sound. The composer originally played this song acoustically with his trio, but Metheny’s own subsequent electronic explorations could easily be the source of inspiration for Stephens version of this quiet gem.

Stephens’ sole composition on this album is “Timbre of Gratitude.” The song features Stephens’ and Lage playing synchronous lines. On his solo, Lage traverses the fretboard with a gossamer touch that flows like droplets of water running down the silken strands of a spider’s web.

Billy Strayhorn’s exotic “Isfahan” finds Stephens on the big baritone saxophone. His tone is rich with a lustrous vibrato that burrows its way into your chest cavity.  The interplay between him and Lage’s masterful guitarwork is especially noteworthy.

On Rebecca Martin’s beguiling “Don’t Mean a Thing at All,” Stephens’ tenor is warm and inviting and resonates into your soul. The marvelous melody is accentuated with a subtle synthesizer accompaniment by Stephens as Lage darts around the melody with his deft guitar accents.

The closing song is a medley of two songs titled “Clouds.” The first by Massimo Biocati is a synthesized series of vamps with Stephens’ sole tenor voice singing against a trap drum background. The second is by Louis Cole and has a more magisterial, orchestral sound, again with Stephens tenor and synthesizer. Both offer an interesting look at mixing electronics with acoustic instruments to create intriguing aural landscapes.

With Gratitude Stephens has returned from his brush with illness in renewed and inspired form. He has created a  distinctive suite of music, with intriguing contemporary melodies, that should satisfy even the most demanding of listeners.

Interview With Bassist Christian McBride as He Brings His "Tip City" Trio to the Variety Theater, Atlanta

Bassist Christian McBride

Forty-four-year-old bass virtuoso Christian McBride was born in the musical city of Philadelphia back in 1972. It didn’t hurt his musical education to have a father, Lee Smith and a great uncle Howard Cooper who both played bass professionally and he acknowledges them as early influences.

In many respects the sounds of the City of Philadelphia was another subliminal McBride influence. The City has a history of the musical tradition. It was a multi-ethnic training ground for early jazz artists like guitarist Eddie Lang and violinist Joe Venuti. Local singing star Ethel Waters was one of the first black female jazz artists to record on Harlem based Black Swan Records. The stable of jazz artists that hail from Philly is a Who’s Who of American jazz – Jimmy, Percy and Albert “Tootie” Health, McCoy Tyner, Clifford Brown, Hank Mobley, Stan Getz, Jimmy Smith, Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan and of course “Philly” Joe Jones to name a few.

Philadelphia

The tradition is being carried on by the next generation; musicians like Orrin Evans, Stanley Clarke, Uri Caine, Terrell Stafford and of course Christian McBride all hail from the City of Brotherly Love.

Jazz wasn’t McBride’s only influence, just as jazz isn’t Philly’s only music. There was gospel like the Mighty Clouds of Joy. There was the R & B and soul music of the Delphonics, the Stylistics, Teddy Pendergrass, The O’Jays, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. There was even the more blue-eyed, rock and roll soul of the popular Hall and Oates. Let’s not forget the airwaves. McBride grew up in a generation where the funkmaster bassists like Larry Graham of Sly Stone’s Band and Bootsie Collins with James Brown and George Clinton all made their imprint. Seeing the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra with Yo Yo Mah made for a lasting memory. These disparate sources of musical inspiration all formed the musical psyche of Christian McBride. 

Through hard work and an incredible facility, he has been able to incorporate the whole spectrum of these flavors into his own unique approach to the bass, and in the process, he has attracted a legion of followers that anxiously await his next musical move.

Currently McBride is perhaps the busiest man in jazz. The five time Grammy award winning bassist hosts and produces a NPR/WBGO/JALC sponsored weekly nationally syndicated radio show on Sirius XM radio’s “Jazz Night in America” called “The Low Down: Conversations with Christian.” He is the artistic advisor for the jazz programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC.) and has been creatively associated with Jazz Snowmass in Aspen, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, The Newport Jazz Festival and for Jazz at the Los Angeles Philharmonic program.

With all these commitments, it is a wonder he still has time to create and perform music. He is the leader of four distinct groups, his newest trio Tip City, his quintet Inside Straight, his 18 piece Christian Mc Bride Big Band, an experimental group called A Christian McBride Situation and his quartet New Jawn.

McBride’s Tip City will be at Atanta’s Variety Playhouse on April 29, 2017 and features the young pianist Emmett Cohen and the guitarist Dan Wilson. Notes on Jazz caught up to McBride via telephone on April 11, 2017.

