These performances are free improvisations. They each involve a sort of meditation on or poetic homage to certain classic 20th century popular and jazz compositions. In this way they function a bit like musical contrafacts, pieces of music historically played by jazz musicians in which the melody of a standard tune is replaced with something new and the existing harmonic form utilized as a vehicle for improvisation. In our case it’s even looser than that. You will hear some quotations and references but each of these long form improvisations might best be thought of as a weather pattern, a mix of conditions in which elements come and go but the overall focus is on the big picture.
The 55 Bar NYC, 2010
1. Introduction 00:35
2. Improvisation / Rumination (Memories of You) & Desire (Lover Come Back) 46:18
3. Improvisation / Blues 11:11
4. Improvisation / Conjuring (Witchcraft) 17:36
5. Improvisation / Time Past (Yesterdays) & Coordinates (East of the Sun) 35:10
German guitarist Christian Eckert teams up with organist Gary Versace and drummer Matt Jorgensen to create a cross-Atlantic groove session. Recorded in New York during a November 2001 East-Coast tour, this CD features 3 original tunes as well as arrangements of tunes by Burt Bacharach, Horace Silver and Granz Lehar.
1. Wives and Lovers 05:38
2. Zephyr 08:04
3. I'll Never Smile Again 06:05
4. Where's My Wedding Ring 06:07
5. Embraceable You 07:48
6. Juicy Lucy 06:11
7. Your's Is My Heart Alone 03:45
Christian Eckert - guitar
Gary Versace - hammond B3 organ
Matt Jorgensen - drums
Recorded in New York City, November 2001
Mixed and mastered by Jo Bartmes, Heidelberg, Germany
An intimate portrait of a great guitarist, filmed near the end of his musical journey. Here we see John Abercrombie gigging with Gary Versace and Adam Nussbaum in Lichtenstein, jamming with Rob Sheps, Eliot Zigmund and David Kingsnorth in New York, teaching music students at Purchase College, talking guitars with NYC luthier Ric McCurdy, and hanging out at home with wife Lisa and Al the cat. Along the way John reflects, with characteristic good humor, on a creative life lived outside the mainstream and traces his story from his first encounter with an electric guitar onwards. Subtly combining and contrasting images and sound, director Arno Oehri achieves a fine balance between music passages and interviews. The film’s soundtrack includes, in addition to the live performances, selections from many of John Abercrombie’s ECM recordings.
I'm really excited to share this music with you and I hope you like it. I hope you'll consider giving it a rating and review on your favorite site. It's very helpful and lets people know that they should check it out. Hope to see some of you tonight at SubCulture in NYC.
Introducing Rudy Royston’s new record Flatbed Buggy
We’re announcing Rudy Royston’s third album as a bandleader. Flatbed Buggy features a new chamber-like quintet performing Rudy’s original compositions inspired by his youth growing up in Texas.
