George Cables - Too Close for Comfort (2021 HighNote Records)

George Cables should be declared a National Treasure. As a pianist he is surely second-to-none on today's jazz scene. Listen only to “A Valentine for You” on Cables' current offering to hear what a jaw-dropping beauty of tone he can produce from the pile of wood and metal we call a piano, and how much critical mass is behind every sonorous voicing of his chords. As a musician he possesses endless imagination and creativity, shown by his strikingly new takes on tunes we thought we knew, particularly the title track, “Too Close for Comfort,” which retains little trace of its pop song origin. As a composer he has quietly amassed a catalog of works of extremely wide range and extraordinary quality, such as his compositions on this new release, “Circle of Love,” “This is My Song,” “Klimo” and the aforementioned “A Valentine for You.” And finally, the album’s cover photo perfectly captures George Cables the man – full of boundless energy, a love of his instrument and the music he makes on it and an impish sense of humor, evidenced by his titling the record Too Close for Comfort during a pandemic where social distancing has become the order of the day. The artist Edward Hopper said, “Great art is the outward expression of an inner life of the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.” That would explain why the world according to George Cables is such a wonderful place to be.

1. Too Close For Comfort

2. Circle of Love

3. This Is My Song

4. Klimo

5. For All We Know

6. Crazy Love

7. Roses Poses

8. I’ve Never Been In Love Before

9. Teddy

10. A Valentine For You

George Cables – piano

Essiet Essiet – bass (except tracks 6 & 10)

Victor Lewis – drums (except tracks 5 & 10)

Produced by George Cables

Associate Producer: Joanne Klein

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Katherine Miller

Recorded at Sear Sound, New York, NY on September 9, 2020

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Eddie Henderson - Be Cool (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS May 4, 2018)

Before he walks out the door on his way to a gig, 77-year-old trumpeter Eddie Henderson always gets two words of advice from his wife: be cool. The legendary trumpeter has taken that mantra to heart, and on Be Cool, his new release on Smoke Sessions Records, he shows just how hot cool can get.

Of course, if you're going to be cool it helps to surround yourself with the coolest of the cool, and Henderson has done just that: his smokin' quintet also features saxophonist Donald Harrison, pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Mike Clark. Together, the band conjures smoldering funk, lush ballads, broad-shouldered swing, and bristling bop -- in all, a prismatic display of the many facets of cool.

"For me, 'be cool' means compose yourself and don't act jagged, musically or personally," Henderson offers. "One connotation is to not play so erratically, to push the envelope to the edge but not go over. It's like going fishing: if you're not prepared when you throw your line out there, you might catch Jaws instead of a minnow. Personally, it's about playing with people who love each other and share a good chemistry."

That's undoubtedly the case with the group Henderson has convened for his second Smoke Sessions outing as a leader. His relationship with Barron stretches back more than three decades, to the early days following his return to New York in the mid-'80s after a decade spent practicing medicine in San Francisco. He's been working regularly with Clark in recent years, especially in the Wolff & Clark Expedition, the drummers co-led band with pianist Michael Wolff. But they also share roots in the fusion bands of Herbie Hancock -- Henderson with Mwandishi and Clark immediately after with Headhunters. Essiet, meanwhile, has been a constant in Henderson's recent bands, while he's shared stages with Harrison under the auspices of the super-group The Cookers.

"Be Cool" was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith and recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's Studio C on a Sear-Avalon custom console at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to ½" analog tape using a Studer mastering deck. Available in audiophile HD format.