NOJ: I am a big fan of your music probably since the late nineteen nineties. It is a daunting task to interview you. I must have gone through- either read or listened to- close to twenty interviews you had and it’s difficult to come up with questions that you haven’t already answered a hundred times. So I’ll try not to repeat what is already on record.

You hail from Philadelphia. We know your father and great uncle played bass and were influences. But there is a deep, across the spectrum wealth Classical, to jazz, to Reggae, to Soul, Rock and R & B and into Hip Hop that make up the Philly Musical experience. Can you share some of your growing up musical experience that are pure Philly?

CMB: When I think of my live musical experiences, that make me think of pure Philadelphia, I actually think of venues as opposed to the actual musicians. My uncle, Tony McBride, he used to be a promotions man at WHAT radio, which was one of two black radio stations in Philly. So he took me to every show that came through. From the time, I was maybe four years old, so my mother tells me, I was going with them to see Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight or whoever it was. I remember the venues. We went to the Academy of Music quite a bit. I saw Smokey Robinson there, Wilson Pickett there and of course I saw James Brown there and that just changed my life forever. We went to the Robin Hood Dell quite a bit. There used to be an annual festival called the Gospell-rama and I saw the Mighty Clouds of Joy there. I saw Albertina Walker. Then there was the Valley Forge Music Fair which was a theater in the round. That place was legendary, I am sorry to see it go. It closed many, many years ago.

NOJ: Those experiences are impressionable for a young person growing up.

CMB: Yeah. I saw a lot of R & B and Gospel shows growing up. I saw the Philadelphia Orchestra when I was eleven years old. Our string teacher took a bunch of us down on the trolley. I’ll never forget that. It was just wonderful that we had a teacher that would actually take a group of us on public transportation to go see the Philadelphia Orchestra. Yo Yo Mah was the guest soloist and he played the Haydn Cello concerto in D. That it one of my most vivid memories of seeing live music.

NOJ: That’s very cool.

CMB: I can still remember the piece.

NOJ: So you went to Julliard after attending school in Philadelphia?

CMB: Yes. I only stayed for one year. I started to work pretty quickly after I started school. School started in the beginning of September and I started working with Bobby Watson’s group maybe two weeks later. I wasn’t going on the road, I was just making local gigs with him. It became evident by the end of the school year, that I wasn’t going to be able to keep a good balance of school and professional work. So, I had a long talk with my mother and she said I trust you.

NOJ: Did you take private lessons while you were playing professionally after school?

CMB: Well no, I did not take any private lessons after I left Julliard. Any lessons I did take were impromptu.

NOJ: My first time seeing you perform was 2003 when you were on tour with Pat Metheny and Antonio Sanchez at SUNY Purchase in New York. You three had amazing simpatico, creating a thoroughly engaging conversation at crazy

CMB: I first started working with Pat in 1993. When Joshua Redman’s first solo release came out. It is a little confusing, because Joshua Redman recorded his first two cds at the same time. They kind of staggered the release dates.  The self titled cd Joshua Redman came out first and then less than a year later Wish came out with Pat, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. When it was time for Joshua to go on the road and promote that album- now you talk about one of the greatest gifts someone could give you- Pat Metheny basically said Josh I’ll lease you my crew, my booking agency and I’ll come on the road as your guest to promote your record.

NOJ: Wow!

CMB: Yeah, but Charlie Haden couldn’t go on the tour so they called me. The minute we finished all the US tour dates under Joshua’s name, the band just reverted back to Pat Metheny’s.  It was the same exact band except he now called it the Pat Metheny’s Special Quartet. That was me, Billy Higgins and Joshua Redman with Pat.

After that I stayed in close touch with Pat. I played with him sporadically, you know a gig here and there. Then he started the trio with me and Antonio exactly ten years later in 2003.

NOJ: That’s when I saw you. You guys were amazing.

Christian McBride, Pat Meheny, Antonio Sanchez

CMB: Thank you, man. That trio stayed together, we played a good six years of gigs maybe even seven.

NOJ: Pat is obviously a virtuoso on his instrument, but he has turned out to be a pretty durable composer also. What did you take away from playing with such a creative force as Pat for all these years?

