GA Russell

Jazz Ensemble of Memphis Showcases the Legendary Music Hub's Rising Talents on "Playing in the Yard," Set for April 5 Release on Memphis International Records Album Features a Half-Dozen Standards & Lesser-Known Jazz Compositions Played by an Ace Quintet of Young Memphians On Their First Musical Encounter   March 6, 2024 The storied musical city of Memphis, Tennessee presents its delegation to the rising generation of cutting-edge jazz artists with Playing in the Yard, the debut recording by the Jazz Ensemble of Memphis, hitting April 5 on Memphis International Records. An answer record to the revelatory 1959 album Down Home Reunion: Young Men from Memphis, the new album comprises a summit of five of the city’s freshest jazz talents, here playing together for the first time. (Playing in the Yard is available on CD as well as blue vinyl.) The original album was a milestone for the Bluff City. It introduces the larger jazz world to the best and brightest of Memphis jazz musicians, many of whom would become world-renowned figures in their own rights: Booker Little, George Coleman, Frank Strozier, Jamil Nasser, and Phineas Newborn, among others. But if those players were young—Little, the baby of the assemblage, was almost 21—the new Jazz Ensemble of Memphis is younger still. Drummer Kurtis Gray and trumpeter Martin Carodine Jr. were 17 and 19, respectively, at the time of recording; tenor saxophonist Charles Pender II is at 26 the band’s elder statesman, with 25-year-old keyboardist/vibraphonist DeAnte Payne and 21-year-old bassist Liam O’Dell rounding out the lineup. In addition to their first time playing together, Playing in the Yard documents the young artists’ first time in a recording studio. But their youth is deceptive. Each of the musicians plays with a finesse and perception beyond his years. If their age shows through, it’s only in their seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm. “There’s a lot of joy in the recording,” adds David Less, the producer who spearheaded the project. “They’re playing for the love of the music and that comes through every note.” L. to r. Liam O'Dell, Martin Carodine Jr., Kurtis Gray, Charles Pender II, DeAnte Payne. Both the love and the sophistication are heard throughout the album, whether in Pender’s gravitas-filled solo on “When You Wish Upon a Star,” the lowdown blues of Payne’s vibes on “The Crawl,” or Carodine’s old-soul trumpet voice on “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” Yet there’s still plenty of room for exuberance, perhaps best captured in the sinuous reinterpretation of the classic “A Night in Tunisia,” on which everyone but the bassist contributes a sly solo, and the funky Sonny Rollins–penned title track, where Payne (on Fender Rhodes), O’Dell, and Pender each submit improvisations stacked with exclamation points. Their enjoyment is contagious, their music brimful of exciting promise. Special guest Jim Spake, a Memphis saxophone mainstay, is heard on soprano sax on the title track. The Jazz Ensemble of Memphis is the fruit of a conversation between father and son Johnny and Jeff Phillips (nephew and great-nephew of Sun Records’ legendary founder Sam Phillips) and veteran music entrepreneur, critic, and producer David Less. The talk centered on the 1959 United Artists album Down Home Reunion: Young Men from Memphis, which had in its time broken some of the city’s hottest young jazz players to a national audience. The Phillipses commissioned Less—the former owner of and current producer for Memphis International Records, now owned by Jeff Phillips—to organize and produce a recording session that would serve as simultaneously a sequel and an update to the original album. A keen observer (and discerning ear) of the local scene, Less rounded up a remarkable quintet of gifted players between the ages of 17 and 26. They included University of Memphis alumni Charles Pender II (tenor saxophone) and Liam O’Dell (bass); Martin Carodine Jr. (trumpet), a Memphian currently studying at the University of Miami; and two young Memphis natives and residents, Deante Payne (keyboards, vibraphone) and Kurtis Gray (drums). While the five had never played together, says Less, “It’s amazing how well they melded as a band.” The fire and polish of Playing in the Yard bears witness to that melding. “These kids are bringing that excellence to fore,” says saxophonist and Memphian Kirk Whalum in the album’s liner notes, “with that unmistakable Memphis seasoning which sets them apart, and in the rarefied air of other Memphis giants.”  

Eleven stories, all above average.

