Nov 23, 2022
In 2022, the jazz world celebrated the centenary of the birth of one of the brightest jazz giants – bassist and composer Charlie Mingus. Exactly on his birthday, April 22, Sunnyside Records released a tribute album Living in Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus dedicated to his memory.
The soul and initiator of this project is Harry Scoler, a professor at the famous Berkeley College, a music critic and writer and, of course, an acting clarinetist with a great career behind him. Once upon a time, back in 1974, in Syracuse, New York, young Harry discovered the music of Mingus in the master Moves’ album that year. She made a huge impression on Scoler, he became a loyal fan of Mingus’ work, read his autobiography Beneath the Underdog with great interest. Many years later, in 2018, Scoler came up with the idea of recording an album of works performed by Mingus and shared his dream with saxophonist Walter Smith III. The latter agreed to produce the project and showed real miracles in this capacity. Just look at the composition of the recording participants, see what stars he managed to collect: for the piano Kenny Barron, on bass – Christian McBride, Nicholas Peyton plays on the trumpet, Jonathan Blake plays behind drums, in one of the tracks sings the incomparable Jazzmeya Horn, and an excellent string quartet was also invited. But that’s not all. When the program was prepared, Walter invited equally brilliant masters – Darcy James Argy, Ambrose Akinmuzir and Fabian Almazan – to write arrangements. They were granted absolute creative freedom in their work. By August 2021, everything was ready, and the entire composition of the project participants recorded this program in two days.
The result is in front of you, and anyone who hears Living in Sound: The Music of Charles Mingus can appreciate the great work of such a bright team. I was bribed by this result from the first track, because the album began with my favorite play by Mingus (and I’m not alone in this) Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The Skoler clarinet sounds great in this thing, and the strings adequately support the elegantly solemn atmosphere of the composition arranged by Almazan. Peggy’s Blue Skylight is very good for Barron and especially McBride, who had to act as if as Mingus himself. He, along with Scoler and strings, decorated Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love, a play that Mingus dedicated to his favorite jazz composer. The 1971 song Remember Rockefeller at Attica Mingus, who often responded to various events in American life, was written in the wake of the riot of prisoners in Attica prison and the behavior of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller in this regard. Nicholas Peyton’s trumpet and Harry Scoler’s clarinet masterfully convey the nervous and disturbing atmosphere of this play. In Moves, Peyton and Horn demonstrate a spectacular duo of trumpet and human voice, and Invisible Lady is very good at experienced Barron. The album ends with a play by Scoler himself Underdog, which looks like the author’s signature under his work.
The album is powerful, and I won’t be surprised if we see it among the Grammy nominees, or maybe it will bring its creators the Golden Gramophone itself.
© & (p) 2022 Sunnyside Records
9 tks / 65 мин
(Harry Skoler – cl; Kenny Barron – p; Christian McBride – b; Johnathan Blake – dr; Jazzmeia Horn – voc; Nicholas Payton – tp; Megan Gould, Tomoto Omura – vi; Karen Waltuch – viola; Noah Hoffeld – cello;)
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Leonid AUSKERN
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Jul 27, 2022
Greg Abate (saxes, flute); Kenny Barron (piano); Dezron Douglas (bass); Johnathan Blake (drums).
I think it was during the journey from Llandudno to Manchester Airport on the day after Greg’s appearance at the North Wales Jazz Festival that that he mentioned that he was thinking of recording an album featuring the tunes of Kenny Barron. I thought that sounded a pretty cool idea. When he said that he also wanted to record it at the famous Rudy Van Gelder studios in New Jersey using Kenny’s trio I thought that was one ambitious project, but when Greg decides to do something it usually gets done.
So in due course, after many setbacks due to lockdown and many days spent arranging the fourteen songs so that the end result was of a suitably high standard, the double CD was released and made a big impact on the US jazz radio charts.
I first heard Kenny Barron on Jimmy Owens’ Atlantic LP You Had Better Listen. He wrote two tunes on this fine album Gichi and Carolina John. Later I heard Barron live when he was part of the Freddie Hubbard/Joe Henderson Quintet at the Antibes Jazz Festival in the south of France. The only other time I saw him live was on a jazz cruise when his band Sphere played to a ship full of jazz fans to great acclaim. Of course he also spent time backing the late tenor icon Stan Getz and he plays frequently around New York at venues such as Smalls and Mezzrow’s.
I decided to play the second CD first as it contained Voyage which I would say is the most played of his many tunes. Greg featured a sax section on the theme by use of overdubs and he has done a great job of scoring the horns. There is another tune on side two that has a very catchy melody and that is Magic Dance. Also I like what Greg does with Innocence and here we have all the horns apart from the flute scored to good effect. This is certainly a departure from Greg’s previous releases but is has lots of energetic solos that are a hallmark of his work. This is music that you have to listen to many times and after repeated plays you will realise that Greg Abate has produced a true modern jazz masterpiece.
Nov 8, 2021
Whaling City Sound warmly thanks the knowledgeable and committed readers of DOWNBEAT Magazine for the honor of making our label #5 on the list of esteemed jazz labels for the year 2020-21. While some deride polls as “popularity contests,” all of us at Whaling City Sound have no problem being considered near the top of those organizations who bring jazz to you on a regular basis.
We are also thankful that many of the artists featured on our releases in recent years, either as leaders, co-leaders, or side-persons, have been recognized by Downbeat readers. Congratulations to those who have achieved this well-earned recognition. If we left anyone out of the list below, we apologize, and again, thank you for listening and voting. Feel free to reach out to us if you would like to know more about which releases include any particular musicians. ~Neal Weiss, President.
Hall of Fame: Kenny Barron #2
Jazz Artist: Christian McBride: #2, Kenny Barron: #7, Teri Lyne Carrington
Trumpet: Ingrid Jensen
Trombone: Steve Davis
Soprano sax: David Liebman #2,
Alto sax: Greg Abate: #2
Tenor Sax: Gerry Bergonzi
Flute: Ted Nash, David Liebman
Piano: Chick Corea, #1, Kenny Barron, #3
Keyboard: Mark Cary
Organ: Joey DeFrancesco, #1: Larry Goldings, #3
Guitar: Russell Malone
Bass: Ron Carter, #2: John Patitucci, Linda May Han Oh, Dezron Douglas
Drums: Teri Lyne Carrington, #3: Joe Farnsworth; Johnathan Blake, Jeff “Tain” Watts
Composer: Chick Corea, #2
Sep 7, 2021
Rale Micic – Only Love Will Stay
O’s Notes: Serbian guitarist Rale Micic leads most melodies with a relaxing groove that feels just right. Jared Gold complements him on the B3 with drumming duties split between Johnathan Blake and Geoff Clapp. The pandemic forced Micic to slow down, reflect, and try new things, as illustrated on Only Love Will Stay. Highlights are “How Deep Is The Ocean”, “Riverdale”, “Lipe Cvatu” and “Better Days Ahead”.
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.