present
Lafayette Harris
"Hangin' With The Big Boys”
CD Release Show
Lafayette Harris "Hangin' With The Big Boys”
(Airmen Records AAM3581) Street Date: May 6, 2016
Musicians:
Lafayette Harris Jr. piano
Houston Person tenor sax (on no’s 1,2, 7, 8, 10)
Antoine Drye trumpet
George Delancey bass
Will Terrill drums
Caleb Curtis alto and soprano sax
Jazzmeia Horn vocal
Noel Simone Wippler vocal
This CD was recorded live in front of an invited audience. Except for very small edits, what you hear is what we played.
1. Blue Skies 3:18
I wanted to interpret this great Irving Berlin standard with the swinging Mr. Houston Person, and I thought the two young vocalists could have fun with it.
2. In A Sentimental Mood 6:15
This has always been one of my favorite Duke pieces, and Houston Person, who recorded it on his like-titled CD, proves again that he’s the ballad master!
3. Hangin' With The Big Boys 3:33
I composed the title track back in the 1990s when I had my group with Cindy Blackman, Terell Stafford, and Don Braden. I still think fondly of them when I play it.
4. We In The House 7:25
Another tune from that time. Cindy Blackman put that “Sister Cheryl” beat to it way back then, when I got to do it as a member of her band. We used it as a tribute to Tony Williams when he passed away so suddenly.
5. Don't Worry About It 0:55
This is actually my first composition, written when I was in high school at Baltimore Polytechnic. It stayed in my head all this time and I finally gave it a title and started playing it only a few years ago. Here, I use it as an interlude—sans piano.
6. The Zombie Blues 6:54
In 2011 I was working with the choreographer Candice Franklin. She liked my tune "Blues On The Edge" and asked me to write something similar for her company. I used a piano riff by Duke Ellington as the basis of the composition, along with the free jazz influences I picked up playing with Max Roach and with Roswell Rudd. I wanted a real expression of freedom from the bass and drums. It was a challenge to get the musicians to really go free. Then I mentioned Sonny Murray and it was like I gave them permission to go nuts!
7. Little Kevin's Embrace 6:31
This tune from my very first CD also appears on my solo CD. I wanted to do it again, adding the human voice. And since it’s very much rooted in the blues, I let Houston Person work his soulful magic.
8. Drinking Wine Blues 5:42
I wrote this blues at the Station Café in Brooklyn, while I was—what else? Drinking wine! After we recorded a couple of takes Jazz Judy, an old friend who’d come to the session, suggested that I not play the melody while Ms. Horn delivers it. So that’s what we did.
9. The Wheelhouse 3:24
Caleb’s writing is unique, and different from my style. I enjoyed the challenge of trying to interpret his tune in my own voice.
10. The Very Thought Of You 7:40
I’m in awe of Ray Noble’s compositions—they vary so much and are always such fun to play. Houston Person blows this tune up!
11. They All Laughed 5:12
I’d been playing this Barry Harris–influenced arrangement for a while, and then one night at Trumpets, Houston asked me to play a solo piece. The great bassist Ray Drummond joined in, figuring out my arrangement wonderfully as he went along. Houston dug it so much he used it on his CD The Melody Lingers On. Here, Antoine lays out until it’s time for him to solo.
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