Tim Ries - Stones World and The Rolling Stones Project

[randyhersom]

The release of Stones World and the availability of both titles on eMusic has me curious to hear any impressions of either of these albums. All I really know is that up and coming saxman gets R&R gig and follows up with albums of compositions by his employers. Somebody said the first one didn't suck, might have been a PR guy. Norah Jones and other vocalists are involved, so this isn't a purely straight ahead jazz conception. The second one makes a point of world music collaborators and worldwide recording locations. My curiosity (and my recent booster card acquisition) will push me over the edge soon.

[RDK]

I was initially excited to see this on emusic, but didn't care for the samples I heard. Let us know what you think.

[Mark Stryker]

I liked this record quite a bit, though I'm sure it won't be to everyone's taste. High-quality crossover, with a lot of imagination, variety and very lovingly and smartly produced. Here's a link to a review -- you have to scroll down (classical fans may want to to take note of the essential Leon Kirchner string quartet set discussed at the top.) http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID...361/1039/ENT04)

Back to Tim. He's local for us in metro Detroit so I've written a lot about him over the years. Sweet guy and a great post-bop player. In 1999, shortly after he got the gig with the Rolling Stones, I wrote a profile that included the following sidebar about the day he got the job. It's quite a tale:

Feb. 21, 1999

CALL CAME WHILE SAX MAN WAS HOBNOBBING WITH CLINTON

BYLINE: MARK STRYKER Free Press Music Writer

Tim Ries was on his way to the White House in November when he got the call from the Rolling Stones. He was going to perform with a quartet of Broadway singers -- James Naughton, Patti LuPone, Jennifer Holiday and Brian Stokes Mitchell -- in a concert PBS is to air later this year. Ries never tires of telling the tale:

"The day I left I got a call from the trombonist in the Rolling Stones band. This is a guy I do a lot of work for in New York -- jingles, movie dates -- so I've played with him for years. He says, 'There's a possibility that Andy won't be going out on the next tour. Do you want the gig?'

"I was like, 'Are you kidding? Yeah!' He said, 'You can't say anything because nobody's told management, and I've got to set this whole thing up before they tell Mick.

"The next day we're at the White House. We rehearse. We get the cameras set up. I'm in my tux. And it's time for the photo op with the president. We're in the East Room. There's about 20 people lined up, and my wife and I are in the middle. A door opens and we see Yasser Arafat in the other room. The Clintons walk in. The president goes to each person and shakes their hand.

"He gets to me, and I had my saxophone around my neck. He looks at my horn and he knew it was a Selmer; it's old, beautiful and pristine ...He said, 'What's the serial number?' and I said, '49,000,' and he said, 'Oh, 1950.'

"Turns out he knows every serial number from the Selmer series, which dates back to 1922. If you tell him a number he knows exactly what year it was made. I don't even know this, and I'm a saxophone player! We started talking about horns and it was wild because, all of a sudden, 15 minutes had passed and we're still talking about instruments and mouthpieces and reeds. It was just like we were two kids.

"Finally, it was time for the show and as I'm heading for the stage my cell phone rings and it's the guy from the Rolling Stones: 'Tim, you got the gig. We cleared it with Mick and we just have to check with Keith. It's 99.9 percent but don't say anything. We don't want news to get back to New York until it's final.'

"Meanwhile, the pianist I'm playing with is from New York and has a gig starting in February for six weeks that I'm supposed to do. After the concert, Clinton comes up and gives me a big hug. Again we started talking about saxophones. Then we go into the reception room and we're eating shrimp and it's like a wedding except that you're with the president. I gave him my CD, and we talked about my mouthpiece, which was specially made for me in Belgium, and he asked if I could please have one sent to him.

"So he's writing his address and it's Bill Clinton, c/o Betty Currie. He looks at me and says, 'That's my secretary,' and I thought, 'Yeah, I've heard of her.' Then he asked what other gigs I was doing. I said, 'Well, this is an incredible day. I'm playing at the White House and I just got a call to play with the Rolling Stones.'

"And I didn't say, 'Shh, don't say anything,' because I figured who's he know that I know? A second later, he walks over to get a picture taken with the rest of the band and he yells across the room: 'Hey, saxophone player with the Stones! Come here!' "The pianist looks at me, like, What?! I said, 'Oh boy, I have to talk to you.'

"It was one of those days I wished I'd bought a lottery ticket because if they come in threes, that would've been the day I won the $4 million."

Edited November 1, 2008 by Mark Stryker

[Larry Kart]

Don't have this one, but I have at least five other Ries albums -- two on Criss Cross, an earlier one on Moo (?) with a great Frank Amsallem solo on one track, a duo album with Amsallem, and a classical sax quartet album by the group Prism of which Ries is/was a member. Obviously I'm a fan.

[randyhersom]

Yes, I'm enjoying both sets. The track selections bring out the virtues of Jagger/Richards as melodists. The vocals are not traditional jazz, but are of a high level and match singer and song well. There's plenty of post-bop instrumental interplay. Ries, Larry Goldings and Bill Frisell provide plenty of musucal highlights. Once I set aside my jazz purist concerns, I found a lot to like. And that includes every note sung by Norah Jones.