East & West - The New West Quartet [Gunther, Pinheiro, Cavalli, Pedroso] featuring Mike Del Ferro

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Guitarist Ricardo Pineiro and bassist Massimo Cavalli’s work was not “new” to me as I previously reviewed the Triplicity CD they made with drummer Eric Ineke on these pages. I enjoyed the music on this recording and was very impressed with Ricardo and Massimo’s musicianship [Eric, of course, being a Jazz Master is always impressive whenever he plays].

So when Ricardo reached out with a preview copy of his latest CD - East & West - The New West Quartet - I decided to dig a little deeper into the background of the musicians on this recording, to try and understand more about each of the players and how they became Jazz musicians.

The latter was especially intriguing to me because Jazz is not the primary choice of most of today’s young musicians.

What I found as an almost universal element in each of their backgrounds was how studied they were in terms of their training and how each continues to be involved with Jazz in academic circles.

A common thread for all of these players is attendance at a university and/or conservatory and then upon graduation to continue at an academic institution in some sort of full or part time teaching capacity.

I have listed the curriculum vitae for each of the band members below and you can peruse them at your leisure to become better acquainted with their distinguished credentials.

The music on East & West - The New West Quartet has been released on the Fresh Sound New Talent label [FSNT-576] and you can find track samplings and order information via this link to Fresh Sound.

Of the eight tracks, the familiar melodies of Monk’s Bye-Ya and Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice will give you a chance to set your ears on The New West Quartet’s style.

The remaining six tracks are originals and divided evenly at two apiece between Gunther, Pinheiro and Cavalli.

Throughout the music on this recording Pinheiro uses guitar amplification as a unifying factor and as a dominant sonority.

In this regard, Pinheiro use of multiple and different amplification samples reflects the influence of Metheny, Frisell and Scofield, Abercrombie, McLaughlin, and other Jazz-Rock fusion guitar artists.

But when John Gunther’s tenor sax is added to the mix, to my ears, the sound of The New West Quartet harkens back to the recordings that guitarist John Scofield made for Blue Note in the early 1990s which featured Joe Lovano on tenor sax [or, in one instance, Eddie Harris] and bassists Dennis Irwin, Marc Johnson, and Charlie Haden and drummers Bill Stewart, Jack DeJohnette, Joey Baron and Idris Muhammad [nee Leo Morris].

The Scofield albums in question are Groove Elation, What We Do, Grace Under Pressure, Meant to Be and Time On My Hands.

In-the-pocket grooving set against New Orleans, second line street beats [think syncopated marching band cadences], the latter especially inspired by the drumming of Idris Muhammad are a major element on all these Scofield albums and they are very much apparent in Gunther’s The New West and Pinheiro’s Polka Blues courtesy of the adept drumming of Bruno Pedroso. Pedroso’s crisp snare drum cuts through with accents when necessary to push the music along, but at the same time, his beautifully “harmonic” cymbals blend nicely with the other instruments adding a nice element of overtones to the music.

As the title implies Don’t Forget Ornette, Cavalli’s tribute to the scion of Free Jazz - Ornette Coleman - provides for open and spontaneous improvisation as the keynote to this uptempo excursion into the extemporaneous.

Pó dos días, a lovely ballad by Pinheiro sounds like something sculpted from a movie theme by Ennio Morricone whose music has an almost ethereal quality to it. It is my favorite track on the CD and I have incorporated it into a video that features the artwork of the late Peter Campbell which you will find at the conclusion of this posting.

It’s nice to hear today’s generation improvising on The Blues and East & West - The New West Quartet includes two forays into this 12-bar structure: the aforementioned Polka Blues by Pinheiro and Cavalli’s Boulder Blues which is a blowing showcase for the bassist who gets a big booming bass sound reminiscent of Ray Brown’s powerful work in the lower register of the instrument.

On Monk’s Bye-Ya and Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice with their strong associations with Charlie Rouse and John Coltrane, Gunther has his work cut out for him in establishing his own identity on these two well-served vehicles for tenor saxophone. With his angular approach to soloing, John does an admirable job of making each of these pieces his own and Bye-Ya introduces the refreshingly different piano work of guest artist Mike Del Ferro. Mike’s is a two-handed piano player and he employs this skill to bring a wide range of octaves into play during his solos. His improvisations are full of surprises.

