Paul and His Pals - Waiting for the Next Trane

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

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles received a message from Jocelyn B. informing us of the passing of tenor saxophonist George Allgaier on September 29, 2017 at the age of 57.

We never met George and knew him only through his recorded work with bassist Paul Brusger's Quintet.  Of George, Paul said: "George was a semi-finalist at the Monk competition behind [alto saxophonist] Jon Gordon and [tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene]. I've known George for a long time and he is a tremendous player with great ears and a full understanding of the history of the saxophone."

As a way of remembering George Allgaier on these pages, we thought we would reprise the two previous essays on Paul and his music, combine them into one posting and add an audio file at the end that offers a sampling of George's wonderful tenor sax playing.

George Allgaier, July 15, 1960 - September 29, 2017: R.I.P.

Musicians are often better known through the company they keep and bassist Paul Brusger keeps very good company.

To drop a few names: trumpet players Valery Ponomarev, John Swana, baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and pianists Dado Moroni, Hod O’Brien and John Hicks.

All of these fairly well-known Jazz performers have appeared at one time or another on Paul’s recordings along with his constant companions: the startlingly brilliant young tenor saxophonist, George Allgaier and the very dependable drummer, John Jenkins. [“Dependable” in the way that every horn players wants a drummer to be – “felt” more than “heard.”]

Paul’s association with these superb musical “pals” helps give the title of this piece one of its meanings.

The other implication which makes the title into a double entendre is that Paul’s major influence as a bassist was the late, great Paul Chambers.

Of course, to the Jazz cognoscenti, Paul’s Pal  - the basis for the play-on-words in the title - is a Jazz standard penned by tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and is named after … you guessed it … bassist Paul Chambers!

This now completes the circle of allusions inherent in the heading.

When combined, all of these references – working with first-rate musicians, being influenced by one of the great Jazz bassist and the compositions of legendary Jazz players - form the larger context for a visit with the music of Paul Brusger.

Put another way, Paul is the sum of all these parts: he plays well, writes well, and associates himself with exceptional musicians who all get to play on some excellent music that he has composed.

When listening to Paul’s CD’s, its almost impossible to separate these, three unifying threads.

Maybe its because the human mind seems to grasp things better when they appear in sets of three: red, green and blue are the basic color palette; according to Zen Masters the entire universe can be described by, and contained in, a circle, a triangle and a square; with Paul Brusger you get to listen to original Jazz compositions played by superb musicians all of which is held together by strong bass playing.

Of course, I could push this analogy even further by explaining that to date, Paul has issued three CD’s under his own name, but I think it would probably be more appropriate to talk specifically about the music itself at this point.

Scott Yanow opens his insert notes to Paul’s 1997 CD You Oughta Know It [Brownstone BRCD-2-002] by observing:

“Paul Brusger will be a new name to many listeners but it is obvious, listening to his particularly strong debut, that he is not just a fine bassist in the tradition of Paul Chambers, Doug Watkins and Oscar Pettiford but an up-and-coming com­poser too.

Of the ten songs, two are standards, two are his own blues and his six other originals have chord changes that are viable vehicles for solos in the hard bop tradition.

‘I'm amazed how fast it came together,’ says the bassist.’ I gave each of the players the charts one day, we rehearsed for three hours and then we went into the studio the next day. Particularly because so many of the songs are original, I was very impressed by how quickly the musicians made the music their own.’”

To give his listeners a basis in familiarity, Paul does include standards such as Do Nothin’ ‘Till You Hear From Me, Love Letters, and Falling in Love With Love on his disc, but, in the main, what’s on offer here is Brusger Bop – Jazz compositions written in the straight-ahead, hard-bop style often associated with Tadd Dameron, Gig Gryce and Sonny Clark, to name only a few.

Joining Paul, George Allgaier and John Jenkins on You Oughta Know It are trumpeter Valery Ponomarev and pianist Dado Moroni.

Because of Valery’s heavily influenced Clifford Brown style of playing and George Allagier’s deep affinity for Sonny Rollins, the front-line soon adopts a trumpet-tenor sound that is very reminiscent of the original Clifford Brown- Max Roach quintet.

But influences and comparisons aside, this is Paul Brusger’s music.  It is new and it is fun to play on.  Paul knows what he’s doing and in doing it he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that he has to create compositional vehicles that make it possible for other musicians to create inspired solos.

Whether it’s the rhythmically challenging Urban Lullaby or the medium tempo blues homage contained in Paul’s Chamber [which appropriately leads off with a bass solo – how often do you hear that happen these days?], or the up-tempo burner, Swing Street, with its finger-poppin’ notations, Paul’s composition just lay so right that you can hear everybody having a ball playing on them.

And although Paul’s originals have a familiarity to them [Swing Street, for example, is closely related to I’ll Remember April], they are structured in such a way as to make it possible for the musicians to take chances.

What comes through is the joy, happiness and excitement – the infectious energy of Jazz being created at the highest musical level.

I can imagine the looks of satisfaction that the musicians exchanged with one another after safely navigating through the complexities of Swing Street’s theme, each having had a few “seafaring adventures” along the way in the form of the solos they created based on the tune’s changes.

More of the same can be found on Paul’s 2006 release Go To Plan B [Consolidated Artists Productions CAP 998]. This time, Paul, George and John are in the company of Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone and John Hicks on piano.

In bringing the musicians on this album together, Paul noted:

“I love the baritone sax and I thought it would be a nice blend with tenor, a dark and rich ensemble sound particularly since Cuber has a hard sound while George's tone is softer. I have a very good rapport with John Jenkins and George Allgaier, both of whom I knew from Florida. We have a good kinship and camaraderie; they really have a feel for my music."

And Scott Yanow commented:

“Paul Brusger's latest set is a delight for hard bop and modern mainstream jazz fans. On Go To Plan B, he contributed six of the selections, with one original apiece from Cuber and Hicks plus the standard "Love Letters." The musicians were challenged by the new material yet sound quite comfortable, swinging hard and with constant creativity.”

Ronnie Cuber has been the subject of a previous profile on the blog which you can find by going here.