CMB: I think of Pat along the same lines as Chick Corea, in terms of their both being so prolific. I mean it is hard to compare anyone

(to Chick),if you think of the body of work that Chick has created over all these years. Certainly, Pat is no slouch. I love the fact that he is always challenging himself. He is always coming up with new groups to play with and he is always coming up with new music for those groups. I think that is admirable.

NOJ: I have the album Live at Tonic from 2006. That was a phenomenal, jazz/funk/fusion group and featured some of my favorite musicians including keyboardist Geoff Keezer, saxophonist Ron Blake and one of our local Atlanta homies, badass Terreon Gully on drums. What was the genesis of that group?

CMB: Around 2000, I didn’t really know where I was as a band leader. My first quartet, which I went on the road with after Gettin’ to It , my debut album, came out in 1995. I had Tim Warfield on tenor saxophone. I had a couple of different pianists. I had Anthony Wonsey, I had Joey Calderazzo, Charles Craig, Shedrick Mitchell, but Tim Warfield was always my guy. My drummers were Carl Allen, Gregory Hutchinson and Rodney Green. Between 1995 and 1999 my quartets revolved around those particular players. Tim Warfield left to go with Nicholas Payton’s group. All the rhythm section guys, by that time, had different gigs. Joey Calderazzo went to work with Branford Marsalis and Greg Hutchinson went to work with Joshua Redman and so I was kind of juggling and struggling to find guys that could simply make the gig.

"I decided, what music was I thinking of doing? And what musicians would be best suited to play that music? For me it all starts with the drummer."

The kind of music which I wanted to play, was a hybrid of straight ahead jazz, a little funk, avant garde you know a little bit of everything. Whose is my prototype of a drummer for music like that. The answer, for me was Jeff ‘Tain Watts. I said let me call ‘Tain and ask him for a recommendation, because I know he’s not going to do it, and I wasn’t going to ask him. He is one of my big brothers, I wouldn’t ask him to join my band. I said ,“‘Tain whose is the little you? I need somebody that plays like you basically.”  He said you should hear this guy, he’s been playing with Diane Reeves, he’s a bad dude. His name is Terreon Gulley. I pretty much hired him sight unseen just because of the recommendation from ‘Tain. We met and we played together and I fell in love with him. The hard part was the piano chair. I wanted somebody that loved Joe Zawinul and Keith Emerson just as much as Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson. I though man there really isn’t anybody who can do all that. Only person I could think of was Geoff Keezer. I knew he was playing with Ray Brown. Geoff is somebody I ‘ve know since Julliard, he is dear friend of mine. We all are from the same generation and we all played the same gigs when we moved to New York. After playing with Art Blakey and playing with Ray Brown, I thought, man this is going to be a significant step down in his career, asking him to join my group. But I have to ask him because he is the only person I can think of. I talked to Keezer and he said I’m not working with anybody right now so I would be honored to be in your band. That was the nucleus of putting that group together. When Tim Warfield left to go to play with Nicholas, the other saxophonist that I loved working with was Ron Blake. Ron was just finishing working with Roy Hargrove and so he was available. Before I knew it I had a brand new working band. It was tight, everybody liked each other, and we stayed together for eight years.

We made the Live at Tonic record and we made the Vertical Vision record. Funny how things work out. The Live at Tonic album was supposed to be my second Warner Brothers release and it was going to be Live at Yoshi’s. But I’m glad it worked out, in terms of what that band did, Tonic was the more appropriate place.

NOJ: It was a hipper place for sure.

CMB: Andy Hurwitz from Rope a Dope records said let’s blow it out and invite some special guests. I called up my buddies DJ Logic, Charlie Hunter and Eric Krasno and those were two memorable, memorable nights of music.

NOJ: Have you ever considered getting that band back together, just for the hell of it?

CMB: Oh yeah. At some point, we will get back together. It’s kind of hard though. The main reason that band broke up was Ron took the job with the Saturday Night Live Band, and that pretty much jams up his Friday and Saturday to work with anyone else but NBC. It’s kind of hard to have a band when one of your main guys can’t work on Friday and Saturdays. Then Geoff Keezer got married and moved to San Diego. Terreon got married and moved to Atlanta. I said oh man, everyone’s leaving me.

ut it worked out, because I think between 2000 and 2008 when that happened, I had that band which we called the CMB band. I was working with Pat’s trio and touring with Sting. There hadn’t been at particular band that I played in that was all acoustic, straight ahead. Kind of what I did when I first moved to town and I missed that. I thought maybe this is a sign that I should try another project and that became Inside Straight.

NOJ: Yeah with Steve Wilson, great player.