Pinheiro’s sparkling and probing guitar work is “the glue” that holds everything together on this recording and gives the music a dominant sonority. Whether comping chords, playing rhythmic phrases or soloing, the overall texture on this album is created by the manner in which Ricardo weaves his amplified guitar throughout the eight tunes that comprise it.

It is a testimony to his grace and sensitivity as an artist that Ricardo pulls it off without being overbearing as far as the other instruments are concerned.

And speaking of “other” instruments, Gunther, Cavalli, Pedroso and Del Ferro are all first-rate players about whom I’m sure we’ll hear more from in the future.

As promised, here’s a detailed look at the background of each of the musicians on East & West - The New West Quartet.

Ricardo Pinheiro

Ricardo Pinheiro completed a Degree in Music at Berklee College of Music, Boston; Degree in Psychology Sciences at the Universidade de Lisboa; and a PhD in Musicology (Ethnomusicology) at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

He studied with Mick Goodrick, George Garzone, Ed Tomassi, Ken Pullig, Wayne Krantz, Ken Cervenka, Chris Washburne and Salwa Castelo-Branco. He played/recorded with Peter Erskine, David Liebman, Chris Cheek, Mário Laginha, Eric Ineke, Perico Sambeat, Stephan Astbury, João Paulo Esteves da Silva, Remix Ensemble, Matt Renzi, Jon Irabagon, John Gunther, Mike Del Ferro, André Charlier, Benoît Sourisse, among many others.

He teaches at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, and is the Director of its Masters in Music Program. He played and participated in conferences and meetings in Austria, Greece, Spain, France, The Netherlands, Germany, U.S.A., Denmark, Italy, South Africa, among other countries, and published articles in journals such as Acta Musicologica of the International Musicological Society, the Jazz Research Journal, or the International Review for The Aesthetics and Sociology of Music.

www.ricardopinheiro.com

John Gunther

John Gunther is a composer and multi-instrumentalist playing saxophones, clarinet, and flute. With a restless musical spirit, he explores all forms of jazz from traditional to avant-garde as well as classical music, world music and experimental electronic music performing on stages throughout the U.S., South America and Europe. He has performed or recorded with many jazz luminaries such as Jimmy Heath, Ron Miles, Dave Douglas, Dewey Redman, Christian McBride, Bill Frisell, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Woody Herman Orchestra, & Maria Schneider Orchestra.

As soloist Gunther has performed with Sinfonietta Paris Chamber Orchestra, Carpe Diem String Quartet and Banda Nacional de Cartago in Costa Rica. As part of New York city's "downtown" music scene for many years, he produced five recordings for Creative Improvised Music Projects (CIMP) and is co-founder of the contemporary jazz ensembles, "Spooky Actions" & "Convergence."

John is an Associate Professor and Director of the Thompson Jazz Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2007 he founded the Boulder Laptop Orchestra [BLOrk] to explore the intersection of music, performance, art, and technology.

http://www.johngunthermusic.com

Massimo Cavalli

Born in Italy in 1969, Cavalli started studying electric bass with Flavio Piantoni and Enzo lo Greco and double bass and jazz improvisation with Paolino Dalla Porta. He moved to live in Portugal in 1996. Studied jazz double bass at Oporto University where he got his degree in 2006 and his master in jazz in 2011. He has a PhD degree in jazz performance by the Évora University.

He started his professional activity as a musician in 1990 playing in different clubs in Northern Italy. He played in Dubai with the Four Winds Quartet and worked with the American singer Trisha Smith. In March 1996 he participated to the young musician jazz contest in Krakow (Poland) and the same year he recorded with the group Consorzio Acqua Potabile. He worked and played with groups and artists such as: Jean Pierre Como, Antonio Faraò, Benoît Sourisse, André Charlier, Perico Sambeat, Ferdinando Faraò, Eric Séva, Laurent Filipe, Melissa Walker, Fernando Tordo, Amelia Muge, Susana Félix, Alexandre Diniz, Jacinta & Michael Bluestein, Ricardo Pinheiro, Ala dos Namorados, Fiçcões, Joel Xavier e Didier Lockwood, Politonia, among others.