On Paul’s recording he absolutely soars.  In musician parlance, he plays his backside off. I’ve always been impressed with Ronnie’s ability to get around the baritone saxophone, but on this CD he does so with a fleetness and a ready invention of ideas that is breathtaking at times.

On this outing, Paul puts together an unusual and varied program of originals including a chart that is based on the changes of Coltrane’s Giant Steps [Paul’s Don’t Stop Now] as well as one based on these same changes although this time played backwards – Is What It Is. Talk about challenges!

There’s also a beautiful waltz [Waltz for Lady Nancy], a flag-waver based on the changes to Night and Day [Paul’s Listen Today for Tomorrow’s Answer] and an original from pianist John Hicks [Peaceful Moments] and Ronnie Cuber’s [Ponta Grossa].

Special mention needs to be made of tenor saxophonist George Allgaier who comes at the instrument in a way that features ever-changing approaches and styles. And talk about taking chances! George is all over the horn with beautiful and sometimes scarily put together solos.  No wonder Paul records with him whenever possible. George’s improvisational journeys really serve to keep the music alive.

Hicks comps beautifully and does what he does best – creates musical solos that fall so softly on the ears.

With Paul and John Jenkins rock solid on the time, the album is a pleasure to listen to from beginning to end.

Paul’s continues this old and new friends format on his next CD – Definitely released on Philology [W733.2] in 2008.

Along with tenor saxophonist George Allgaier and drummer John Jenkins, Paul brought along veteran pianist Hod O’Brien and Philadelphia-based trumpeter John Swana to the date.

Philology’s owner, Paolo Piangiarelli offered these reflections on the music and the musicians in his insert notes:

“This beautiful cd is the tangible, even touching evidence, proving that the new generation of US young jazzmen respects and loves the great tradition of modern jazz developed in the legendary forties by their ingenious precursors: Bird, Diz, Bud, Monk... Respect, love, but also a conscious practice getting deep into a music that was - and stays - complex, well-constructed, tough, delicate and powerful, to be handled and checked with the fundamental creativity and technical skills that these guys have.

So here's a quintet of modern beboppers whose overwhelming sensibility and ability allow them to launch into important solos, of the kind that remains impressed in your memory. The band is directed by wonderful bassist Paul Brusger, who draws new melodic lines of charming, intriguing beauty, in which reminiscences of a great past - never to be denied - add new colours and strengthen the impact with the listeners. The musicians' skills can consequently stand out: John Swana's agile and expressive trumpet, George Allgaier's luxuriant and imaginative sound of tenor sax, the piano lesson offered by the mythical Hod O'Brien and the rhythmic subtlety owned by the agile and propelling drummer John Jenkins, the group's engine. …

Paolo Piangiarelli

Philology"

Once again the listener is treated to a varied program of Paul’s originals all written more or less in the style of hard bop championed by groups such as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

But here again, although the manner of writing has much in common with the modern Jazz of the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, Paul makes the tunes sound fresh through small adjustments to the harmonies, being careful to play them in the right tempos and by creating melodic platforms for today’s young players like John Swana and George Allgaier to express their newer approaches to improvising.

There’s a lot of new music here. With the exception of a repeat of Waltz for Lady Nancy, Paul contributes nine, previously unrecorded tunes to the date; not an easy thing to do while still keeping the music interesting and distinct.

Some guys have a gift for composition and Paul Brusger is one of those guys.

One hears so often these days about Jazz not being what is used to be and that today’s players don’t have anything appealing to offer.

The music on these CDs by Paul Brusger and his pals provide over three hours of Jazz composed and played at the highest levels of professionalism and artistic expression, all of which serve as a living contradiction to such a nonsensical assertion.

If these recordings are any indication, Jazz is in good hands.

It must be nice to have friends, er… pals like Paul’s!

The following video contains a sample track from one of Paul’s CDs.

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

Today - October 8, 2014 - is the release date of bassist, composer and arranger Paul Brusger's latest CD on Nils Winther's venerable Steeplechase label.

Entitled Waiting for the Next Trane [SCCD 33115] it features Gary Smulyan on baritone sax, Mike LeDonne on piano and Louis Hayes on drums along with more of Paul's inventive, hard-bop inflected, original compositions. If you like the music of Horace Silver, Sonny Clark and Hank Mobley, then you will feel right at home with Paul's writing.

Paul kindly asked me to put together some insert notes for the CD and I thought you might enjoy reading them, too.

"Musicians are often better known through the company they keep and bassist Paul Brusger keeps very good company.

To drop a few names - trumpet players Valery Ponomarev, John Swana, baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and pianists Dado Moroni, Hod O’Brien and John Hicks - all have played on Paul’s previous recordings.

Paul’s major influence as a bassist was the late, great Paul Chambers and one can also hear echoes of “Mr. P.C.” and that of bassists Oscar Pettiford, Wilbur Ware and Doug Watkins in the way he lays down his bass lines and in the notes he chooses to frame the chords.

Paul is also a gifted composer who writes in a style that could be called “Brusger’s Bop” as his Jazz compositions are written in the straight-ahead, hard-bop style often associated with Tadd Dameron, Horace Silver, Gigi Gryce and Sonny Clark.

When combined, all of these ingredients – working with first-rate musicians, being influenced by one of the great Jazz bassist and a writing style that is closely patterned after the style of legendary Jazz composers - form a larger context for a visit with the music of Paul Brusger.

Paul is the sum of all these parts: he plays well, associates himself with exceptional musicians who all get to play the intriguing and interesting music that he has composed.

These unifying threads all come together once more on Waiting for The Next Trane.

On his first outing for the legendary Steeplechase label, Paul continues to put himself in good musical company, this time with the musical talents of baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan, pianist Mike LeDonne and drummer Louis Hayes.

Gary plays the baritone saxophone with verve, vigor and vitality. He is a risk-taker. Gary expresses what he hears in his head and feels in his heart, not always an easy thing to do when you have to take a deep breath and blow it through the equivalent of a compressed central plumbing system to make music.

But that's the nature of Jazz: overcoming the technical problems of playing an instrument while at the same time creating interesting melodies on the spot.