Mark Watkins Enhances His Celebrated Saxophonist Quartet With "FOUR + Six," To Be Released March 29 On Jazz Hang Records Recording Features the Idaho-Based Saxophonist's Ensemble FOUR With Guitar, Rhythm Section & the Dual Brasses of Brothers Derrick & Vincent Gardner   February 2, 2024 Mark Watkins envelops his long-running saxophone quartet in lush, billowing textures on FOUR + Six, the band’s deliriously tuneful sixth album, set for a March 29 release on Jazz Hang Records. Watkins augments the core quartet of himself (soprano and tenor saxes), Sandon Mayhew (tenor sax), Ray Smith (alto sax), and Jon Gudmundson (baritone sax) with Corey Christiansen (guitar); a three-piece rhythm section of Justin Nielsen (piano), Braun Khan (bass), and Kobie Watkins (no relation, drums); and the esteemed Gardner brothers, Derrick (trumpet) and Vincent (trombone). While the saxophone quartet FOUR goes back more than 20 years, the roots of this particular collaboration lie in the turbulent year of 2020, when Derrick Gardner was forced to cancel a performance at the Brigham Young University-Idaho (where Watkins has been director of jazz studies since 1999) annual jazz festival. With the reinstatement of the festival in 2022 and the re-inviting of Derrick Gardner—as well as his trombonist brother and drummer Watkins—Watkins took the opportunity to formulate this build-out of the original FOUR. “I love composing for a cappella saxophone quartet but have often been intrigued by the possibility of including a trumpet, a trombone, and a rhythm section in my compositions,” writes Watkins in the album’s liner notes. “These instruments add color and variety to the quartet without creating the weight of a big band.” The broadened sonic palette of FOUR + Six demands a broad stylistic palette too, and on this Watkins delivers. The album’s seven tracks (all Watkins originals) include the New Orleans pastiche “On Any Given Day in Summer,” the angular post-bop “The Executioner Is Looking Away,” the gentle ballad “Against My Desire to Imagine,” and the Third Stream–inspired “Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow and Forever.” But a recording packed with so many superb musicians can’t simply be a composer’s vehicle, and FOUR + Six’s soloists appropriately shine. Christiansen, Nielsen, Mayhew, and Vincent Gardner each take a bravura turn on the terse Latin “Shouldn’a Did That,” while the brothers find themselves featured in “Without Another Word” (which also includes solos by Khan and Mark Watkins on soprano). “There’s so much talent in this band,” Watkins notes. “We were able to go off in all kinds of directions.” Which, of course, was FOUR + Six’s intention all along. L. to r. Mark Watkins, ss/ts; Jon Gudmundson, bar; Justin Nielsen, p; Braun Kahn,b; Kobie Watkins, d; Vincent Gardner, tb; Derrick Gardner, tpt; Corey Christiansen, g; Sandon Mayhew, ts; Ray Smith, as. Mark Watkins was born May 29, 1961 in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up on classical, country, and rock & roll records as the family moved from place to place across the country. Partially blind since birth (and today fully blind), he struggled with the disability and attendant prejudice both in and out of school—but not enough to keep him away from the music he loved. Watkins earned a bachelor’s degree in saxophone performance from Brigham Young University in 1988, followed by a doctorate in woodwind performance from Indiana University. Though his concentration in both cases was in classical music, at IU Watkins encountered the legendary jazz educator David Baker, with whom he studied to earn a minor in jazz studies. Originally, Watkins’s vision of a saxophone quartet was a classical ensemble, which he realized while teaching at North Dakota State University in the late ’90s. But when a colleague suggested that they investigate some jazz tunes, the Hard-Bop Saxophone Quartet was born. Watkins has been a jazz musician ever since, taking the job of director of Jazz Studies at BYU-I in 2001, and remaining there until 2022. At the university’s seat of Rexburg, Idaho, he created the sax quartet FOUR, who recorded their debut album With Friends Like These in 2006. Five other albums followed, of which FOUR + Six is the latest. In addition to his performance, Watkins is an accomplished scholar of his instrument and the author of many books on the subject. One of these, 2018’s From the Inside Out: An In-Depth Resource for the Development of Saxophone Sound, has been widely hailed as a landmark and comprehensive study of the human physiology behind playing the saxophone. Listen: jazzhangrecords.com/product/four-six    FOUR + Six: "Don't Care Who Knows It"  Mark Watkins/FOUR Web Site  

Anyone here a ham? My dad was. This is a glorified advertisement for having a portable ham radio.