1 Smoke Screen 4:37

2 Be Cool 5:01

3 After You've Gone 7:04

4 Loft Funk 6:59

5 Fran-Dance 6:25

6 The Moontrane 5:26

7 Naima 7:07

8 The Sand Castle Head Hunter 6:44

9 Nightride 8:17

10 Toys 6:37

11 Easy Living 5:44

12 Dla Juzi 6:55

Vincent Herring / David Kikoski / Essiet Essiet / Joris Dudli - Soul Chemistry (ALESSA RECORDS 2018)

For many years the teams Herring / Kikoski and Essiet / Dudli have a special chemistry when they play each other. Their new collaboration brings forth swinging and always extremely soulful jazz of today. Vincent is a saxophone virtuoso with a unique and intense sound. In the early 80s he toured Europe and the United States with the Lionel Hampton Big Band and began shortly after a 9 year commitment with Nat Adderley. Subsequently he worked with Cedar Walton, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Hayes, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver Quintet, Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, The Mingus Big Band, Kenny Barron, Nancy Wilson and Dr. Billy Taylor. As a guest soloist he has played with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center and John Faddis with the Carnegie Hall Big Band.

During the 90s in New York Dave's career rose rapidly. Both as a sideman and as a leader he established himself alongside jazz greats such as John Scofield, Ravi Coltrane, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, Mike Stern, Chick Corea, Bill Stewart, Tom Harrell, Marcus Miller, Michael Brecker, Jack Dejohnette and many others. 2001 Roy Haynes invited him with Dave Holland, Roy Hargrove and Kenny Garrett in his all-star band. For this project, "Birds of a Feather" appeared also Christian McBride and Nicholas Payton with and the album. "Caribbean Jazz Project" was nominated for a Grammy of 2004.

As Vincent Herring was also bassist Essiet Essiet many years a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Essiet is originally from Nigeria and was moved to the West Coast first, but then mid-1980 to New York. On the international jazz scene, his name has become indispensable. He played for many years with Abdullah Ibrahim- Dollar Brand, Bobby Watson's Horizon, with Billy Cobham, Bobby Hutcherson, Danilo Perez, Kenny Barron and va

Joris Dudli could distinguish complex musical particularly during his nearly 10-year stay in New York. Previously, he was already in recent years, first in Austopop and later established with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the Art Farmer Quintet. This is followed by many more countless concerts with international musicians such as Benny Golson, Chicco Freeman, Johnny Griffin, Joe Henderson - 2002 it was with the Joe Zawinul Syndicate.

Mark Lewis - The New York Session (2017)

As well-traveled and widely recorded as alto saxophonist Mark Lewis has been over the past four decades, his new CD "The New York Session" is likely to be the album that helps rectify his current under-the-radar reputation. Recorded last year in Brooklyn with a world-class rhythm section—pianist George Cables, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Victor Lewis—the new disc will be released by Lewis’s Audio Daddio label on January 27. It’s the work of an artist clearly reveling in the company of fellow masters making the most of his tasty compositions.

“There’s so much to savor and admire here,” writes critic Ted Gioia, a self-professed Mark Lewis fan who contributed the CD booklet notes. “Lewis’s musicality, his inventiveness, his humor, his ability to immerse himself in the soundscape of the performance with total emotional commitment these all stand out here in track after track.”

Whether he’s inviting his listeners to a carnival on “Boberto’s Magical World” or waxing philosophical on the introspective “Not As Beautiful As You,” Lewis displays an utterly personal mix of authority, playfulness, and interactive immediacy. He’s at home in the blues, playing with relaxed soul on the strolling, minor key “DL Blues,” and draws on his deep love of African music for several pieces, most obviously on the lilting “Sierra Leone” and the boisterous 12/8 closer “Roll ’Em Joe.”

Legally blind, Lewis hasn’t let his disability slow him down, traveling the world and establishing deep creative bonds wherever he’s landed. But not being able to assess a colleague’s immediate reaction to his music may shape his approach to recording.

“I don’t see well enough to see facial expressions,” Lewis says. “I used simple compositions because I didn’t want to clutter the purity of the sound we were trying to get. I think pieces of music are like places or rooms. You play in those spaces as a musician, in those settings, and they’ll make you into slightly different people doing different things, which I think is good.”

Born in Tacoma (in 1958) and raised on a farm outside of nearby Gig Harbor, Mark Lewis absorbed music from both sides of his family. A standout player in middle school, he formed his first band at 14. By high school, Lewis’s waking hours were filled with music as he played lead alto in the stage band and clarinet in the concert band. Leading several bands around the region, he supported himself while studying composition, flute, electronic music, and piano at Western Washington University and the Cornish Institute of Allied Arts.