You can't take anything back that you've just put out there. There's is no safety net.

The Act of Creation is rarely seen for what it really is - An Act of Courage.

And no one on today's Jazz scene has more sang-froid than Gary Smulyan.

Gary’s sound on baritone sax is very reminiscent of that of the late, Pepper Adams. But while Pepper is certainly a point of departure for him, Smulyan has moved well-beyond Adams’ influence and has established his own style on the instrument, one that also displays a considerable and very advanced technique.

If truth be told, as much as I enjoy Gary Smulyan’s playing, I have to “take it in small doses” as he puts so many ideas into his improvisations and swings so hard all the time that he [figuratively] wears me out.  The marvel is that he doesn't wear himself out!

Quite the contrary, it seems, as each in-person performance or recording is better than the previous one. Gary’s work continually grows in stature and complexity; signs of a mature artist at work.

There appears to be no limits to his artistic creativeness; he’s a veritable musical fountain from which well-constructed phrases and lines come bubbling forth to form chorus-upon-chorus of interesting solos.

All this imaginative energy no doubt stems from his passion for playing Jazz, a zeal that apparently knows no bounds.

Like Paul Brusger, pianist Mike LeDonne is an extremely skillful composer, whose services have been in such great demand that he has appeared on over 50 recordings as a leader or as a sideman during the past 25 years.

It’s nice to hear him back at the piano as many of his recent recordings have featured Mike’s exceptional abilities as a Hammond B-3 organist.

Over the years, Mike has studied with fabled Jazz pianists Jaki Byard and Barry Harris while checking out major piano stylists like Teddy Wilson, Al Haig, Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, Ray Bryant and Cedar Walton in some of the smaller, more intimate clubs when he first arrived on the New York Jazz scene.

In the introduction to a 2009 interview with Mike for Jazz.com, Thomas Pena wrote:

“What a career it’s been for Mike. Speaking to him is like taking a crash course in the history of Jazz. It seems that he has performed, recorded, and/or rubbed elbows with everyone in the world of jazz at one time or another.”

The list of Jazz luminaries with whom Mike has worked includes Benny Golson, Milt Jackson, and Scott Robinson and, more recently: Eric Alexander, Wycliffe Gordon, Jim Snidero and five recordings under Gary Smulyan’s leadership.

Mike also commented in the 2009 Jazz.com interview: “I feel good. I still want to improve, and I wanted to get to another level. There are always guys that you listen to, guys like McCoy Tyner and say, ‘Wow! I would like to be able to play like that…..’”

Judging by his work on this CD, it sounds like all of Mike’s wishes about improving and getting to another level have been granted, including the one about McCoy Tyner because in some of his soloing, McCoy’s influence is very apparent.

And what more can be said about Louis Hayes - Paul’s choice for the drum chair on this date? I’ve lost count of the number of memorable groups Louis has worked with and recordings that he has appeared on over the last half century including his long associations with Cannonball Adderley, Horace Silver and Oscar Peterson.

His profile on drummerworld.com contains the following description of his gifts:

“For more than fifty years, Hayes has been a catalyst for energetic unrelenting swing in self-led bands, as well as, in those whose respective leaders reads like an encyclopedia of straight-ahead, post-bop modern Jazz. ….

With so much activity in his past, Louis could easily rest comfortably on his laurels. But being a forward thinker and doer, Hayes operates in the present with his current group boasting some of the cream of the recent crop of Jazz artists. Louis Hayes possess and embarrassment of riches. His story, still being told, contains a glorious past, a vibrant present and an ever promising future.”

Bassist, Chuck Israels once described the relationship he wanted to achieve when working with a drummer this way:

"When I listen to the drummer and the bass player together, I like to hear wedding bells. You play every beat in complete rhythmic unity with the drummer, thousands upon thousands of notes together, night after night after night. If it’s working, it brings you very close. It’s a kind of emotional empathy that you develop very quickly. The relationship is very intimate.”

Paul and Louis develop such a marriage between bassist and drummer on this outing and it represents another testimony to Louis adaptability and flexibility as a masterful musician.

Whatever the setting, Louis just makes it happen.

The music on this recording is made up of eight originals by Paul and a beautiful rendition of Quincy Jones’ Quintessence. Listeners often wonder what the source of inspiration is for original compositions, but rarely get the chance to ask the composer where the music comes from. With this in mind, I asked Paul if he would make some comments about each of his tunes.

In a Minor Funk “is simply my take on the kind of groove Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers would come up with.

It’s In There Somewhere “is a play on words on Out of Nowhere. My song uses the same changes and I wrote it in the style of Tadd Dameron and Gigi Gryce, two of my favorites composers.”

When Will You Ever Learn “is aimed at me because sometimes I tend to be too stubborn and looks for a perfection that gets in the way of the music. Like Gary Smulyan is fond of saying: “Jazz has warts.’”

Waiting For The Next Trane “is my tribute to John Coltrane. “Will there be such an influence as great as his ever again?”

Andrea’s Delight “was written for my youngest daughter. It has a pretty melody with a demanding harmonic sequence that descends in a seemingly never-ending spiral of minor thirds.”

“I choose Quincy Jones’ Quintessence for the date because it has a main ingredient that all good music must have - it’s got soul.”

Bird’s In The Yard “is my tribute to Charlie Parker, the first and foremost influence in all of modern Jazz.”

Bringing Home The Silver “is written as a samba because I wanted it to be an ideal showcase for the great Louis Hayes who held down the drum chair in Horace Silver’s quintet for many years.”

All But One “is the very first composition that I ever wrote. It is spiritual in nature and is meant to convey that we all come from different cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds, yet we are all part of this human experience called Life.”

In characterizing Paul’s music for Definitely, a compact disc that he released on his Philology label [W733.2] in 2008, Paolo Piangiarelli said:

“This beautiful CD provides tangible, even touching evidence which proves that

the new generation of US young jazzmen respects and loves the great tradition of modern jazz developed in the legendary forties by their ingenious precursors: Bird, Diz, Bud, Monk... Respect, love, but also a conscious practice of getting deep into a music that was - and stays - complex, well-constructed, tough, delicate and powerful, to be handled and checked with the fundamental creativity and technical skills that these guys have.