# Artist and Track Title Time 1. Jim Snidero - For All We Know 07:56 2. Jim Snidero - Naima 05:14 3. Jim Snidero - Love for Sale 06:21 4. Jim Snidero - Blackberry Winter 06:32 5. Jim Snidero - Parker's Mood 05:19 6. Jim Snidero - Willow Weep for Me 06:33 7. Jim Snidero - My Funny Valentine 07:58 8. Jim Snidero - You Go to My Head 07:32 New from Jim Snidero on Savant Records JIM SNIDERO - For All We Know Savant Records SCD 2215 Jim Snidero - alto saxophone Peter Washington - bass Joe Farnsworth - drums Airplay Starts now Suggested Tracks 3. Love for Sale 6:21 • 4. Blackberry Winter 6:32 5. Parker's Mood 5:19 • 6. Willow Weep for Me 6:33 Like our stuff? Let’s hear from you. Record Company Contact Barney Fields • Savant Records, Inc. jazzdepo@ix.netcom.com • (212) 873-2020 • www.jazzdepot.com 2215 Savan... Jim Snider... # Artist and Track Title Time 1. Black Art Jazz Collective - Black Heart 05:50 2. Black Art Jazz Collective - The Fabricator 06:16 3. Black Art Jazz Collective - Truth to Power 08:21 4. Black Art Jazz Collective - It's Alright 07:52 5. Black Art Jazz Collective - Coming of Age 05:30 6. Black Art Jazz Collective - Dsus 05:29 7. Black Art Jazz Collective - Code Switching 05:51 8. Black Art Jazz Collective - Soliloquy (for Sidney Poitier) 04:21 9. Black Art Jazz Collective - Lookin' for Leroy 06:46 10. Black Art Jazz Collective - Blues on Stratford Road 06:30 Just in Time for Black History Month BLACK ART JAZZ COLLECTIVE - Truth to Power HighNote Records HCD 7353 Wayne Escoffery – tenor saxophone • Jeremy Pelt – trumpet James Burton III – trombone Josh Evans, Wallace Roney Jr. – trumpets (track 3) Xavier Davis (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 & 10) - piano Victor Gould (tracks 3, 6, 7 & 😎 - piano Vicente Archer (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 & 10) - bass Rashaan Carter (tracks 3, 6, 7 & 😎 - bass Johnathan Blake (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 & 10) - drums Mark Whitfield Jr. (tracks 3, 6, 7 & 😎 - drums Airplay Starts Now Suggested tracks 6. Dsus 5:29 • 7. Code Switching 5:50 9. Lookin’ for Leroy 6:45 • 10. Blues on Stratford Road 6:30 For its 10th anniversary release, the Black Art Jazz Collective (BAJC), hailed by DownBeat Magazine as “a powerhouse of contemporary jazz talent,” offers ten exciting and unique works that speak to both artistic freedom and musical sensibility relative to the tenor of our times. The band features an all-star line-up, including founding members Wayne Escoffery, Jeremy Pelt, James Burton III, Xavier Davis and Johnathan Blake who are joined by current members Victor Gould, Rashaan Carter and Mark Whitfield Jr. Wayne Escoffery tells us, “I formed Black Art Jazz Collective as an ensemble of African American musicians, celebrating Black culture and the origins of the music through original compositions with unapologetic pride.” Like our stuff? Let’s hear from you. Record Company Contact Barney Fields • HighNote Records, Inc. jazzdepo@ix.netcom.com • (212) 873-2020 • www.jazzdepot.com BAJC DigiB... 7353 HighN...

The Beatles - The US Albums $99.99 (50% off) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H8XF9I0

I stumbled onto this album over the weekend on YouTube Music. It is listed there as Red Hot from Alex.

Great finds, TTK! I am delighted to see that although the Staccato soundtrack is not on CD, it can be streamed by Amazon Prime members. https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0186SF5L6

One of my first jazz albums! I wrote for the Prestige catalogue, and received a simple list with the one artist's name, album title and price. "Herbie Mann - Just Wailin' - $1.99." I didn't know what I was getting.

I got their second album when it was new (1974?), and played the heck out of it! I got that box set for Christmas '22. I have listened to the first two discs, and was just thinking this week that it was time to open up the next one. I saw Frith with Skeleton Crew in Atlanta in '85. I loved it. My date hated it!

Lon, I can see that you are a comic book connoisseur! For many years (decades) I have wanted to read the stories of Black Mask and Dime Detective. A few years ago, an attorney obtained as payment for services rendered the rights to the Black Mask catalogue. He re-published many of the stories. Apparently the sales were good, because now we are seeing the Dime Detective stories re-published as well. Radio Archives is also re-releasing many pulp magazines as eBooks.

