On A Song of Hope, his second album for Whaling City Sound, saxophonist Eric Wyatt offers more than hope; he offers assurance that contemporary jazz is alive and well in and around his home base of Brooklyn, NY. Wyatt, the godson of another rather well-known saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, performs in groups of various sizes, from quartet to octet, with vocals by Samara Joy on two numbers, “Fragile” and Wyatt’s “Say Her Name.” The almost-constants are pianist Donald Vega, bassist Eric Wheeler and drummer Jeff Watts, who are on board for eight numbers but step aside for a pair of Wyatt-Watts duets and are replaced by bassist Mike Boone and his talented fourteen-year-old son, drummer Mekhi Boone, on John Coltrane‘s “Central Park West” and McCoy Tyner‘s “Contemplation.”
Watch Jeff “Tain” Watts and Delbert Felix meet after over 25 years!
Whaling City Sound, whalingcitysound.com Chris Lowery (tr.), Theo Croker (tr., flic.), Clifton Anderson (trne), EricWyatt (sop., ten., voc), Donald Vega (p.), Eric Wheeler, Mike Boone (cb.), Jeff Tain Watts, Mekhi Boone (batt., voc.), Kahlil Qwame Bell (perc.), Samara Joy (voc.).
New York, ottobre 2020.
This record is the bomb. We announced it last October on the occasion of an article who took stock of the situation of jazz musicians in New York during the full-blown period of the pandemic. In reality, its publication was scheduled for last May / June, while it came out in September. But it was worth the wait. Here we discover – and with pleasure – a greater versatility of the Brooklyn tenorist, with an attention to that spirituality which is now overwhelmingly current and present in certain tributes that he has decided to dedicate to some of the prominent personalities of modern music (Coltrane’s “Central Park West,” McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation,” Sting’s “Fragile). But there is not only this: the Latin-tinged “Sunset Park Bonita”, the funkish gait of “Fur Live” (a composition by the young and emerging trumpeter Chris Lowery), the bop of “Blues For RH” (dedicated to Roy Hargrove), the metropolitan emotionality of the title-track, ultimately the whole album is pervaded by a contagious energy that accounts for an in-depth and visceral knowledge of the jazz language. With a phrasing poised between Rollins and Coltrane, EricWyatt has always loved to surround himself with solid (Jeff Watts, Clifton Anderson, Donal Vega) and new ones (Theo Croker, Chris Lowery, 15-year-old Mekhi Boone on drums) brilliant personalities of American jazz. Once again he hit the mark.
Gaeta
🎉Congratulations Aaliyah Fuentes on graduating at Johnson & Wales University! Wishing all the best as she gets ready to leave Mixed Media and graduate with a degree in Media & Communications!🎉 #gradseason🎓 #springintern2024#mixedmedia... See MoreSee Less
🎉Congratulations Aaliyah Fuentes on graduating at Johnson & Wales University! Wishing all the best as she gets ready to leave Mixed Media and graduate with a degree in Media & Communications!🎉 #Gradseason#Springintern2024#mixedmedia... See MoreSee Less
Wishing #JWU’s 2024 Spring Intern Aaliyah Fuentes all the best as she gets ready to leave Mixed Media and graduate with a degree in Media & Communications! linkedin.com/in/aaliyah-fuentes02
Music industry consultant and publicist Ginny Shea has garnered international exposure for her clients through radio and video promotion, print media, and her vast industry network.
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