The band is directed by wonderful bassist Paul Brusger, who draws new melodic lines of charming, intriguing beauty, in which reminiscences of a great past - never to be denied - add new colours and strengthen the impact with the listeners. The musicians' skills can consequently stand out….”

Although the manner of writing has much in common with the modern Jazz of the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, Paul makes the tunes sound fresh through small adjustments to the harmonies, being careful to play them in the right tempos and by creating melodic platforms for Gary and Mike to express their own approach to improvising.

Some guys have a gift for composition and Paul Brusger is one of those guys.

One hears so often these days about Jazz not being what is used to be and that today’s players don’t have anything appealing to offer.

The music on Waiting for The Next Trane is Jazz composed and played at the highest levels of professionalism and artistic expression by Gary, Mike, Paul and Louis.

If this recording is any indication, Jazz is in good hands as it goes forward into the 21st century."

-Steve Cerra

www.jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/

Steve Davis: Moment to Moment

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

“Davis is an adept, declarative player, always indebted to his work with Jackie McLean and Art Blakey, a hard-bop grounding which gives his playing unarguable strength and articulacy. He doesn't overplay, but he's generous with his lines and he gets a sound which often has a shouting intensity while keeping well clear of obvious expressionism. That makes his albums conventional but full and satisfying.”

- Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6^th Ed.

“I predict that Steve Davis will be one of the true masters of the slide trombone.”

- Curtis Fuller, Jazz trombonist

“Steve Davis is one of the most talented young students that I have ever had. His love for the tradition of this music is very deep. … I like his sound, I like the way he writes. His music is very special.”

- Jackie McLean, Jazz alto saxophonist

One moment he’s talking about his frequent collaborators such as trumpeter Jim Rotondi, or tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander or guitarist Peter Bernstein or pianist David Hazeltine or drummer Joe Farnsworth.

The next moment he’s relating what he saying about them to himself, his trombone playing and his compositions.

One moment he talks with reverence about Jazz masters such as Jackie McLean, Art Blakey and J.J. Johnson.

The next moment he’s describing what he’s learned from each of them.

One moment he ‘s talking knowledgeably and appreciatively about the Great American songbook and the Jazz Standards repertoire.

The next moment he’s writing his own compositions and has become one of the most prolific composers of original music on today’s Jazz scene.

Make no mistake, however, Steve Davis’ involvement with Jazz has been anything but momentary.

Steve has a whole bunch of recordings out under his own name on Gerry Teekens’ Criss Cross label, where he also appears as a member of the Art Blakey sextet-inspired group One for All, and as a guest artist on some of the label’s CDs headed-up by the “frequent collaborators” listed in the opening paragraph.

Here’s some information by Gerry Teekens about the early years of Steve’s career.

Back in the late 60's, the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean left New York and began teaching at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, instituting a Jazz program and with his wife Dollie, founding a community arts center called the Artists Collective that has been a positive force in the lives of many. McLean and his Bebop brothers in other programs around the world planted the seeds of a musical revolution and thanks to their efforts, a number of remarkably talented young creators have emerged onto the Jazz scene lately, including prized pupil Steve Davis.

Steve Davis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on April 14, 1967, but spent his formative years in Binghamton, New York, where his family still resides. Steve's father, a journalist who writes a column for the local newspaper, was a serious blues and Jazz fan. The family collection included a number of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recordings that featured Curtis Fuller on trombone but it wasn't until Steve was fourteen "that I really started to pay attention to the music, especially Curtis. That's when I decided I wanted to play Jazz." He started on trumpet, an instrument played by his father's father, whom Steve calls his "grandsir," but later switched to trombone.

Aware of Jackie McLean from his dad's collection, Steve auditioned for McLean at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford. "Just meeting Jackie, he was Professor McLean to me back then," Davis laughs, "was such a great experience. That was back in '85 and coming to Hartt and just being around Jackie completely changed my whole perception of the music. Jackie brought in a lot of people and I got a chance to meet some great musicians." At the 880 Club, a weekly all-star night gave Steve the chance to sit in with trumpeter Eddie Henderson and late baritone saxist Pepper Adams. "Hartford was a great place to cut your teeth," Steve believes. At the same time, Steve started working gigs with the pianist and bassist from McLean's group, Hotep Idris Galeta and Nat Reeves, which also proved to be a pivotal experience.

After he graduated in '89, "Jackie recommended me to Art Blakey because I was heading to New York. I got to go down and sit in with the band and then Art called me a few months later in December. I was the last guy to ever join the Messengers." Davis spent the better part of a year with the Messengers before Blakey's passing. "I remember being very blown away at the prospect of being there. I did focus on the music and I realized that Art Blakey was a human being like anyone else, but it took me some time. He had such an awesome stature and of course you couldn't help but idolize him."

As Damon Smith points out in his insert notes to Steve’s second Criss Cross CD – Dig Deep [1136]:

“Steve Davis has the rare distinction of having worked with two of the most influential bands in modern jazz history, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Jackie McLean Sextet. The impact of these experiences on his life and music has been significant. Of the many lessons that these leaders imparted on their talented trombone player, one of the most important was their emphasis on group chemistry. Both Blakey and McLean put a premium on interaction and communication. Not merely recording session anomalies, their bands actually worked together and developed as units. This was an approach for which Steve had a natural affinity and he has continually sought a similar level of rapport in his own groups. It is in this spirit and with these goals in mind that Steve approached the recording session for Dig Deep.” [underlining is mine]

Not surprisingly, the guys that Steve Davis chose to join him on this sessions are those he had been working with in the musical cooperative – One for All – which is till a working band today and also has a number of recordings outstanding available on the Criss Cross label.

Group chemistry – when it happens [not always a guarantee] – is not necessarily the product of longevity, although it helps.

Leaving one’s ego on at the front door, listening to what others in the group are playing and having character traits such as a willingness to cooperate and to be unselfish are very important for the formation of a Jazz band’s “group chemistry.”

