Leo Sherman - Tonewheel

[GA Russell]

 

Leo Sherman "Tone Wheel" Impacting: October 15 2019 Format(s): Jazz     Artist Title Time           Leo Sherman In Flight 06:25       Leo Sherman The Eclipse 05:04       Leo Sherman Spice Planet 06:38       Leo Sherman Nocturne 06:42       Leo Sherman Holdover 04:08       Leo Sherman Chagall 06:10       Leo Sherman Looking Back Again 05:51       Leo Sherman Aquí Me Quedo 09:31       Leo Sherman Tone Wheel 05:30         BASSIST/COMPOSER LEO SHERMAN LEADS STELLAR QUINTET ON HIS EVOCATIVE DEBUT ALBUM TONEWHEEL   Brimming with vitality, Sherman’s compositions are a musical self-portrait, stamped by his early childhood experience as a Soviet refugee, his immigrant upbringing in Baltimore, and his evolution as a New York-based artist   Available October 25th, 2019 via Outside In Music   Personnel: Leo Sherman, bass Paul Jones, tenor saxophone Alex Goodman, guitar Ben Winkelman, piano Dan Pugach, drums   The term Tonewheel can mean a number of things, as bassist/composer Leo Sherman explains in the liner notes to his stirring debut album of that name. “It’s the mechanical wheel inside of an organ that allows it to sound,” Sherman writes. “It’s a name for the color wheel,” he adds, “and it’s also an organizational model for emotions.” This last meaning was of particular interest, and so Sherman began to ponder Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, “a circle that arranges our primary emotions by intensity, combination, and relation to their opposite emotions.” And he reflected on his own complicated journey, the roads he traveled to become the artist he is today. Joining forces with saxophonist Paul Jones, guitarist Alex Goodman, pianist Ben Winkelman and drummer Dan Pugach, Sherman followed his muse and emerged with a document of mostly original compositions,  Tonewheel, that brings it all into vivid relief. That Sherman is here at all to make music is not to be taken for granted: he and his mother nearly died of sepsis during childbirth in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1987. As Soviet Jews, they were at the mercy of nationalist and antisemitic hospital staff, an ordeal that convinced the family to flee Russia for good, when Leo was two years old.    When they arrived in the U.S., their new surroundings in Baltimore, Maryland were far from a paradise, but Sherman got an education and became fluent in Spanish. His music-making is informed by a certain international perspective that he gained from his earliest days. Fittingly, the quintet on Tonewheel has an international makeup: Sherman originally from Russia, Goodman from Canada, Winkelman from Australia, Pugach from Israel and Jones the only American-born member.   As is common among children of immigrants, Sherman had to overcome strong opposition from his parents when it came to pursuing music professionally. But he had the clarity of conviction to know that studying international relations at George Washington University wasn’t for him. He dropped out after a year to focus on his real goal: hitting the DC jazz scene and gaining authority in as many settings as he could. Then he headed north to William Paterson University, and ultimately to a master’s degree at Manhattan School of Music. Since becoming a New Yorker he’s played with James Weidman, Gene Bertoncini, Johnny O’Neal, Victor Jones and the Wolff & Clark Expedition (led by Michael Wolff and Mike Clark), among others, all while honing his conception as a bandleader.   On Tonewheel we hear the fruits of those labors, in a tapestry of music that brims with orchestrational detail and melodic expression. The soaring and intricate “In Flight,” the ballad “Looking Back Again,” the two piano trio pieces “Nocturne” and “Holdover” and the lyrical finale “Tonewheel” all tie back to the composer’s life experience in some way, as Sherman makes plain in his liner notes. “The Eclipse,” “Spice Planet,” “Chagall” and the one non-original, “Aquí Me Quedo” by the murdered Chilean dissident Victor Jara, reflect some aspect of Sherman’s engagement with the wider world. The music presents challenges, not least of all for the bassist, who stays on top of every intricate part, bowed and pizzicato, getting a great sound on his solos and steering the music with agility and groove. Every bandmate rises to the occasion and more, as Sherman was confident would happen.   It was at Manhattan School of Music that Sherman met Goodman, a marvelous guitarist with several fine releases to his credit. “Technical prowess aside,” says Sherman, “Alex really has a voice already on his instrument. I love the melodic shapes to his lines, but also there’s a rhythmic control and playfulness that I was always fascinated by.” Winkelman, another accomplished leader in his own right, “orchestrates beautifully and his touch is perfect too,” Sherman adds. “He can really dig into the instrument as he does, but on the trio cuts he brings out this bell-like quality in the piano that I really dig. He’s also a rhythmic explorer like Alex, really influenced by Cuban music, claves in various odd meters, hybrid groupings and such.”   Sherman met Pugach on a gig roughly three years ago and ended up becoming a member of the drummer’s Grammy-nominated nonet. (Pugach is 2019 winner of the prestigious BMI Charlie Parker Prize/Manny Albam Commission.) “Dan’s an absolute joy to play with, very sensitive and always extremely grooving. At the core what I love is his pocket: we really lock, and that sort of trust allows for him to execute all kinds of groupings and rhythmic devices that color the music even more.” And Jones, on tenor sax, has “a great sense of pulse and also a really interesting harmonic approach,” Sherman offers. “He has a strong and unique way of weaving through strange progressions, while also feeling the pulse really strongly.”   Jones’ unbounded free-form exploration on the song by Chile’s Victor Jara, who was killed at the outset of the 1973 Pinochet coup, proves to be one of the most striking departures on Tonewheel. “Jara’s story has relevance today in light of what we’re going through,” Sherman argues. “The piece is basically the story of his last moments. Not everyone I know could play the role of Jara, and evoke that kind of anguish and terror, the way Paul does in that solo. He really taps into it.”   One key thing Sherman has taken away from the experience of overcoming obstacles, in music and life, is to be keenly aware of other people’s obstacles: “Growing up where I did in Baltimore, growing up with pretty much nothing, you start to notice how other people around you are going through the same thing, struggling and pulling themselves up, again and again. I wanted Tonewheel on some level to be about that.” Given that jazz is a music significantly based on stories, Tonewheel provides the ideal platform for Sherman’s own story and that of others, establishing his unique place within jazz’s rich legacy.   Tour Dates: Friday, October 4th, 6 PM TONEWHEEL Pre-Release Show Fat Cat, New York Friday October 25th, 10 PM Leo Sherman's TONEWHEEL The Free Man, Dallas Saturday, October 26th, 9 PM Leo Sherman's TONEWHEEL Cezanne, Houston Sunday, October 27th, 6 PM Leo Sherman's TONEWHEEL Parker Jazz Club, Austin Monday, October 28th, 8 PM Leo Sherman's TONEWHEEL The Filament, Columbus Wednesday, October 30th, 8:30 PM Leo Sherman's TONEWHEEL The Greenwich, Cincinnati   WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: RELEASE DATE: October 25th, 2019

[GA Russell]

 

New press and media from tour:

www.jazziz.com/new-music-monday-ben-bryden-hiromi-…/

www.jazztrail.net/bl…/leo-sherman-tonewheel-album-review

[GA Russell]

 

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