Stefon Harris

[montg]

cduniverse

Harris' take on some Ellington suites (including the Queen's Suite and the New Orleans Suite) as well as Harris' own compositions. Due out on Blue Note October 3. It features Harris' regular quartet along with an expanded ensemble. Gregory Tardy and Steve Turre are among the guests.

A further description of the CD is here:

african tarantella

excerpt:

Indeed, the key to African Tarantella's artistic transcendence is Harris' unique ability to manifest his identity within Ellington's sound. "I re-orchestrated the instrumentation and changed a few voices, but I was hoping to maintain the core character of Ellington. I wanted to create a different sound but with the same vibrations. “

Instead of assembling a standard big band in Duke’s image, Harris opted for a unique chamber jazz ensemble. Built upon Harris’ acoustic quartet (pianist Xavier Davis, bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Terreon Gully), the ensemble also features clarinet (Greg Tardy), trombone (Steve Turre), flute (Anne Drummond), viola (Junah Chung), and cello (Louise Dubin).

Looking forward to it.

[Tom Storer]

It does sound interesting. And it sounds an awful lot, in concept, like an album James Newton did about twenty years ago, his own arrangements of Ellington tunes with an ensemble including Olu Dara and Arthur Blythe, if I remember correctly. I have that on vinyl in the basement. I wonder if that's been reissued?

Edited September 24, 2006 by Tom Storer

[mailman]

It does sound interesting. And it sounds an awful lot, in concept, like an album James Newton did about twenty years ago, his own arrangements of Ellington tunes with an ensemble including Olu Dara and Arthur Blythe, if I remember correctly. I have that on vinyl in the basement. I wonder if that's been reissued?

Blue Note has not reissued that wonderful record. I've got it also along with his other session for Blue Note which also remains unissued.

[robviti]

this does sound interesting. i plan to catch stefon's show at the regattabar the day after thanksgiving.

btw, here's the cover of the james newton recording mentioned:

Edited September 25, 2006 by jazzshrink