But another principal factor that enables group chemistry is the nature of how the composing and arranging are put together and here Steve Davis has the touch of the old masters such as Tadd Dameron, Benny Golson, and Gigi Gryce.

They, along with Horace Silver, Hank Mobley and Sonny Clark, arranged Jazz originals and standards from the Great American Songbook in such a way as to blend the instrumental voicings while leaving plenty of room for the soloists to “stretch out.”

They intersperse riffs and counter melodies that nudge the music and the soloists along and create a group impression, a kind of a musical collective personality, if you will.

Group chemistry is something that seems to happen around Steve Davis’ music, no doubt, in large part due to his skills and talents in bringing it about.

Part of it, too, is because of his orientation. He’s not interested in just playing the trombone as a trombone, but wants to play like other instruments on it.

As Ted Panken relates in the insert notes to Steve’s third Criss Cross CD – Crossfire [#1152]:

“Davis began to blend the harmonic acuity and rhythmic punch of J J. Johnson and Curtis Fuller with the big sound approach of the pre-J.J. big band trombonists. "I was captivated by Miles and Wallace Roney at the time," Davis comments, "and wanted to be that on the trombone. Not obvious, but more subtle, mysterious, abstract, less vibrato. I started to listen to how Curtis Fuller brought a warmth to that approach. To me Curtis phrases like a saxophone, taking it another step beyond J.J., translating Coltrane to the brass. His velocity and authority when he played next to Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter in the Messengers was astounding, and he transcended whatever limitations the horn might present. …

After a while you get the confidence and intuition to create, to play off what everyone else is playing, instigate a purer, group musical approach as opposed to running some stuff you’ve been working on.”

Steve Davis listens – to everybody – and because he does, he is able to bring things together.

As he related to Ted Panken in 2004 in the insert notes to Meant To Be [Criss Cross #1248]:

"I love chord progressions and harmonic movement," Davis continues. "The melodies come from the changes …. What kind of language are you playing through these chords? It seems to be less of a priority to a lot of improvisers now to really sing a song in your solo. It doesn't mean being corny, laying on some buttery melodies. I'm talking about turning a phrase, playing something poetic. At the same time, that's not my whole concept. I love rhythm, some back-and-forth with the drums or the piano. …”

"As you hear more, you understand more, and it's got to come out of your instrument," he concludes. "I happen to be holding a trombone every day of my life—and the days I don't, shame on me. But, you can't forget that you are the musician you are without the horn in your hands. You've got to get that music out, and there comes a point when you're playing beyond your instrument in order to fully achieve that expression.

I mean no disrespect to the legacy of the trombone, but I don't necessarily think as a trombonist. I don't think first and foremost of what J.J. or Slide or Curtis Fuller would play. These are heroes of mine. Curtis and Slide are good friends. But you have to play you.

Over the years, I've been fortunate to be next to Jackie McLean and Chick [Corea, pianist] and Freddie [Hubbard, trumpeter], and peers like saxophonists Eric Alexander and Jimmy Greene—so many great musicians. You want to connect with the guys you're playing with, connect with the rhythm section, speak their language. …”

Because of his sensitive awareness to the fact that making good Jazz is a collaborative effort, Steve Davis has been a unifying force ever since his appearance on the Jazz scene.

He just has a centripetal orientation – he pulls things together. When it came time to record his 2005 Update Criss Cross CD [#1282], the musicians that he works with most regularly were on the road.

So he brought together musicians whom he had long admired – Roy Hargrove on trumpet, Peter Bernstein on guitar and Anthony Wonsey on piano – combined them when bassist Nat Reeves and Joe Farnsworth, both of whom he regularly works with, a produced a marvelously blended and balanced recording.

Coming full circle with our beginning statements about him, one of the tunes Steve recorded on this disc is the following quartet version of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s Moment to Moment which you can sample as the audio track to the following video tribute to Steve. 

Below this video you'll find another one featuring Steve along with alto saxophonist Mike DiRubbo, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Joe Farnsworth performing his original composition - Systems Blue. The test of every Jazz musician since time immemorial has been the ability to play the blues. I think, Steve, Mike, David, Peter and Joe all score high marks in this category for their work on this track.

Gary Foster: Revelations

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

In an earlier life, when the World was young, I wrote woodwind and reed player extraordinaire Gary Foster a “fan letter.”

It was occasioned by my attendance at a rehearsal of a community college big band. Gary was the orchestra’s musical director and my letter commented on the considerate and courteous way in which Gary put the band through its paces.

During the practice, he took the time to help individual players and/or sections of the band who were struggling with various parts of an arrangement, made numerous suggestions to improve the band’s attack and dynamics, and did so many other, little things to bring out the best in the band’s performance.

Most importantly, especially with young minds and personalities, Gary went about his business with a demeanor that was the epitome of civility.

Don’t get me wrong, Gary challenged the students. He didn’t put up with sloppy phrasing, bad intonation or inattention to detail [Did I mention that these were “young” musicians?].

But when he did make corrections and adjustments in their playing, he did so with explanation, direction and instruction and not with ridicule or mocking and abrasive criticism.

As a result, boy did that band roar.

Here’s this mild-mannered, Father Christmas looking guy holding this tiger by the tail.

Any of us who ever played in a big band should have been so lucky as to have Gary for a director and teacher.

In yet another, even earlier life, which I’m sure he’s forgotten about along with the fan letter, I played a few gigs with Gary.

I had returned from a year long visit to Asia courtesy of the US government and was working fairly regularly in a quartet led by alto saxophonist and flutist Fred Selden. The group also included pianist Milcho Leviev.

Around this time, Fred and Milcho were quite busy with the Don Ellis Orchestra and it was becoming increasingly common for them to send substitutes to gigs when they were out-of-town with Don’s band.

I was very impressed with Gary’s tone the first time I heard him play as it sounded much like the sub-tone used by Lee Konitz and Paul Desmond and less like the Bud Shank or Art Pepper tones I was used to while working with “West Coast” musicians.

Desmond kiddingly once described his tone as having “the sound of a dry martini.”

