The New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section
Time Out New York Feature preview
DownBeat Magazine Article
Point of Departure review
"Trio New York" is:
Ellery Eskelin - tenor saxophone
Gary Versace - Hammond B3 organ
Gerald Cleaver - drums
Just for fun I put together a promo clip containing one chorus of saxophone solo from each track on the recording:
You can listen to fuller excerpts from "Trio New York" in the April 21st post below. "Trio New York" will be heading to Europe for a tour in January (18 - 29). Keep an eye on the website as we approach that time for the tour itinerary.
New Releases as a side-person.
Based in Portugal, Clean Feed Records has managed to release quite a lot of great music since 2001. Not sure quite how they do it but I'm very glad they do. I'm on early Clean feed Releases by trumpeter Dennis Gonzáles and drummer Gerry Hemingway. This month it happens that I'm a side-person on two more Clean Feed projects.
"Riptide"
I'm proud to say that I've been playing with drummer and composer Gerry Hemingway in many configurations since the mid-nineties. Gerry has a singular style both as a drummer and composer. I think I first heard him play on a concert with Anthony Braxton's classic quartet line-up here in new York City. It was a transcendent concert, one that I'll always remember. One of Gerry's many ambitious endeavors since I've been associated with him was singlehandedly booking, organizing, managing, chauffeuring not to mention performing on a 35 gig tour in the states and Canada for his quartet back in 1998. You can read about it on his website. "Riptide" is a quintet project that Gerry has been developing over the past year or so. It features Oscar Noriega on alto saxophone and clarinet, myself on tenor, Terrence McManus on guitar, Kermit Driscoll on bass and of course Gerry on percussion and drums and all original compositions.
You can read a recent article about Gerry in the July 2011 issue of DownBeat Magazine.
You can order "Riptide" from Downtown Music Gallery.
"September Trio"
Drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt is a more recent musical collaborator and the group that he put together along with pianist Angelica Sanchez and myself caught the attention of Clean Feed Records after only our first concert. We went into the studio last September, hence the name of the group "September Trio". This project came at a good time for me as it represents the first studio date that I've done since undergoing something of a transition with the instrument. The compositions suggest various avenues of thought and feeling while the playing contains just enough ambiguity to keep the open textures in a sort of constant slow-motion state of flux. You can read a review on the "Free Jazz" blog.
By the way, I have copies of "September" available from my website.
ETO
Satako Fujii and her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura come to New York every other year or so record new music with the Orchestra New York. It's easily the wildest and most fun big band I think I've ever played in. Very spirited music. "ETO" is the title of the latest release which is now available on Libra Records. This is what Satoko writes about the project on her website:
"My husband, Natsuki Tamura will turn sixty years old this year. In Japan we have a special celebration for sixty year olds, called "Kanreki." We use the Chinese zodiac in Japan which is called "Eto," so 12 years is one cycle. 60 is a special number because it is 12 x 5 and 10 x 6. The duodecimal system and decimal system meet at 60. I wanted write some music for this, and read a bit about the Chinese zodiac. Each of the 12 animals in the zodiac has its own character and each character inspired me a lot, so I wrote a short piece for each of them to make one long suite. Each piece has featured solo player. ~Satoko Fujii
Oscar Noriega, Briggan Krauss- alto sax; Ellery Eskelin, Chris Speed - tenor sax, Andy Laster - baritone sax; Herb Robertson, Dave Ballou, Frank London, Natsuki Tamura - trumpet; Joey Sellers, Curtis Hasselbring, Joe Fiedler - trombone; Satoko Fujii - piano, Stomu Takeishi - bass, Aaron Alexander - drums
You can pick this up at Downtown Music Gallery as well.
