GRAMMYⓇ Nominated Pianist, Composer and Arranger Bill O’Connell Announces the Release of A Change Is Gonna Come, A Jazz Luminary’s Musings on a Fraught World, Out January 28, 2022 via Savant Records
Savant Records is pleased to announce the January 28, 2022 release of A Change is Gonna Come, the powerful new release from esteemed pianist, composer, arranger and newly-minted GRAMMYⓇ nominee Bill O’Connell. This particular moment in history is a fraught one; A Change Is Gonna Come brings that point home with impassioned music reacting to the rampant racial and political injustice and pandemic-fueled turmoil of the present moment. A Change is Gonna Come features O’Connell alongside bassist Lincoln Goines, drummer Steve Jordan, percussionist Pedrito Martinez, and special guest Craig Handy tenor and soprano saxophone.
Lauded for his boundless, uncompromising prowess in the realm of Latin jazz, O’Connell’s fruitful musical journey began in 1977 when O’Connell began his tenure as the keyboardist for the legendary Mongo Santamaria’s Latin jazz band. A departure from the clavé-driven Latin jazz pocket that so often permeates O’Connell’s work, the pianist is heard here displaying his remarkable facility in the straight-ahead jazz idiom. The release of A Change is Gonna Come comes as O’Connell is fresh off the heels of his thrilling GRAMMYⓇ nomination for ‘Best Arrangement (Instrumental or A Capella)’ for the song “Chopsticks” on Richard Barratta’s album Music in Film: The Reel Deal.
This impassioned release is intrinsically tied to the unique and trying times in which it was created. O’Connell remarks: “I look at recordings this way: each one is a snapshot of how I’m feeling at this particular time in my life... Each song reflects a different feeling at a particular moment.” The pianist and composer channels his frustration, anger and grief for the medical, racial, economic and political turmoil that plagues our country into electrifying compositions that feature the masterful interplay of this tightly-knit outfit of jazz notables.
It was while performing with Sonny Rollins that the pianist first crossed paths with renowned drummer Steve Jordan. “We had an immediate chemistry going, but it was short-lived—about a month. Ever since then we’ve been trying to get together on a project. I finally called him up and I said, ‘Steve, I think it’s time.’ So he was into it, and we finally got it together to do this, so I’m very pleased that he’s on the record,” O’Connell notes. Jordan, who recently joined The Rolling Stones in place of the late Charlie Watts, is the album's co-producer.
A more frequent presence on O’Connell’s dates is bassist Lincoln Goines, with whom he spent some thirty-odd years in flutist Dave Valentin’s rhythm section—before he became the pianist’s go-to bassist. “Lincoln and I have a long musical relationship, and I can’t say enough about what he brings to my music,” he says. “I love what he does on both acoustic and electric bass.” Guest saxophonist Craig Handy puts rich veins of both adventure and soul into O’Connell’s compositions, A Change is Gonna Come is the third album of O’Connell’s that features Handy. The pair first worked together in trombonist Conrad Herwig’s Latin Side big band… which is where O’Connell first encountered Pedrito Martinez, the record’s other guest.
O’Connell stirs the grey-matter with thoughtful original compositions such as “A Prayer For Us”. The piece is a vulnerable, gospel-inspired number. “I didn’t write it out this way, but you could also think of it as ‘A Prayer for U.S.,’” O’Connell muses, looking back on episodes of turmoil that fell through his country like dominoes. His improvising on the tune’s gentle swing has a bittersweet cast; one isn’t sure whether to be sad or hopeful. Perhaps that’s appropriate, too. “Covid Blues” is a B-flat blues with a plaintive soprano line that captures the anxiety, the ennui, the claustrophobia we’ve all been cycling through. Yet in its playful three-way duel between O’Connell, Handy, and Jordan, it also has a glimmer of hope. “We have to remain optimistic in the crazy time we’re going through,” says O’Connell. “Sun For Sonny” is a tip-of-the-hat to the great Sonny Rollins who once employed each member of the trio. The calypso groove and “St. Thomas” quote in O’Connell’s melody was your answer. It’s also suitably (for a Rollins tribute) percussive—with Martinez returning and Goines switching to the electric bass—and suitably sunny and danceable. After Handy and O’Connell reinforce that feeling in their solos, Goines and Martinez double down on it with two rounds of upbeat funk.