Not surprisingly, given Konitz’s and Desmond’s penchant for working with harmonically-oriented pianists such as Lennie Tristano and Dave Brubeck, respectively, Gary would become great chums with similarly oriented pianists Clare Fischer and Alan Broadbent over the course of his career.

Ever since I started the JazzProfiles blog, I’ve had it in mind to do a feature on Gary, but I just could not find a starting point.

In talking with a friend about Gary’s performance on a new Mark Masters CD – Everything You Did - a tribute to the music of Steely Dan [about which more in a future review] over coffee recently, he said: “Of course, you must be familiar with Gary’s recordings on the Revelation label?”

I said: “John William Hardy’s old label; the one that was based in Glendale, CA?”

To which my friend replied: “Yup, the very same.”

Gary, it seems, made five LP’s for Hardy’s label including one with Warne Marsh [Ne Plus Ultra Revelations #12], one on which he shares the leadership with Warne and Clare Fischer [Report of the 1^st Annual Symposium on Relaxed Improvisation Revelation 17], and three under his own name: [1] Subconsciously [Revelation #5]; [2] Grand Cru Classe’ [Revelation #19]; Kansas City Connections [Revelation #48].

When I sheepishly admitted that I hadn’t heard any of Gary’s recordings for Revelation, my buddy offered to “… bring them to you the next time we get together for coffee.”

And so he did.

And in so doing, he finally unlocked a way that I was comfortable with for doing a feature on Gary and that is to take selected excerpts from John William Hardy’s liner notes to Gary’s Revelation recordings and to present them as a chronicle of highlights from Gary’s early career.

Let’s begin at the beginning with Subconsciously [Revelation #5]. Here are some are some of the things James William Hardy had to say about Gary work on this recording.

“GARY FOSTER, the 32 year old multi-instrumentalist whose work is the subject of this long-play recording, is not overdue as a jazz leader-soloist on record. Born in 1936 in Leavenworth. Kansas, his musical training and jazz experience have led him through a complex maze of developmental stages, esthetic re­organizations, and maturational crises. These might, in the past 10 years, have been recorded on phonograph disc to some discographical and musicological profit for the listener, but I think, having known and heard the artist through this period, that the present recording would have been the first one really worth owning and continuing to hear over a long period of time. Because Foster in the past few years has finally begun to stabilize his musical philos­ophy after a period of self-doubt and eclectic experimentation with sounds and forms not true to his innerself.

As a result, he now emerges as in important jazz voice, and one of only two saxo­phonists, the other being Jerry Coker, who has developed a thor­oughly personal expression that stems from the joint influences of Les Konitz, Warne Marsh (the Tristano School) and Clare Fischer. Like Coker, Fischer, and the Tristanoites, Foster is a thoroughly grounded classicist, as a clarinetist, whose jazz ex­perience dates from hit earliest musical activities and are an immutable part of the man's entire personality and art. Like them, he believes in a freedom of improvisational form that is under­pinned with discipline and a strong relationship to compositional structure. And tike them, he practices the production of a musk that is full of warmth, love, and grace, but that is simultaneously alive with a pulsing swing and the poignancy of a truly basic jazz feeling. There is economy in his work, but it often fairly bursts with ebullience in its multi-noted passages that does not in any way finished quality, a full, whole, confident character that belies its spontaneity.

I first met Gary Foster at the University of Kansas, where he transferred after two years at Central College, Fayette, Missouri. At Kansas Foster was enrolled in the music department, majoring in clarinet and in music education. I did not meet him in this capacity, but as a jazz musician who, along with tenorist Nathan Davis (now a popular ex-patriot musician in Germany), Carmell Jones, and pianist Jay Fisher (now a Chicago-based musician), was making the music scene in and around Lawrence a lively one indeed. That was in 1957. Graduated from Kansas, he had a year of teaching while attending graduate school, in which, in his second year he studied saxophone and clarinet while pursuing music his­tory studies. In 1961, Foster and family moved to the Los Angeles area during the short-lived rise in interest that jazz was to have there following the popular West Coast school reign in the fifties. The early 60"s were not the best years for a young white saxo­phonist to establish himself in an active jazz life.

Many people had just discovered Rollins and Trane. and the long overdue rise from obscurity for the L. A. negro jazz artist was in full progress. As justified as that was, it ironically sent to or kept many a promising white musician in the underground, unless he hustled himself into a harder form of playing that took advantage of the new interest in overt soul music and the extroverted proclamation of the blues. There was a short time when, without satisfactory employment. Gary experimented with "hardening" his approach. But as he and others knew, Foster was in no way suited to that style. Fortunately, he secured a position teaching music with Berry & Grassmueck Music Co. in Pasadena (where he now administrates the studios, conducts with Warne Marsh and others a subdivisional unit for jazz-oriented students, and teaches privately). And even more fortunately, he met, in 1962, pianist-composer Clare Fischer.

Shortly thereafter, he became a student of Fischer, who re-es­tablished the flagging confidence of his pupil in the validity of his approach to jazz and at the same time helped to formulate a more sensitive and intricate approach to improvisation which no previous influence had been able to accomplish. Fischer was an enthusiastic student and scholar of the Tristano saxophonists aforementioned, as well as a well-spring of compositional and executional theory that Gary soaked up like a sponge. Besides the student-teacher relationship, Fischer also occasionally offered Foster opportunities to record and play in public that he had been almost denied for his first year on the coast

The present record is not Foster's first, although it is the first to feature his extended jazz playing. Gary has been a mainstay of the reed sections on several Fischer big band recordings. For the discographer (almost he alone) Foster's very first appearance on LP was as a member of the college all-stars led by trumpeter Don Jacoby in I960 (MGM LP E3881— see Gary in the red sweater?) on which recording he plays all tenor solos. Gradually, in the mid-1960's Foster has become a sought after player in the studios and on Jazz and dance gigs alike, and, as these notes go to press, he spends important playing time in the quintet of Jimmy Rowles and a group led by Fischer.”

Next up for Gary on Revelation was an appearance with tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh on his LP entitled Warne Marsh [Ne Plus Ultra Revelations #12] about which John William Hardy had this to say.