It is well documented that Ray Brown was a primary musical influence and a father figure to you. You have his bass, the good one, as I understand it.

CMB: ( Laughing) John Clayton has a good one. We each have a good one.

NOJ: If you were teaching a young student the bass today, what would you tell him to look for in Ray Brown’s playing that is so important to absorb?

Christian McBride and  Ray Brown photo credit unknown

CMB: The feel. The feel and the clarity. As a bassist, particularly an acoustic bassist, I am a stickler for clarity. The bass is a very hard instrument to play with clarity, just because the frequency of the instrument. Especially in jazz. It’s easy   to play out of tune and kind of slip under the radar to the ear. Sometimes notes will run into each other. When there’s drums going and piano going and saxophone going, a lot of what the bass does gets lost. You can still feel the bass but you can’t always hear details of that particular player is playing.

NOJ : So Ray’s clarity is what is really important?

CMB: Yeah. When I listen to Ray Brown playing I hear every single note clear as a bell and they are always in tune, which lets me know his focus never wanes. That’s the first thing I would tell my students.

NOJ: I want to continue that thread and name a few bass players and get your response. What would teach a student was the most important stylistic feature of the playing of a Bootsie Collins or Larry Graham?

CMB:  I would kind of hold off on talking about them to students. To me, Bootsy and Larry Graham were the innovators of the electric bass. I would make sure that my students would understand something a little more simple and basic before I would get them to Boosty and Larry Graham. 

Bootsy Collins photo credit unknown

The story goes, which is true, that the whole time Bootsy was in James Brown’s band, James Brown was always trying to get him to play simpler. He’d say “Bootsy these bass lines that you’re playing are too busy, they move around too much, I just need something simple and in the pocket.” Boostsy would say “yes sir Mr.  Brown” and come up with this complicated but funky bassline, and James Brown would just shake his head. It just meant that Boosty’s talent was so big, not even James Brown could hold him down. As hard as he tried.

I would just tell a student to try to pay attention to the simplicity. The same is true when listening to Ray Brown, because although Ray Brown was a virtuoso, your prime directive as a bassist is to be the best supporting instrument you can be. Play simple and always pay attention to the groove.

NOJ: How about Paul Chambers or Scott LaFaro?

CMB: I think they all have the same qualities that I love in Ray Brown. Paul Chambers had a more relaxed beat than Ray Brown. Ray Brown was always pushing and I kind of like that personally. He always kind of had his foot a little bit on the gas pedal, whereas Paul Chambers was on cruise control, you know what I mean.?

You could set the tempo and he just laid there and the groove was so, so good. He was just as much of a virtuoso as Ray Brown. Had just as big a sound as Ray Brown, his note choices were just as clear as Ray Brown. I think the only difference between the two of them was their beat. Ray was a little more forceful and ahead and Paul Chambers was more right in the middle.

Scott LaFaro, well we all know what his contributions were to the acoustic bass in terms of being a more interactive player, as opposed to just simply being a four to the bar kind of player. Of course, he could do that too. If you listen to very early Scott La Faro recordings, particularly what he did with Hampton Hawes. The album with Harold Land and Frank Butler, For Real it’s called.  He sounds like Ray Brown. Also on Introducing the Victor Feldman Trio with Victor Feldman on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass and Stan Levey on drums.

It’s clear Scott LaFaro knew the basics of what it meant to be a bass player. He could hold it down with the best of them, but then when he got to Bill Evans, he found his perfect musical partner where he didn’t need to be just playing bass lines. He was interacting with Bill Evans quite a bit and his technique was such that he sort of broke the mold. In the sense that every bass player thought “I want to develop my chops too, I want to play fast.” I am sure if Scott La Faro had lived he would have said “Hey guys, learn how to walk first, develop your sound, before you try to play fast.”  

NOJ: With all the many hats that you wear, you have a very serious, kickass big band, which I saw one year at The Caramoor Jazz Festival in 2011. You have written for this band as well as for other large ensembles. 

Most modern big band arrangers like Maria Schneider, Ryan Truesdell, Bob Mintzer or James D’Arcy Argue all have been under the tutelage of a former master arranger like Gil Evans, Gerald Wilson or Bob Brookmeyer.

Who do you consider your mentor when it comes to arranging for a multi-piece ensemble and how did it start for you?