“Moment’s Notice”, which opens the album, is filled with nuance, immediacy and harmonic intrigue. The group takes the classic piece into funk territory which O’Connell indicates is about not wasting valuable resources. “Steve Jordan is one of the greatest funk drummers on the earth. If I didn’t have him playing some funk in there, it’s almost a crime.” For their solos, however, O’Connell, Goines, and Jordan ease off the gas a bit; there’s still plenty of swing, but also plenty of space.” The Sam Cooke anthem for which this album is titled “A Change is Gonna Come” arrives in an arrangement that O’Connell first wrote years ago for Charles Fambrough. It’s charged with gospel but also a surprising delicacy: a vulnerable aspect that tempers the song’s built-in resolve. If anything, the issues the song grappled with 60 years ago have only intensified since. The pianist takes centerstage with a jubilant solo on “My Foolish Heart” which once again features Jordan’s brilliant funk drumming within a sublime arrangement by O’Connell.
As jazz journalist Michael J. West remarks in the album’s liner notes “It’s what artists do: process the darker aspects of our lives and world into something beautiful and worth holding on to. If it’s true that a change is gonna come, it will be all of us who will have to make it. But it will be the gifts of people like Bill O’Connell who shine their lights on the path to that change.”
1. Moment's Notice 8:08
2. Loco-Motive 6:06
3. Covid Blues 5:08
4. A Change is Gonna Come 6:37
5. Sun for Sonny 4:21
6. Enough is Enough 7:51
7. Sweet Peanut 6:13
8. A Prayer for Us 7:10
9. Chaos 5:11
10. My Foolish Heart 4:40
Bill O'Connell – all arrangements, piano & Fender Rhodes
Craig Handy – tenor & soprano saxophone
Lincoln Goines – acoustic & electric bass
Steve Jordan – drums
Pedrito Martinez – percussion
NEWS: Pianist Bill O’Connell Celebrates GRAMMY® Nomination for Composition “Chopsticks” on Richard Baratta’s Music in Film: The Reel Deal
“Chopsticks” is nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella at the 64th GRAMMY® Awards
“Chopsticks,” the fourth track off of drummer Richard Baratta’s album Music in Film: The Reel Deal, which was released in September of 2020 on Savant Records, has received a GRAMMY® Nomination for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. The song was arranged by the record’s music director, the masterful jazz pianist Bill O’Connell. The 64th annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place on January 31, 2022 in Los Angeles.
Baratta, who has spent over three decades as a Hollywood film producer, celebrates the coalescence of his two artistic worlds of film and jazz on Music in Film, an assortment of songs notably used in major motion pictures such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Midnight Cowboy, Big and The Wizard of Oz. O’Connell’s killer Latin arrangement of the Euphemia Allen composition “Chopsticks” is a tribute to the classic Tom Hanks-Robert Loggia piano dance scene from the movie Big which Baratta also worked on. On the track, the band blazes through a bright-tempoed montuno, adding melodic and rhythmic intrigue to the classic piano piece.
“It’s always fun for me to conceptualize a song in a way that no one has ever heard it,” O’Connell shares. “That was my thought when Richard Baratta asked me if I could arrange “Chopsticks”… I surrounded the tune with a deep Latin vibe, a few new harmonies and melodies and the band gave a great performance. I am so appreciative of this Grammy nomination.”
“For this album to be nominated for a Grammy… well that’s off the charts,” Baratta added. “‘Thrilled’ falls far short of describing my emotion.”
Baratta’s dazzling work across so many artistic genres over the years has not gone unnoticed. He was recently interviewed by Jazziz Magazine to discuss his music portfolio and film production credits, which include the Academy Award nominated films The Irishman, Donnie Brasco, Joker and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Pianist Bill O’Connell has enjoyed a 40-year long career as a leader, soloist, arranger, musical director, and accompanist for some of the most celebrated names in jazz and Latin music including Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Mongo Santamaria, Gato Barbieri, and Emily Remler. O’Connell is a four-time recipient of the “Jazz Writer of the Year” award from SESAC, the performing rights organization and is presently a member of the jazz faculty at Rutgers University. His upcoming album, A Change Is Gonna Come is slated for release on January 28, 2022 via Savant Records.
Richard Baratta and Bill O’Connell are represented by Redwood Entertainment.