Ned Goold (tenor sax), Ben Wolfe (bass) Ron Steen (drums).
Ned Goold has frequently been a featured artist at Smalls, having earned his spot on the basis of his unusual and original approach. Over many years, Ned worked out a system of synthetic tonal structures that he could superimpose over the chords of traditional standards, and use as a basis for new compositions.
Ned's original work on an as-yet unreleased Smalls Records recording won him a New Works grant from Chamber Music America in 2002 to further his explorations. Ned's music sometimes poses a formidable challenge for new listeners. But he is no mere formalist.
"Listen to the bass notes" Ned urges. What he's doing is no different from Bix or Bird, or James Brown for that matter, Ned explains. He uses his highly developed resources to create a dark, funky sound that is both expressive and musically deep.
Here Ned is in the company of Ben Wolfe on the bass, and Ron Steen on drums. Ned and Ben are longtime collaborators, and have appeared on a number of one another's recordings. Veteran drummer Ron Steen is solid and right at home, having played in the company of both for many years.
The recordings herein were distilled from forty-seven shows recorded during the summer of 1999 while Ned was on tour, opening nightly for the Harry Connick Jr. band in which he also serves as musical director. This highly select collection affords us the best representation on record to date of Ned's trio work.
William Ash (guitar), Dwayne Burno (bass) Mark Taylor (drums). Recorded 12/29/01 at The Studio, New York City.
The release of this recording signals William’s debut as a leader on an American jazz label.
[He’s already quite well known in Japan, and travels there regularly to tour.] We’re fortunate to have him here with regular associates Dwayne Burno and Mark Taylor, and in the company of a working group, the groove is that much deeper. It is hard to say enough good things about Dwayne Burno.
A brilliant and soulful player with endless drive, Dwayne lays down lines that are right in the pocket, and really, really move. Somehow Burno is always one or two steps ahead of the listener, and one has to marvel at his quick-witted inventions. No wonder he’s been a favorite of such greats as Freddie Hubbard, the late Joe Henderson, Cedar Walton, Roy Hargrove, Roy Haynes, Benny Golson, and many others.
Mark Taylor is a first-call drummer, known for his work with Johnny Griffin, Lew Tabackin, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, George Coleman, James Moody, Art Farmer, and Clifford Jordan. Few drummers have the combination of power and precision that Taylor has, and his accompaniment here is always tasteful and never excessive. He and Burno meet up perfectly on this date.
The bass-drum hits that William is fond of employing in his compositions are performed impeccably.
Chris Byars (tenor sax), John Mosca (trombone), Sacha Perry (piano), Ari Roland (bass) Danny Rosenfeld (drums). Recorded 5/16/02 at The Studio, NYC.
The members of Across 7 Street were all born and raised in NY. All were early standouts, establishing themselves on the New York jazz scene in their teenage years. Chris, Ari, Sacha, and Danny excelled in Barry Harris' workshops in their early years, and learned much from accompanying the elder players on the New York scene at the time, players such as C Sharpe, Frank Hewitt, Junior Cook, Lou Donaldson, Vernel Fournier, and Tommy Turrentine.
John Mosca, who is also the director of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, is the consummate veteran soloist, ensemble player, and teacher, a longtime pillar of the NY jazz scene. It is the unique blend of influences from the rich New York scene that gives this group its flavor. Over the course of nine years of weekly Sunday night features at Smalls, Across 7 Street developed an impressive book of fifty or so original compositions to maturity.
This volume presents the first dozen of those compositions for the first time on record. The music is difficult, dark-edged, hard swinging, harmonically rich, and deeply rooted, and the listener is sure to be rewarded.
Neal Miner (bass), Chris Byars (tenor sax), Richie Vitale (trumpet), John Mosca (trombone), Steve Ash (piano), Tom Melito (drums).
Recorded December 9 10, 2002 at Sean Swinney Recording Studios.