MCB: A lot of people. I think I have gotten a lot of help from everybody that has written for a big band. I’ve spent a lot of time with Jimmy Heath. My big brother John Clayton is one of my biggest heroes. I’ve spent time with Maria, picking her brain about certain things. I love Maria so much because she has a lot of her own great ideas, but also she studied under Gil Evans. She would tell me somethings that Gil told her. 

"You almost physically feel your body change when someone gives you some useful information that you know is going to help you."

Maria and John and the great Patrick Williams, Johnny Mandell and Lalo Schifrin, who I’ve been on the road with many times with his Jazz meets the Orchestra projects. I’ve spent a great deal of time with many great arrangers.Yeah.

NOJ: So you have absorbed all these ideas of different arrangers from your experiences with them?

CMB: Absolutely.

NOJ: Any arranger that you are particularly fond of?

CMB: There is Ellington of course, he goes without saying. But I think the first arranger that I really started to pay attention to was Oliver Nelson.

NOJ: I saw your trio with Christian Sands and Ulysses S. Owens Jr. at a small supper club called Alvin & Friends in New Rochelle, NY back in June of 2014. You were a bit under the weather that night, but somehow you rose to the occasion and that trio was simply mind blowing. What do you have in store for that trio?

CMB: That was a good show, I remember that. That trio is sort of officially non-existent at the moment. Christian is about to embark on his own solo tour.  I am extremely happy for him, he wound up signing a solo deal at Mack Avenue records. His new cd will be released in two weeks in fact. He’s going on the road this year with his own group. I’m just happy to be a part of that young man’s life, because he is a very special guy.

NOJ: The Sands, that’s quite a family. I saw him in New Haven and I think he has a brother who is a helluva drummer.

CMB: That’s right, a younger brother Ryan, who plays drums. The family unit is a tight unit.

Ulysses is doing quite a number of different projects with a lot of different people so I don’t know when that trio will ever get back together again. I already know that Christian will be one of those people who will never be out of my life. Even when Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown no longer played together in an actual trio they still played together all the time in various All Star projects and things like that. I see Christian and I doing that.

NOJ: You’ve won five Grammies and been on over 300 hundred recordings as a sideman, thirteen recordings as a leader. What’s missing for you musically? What do you feel you haven’t yet accomplished as a musician?  

CMB: I hope one day to be able to…I feel like I am always composing on the fly. I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and actually focus on writing music that I would like to write for me. I’ve been doing a lot of commercial writing, in terms of like there is a big engagement coming up at NJPAC or Jazz Museum of Harlem or Jazz House Kids and I have to get some arrangements for specific events.

In terms of my own groups, I’d like to maybe once a year go on a writing retreat. I actually spoke to Metheny about that. He said, even when he’s off the road and at home, he can’t write at home, because he has got kids and there is too much going on in his home to concentrate and write. Pat takes a moment where he gets away to his second place and gets to write. I talked to JJ Johnson’s wife and she said JJ used to do that too. I need to go somewhere for like a week and just bang out some new music. I would like to do that one day.

NOJ: They do have artist’s colonies where they allow and subsidized artists of worth who need a place of quiet to work. I know there is one in Connecticut and one in Vermont.

CMB: Yeah. Melissa and I took a vacation on Vancouver Island and the place we stayed, it was beautiful. They call it a Bed and Breakfast, but it was huge. They had a grand piano in middle of the lobby and I thought oh man this is perfect. The perfect atmosphere for me to sit down and write some music. But, you know, I couldn’t use our vacation as a writing retreat. That wouldn’t be fair to Melissa.

NOJ: That would put you in hot water pretty quickly, I think.

CMB: Exactly!

NOJ: You have played bass behind singers like Diana Krall, Queen Latitfah, Sting and I actually got to see you play with Dianne Reeves a couple of years back. How is it different from playing without a singer and is it a format that you like?

CMB: I love playing with great singers. Playing with Dianne is no different than playing with a great instrumentalist. For me Dianne is sort of like the greatest living jazz vocalist. Everything she does is awe inspiring. She is very musical.

 

Dianne Reeves and Christian M

Diana Krall, we both come from the same Ray Brown School. Dee Dee Bridgewater, not only is she a great singer, but she is also one of the great performers I’ve been on stage with. It can get distracting watching her. She’s so bad, she is so badass that I sometimes almost forget it’s my cue. Cyrille Aimee, that young lady is killing it. I love working with her. Man, there are too many people I can name.

NOJ: Speaking of vocalists, I did a recent interview with the fine vocalist Jose James and he told me he was trying to get you to do a record with him in the near future. If Jose is reading this, is that something we can expect?