He attended some jazz workshops like “Jazz em Agosto” directed by Phil Markowitz, Ed Neumeister and Arnie Lawrence, the doublebass masterclass conducted by William Parker and a masterclass oriented by Peter Erskine. He has played in several festivals: Avignon (France), Oeiras Jazz Fest (Portugal), Porto 2001 Festival (Portugal), Vigo Music Fest (Spain), 6th Matosinhos Jazz (Portugal), 2th Curitiba Jazz Fest (Brazil), 7 sois 7 luas Music Festival (Portugal), 4th Portalegre Jazz Fest (Portugal), CompoJazz 2007 (Spain), Gaia Blues Festival (Portugal), Aveiro 2003 Music Fest (Portugal), Lagoa Jazz Festival (Portugal), Festival Il Portogallo at Catania (Italy), 9th Festival Jazz aux Oudayas (Morocco), Mafra Cultural Summer 2004 (Portugal), 17th Macao Arts Festival (Macao).

His CD “Varandas do Chiado”, with original compositions with his quartet, was published in 2012. He’s currently playing with The European New Quintet (with Benoît Sourisse, André Charlier, Perico Sambeat and Ricardo Pinheiro), with the Liebman/Laginha/Ineke/Cavalli/Pinheiro Quintet, with the project “Cinema & Dintorni”, and with the acoustic world music project called “Latitude Quatro”.

In October 2018 Cavalli released on the Dutch label Daybreak Records the CD “Triplicity” in trio with master drummer Eric Ineke and Portuguese guitarist Ricardo Pinheiro.

He is currently the head of the department of Jazz and Modern Music at the Lusíada University in Lisbon where he also teaches electric bass, double bass, jazz combo, improvisation and introduction to the study of popular music.

​

Scholarships and Awards: Berklee College of Music (2000-2002); Fundação Luso-Americana Para o Desenvolvimento;Centro Nacional de Cultura; Rutgers University - Institute of Jazz Studies - Morroe Berger - Benny Carter Jazz Research Fund; Fundação Para a Ciência e Tecnologia.

www.massimocavalli.com

Mike Del Ferro

Dutch pianist Mike del Ferro is a highly sought-after composer, pianist and arranger who writes and performs in an impressive array of musical genres. He has travelled the world extensively (more then 90 countries), searching for collaborations with musicians from cultures quite different to his own, and the musical results have been eye-opening, building musical bridges between cultures not normally within reach of each other. He has managed to combine elements of the revered canons of Western music interspersed with the audacity of jazz improvisation, and paying tribute to the ancient structures of Asian, South American and African traditional music. He has recently signed a contract with Challenge records for a series of  10 CD's, collaborations with musicians from all over the world, based on his travels.The first trio CD will be released worldwide in the fall of 2011, and the second production in the spring of 2012, with guest artists from Brazil. Mike's father was opera singer Leonard del Ferro (1921-1992), who sang and recorded with Maria Callas, and his childhood was thus filled with music of the highest order.A native of Amsterdam, he started his career studying classical piano at the age of nine and, after falling in love with jazz, he focused his studies on jazz and received a Masters of Music in Contemporary Music from the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1989 he won First Prize at the Rotterdam Jazz Piano Competition, the Soloist Prize at the Europe Jazz Contest in Brussels, and First Prize at the Karlovy Vary Jazz contest and from 1993-1996 studied composition and arranging with Bob Brookmeyer at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany. In 1995 Mike was appointed to the faculty of the Royal Conservatory in Gent, Belgium where he taught jazz piano until 1997. His reputation as a soloist, accompanist, composer and arranger has led to worldwide performances, recordings and tours with musicians such as Toots Thielemans, Jack DeJohnette, Oscar Castro Neves, Deborah Brown, Erik Truffaz, Jorge Rossy, Sibongile Khumalo, Carl Allen, Scott Hamilton, Richard Galliano, Thijs van Leer (Focus), Harold Land, Jan Akkerman, Norma Winstone, Benny Bailey, Candy Dulfer, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Badi Assad, Fernanda Porto, Madou Diabate and Maria Pia deVito. He has also recorded dozens of albums in many different genres from Dixieland to Salsa and has arranged music for animation for Danish animator and Oscar winner, Börge Ring. Mike del Ferro goes by Mark Twain's dictum - "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" - and his music reflects the array of influences that he has picked up in some of the most exotic places in the world

http://mikedelferro.com/home.html

Bruno Pedroso

Born in 1969, Bruno Pedroso began his music studies in 1987. In 1990, he studied with jazz drummer Allan Dawson. He also studied with live jazz legends such as Clark Terry, Sir Roland Hanna, Rufus Reid, Bill Pierce and Kenny Washington.

