I owe alot to my friend, Milton
Cyphert — he
gave me my first copy of "The Dynamic Duo" (Jimmy
Smith and Wes
Montgomery) while
we were in high school. So many hours of joy and inspiration came out of
listening to that record —
over and over again!
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Later
on came the guitar/organ associations with John
Abercrombie and Jan
Hammer, Wes
and Melvin Rhyne,
George Benson and
Jack McDuff,
George Benson
and Dr. Lonnie
Smith —
and my all time favorite: Grant
Green, Larry
Young and Elvin
Jones! So much
has been given to our lives from these great masters. Flash forward to the Fall of 2001 — admist a lot of sorrow and shock in NYC, I found a blessing in bringing together two great musicians that I admired and eyed collaborating with for some time. |
The
incredible drumming of Ian
Froman (whom I
met through playing some trio gigs with another genious, George
Garzone) and the
swinging and profound organ playing of Gary
Versace —
it was even more awesome than I had envisioned it! Since that time, we
have been gigging in the city and developing the music we are presenting
to you now. Here are some thoughts about some of the material. Some critics want to hear standards, something they are familiar and comfortable with — my goal is to create new music — |
my belief in this comes from
the philosophy of the late-great Art
Blakey —
a master musician who had all of the members of his band write for the
band — he believed
strongly that creating new music IS
the tradition! Starbrite: I've always loved Coltrane's version of The Night Has 1000 Eyes — this tune is a reflection of that groove form, and just an open tune for blowing. Ray's Way: a funky tribute to my dear friend and great drummer, Ray Levier. I wanted to capture the positive vibe of this guy and the type of fat back beat grooves that he plays. |
Death
Toll:
written 9-11-01 The Spring: a samba groove (Until You) Return to Me: a straight-eighth ballad that I wrote while waiting for a friend at the bus station — something a bit mournful until resolved. Something Blue: a backwards D minor blues — it starts out on the IV chord and goes backwards to I — this is my Pat Martino homage. |
The
Wesenback:
another backwards
type of blues, starting on the tritone
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