The album will be available worldwide on October 26
The new album, Rudy’s third as a bandleader, features thirteen original compositions for a new chamber-like quintet that includes Gary Versace (accordion), John Ellis (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello) and Joe Martin (bass). Rudy Royston, first-call drummer with Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Dave Douglas and a host of other jazz greats, has honed a thoroughly engaging voice as a composer and bandleader with his compelling debut 303 (2014) and the raw and bracing trio follow-up Rise of Orion (2016). To these fine releases, both on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music imprint, Royston now adds his third, Flatbed Buggy, rich in tonal contrast and mood yet steeped in the supple, enduring swing and groove that has driven his writing and playing from the start. Right away the instrumentation is a striking departure: Royston leads a compact, almost chamber-like quintet featuring Gary Versace (accordion), John Ellis (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello) and Joe Martin (bass). “I was going for something that was more about melodies,” Royston declares. “I wanted to illustrate a story.” And indeed, the melodies flow forth on Flatbed Buggy, with rich harmony and surpassingly subtle orchestration and interplay occurring at every step as well. Of the album title, Royston says: “Flatbed buggies to me mean country, they mean home, they mean earth. We lived in Denver but my father lived in Texas, and I would spend time in the country there. I remember riding on this kind of flatbed buggy thing when I was a child. The whole feeling that brought me … it was comforting, it was outside, this bitter shrubbery smell, my friends are there, my family’s there. So it’s about that, but the album also has to do with time: a time in my life, the beginning of things, the process of them. The buggy moving along up a road represents the movement of time. And the titles on the album really have to do with time and motion.” The warmth and immediacy captured by Royston and the group, the unorthodox sound of the instrumental combinations themselves, marks Flatbed Buggy as a creative breakthrough. “Ron Miles is always my major influence,” the drummer offers, “because his music is so sing-able and melodically rich. I wanted that melodic quality but also moments underneath in the harmony where it was a little scratchy, a little dusty. My neighborhood in Texas was a little dusty.” Together with the deep and woody instrumental timbres of Flatbed Buggy, there’s the way Royston keeps them continuously in play, beyond conventional jazz-combo roles: “I wanted us all to be constantly playing. I wanted us all to orchestrate or color or have a little input regardless of who is soloing. So if you check out the little stuff Hank is doing on Gary’s solos, for instance — all these neat little themes are happening. It sounds very orchestra-like for me. Some of it is written but 90 percent is those guys just interjecting their own taste into what’s going at the time.
At points in the program are short, rhythmically propulsive interludes — “Bed Boppin’,” “Dirty Stetson,” “Hold My Mule” (an old church expression), “I Guess It’s Time to Go” — that serve as what Royston calls “leaps of time.” “They remind you that you’re moving forward,” he says. “I hope there’s no ending on anything: a lot of these pieces fade out, because even when we pass away things still seem to be going forward somehow.” In particular, the thematically related “Boy…Man” and “Girl…Woman” bring the passage of time further into focus, each a musical story not only of growth and maturation but eternal life: “That’s why I fade out, because it’s not about endings. It’s not like, ‘She lived her life and then passed away.’ It’s kind of like nothing ends, not yet.” While Flatbed Buggy presents far more than a succession of virtuosic solos, the passion and technical depth of the performances themselves — including standout improvisations from all involved — can’t go unremarked. John Ellis, among the great saxophonists of his generation, plays mainly bass clarinet throughout, achieving a remarkable sound and impact. Gary Versace, a top organist and pianist of our time, is equally stunning on accordion, bringing a reedy melodic sustain and full harmonic weight to the music. On the low strings, whether bowed or pizzicato, Hank Roberts and Joe Martin contribute a wealth of subtlety and energy as well, intersecting and digging in, never in the expected ways. And Royston, even though he lays back and never dominates here (he notes there’s only one drum solo on the record), still offers what amounts to a master class on the jazz drummer’s art. There’s an endless amount to discover: the melodic development and final triumphant letting-loose of the opening “Soul Train”; the hint of New Orleans rhythm in “Flatbed Buggy”; the picture of innocence in a young child twirling, on “Twirler,” with a startlingly brilliant tempo shift into slow swing; or the fast, twisty bop theme and soprano sax showcase of “Bobble Head” (where that lone drum solo crops up). Another major statement is “The Roadside,” inspired by memories of a drive through wide open space in Texas, with great expanses of weeds and wildflowers. “It was very beautiful to be in the midst of all that,” Royston says. “It was moving, it was in motion, these flowers on the side of a dirt road, sprawled everywhere. My dad loved to fish, so we were driving somewhere to some pond, in the back of the country somewhere. The piece takes you back to that moment and reminds you that no matter where you are now, you’re on a journey someplace.”