Since 1995 I have been almost exclusively dedicated to Jazz. Bruno Pedroso also teaches at the School of Jazz of the Hot Club of Portugal. Participates in the Portuguese Percussion Collective. In 1997 he studied with Antonio Sanchez and Billy Hart. In 1998, he went to New York, where he studied at the "Drummers Collective" school, and privately with some of the most important drummers in the world jazz scene, based in NY, such as Jordi Rossi, Jim Chapin, Carl Allen, Leon Parker, Ralph Peterson Jr., Adam Nussbaum, Steve Berrios, Kim Plainfield, Bobby Sanabria.

In the last ten years, in addition to continuing his teaching career at various schools, he continues as a free-lancer, playing with the most varied names of Portuguese Jazz. He is also invited to join groups with important names such as Julian Arguelles, Chris Cheek, Ken Filiano, Peter Bernstein, Rich Perry, Miguel Zenon, Abe Rabade, Nicholas Payton, Reginald Veal, Aaron Goldberg, Phil Markowitz, Eli Degibri, Avishai Cohen, Antonio Farao, Peter Epstein, Bob Sands, François Theberge, Rick Margitza, John Ellis, Dave O'Higgins, Richard Galliano, Gregory Tardy, Perico Sanbeat, Jesus Santandreu, Ivan Paduart, Herb Geller, Sheila Jordan, Jesse Davis, Donald Harrison, Ben Monder, among many others.

Annually Bruno Pedroso plays in the main Jazz festivals in Portugal, and abroad.

www.ipl.pt/bruno-pedroso

Triplicity - Pinheiro, Cavalli and Ineke

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

I don’t know all the circumstances of how these, three musicians of diverse national and ethnic backgrounds found each other, but one thing is for certain as you listen to the work of Ricardo Pinheiro [Portugal], Massimo Cavalli [Italy] and Eric Ineke [The Netherlands] on their new Triplicity CD is that the bonds of their musical camaraderie make for striking music.

The eight tracks that make up Triplicity [Challenge, Daybreak DBCHR 75227] range from Blues Just Because an original by Ricardo to three beautiful standards from the great American Songbook - If I Should Lose You, You’ve Changed, When You Wish Upon A Star - Jazz classics, Along Came Betty and Conception, a bossa nova - Retrato Em Branco E Prieto and finally a movie theme - Cinema Paradiso.

Each of these tunes is formed into an original arrangement that serves to showcase the individual talents and musicianship of guitarist Pinheiro, bassist Cavalli and drummer Ineke. In some cases, the melodies are played in a fairly straightforward manner - Cinema Paradiso, for example, while others such as When You Wish Upon A Star are virtually deconstructed and almost made to sound like new tunes.

But taken as a whole and played in sequence, the music forms a concert that brings forth the very essence of Jazz - the performance of a variety of themes that allow the musicians to demonstrate their skills as improvisors.

This was my second listening experience with Ricardo, Massimo and Eric; the first occurred when they formed the rhythm section on Is Seeing Believing? [Challenge, Daybreak DBCHR 75224] along with Dave Liebman on tenor and soprano sax and Mario Laginha on piano.

While moving from a supporting role to a featured one on Triplicity, I found it particularly helpful to listen to the work of the trio through the use of so many familiar melodies. It helped me to set my ears, so to speak. Instead of struggling to learn a host of new song structures, I could concentrate instead on what the musicians were “saying” through their melodic, harmonic and rhythmic creations.

And, not only do Ricardo, Massimo and Eric have a lot to say, stylistically, they say it very well; each is an accomplished and experienced musician and each puts forth a great deal of originality in both their group interactions and in their individual improvisations.

So while you can hear the guitar, bass and drum influences in Ricardo’s approach to the guitar, Massimo’s approach to the bass and Eric’s approach to the drums, I would venture to say that I’ve yet to hear another guitar-bass-drums trio that sounds so refreshingly different.

What I came away with was a unique listening experience centered around a textured mood; a string and percussion sonority.

As the principal melodic voice on the CD, guitarist Pinheiro brings off this role with a measured grace.  In a setting made for overplaying, he never does. While explorative, his playing is restrained and selective.

Massimo frames the chords beautifully and provides a consistent “heartbeat” for the music which then allows Eric more freedom to rhythmically color it with the drum kit. But when a pulse is needed, the bass and drums “lock in” and provide a beat that drives the music [Blues Just Because], or makes it flow [Along Came Betty] or helps it to simmer [You’ve Changed].