One of the most in-demand bassists on the Smalls scene for the last decade has been the New York-bred Neal Miner. Miner, along with like-minded associates known elsewhere on this label, also plumbed the New York scene as a teenager and quickly developed into one of the steadiest sidemen on the scene.
For ten years, he’s been the exclusive accompanist to jazz legends Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. He’s actually been a choice of most of today’s vocal stars. It’s easy to see why they like him.
He’s sought out the elder masters on the NY scene and absorbed their lessons. His warm, full tone and keen timing lend a solid foundation to any jazz ensemble. The appealing and refined original repertoire presented here now gives us the portrait of a complete artist.
Charles Davis (tenor sax), Tardo Hammer (piano), Lee Hudson (bass), Jimmy Wormworth (drums). Recorded March 26, 2006 and April 19, 2006 at Bennett Studios, Englewood, New Jersey.
The Chicago-bred multisaxophonist Charles Davis had a long and distinguished history before he ever set foot in Smalls, but while there he penned another distinguished musical chapter in his storied career and his influence is in no small part what helped make Smalls the authentic ground for musical development that it is.
The title of this record, Land of Dreams, comes from a tune of the same name that was played often in sessions in Chicago in the 1950s, and is now featured here. Based on the familiar “Cherokee,” the A section was written by Eddy Heywood with the bridge being composed years later by Charles Davis. I have a personal fondness for Charles’ original tunes such as the elegant “Strangeness” included here.
I hope our next project will document more of his beautiful compositions. - Luke Kaven, producer
Luke Kaven
Sacha Perry (piano), Ari Roland (bass), Phil Stewart (drums). Recorded 11/7/06 11/8/06 at Leon Lee Dorsey Studio.
We get to document here again one of the great ongoing musical relationships today. Sacha Perry and Ari Roland have been playing together for almost twenty years, much of the time on a daily basis. [For more on this, see also Ari Roland’s Sketches From A Bassist’s Album (SRCD-0012), and Across 7 Street / Made In New York (SRCD-0002).
] They were both gifted and highly advanced as teenagers growing up in New York; early on they delved deeply into the esoteric ideas about melody and harmony, while absorbing vast amounts of communitarian knowledge from the great masters on the New York scene at the time. Working together (and with their longtime associate Chris Byars), they developed a rare degree of freedom with the ability to move around through distant keys and unusual tonalities together on the fly, with some extraordinary note-to-note contrapuntal interplay. For this they are recommended as essential listening for Juilliard students these days.
And Ari’s group with Sacha Perry and Chris Byars was chosen this year (2006) for the Jazz Ambassador program. So it looks like just recognition is starting to catch up with them. Phil Stewart has proven to be a great drummer in this configuration.
He listens, doesn’t try to steal the show with bravura even though he’s got chops to spare, and his time is solid, and right in the pocket. No wonder he’s been increasingly sought after too.
Chris Byars (tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax), Sacha Perry (piano), Ari Roland (bass), Andy Watson (drums).
Recorded 11/3/06 at Leon Lee Dorsey Studio.
It seems as though we’re only beginning to catch up with Chris Byars. That’s our fault.
Byars-the-artist himself was established in New York first at age 7 with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and later with George Balanchine. His career between ages 7-14 encompasses over a thousand performances around the world. He starred notably in Balanchine’s production of The Spellbound Child (L'Enfant et les Sortileges), which the New York Times (5/25/81) called “…quite magical and enchanting…a television classic.
” I think it’s fair to say he was a prodigy. The continuation of his musical and artistic career as a composer, arranger, and multi-saxophonist for over 20 years has been just as distinguished. This is where we walked in.
Now Chris Byars is one of the most brilliant players alive today, in a league with the late Frank Hewitt and very few others. We’ve documented some of Byars’ art in previous releases (Across 7 Street-Made In New York/SRCD-0002; Sasha Dobson with the Chris Byars Octet-The Darkling Thrush/SRCD-0005; The Frank Hewitt Quintet-Four Hundred Saturdays/SRCD-0010; The Chris Byars Octet-Night Owls/SRCD-0013; Ari Roland-Sketches From a Bassist’s Album/SRCD-0012). Here though is the first small group record documenting Byars exclusively on compositions from his book.