Settling in Seattle, Lewis started performing regularly at Norm Bobrow’s Jazz at the Cirque showcase and quickly found invaluable mentors amongst resident masters. Drummer Otis “Candy” Finch, who’d moved to Seattle after a sterling New York career, recognized Lewis’s budding talent and took him under his wing. He also encouraged him to get out of town, and in 1978 the 20-year-old saxophonist flew to Europe with a one-way ticket, his alto sax, and virtually no contacts.

He ended up making Rotterdam his homebase for the next 14 years, and established himself as a vital force on the international jazz scene as a player, label owner, and producer. Building an extensive network of musical peers amongst Dutch players and American ex-pats (“Johnny Griffin got me my first gig in Europe,” Lewis recalls), he maintained three working Dutch groups.

Lewis’s record company Audio Daddio became one of the era’s essential outlets, releasing recordings by Art Foxall, Vonne Griffin, Al Hood, Art Lande, and David Friesen. The label’s last European recording "The Rotterdam Session" features tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, who brought his ambitious “Presidential Suite” to the studio, and legendary jazz drummer Philly Joe Jones, in one of his last recordings. Lewis also maintained a strong presence back in the States, spending several long stints in the Bay Area in the 1980s. He gained a considerable following with a quartet featuring drum maestro Eddie Moore, pianist Mark Levine, and a brilliant young bassist named Larry Grenadier (the group featured on most of his critically hailed 1988 album "In the Spirit" on Quartet Records).

Now based in Bremerton, a small city west of Seattle on the Puget Sound where he returned to be close to his family, Lewis maintains a busy schedule that includes teaching private students and college clinics. He continues to expand his daunting book of compositions, which number over 1,700. Though he’s recorded more than 20 albums, only a fraction of his compositions have been documented on record, another reason why "The New York Session" is a particularly important release.

The discovery of a master improviser is always thrilling, but finding a player/composer at the peak of his powers is a rare occurrence indeed. Though fully aware of his accomplishments, Lewis sees himself as part of a modern jazz continuum. “I try to approach each composition, each performance, with knowledge and technique from studying the masters who came before and also the innocence of a child,” he says. “I hope it keeps the music authentic and genuine.”

George Cables - In Good Company (2015)

George Cables es ese tipo de jazzman sin los cuales el jazz no sería la música que es. Este pianista nunca ha sido un líder especialmente destacado ni ha sido un músico que se haya manifiestado por unas virtudes fuera de los común. Sin embargo, detrás de artistas como Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw y Frank Morgan entre otros muchos, se encontraba el piano de este hombre. Cables ha sido el ‘sideman’ perfecto, un profesional sin tacha.

Ahora, con 70 años a la espalda, Cables edita este ‘In good company’ en el que pone de manifiesto lo buen pianista que es, su seriedad y su contenido lirismo.

El repertorio de las diez canciones que componen ‘In good company’ hay dos temas compuestos por el pianista y el resto se reparten entre dos de John Hicks, ese pianista neoyorquino que no estaría de más recuperar; dos de Duke Ellington, ‘Love you Madly’ y esa declaración de lo que es la esencia del jazz que se titula ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’; tres de Billy Strayhorn (‘Lotus Blossom’, ‘Lusf life’ y Day dream’) y una de Kenny Barron.

Con todos esos mimbres el resultado no puede ser otro que un disco con mcuho swing, muy ‘harboperiano’, con un aroma muy jazz clásico y muy bien tocado.

Jon Liar / distritojazz

George Cables, piano

Essiet Essiet, double bass

Victor Lewis, drums

1. After The Morning

2. Mr Anonymous

3. Naima's Love Song

4. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

5. Lotus Blossoms

6. Love You Madly

7. EVC

8. Lush Life

9. Voyage

10. Day Dream

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Domi