Another quality that comes across to help create Jazz of the highest order is that Ricardo, Massimo and Eric are not just playing music, they are making it by listening to and interacting with one another. There are no egos here; this is, as the word “triplicity” would imply, a collective effort.

If you are looking for a perfectly balanced concert [an enjoyable 46.32 minutes from beginning to end] with a trio instrumentation that is acoustically understated with music played with virtuosity and originality, then you need look no farther than the Triplicity that is Pinheiro, Cavalli and Ineke.

Here’s a taste of what’s on offer in this wonderful CD.

''Is Seeing Believing?'' - Liebman, Ineke, Laginha, Cavalli, Pinheiro

© -Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

In sending me a preview copy of the ''... CD Is Seeing Believing? by the Liebman/Ineke/Laginha/Cavalli/Pinheiro Quintet [Challenge - Daybreak DBCHR - 75224] drummer Eric Ineke explained that “ … the record was recorded in Portugal in 2014 and has an international character. We all know each other through the International Association of Schools of Jazz.”

Just to be clear at the outset, in addition to Dave Liebman on soprano and tenor saxophones and Eric on drums - both of whom have been stablemates for many years - the record features the talents of Ricardo Pinheiro on guitar, Mario Laginha on keyboards and Massimo Cavalli on bass.

The CD arrived recently and upon listening to it the following thoughts came to mind based around two themes - old and mature - which when combined form a reciprocal duality [think of “ying and yang” - opposites that are mutually inclusive].

In his insert notes, Dave Liebman states that:

“I remember when I took lessons with Charles Lloyd in the mid 1960s in his Greenwich Village apartment. One day out of the clear blue he said: "You'll spend the rest of your life editing."

A few years later when I played with Miles Davis, one night he said to me: "Stop before you're done!"

Like a lot of the little Zen-type phrases that the older jazz guys used to make points to the younger guys, it took me years to understand what they meant.

In this case these little words of advice all seemed to relate to one thing: how to say more with less. "Maturing as an artist"...."leaving more space between ideas"......"creating a good melody is worth everything"......"technique, though necessary should never obscure the musical point being developed".... etc.

It seemed that a valid goal for further developing as a player was to get to the heart of the matter and leave the unnecessary frills behind. I am not going to be so presumptuous as to suggest that I have found success in this way and suddenly achieved artistic maturity, but I do see progress in this regard.”

By way of contrast, there is a tendency among young Jazz players to use a lot of notes in their solos.

This inclination seems to be a part of the joys of first expression; the thrill of discovering that you can play an instrument and play it well.

Kind of like: “Look what I’ve found? Look what I can do? Isn’t this neat?”

Another reason why these young, Jazz musicians play so many notes is because they can.

They are young, indiscriminately so, and they want to play everything that rushes through their minds, getting it from their head into their hands almost instantly.

Their Jazz experience is all new and so wonderful; why be discerning when you can have it all?

If such abilities to “get around the instrument” were found in a young classical musician romping his or her way through one of Paganini’s Caprices, they would be celebrated as a phenomena and hailed as a prodigy.

Playing Paganini’s Caprices, Etudes, et al. does take remarkable technical skills, but in fairness, let’s remember that Paganini already wrote these pieces and the classical musician is executing them from memory.

In the case of the Jazz musician, playing complicated and complex improvisations requires that these be made up on the spot with an unstated preference being that anything that has been played before in the solo cannot be repeated.

But often times when a Jazz musician exhibits the facility to create multi-noted, rapidly played improvised solos, this is voted down and labeled as showboating or derided as technical grandstanding at the expense of playing with sincerity of feeling.

Such feats of technical artistry are greeted with precepts such as “It’s not what you play, but what you leave out” as though the young, Jazz performer not only has to resolve the momentary miracle of Jazz invention, but has to do so while solving a Zen koan at the same time [What is the sound of the un-played note or some such nonsense].

Youthful exuberance as contrasted with the artistic maturity that Dave Liebman suggests in his notes are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Both are part of the process of artistic growth and development which the Jazz musician undergoes over time.

In his notes, Dave goes on to say that - “This recording reflects this process as much as anything I have personally recorded in the past few years (and those who know me are aware of how much I record!). From the standards to the contrafacts to the originals the music that Massimo, Ricardo, Eric, Mario and I created is very lyrical, subdued, highly sophisticated and user-friendly.