PERSONNEL
Rudy Royston, drums
John Ellis, bass clarinet / saxophones
Gary Versace, accordion
Hank Roberts, cello
Joe Martin, bass
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Rudy Royston
Executive Producer: Dave Douglas
Engineered, edited and mixed by David Kowalski at Teaneck Sound Studios, Paramus, NJ, April 2018
Mastered by Kevin Blackler at Blackler Mastering, Brooklyn, NY, May, 2018
All songs by Rudy Royston (Rudy Royston Publishing / ASCAP)
Two-time Grammy winning composer and saxophonist Ted Nash releases his first live recording in over 25 years. Known for his larger works (Presidential Suite, Chakra, Portrait in Seven Shades) this much anticipated release provides an opportunity for Nash to share his improvisational side. His inspired solos are impassioned and interactive. On this album he finds new areas of expression that will excite and move you. Ted Nash - alto sax, clarinet, flute & piccolo, Warren Wolf - vibraphone, Gary Versace - piano, Rufus Reid - bass and Matt Wilson on drums. 'These three nights at Dizzy's were electric for me. I think you'll hear in it the combination of great players, with history letting loose on music that has grown with me over the course of my career. On this album we share not just a night of music but the history of collaboration. This performance was also a chance to revisit a couple original compositions in an entirely new context, and re-explore music by some of my favorite composers. ' - Ted Nash
Kate McGarry - The Subject Tonight Is Love (February 2, 2018)
Kate McGarry Explores the Many Facets of Love on First Trio Album
featuring Keith Ganz and Gary Versace
On The Subject Tonight Is Love, out February 2, the trio conjures an alluring cinematic approach to a wide-ranging spectrum of love songs
"While the world has no shortage of fine female singers, few have the musical depth, sense of passion and artistic ambitions of the divine Kate McGarry."- Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
"[Keith Ganz'] virtuosity is undeniable, but there is no hint of pyrotechnics nothing extra; knowledge never eclipses emotion."- Paul Curreri, City Salvage Records
"[Gary Versace] is endlessly inventive. He does a lot of fresh things - he really has an extraordinary talent."- Marian McPartland, Piano Jazz
"[McGarry] sings around a melody like a saxophonist. She dances through the harmony. She twists and whirls words so touchingly that she casts a spell.... With her other half, guitarist Keith Ganz, and the always adventurous Gary Versace on the keys and the accordion, McGarry transforms all the primary colors of classic songs into intimate pastels."– Michael Bourne, WBGO Radar "...a glimpse into the humorous, whimsical, agonizing, heart-wrenching, despair-inducing, cathartic, and ultimately redemptive incarnations of love, buoyed by adventurous and supportive ensemble work by the three musicians... each artist dug deeply into their respective arsenals for this album, contributing some of the most heartfelt playing each has done in their careers.... this record also features [McGarry's] songwriting skills in three excellent originals."– Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz "...it is hard to imagine that 2018 will contain many vocal jazz projects as bold and inspired and beautifully realized as this one." – Thomas Conrad, New York City Jazz Record 5 stars:"The trio casts a wide net for their search, including folk, pop, and jazz genres.... a marvelous issue that I can't recommend highly enough..."– Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition "The program is an enchanting, challenging, rewarding, and, in the long run, soul-satisfying experience.... This is music to climb inside of and take to your heart."– Richard Kamins, Step Tempest "All three musicians share a complete sureness in their respective musical identities...McGarry is absolutely breathtaking... [she] belongs to a singing camp that is tone-heavy in nature and also makes skillful use of sonority. Best of all, she is a miniaturist and because of this she is able to convey a breathtaking sweep of emotions in a very small lyrical space; sometimes even in just one phrase."– Raul da Gama, JazzdaGama
CD Release Concert on Valentine's Day, Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at The Jazz Standard, NYC
The Velvet Note - warm intimate atmosphere, celestial night sky overhead, delicious food. Atlanta taste maker Tamara Fuller has created a venue that we love. Come celebrate the release of the Kate McGarry Keith Ganz and Gary Versace Trio debut: The Subject Tonight Is Love.
"The subject tonight is love,"wrote Daniel Ladinsky the modern interpreter of Persian poet and mystic Hafiz back in the 14th century. "And for tomorrow night as well / As a matter of fact / I know of no better topic / For us to discuss / Until we all / Die!"