“In the late 1940's. a couple of years after I had been run­ning through the stylistic influence of the late Bud Powell, I happened to be listening to a jazz program on radio. I had turned on the program in the middle of a recording and was completely taken aback by a cascading line of such utter complexity played by two saxophones that my jaw dropped in astonishment. This was Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, and what I heard represented to me a new level of development in jazz that I was soon to plunge into. It was a development that manifested a high degree of melodic construction and harmonic usage that seemed such a logical development of what had just proceeded it. Often the melodic involvement, with displaced accents, cross meters and the like, would be so complex that the idea of playing it in a strict sense of time would go out the window.

The average reaction of the Lick player at that point would be: ‘Well, — they play a lot of notes, but man, they don't swing!’ — Which might have been part of my reaction except for the fact that I loved the notes they were playing. (Nobody seems to get bugged with the opposite: ‘He sure swings, but he keeps playing the same licks or someone else's vocabulary.’)

About four years back. Warne Marsh moved back home to Los Angeles and shortly thereafter we started working to­gether in my band. Sometimes in the course of the evening our rhythm section would be roaring to the point that he would be forced to play over it. The Warne Marsh that came out then was something very different! In this album on Subconscious-lee I think you'll find him approaching this. You almost feel like accusing him of swinging. Heaven For­bid! If Warne is not listened to for the sheer sake of Warne, then relative judgment will get in your way and you'll miss the point.

Gary Foster joined all this as a second generation orienta­tion and as a result you will find his playing much more metrically oriented. Still, together the two have honed these lines, these fingerbusting lines, to the point that in many in­stances they are played at a faster tempo than the originals. I think the best examples of Gary's playing are contained in the free piece that follows Subconscious-Lee and on 317 E. 32nd (based on the chord changes of "Out of Nowhere").

Many might mutter, ‘His tone is Konitz oriented’ and con­sider that a criticism. I find that irrelevant considering how well he plays und that I've had to listen for over twenty years to dozens of alto saxophonists trying to sound like Charlie Parker. Few succeeded…..”

Gary’s third recording for Revelation was in essence a leaderless session entitled Warne Marsh, Clare Fischer and Gary Foster Report of the 1^st Annual Symposium on Relaxed Improvisation [Revelation 17]. In his notes, John William Hardy explains the title’s context this way:

“Here is a session—in the best sense of the word. What is occasionally known as ‘Live!’ is usually no liver-er than a studio. The program is preplanned and the formality of the hall (or studio) establishes a context to be conformed to. The situation on 9 May 1972, in Clare Fischer's living room in Van Nuys, was much different. The music was allowed to create its own context. There was no leader—only an agree­ment that all participants would arrive about 7:00 p.m. and enjoy themselves—eating, drinking, playing, talking and re­laxing. Pete Welding and I set up the little Stellavox Sp-7 recorder, distributed some microphones and set forth to moni­tor the musical proceedings as they occurred. We made only a general effort to turn on the tape when the music started and nobody worried whether we had or not or whether a selection would finish before the tape ran out. There were certainly no second takes—or takes at all in the accepted sense. Just players, playing. Sometimes selections were dis­cussed and sometimes somebody just started playing, the chords were spelled out obviously for those unfamiliar in the first chorus, and then the thing went forward.”

Mr. Hardy steps aside as the annotator for Gary’s fourth Revelations LP - Grand Cru Classe’ [Revelation #19]- in favor of Michael James who in 1973 was described on the liner notes as a “… distinguished British Jazz Critic and frequent contributor to The Jazz Monthly.

Of Gary’s music, Mr. James observed:

“… Foster, both in this collection and the one which preceded it, indicates certain cardinal features of his approach.  … Foster has evinced a strong commitment to ortho­dox if complex chordal structures, and, as J.W. Hardy notes, thinks chordally better than most wind instrumentalists.  … [One of] Foster's [preferred] methods of expres­sion is a type of melodic density that sets them in a class apart from hackneyed blues riffs or ostensible originals hasti­ly thrown together just for economic convenience. As an illustration of this quality can be found in Foster's own comments on Bill Evans's Tune for a Lyric. ‘Melodically and harmonically it appeals to me,’ he says, ‘in the way it seems to evolve in a “through” composed man­ner. The repeat scheme is not so purely geometric as it is in many jazz tunes and the end of the song keeps delaying its inevitability in a way I really find enticing.’

Foster, then, in his continuing affiliation to established methods of extemporization and in his enthusiasm for melodically intricate lines braced by harmonic structures of con­siderable substance, may be viewed as something of a musical conservative in an era which has seen numerous players dis­carding, sometimes, one feels, in too doctrinaire a manner, conventions that had governed jazz improvising, until 1960 or thereabouts, for upwards of three decades. Yet in so far as that description evokes a hidebound, unadventurous spirit rather than an artist who seeks to retain and build upon the distilled wisdom of earlier generations, it is hopelessly inac­curate in Foster's case.

Not only has this been made plain by his occasional involvement in group improvisations not guid­ed by the usual harmonic precepts, … , but, more to the point, it becomes transparently clear as soon as he embarks upon his first solo chorus in the opening item of the present set. His improvisation flows naturally out of the song, devel­oping impetus as it progresses, and building, without false artifice or even any marked increase in tonal emphasis, towards its logical conclusion.

In fact the solo's communica­tive power derives mainly from the controlled accumulation of melodic interest within a predetermined rhythmic and har­monic continuum, rather than from any sudden shifts in phrase patterns or tonal coloring. Such an amalgam of grace­fulness and steadily gathering music intensity proclaims Fos­ter's allegiance to what might loosely be termed the Lester Young aesthetic, a school of thought which embraces such diverse stylists as Zoot Sims and Lee Konitz, placing as it does greater emphasis on melodic resourcefulness and con­tinuity of line man upon the more visceral stratagems of abrupt changes in volume or tone.

Foster, I believe, owes something to all three of these players, but his work never­theless possesses a truly personal flavor, transmitting a sunlit lyricism which, whatever their other qualities, is not an at­tribute one would readily associate with any of the other musicians named. In drawing this distinction one is reminded of the very individual use which, in a rather different area, the pianist Barry Harris has made of Bud Powell's vocabulary. …

For his fifth album with Revelation, Gary took matters into his own hands [so to speak] and wrote these comments for the liner notes:

“Kansas City Connections [Revelation #48].