But that’s a big book, so catching up is going to take a while.
Omer Avital(bass), Mark Turner (tenor sax), Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Aaron Goldberg (piano), Ali Jackson(drums). Recorded 1/14/06 live at Fat Cat, New York City.
This disk is a part of Smalls Records’ ongoing presentation of Omer Avital’s works, past and present. Here we feature some of his present work. But Avital is prolific, and it will require more than one release to catch up on his varied projects.
So—here are some of the best players of this generation together in one group. And it’s no accident either. This is no gimmicky ‘all-star’ record where a bunch of big names are thrown together for the first time to make a record.
The musicians in Omer Avital’s quintet have been down a long road together, and after more than ten years collaborating in diverse and overlapping combinations, they’ve made a significant mark on modern music both individually and collectively.
Here Avital puts forth seven originals, and they are nicely programmed here like separate movements of an extended piece. As with much of Avital’s work, there is a sense of dramatic sweep, and an episodic structure.
The tunes have graceful introductions, and run from wistful melodies to red hot refrains. There are lots of hooks for improvisation, and everybody gives his all. The overall feel is balanced, and it has the drive of a classic acoustic jazz quintet.
The tone is optimistic, but it is a knowing optimism. It is in keeping with the enigmatic title. The ancient art of giving is an idea that is manifest in the simple act of offering tea.
Or it is in taming the desert to yield a bountiful harvest, and then sharing that harvest with your neighbor. It is both live giving and life affirming.
Ned Goold (tenor sax), Sacha Perry (piano), Ari Roland (tenor sax), Charles Goold (drums).
Once in a great while, jazz players combine to produce a brew potent enough to inspire a thirst that can’t be slaked by any substitute. Chemistry they call it, something more than the mereological sum of its parts. Some things you love to listen to, but some things you gotta hear.
This group is one of the latter.
The swing on this date ranges from hot to cool, but always comes across with intensity. The hot swing on tunes like “Goooold” or “Thus This” is something most fans can relate to, but with original and exciting twists and turns.
The cool swing on “What Is This Thing Called Love?” has the same intensity, but requires a change of gears--you have to take it at its own pace. This record is a good representation of the Saturday evening show, and if you’re like me, you’ll be consistently surprised at how much music this band can play.
Sacha Perry (piano), Ari Roland (bass), Phil Stewart (drums).
Born in Brooklyn on May 1, 1970, Sacha began to learn piano at age 6. As a standout student early on, he enrolled at Hunter College High School and began studying classical piano at Mannes School of Music at age 11.
By age 17 his attentions were turning towards jazz. The inspiration supplied by a Thelonious Monk recording was a catalyst for what was to become a life journey. Sacha, a born self-educator with a keen nose for the non-obvious and a tendency to think far ahead of most people, recognized that the secrets and subtleties of modern jazz piano would only be revealed through the working jazz community.
Sacha quickly found his way to the inner circles of the NY jazz world, aided in part by friends such as trumpeter Dwayne Clemons and pianist Rodney Kendrick, who introduced him to the enclaves of insiders who gathered nightly away from the limited clubs to play the subtle and urgent music that they and their associates originated in New York. Here Sacha met up with players such as Barry Harris, Clarence “C” Sharpe, Junior Cook, Lou Donaldson, Tommy Turrentine, Leroy Williams -- and Frank Hewitt, the original subject of this label, who was to become Sacha’s greatest influence on the piano. Also, fatefully, Sacha met up with future musical collaborators Ari Roland, Chris Byars, Zaid Nasser, and Mike Mullins, some of the young players on the scene who were singled out by their elders, and often invited to accompany.
The enigmatic title of this album is a triple entendre given to me by Sacha on the back of a Smalls flyer. Eretik is heretic, is erratic, is erotic. Shades of Gertrude Stein.
It is partly a reflection of the deceptively many layers here.
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