Countless poets, philosophers, artists, musicians, writers and dreamers have taken up that same subject since Hafiz's day, but despite seven intervening centuries of exploration love continues to offer an inexhaustible supply of complexities and mysteries. On The Subject Tonight Is Love, their first album as a trio, vocalist Kate McGarry, guitarist/bassist Keith Ganz and keyboardist/accordionist Gary Versace rise to that eternal challenge, investigating the concept of love in its many forms and from several different perspectives over the course of a dozen alluring songs, from timeless folk tunes to transformed jazz standards, celebratory pop songs to evocative originals. Love is not only the subject but the very substance of this project. The Subject Tonight Is Love (due out February 2, 2018 via Binxtown Records) is the culmination of more than a decade of work and friendship. McGarry and Ganz are partners in life as well as in music, while Versace has been a close and frequent collaborator with both, dating back to McGarry's 2007 album The Target. In various combinations the three have worked together under each other's leadership, alongside drummer/composer John Hollenbeck and with the vocal supergroup MOSS. Only such longstanding relationships could lead to such free-ranging but sharply focused sounds as are captured on The Subject Tonight Is Love. Beginning from McGarry's gift for bringing a lyric to life, the trio improvised cinematic settings for each song, painterly enough to conjure vivid imagery in the listener's mind while leaving space for their own spontaneous creations to shape each piece anew and allow an audience to make its own discoveries. Both Ganz and Versace pick up a variety of instruments throughout the session, with Ganz supplementing his acoustic and electric guitar with acoustic bass and, on one piece, drums, while Versace plays piano, keyboards, organ and accordion. McGarry also takes over the piano for her own "Losing Strategy #4."
"Kate's music is very story-oriented," Ganz says. "There's a soundscape or mood that goes with each particular tune, so this trio offers an unusual situation where we're all improvising within a specific mood. With just Gary and me, it's easier to get a hold on the little world for each song and shape it or move it around in the moment each time we perform it." "I really appreciated that they were so receptive and sensitive to the origins of the stories behind the songs," McGarry adds. "That's always the driving force for me emotionally. Keith and Gary were able to be an extension of that, forwarding the narrative in instrumental ways. That's a rare thing." Another kind of love was an important factor in bringing The Subject Tonight Is Love to fruition - namely, the love of their fans for McGarry, Ganz and Versace. The project was supported by a PledgeMusic crowdfunding campaign, which permitted the trio to take their time to discover an approach to the music and record at a more leisurely, exploratory pace. "We wouldn't have had that kind of freedom in other circumstances," McGarry points out. "It was really beautiful to see so many people jump up to the plate and say, 'We want this music to get made and we're going to make sure that happens.'" The title piece, a stark, atmospheric recitation of the Hafiz poem, sets the elusive mood for the album, followed by a gentle, diaristic take on the classic "Secret Love" that captures the song's shift from the surreptitious to the celebratory. Their breezy, intimate "Gone With the Wind" meets the notion of lost love with a resigned, "easy come, easy go" shrug, while Ganz's hushed, intimate arrangement of "My Funny Valentine" is a perfect fit for McGarry's unique sincerity, overcoming a lifetime of resistance to what she rightly calls "this most abused of love songs." Joy pervades "What a Difference a Day Made," combined in a medley with Ganz's "Mr. Sparkle." While these familiar tunes span the spectrum of love songs, the remainder of the album steps back for an even broader interpretation of the core idea. McGarry's haunting "Climb Down" depicts a dream-like venture onto her own family tree, offering both a challenge and an expression of gratitude to the spirits of her forebears. The Irish folk tune "Whiskey You're the Devil," with Obed Calvaire making a guest appearance on drums, emerges at the end like an ancestral memory. Co-written by Benny Golson and Kenny Dorham, "Fair Weather" is an expression of brotherly love sorely-needed in these most divisive of times, while "Indian Summer" is saturated with the wistfulness of time gone by. Egberto Gismonti's carnivalesque "Playing Palhaço," with new lyrics by singer Jo Lawry, finds love peeling back the layers of masquerade we tend to hide ourselves beneath.