Without going overboard, the music swings and feels good. What strikes me as well is the way we all kind of just naturally tuned into this vibe I am describing. Of course, the group's cumulative experience, coupled with the highly international status of the band (Mario and Ricardo from Portugal; Massimo from Italy; Eric from Netherlands and myself from New York) does point to a level of artistic maturity.

I am proud of how we constructed this together so quickly and smoothly. I think even your proverbial "grandmother" would enjoy this music. Thanks to the guys and all those who helped us put together this product.”

More artistic maturity is on hand in terms of the nine songs selected for the recording which include three of my favorite “old chestnuts:” [1] Old Folks, [2] Skylark and [3] I Remember You.

Gary Giddins in his definitive biography - Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams - The Early Years, 1903-1940 shared this background on Old Folks which Bing recorded in 1938:

“Matty Matlock arranged "Old Folks," a new song by Willard Robison, the master of pastoral ballads, whose folklike melodies and nostalgic images influenced Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. After a deft four-bar intro by clarinet and brasses, Bing enters brightly, in utter control of the narrative lyric, as if the consonant-heavy words and tempo changes presented no difficulties whatsoever. He floats over the rhythm like a kite on a breeze. Bing's version helped establish the song as an unlikely yet durable jazz standard, with interpretations ranging from Jack Teagarden to Charlie Parker to Miles Davis.”

And in his seminal The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, Ted Gioia offers these observations about Old Folks and Willard Robison’s penchant for “... finding musical accompaniment to end-of-life musings:”

“Robison relied on a variety of lyricists for his songs, which were often marked by a lonesome world-weariness mixed with ample doses of nostalgia and smalltown Americana. …  Nowadays audiences will probably scratch their heads in befuddlement when the singer mentions that no one can remember whether Old Folks fought for the "blue or the gray." But the song retains its appeal and place in the standard repertoire, even as its references grow more and more outdated, largely due to its muted poignancy. …

Miles Davis's recording of Old Folks, from his 1961 project Someday My Prince Will Come, remains the most familiar jazz interpretation of this standard. … —this is one of Davis's most moving ballad performances, and as close as you will come to a definitive version of Old Folks.

And in the same work, Ted offers these insights into what makes the pathos in Skylark so compelling:

“If I had to rank jazz ballads on the emotional impact of their melodies, on their capability of sinking me into a sweet reverie, Hoagy Carmichael’s Skylark would be a contender for the top spot on the list. Carmichael had already proven 15 years earlier with Star Dust that he could construct a pop song from probing jazz phrases and still manage to generate a mega-hit. With Skylark he offered another telling example. The melody grows more daring as it develops. The motif in bar six is very much akin to what a jazz trumpeter might play, and the ensuing turnaround is not just a way of getting back to the beginning, as with so many songs, but a true extension of the melody, which pushes all the way to the end of the form.

The B theme is just as good as the A theme, and even more jazz-oriented. Commentators have suggested that Skylark, much like this composer's Star Dust, represented an attempt to capture the essence of 1920’s-era Bix Beiderbecke's improvising style in a song—and, in fact, Carmichael first developed the piece as part of his unrealized plans for a Broadway musical about Beiderbecke. But, to my ears, the bridge to Skylark reminds me of the manner in which a i94os-era Coleman Hawkins would solo on a ballad. Whatever the genesis, the end result of these various ingredients is an expression of feeling so natural and unforced that casual listeners won't notice the technical aspects, only the potent mood created by the finished song.

Johnny Mercer makes a substantial contribution with his words.”

There is also a Johnny Mercer connection to I Remember You which was penned by Victor Schertzinger for the 1941 movie The Fleet’s In as not only did Johnny write the lyrics for the tune he also directed the movie.

According to the Turner Classic Movie documentary Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me, Mercer wrote the song for Judy Garland, to express his strong infatuation with her. He gave it to her the day after she married David Rose.

In the capable hands veteran musicians such as Dave Liebman, Ricardo Pinheiro, Mario Laginha, Massimo Cavalli and Eric Ineke, there are now three more exceptional versions of these beautiful ballads.

Is Seeing Believing? [Challenge - Daybreak DBCHR - 75224] is available from Amazon as both an Mp3 download and as a CD and you can also purchase the disc on www.challengerecords.com. It’s a first rate recording that features the talents of professional musicians and Jazz educators who lead by example.