In 1951, as a junior high school student in Leavenworth, Kansas, 35 miles from Kansas City, I first heard improvised jazz music at the hands of Olin Parker, my school hand director and musical inspiration. Olin brought jazz records and magazines about jazz to the band room and organized a small school jazz hand that hooked me to the music forever. I soon learned that, geographically, Kansas City had its own important place in the history of jazz and that, long before my ears were opened to the music, Charlie Parker, Jay McShann, Lester Young and Count Basic had put Kansas City on the jazz map.

In the following years I lived and studied near Kansas City. In the middle and late 1950's, Bob Brookmeyer, Carmell Jones, Jimmy Lovelace, Charlie Kynard and Frank Smith were the names I mast associated with the continuing tradition of Kansas City jazz. In recent years I have been fortunate to teach at the University of Missouri — Kansas City and to play in the area many times, under various circumstances, most often with the musicians heard on this recording.

The playing of my colleagues here is proof that jazz in Kansas City is in good health today. Carmell Jones (back home again), Herman Bell, Arch Martin, Kim Park, Mike Ning and many others help to keep the music alive there.

This recording came about through the eagerness and encouragement of Jim Nirschl. Jim is a valued friend and Kansas City nerve ending for jazz musicians from all parts of the world. A Kansas City connection.

Roots, family, friends and music are all Kansas City connections. Not to mention Kansas City barbecue!

Gary Foster, 1985”

Although my view of him is informed largely from impressions, in general, I couldn’t agree more with his long-time friend, Dick Wright’s description of Gary when he writes:

“Over the years, I have seen and heard Gary grow from an outstanding young Stan Getz-influenced tenor saxophonist to, today, a consummate artist on alto, tenor and soprano saxes, as well as clarinet (his first instrument) and flute. He is truly a ‘musician's musician’ who is held in the highest regard by fellow musicians as well as jazz lovers and jazz students of all ages. Gary … is equally at home in the recording studios, the class room and on the concert stage. …”

Somewhat ironically, I didn’t select a track from any of Gary’s wonderful recordings on Revelation Records to feature on the accompanying video montage.

Perhaps when you listen to his spellbinding performance on Some Other Time from his Make Your Own Fun CD on Concord [CCD-4459] you’ll understand why.

In all the years that I have been listening to this music, I never heard it played more beautifully by anyone.

Gary Foster is a very special musician.

Elisabetta Serio and Enzo Pietropaoli: "Sedici" and "The Princess"

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

For whatever reason, you don’t hear much instrumental Jazz today that’s played quietly, reflectively and introspectively.

It takes a certain orientation to conceive of the music played in a laid back fashion; this approach usually requires the music to be expressed with a great deal of control and at slower tempos.

Slow tempos can be dangerous - when moody become murky, lyrical becomes lazy, and sensitive becomes stagnant.

On the other hand, the quieter, slower pace allows the music to breathe, gives the artist time to think and allows the audience the opportunity to absorb what the music is trying to convey.

I remember the late tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins, whose brooding solo on Bill Holman’s arrangement of Jerome Kern’s Yesterdays for the Kenton band is one of the all-time great Jazz balladic performances, sharing the following comment with me a few years before his death in 2003: “These days, when we play a slow tune, I expect a bottle to come flying over my head.”

Personally, because there’s very little for a drummer to do on slow tunes [except stay out of the way, i.e., not overplay], I’ve never been a big fan of playing Jazz slowly, but as a listener, I’ve always enjoyed the music when it is played at a slower pace.

Imagine my delight then when Matteo Pagano at Via Veneto Jazz and his associates at Jando music sent me preview copies of their two latest releases: Elisabetta Serio’s Sedici [VVJ 116] and Enzo Pietropaoli;s The Princess [VVJ 117] as the music on each of them is the epitome of what Duke Ellington once labelled: “Sultry serenades.”

Botch CDs are available for order and preorder via Amazon and www.forcedexposure.com

Sensitive, discreet, reflective, keyboard artist and vocalist Elisabetta Serio instills in her music a measured balance, a haunting lyricism and a light rhythmic feel that evokes subtle moods. Perhaps a better term for her style of Jazz would indeed be Mood Music.

Sedici ("16") the CD’s title is a lucky numerology to the Naples based pianist on which Elisabetta is joined by Marco de Tilla on bass and Lorenzo de Lorenzo on drums to form a trio that produces an almost dream-like quality during the course of its nine originals.

Additionally, Sarah Jane Morris's voice is featured on "Afrika", Fulvio Sigurtà's trumpet playing a delicate melody in "Il Cielo Sotto Di Me", and Jerry Popolo's tenor saxophone playing in a funky mode "Rumors,” enhances the musical palette of moods featured on the album.

Of all the beautiful music on Sedici, I found “Mr. P,” dedicated to her mentor and friend Pino Daniele, to be particularly poignant. Pino Daniele was an Italian singer-songwriter, and guitarist, whose influences covered a wide number of genres, including pop, blues, jazz, and Italian and Middle Eastern music. He died in 2015 at the age of 59.

Whereas, Elisabetta emphasizes originals, bassist Enzo Pietropaoli presents his new album The Princess as a platform to use the piano-bass-drums Jazz trio to reimagine a series of Pop and Rock ‘n Roll standards: from John Lennon [Jealous Guy] to Bob Dylan [A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall], Cole Porter [Night and Day] to Peter Gabriel [Father Son], from Neil Young [Philadelphia] to Pearl Jam [The End], topped off with the Beach Boys [God Only Knows]- all brought together by Pietropaoli's original arrangements.

“The Princess,” one of the three originals contributed by Enzo is meant to denote “ ...a metaphor for a dream pursued with determination and fully realized.”

Joining Enzo on this superbly crafted outing of relaxed and expressive trio Jazz is Julian Oliver Mazzariello on piano and Alessandro Paternesi on drums.

You can experience the music from each of these excellent new recordings by sampling the following audio only, Soundcloud files.