McGarry's confessional "Losing Strategy #4," with Versace's expressive accordion supplying the voice of conscience, is a reckoning with the notion of retaliation, coming to terms with the fact that vengeance tends to backfire on oneself. "She Always Will" finds the trio revisiting a song, with music penned by guitarist Steve Cardenas, that the three originally recorded a decade earlier on The Target, now deepened and reflecting on the idea of maternal love. Finally, an impromptu romp through The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" provides an inviting epilogue, with a guest appearance by trumpet great Ron Miles to enhance the all-embracing message. "Love is the substratum of all things," McGarry says. "I wanted to look at love from a lot of different angles. The point wasn't to sing about some idyllic love; it was more thinking about how love functions in our lives. What brings it to us? What keeps us from it? What helps us connect with it inside ourselves? What helps us connect to humanity? Having that current flowing through everything really affected the way we played."
Kate McGarry With 7 critically acclaimed CDs and a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal CD, Kate McGarry has become recognized as a jazz artist who brings authenticity and vitality to every song regardless of genre. The Wall St. Journal calls her music "austere and elegant," while the New York Times pronounced it "astute and sensitive." McGarry's 2012 CD Girl Talk (Palmetto), a tribute to her favorite visionary jazz women vocalists, garnered 4 stars in DownBeat Magazine and showed up on over 20 Best of 2012 jazz critic's lists. Her 2013 collaboration with the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Songs I Like A Lot (Sunnyside), was lauded as a milestone in contemporary vocal jazz. In 2014 McGarry and her husband, guitarist Keith Ganz, celebrated 10 years of musical and life partnership with their first live duo recording, Genevieve and Ferdinand (Sunnyside). As an educator she has taught at New England Conservatory and currently serves on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music. Keith Ganz Keith Ganz is a guitarist, composer and arranger known for his unique blend of heartfelt acoustic guitar fingerpicking and adventurous jazz improvisation. He is also the producer of five critically acclaimed albums with vocalist Kate McGarry, including the Grammy-nominated If Less is More...Nothing is Everything (Palmetto). A celebrated accompanist, Ganz has been the guitarist of choice for Harry Connick Jr., Kurt Elling, Luciana Souza, Gretchen Parlato and many other acclaimed jazz vocalists. He has also performed and/or recorded with a host of jazz legends including Christian McBride, Fred Hersch, Victor Lewis, Chris Potter, and Andy Bey. He has performed on Late Night with David Letterman, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Ellen, The View and Australian Idol. Gary Versace Since arriving in NYC in 2002, jazz pianist, organist and accordionist Gary Versace has become one of the busiest and most versatile musicians on the scene, often featured in bands led by musicians such as John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Al Foster, Regina Carter, Maria Schneider, Madeleine Peyroux, Matt Wilson, Joe Magnarelli, Andy LaVerne, Adam Nussbaum, Brad Shepik, Ingrid Jensen and many others. Versace's recent CD releases include appearances as pianist on Ralph Alessi's Quiver (ECM), which received 4.5 stars in DownBeat; as accordionist on Maria Schneider's Grammy-winning The Thompson Fields (ArtistShare); as Hammond organist on Ellery Eskelin's Trio Willisau: Live (hatOLOGY) and Rich Perry's Organique (SteepleChase); and on all three instruments on Kurt Elling's Passion World (Concord).
As Rich Perry’s previous release “Nocturne” deviated the standard quartet configuration by replacing piano with guitar, on this his 22nd album Rich tries something new again: an organ trio. With his two long-time creative partners (Gary Versace at the keyboard and Jeff Hirshfield on drums) Rich Perry opens a new chapter of the art of jazz improvisation.
Rich Perry, tenor sax
Gary Versace, organ [Hammond B-3 Organ]
Jeff Hirshfield, drums
1. Toys
Composed By – Herbie Hancock
2. I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Composed By – Rodgers & Hart
3. Afternoon In Paris
Composed By – John Lewis (2)
4. Without A Song
Composed By – Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Vincent Youmans