I picked up The Doors of Perception when it was brand new (because it was on the Vortex label!), and I've always liked it. I'm very surprised to see it featured for a RSD. I always considered it to be obscure, unknown and unappreciated.

Disc 3

This was a comic book I always saw on the rack, but was never tempted to pick up. Did anyone here like this one?

Was 1972 immediately after Baker got his new set of teeth?

Dazzling Live Sides by Sonny Rollins Receive First Authorized Release on Resonance's Record Store Day Offering "Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings" Potent Trio Sides Featuring the Tenor Sax Giant with Bassist Henry Grimes & Drummers Pete La Roca, Kenny Clarke, & Joe Harris Arrive as Limited Four-LP Set on April 20 & Three-CD Package & Digital Download Edition on April 26 Deluxe Package Includes Rare Photos, Detailed Notes by Bob Blumenthal, & Interviews with Rollins & Fellow Tenor Men Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, James Carter, James Brandon Lewis, & the Late Peter Brötzmann   February 15, 2024 Resonance Records, the award-winning home of archival jazz treasures, will proudly present a new, fully authorized live collection by tenor master Sonny Rollins, Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings, as a limited edition four-LP set on Record Store Day, April 20. Never before issued as a legitimate release, these much-bootlegged sides—which feature Rollins, at the height of his early powers, with bassist Henry Grimes and drummers Pete La Roca, Kenny Clarke, and Joe Harris—will subsequently reach stores as a three-CD set and digital download edition on April 26. This stunning package captured at Rollins’s concerts and radio and TV appearances in Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and France in March 1959 succeeds Resonance’s first fully authorized music drawn from the Dutch Jazz Archive (NJA), 2020’s Rollins in Holland, a widely praised collection of 1967 live dates. The LP edition of Freedom Weaver was mastered for 180-gram vinyl by Bernie Grundman. The deluxe booklet for both configurations will include detailed notes by the Grammy-winning writer Bob Blumenthal; a new interview with Rollins; thoughtful tributes from fellow tenorists Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, James Carter, James Brandon Lewis, and the late Peter Brötzmann; and rare photographs by Ed van der Elsken, Jean Pierre Leloir, Bob Parent, and others. Resonance co-president and producer Zev Feldman says of the forthcoming set, “In the spring of 2022, I spoke to Sonny about the possibility of releasing what I regard as very important recordings which have only been available until now as unauthorized releases: these masterpieces recorded during Sonny’s European tour in 1959. It’s a crime that Mr. Rollins has never been paid for bootleggers’ exploitations of his work. With this release, we at Resonance are taking another step to ameliorate the wrongs committed by those who would misappropriate the creative output of this magnificent artist.” The famously exacting Rollins told Feldman, “Listening to older recordings of myself years after they were made, I tend to be self-critical. I’m always trying to get better. But on these recordings, I was in a good mood, and some of the places we played I hadn’t been to before. I was uplifted because I was appreciated there. Everything seemed to be happy within the groups and in the performances. It was all very positive and I’m actually very happy that Resonance has gotten together with me to put them out. I think they add to who I am and what I’ve done.” In a 1961 letter quoted in Aidan Levy’s monumental 2022 biography Saxophone Colossus, Rollins said of his European experience, “This tour proved to be most educational in several ways. For not only did I realize for the first time (and firsthand) the genuine respect and admiration with which jazz is received, but I also learned an important biological lesson: That…there is a true brotherhood of all people!” In his notes, jazz scholar Blumenthal views the ’59 shows as a culminating event for the artist: “It was not until the spring of 1957…that he attempted an entire session with just bass and drums in support. The resulting Contemporary Records album Way Out West, promoted as an all-star conclave of Rollins and perennial poll winners Ray Brown and Shelly Manne, became an instant classic, but it was no fluke. Rollins reveled in the harmonic freedom afforded by the absence of a comping piano or guitar, and in the months that followed produced two additional trio masterpieces, A Night at the Village Vanguard on Blue Note (primarily with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones) and Freedom Suite on Riverside (with Oscar Pettiford and Max Roach). This unintended triptych…defined what came to be Rollins’s preferred working format, the one he chose to employ when he made his first European tour in February and March of 1959.” Rollins’s deep impact on succeeding generations of saxophonists is delineated in the interviews conducted by Feldman expressly for Freedom Weaver. Marsalis says, “I was about 24 the first time I actually HEARD Sonny; HEARD what he was playing. At that time, I was figuring out who I wanted to model my playing after, and Sonny led me to thinking more in sonic terms, rather than harmonic terms. I tried to sound like Sonny, as much as I could. I listened to Sonny religiously for eight or nine months.” “For me, Sonny was his own style,” says Lovano. “It was like the Sonny Rollins School of playing. And he played with so much love of the music that he was exploring and, in a way, channeling. He was channeling ideas that were fueled by the music that he loved and that he listened to. And also, by players he absorbed in his young life coming up—Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker and singers and the blues. He developed a way of playing that combined of a lot of elements. Carter says of the master’s all-encompassing style, “I could hear Trane. I could hear Hawkins and Bird in his playing simultaneously. It was like an apparition that would just shift around and morph at certain times. There were rapid passages. You could hear Bird and Hawk, and then sometimes when he’s getting jagged or whatever, you could hear an exaggerated version of Hawk and Bird. It would just come out and then all of a sudden go back, then come back out as a Bird apparition and then a Hawk apparition, and they would come together. It was just continuous. Just listening to him head-on was a revelation in and of itself: here’s somebody who really coalesces, has all the tradition together and was still building upon it and had inexhaustible ideas.” The new millennium star Lewis notes, “Sonny Rollins is a motivic genius. He’s a jazz equivalent of Bach, really. He can develop anything. For me, you could take any little fragment of Sonny’s and turn it into your own composition.” In an interview held just eight months before his death, the German free jazz giant Brötzmann offered deep gratitude to his masterful forebear: “I always said to my colleagues here, ‘Man, Rollins is my man.’As an artist, you have to find your own way, your own language, your own way of moving through the world. Sonny Rollins’s example served as a great inspiration, a teacher for me to propel me to develop my own stuff, my own language. I looked to Sonny for that inspiration.” Photography: © Ed van der Elsken, Nederlands Fotomuseum STREAM THE SINGLE NOW: "A Weaver of Dreams" PREORDER CD on RESONANCE & BANDCAMP Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning label (most recently for John Coltrane’s Offering: Live at Temple University for “Best Album Notes”) that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance’s catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) nonprofit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. Current Resonance Artists include Tawanda, Eddie Daniels, Tamir Hendelman, Christian Howes, and Donald Vega.    Sonny Rollins Web Site  