CMB: That’s my man too. Yes. We have worked quite a bit in the past and I love working with Jose.  I’ve always felt there hasn’t nearly been as many male vocalists that we’ve been excited about as there have been female vocalists. I have been thinking where are all the guys? All the guys that are really kind out there doing it, they all eventually just start to sing R & B. Or they kind of go for some sort of hybrid, which is cool, but I miss somebody like a Joe Williams or….

NOJ: But even Jose is trying to break out of that jazz crooner pigeonhole. His new album is much more R& B and neo soul.

CMB: Even though Jose is not wedded to straight ahead jazz, he can do it so well. It is a pleasure to see a guy with so much diversity. 

Jose and I have a couple of things possibly in the pipeline. We just have to figure out the when, that’s always the hardest part. Jose is one of my favorite musicians in the world. That’s a guy who can go a lot of different ways. I mentioned how I miss the guys, I don’t see a lot of guys out there singing a lot of jazz.  I wrote some big band arrangements for him a couple of years ago, we did a thing at NJPA, and he sang my arrangement of “Moanin’”and oh man he killed it.

NOJ: He had a great album with that Billie Holiday material. When we spoke, he indicated it was a sort of pinnacle for him in the jazz genre.

CMB: Yes, he did. Man, I was so proud of him when he did that record. That was an amazing project.

NOJ: On a philosophical note, you seem very driven, what could you see yourself dedicating the rest of your life to if for some reason you couldn’t play music again?

CMB: Sleep. (Laughs) No education.

"I think it’s important to share your knowledge."

It weirds me out when I meet people who are tight with their information. I know some musicians who don’t want to impart some of the wisdom that they have gotten from older musicians, because they think that someone may take it and it will no longer be special to them specifically anymore if they share it. If I tell you a story or share something with you that Ray Brown told me, then 'am going to be afraid that you’ll take that story and try to make it yours? To me that is sort of selfish.

If I couldn’t play music anymore, then I would dedicate my life to of these young musicians that are coming up. More than I do now.

NOJ:  You’ll be playing with your group Tip City here in Atlanta on April 29, 2017. What do you like or don’t like about playing in Falcon, Braves and Hawks territory?

MCB: (Laughing.) There is nothing that I don’t like about playing in Hawk or Braves land. I hate to see the Braves going through such hard times, but you guys have had such a long run, so maybe I really don’t feel so bad for you.

I know a lot of people in Atlanta, a lot of musicians and I don’t feel like a stranger there.

NOJ: Tell us about Tip City, who is in that band and what we can expect at the concert.

CMB: There is young pianist by the name of Emmett Cohen and the guitarist is Dan Wilson, he plays with Joey DeFrancesco quite a bit. I’m looking forward to working on this new project. A group that is nothing like my previous trio, but also nothing like my New Jawn project either. I like to stay as fresh as possible.

NOJ: What do you expect these young musicians will bring to the table?

CMB: The first time I played with Dan Wilson, he knocked me out. He comes form that lineage of George Benson, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell school. He’s got such great technique with great ideas and he swings real hard.

Emmett Cohen I sort of watched grow up. He is from the Montclair area and was one of the students that we had at Jazz House Kids. This will be sort of like a good hometown story.

NOJ: I know you are also very involved in your home community of Montclair, New Jersey, where your wife Melissa founded Jazz House Kids, a nationally recognized community based arts organization. Tell us about what you guys do there and how this started?

CMB: She started this fifteen years ago because most of these school, not just in New Jersey, but nationwide, were getting rid of their music programs. She was getting hired to put together musicians to come into public schools in Newark to do some music programs. She realized she should her own organization to put bands together to come into these schools. Next thing she knows Jazz House Kids turns out to be a big hit.

NOJ: That’s very commendable. It’s what we need more of now-a-days as it is clear that the present political climate is not too favorable to promoting the arts in our public education system.

CMB: Between grants and private donations, we are able to keep this thing going qand we serve over a thousand kids in the State of New Jersey during the school year. We have up to two hundred and fifty students come to our summer program. It’s been real fulfilling to watch some of these young people to get to express themselves.

NOJ: Christian, I look forward to seeing you and Tip City at the Variety on Saturday April 29th here in Atlanta and will continue to follow your multi-dimensional career, which I am sure will have a lot of surprises ahead. Thanks for spending the time with us.

---

 [RM1]