With PayPal's new cellphone requirement, I can no longer sign in to PayPal. I would be happy to mail a check. Please DM me the address.

Thanks, Brad!

Free Agency begins tomorrow at noon. Here's a good look at how each of the teams stands. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/12/2024-cfl-free-agency-tracker-every-move-around-the-league/

Sounds plausible.

I listened to the fourth quarter on the radio. The announcer (Kevin Harland?) was behaving as if the Chiefs were running out of time. Is that correct? Would the game have ended even if the Chiefs were still moving the ball downfield? I see that now a team starts its drive on the 25 following a touchback. How long ago was that changed? I saw the third quarter on television. It looked to me that the 49ers' defense was better than the Chiefs' offense. But I guess not! PS - Kurt Warner on the radio was surprised that the 49ers won the overtime toss and elected to receive. He thought that the smart play would be to get the ball last, so that you knew what you had to do.

With the Super Bowl being played tomorrow, I am reminded that during last year's broadcast Crown Royal aired a spot featuring Dave Grohl which acknowledged that Canada (the McGill students in 1874) created North American football.

BC has let go Quincy Mauger. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/09/b-c-lions-release-starting-safety-quincy-mauger/ ***** BC has let go Woody Baron. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/09/b-c-lions-release-veteran-dl-woody-baron-prior-to-offseason-roster-bonus/ ***** Jackson Jeffcoat has retired. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/09/veteran-winnipeg-blue-bombers-de-jackson-jeffcoat-retires-from-cfl/ ***** This thread's view count stands at 236,300; an increase of 700 in a little less than six days.

Malik Carney will sign with the Roughriders. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/08/sources-american-de-malik-carney-agrees-to-terms-with-saskatchewan-roughriders/ ***** Trevon Tate will sign with the Stampeders. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/08/sources-american-ol-trevon-tate-agrees-to-terms-with-calgary-stampeders/ ***** The Alouettes have let go Almondo Sewell. https://www.cfl.ca/2024/02/08/als-part-ways-with-dt-almondo-sewell/ https://3downnation.com/2024/02/08/montreal-alouettes-release-veteran-dt-almondo-sewell/ ***** Derek Wiggan will sign with the Alouettes. https://3downnation.com/2024/02/08/sources-veteran-canadian-dt-derek-wiggan-agrees-to-terms-with-montreal-alouettes/