Randy Sandke - Uptown Lowdown / A Jazz Salute to the Big Apple (May 2021 nagel heyer records)

"The solos ring true; the band warms the room. Uptown Lowdon is jazz music of the highest quality. Why can't all dream bands sound like this?"

- Cadence

It took a German recording team to enable trumpeter/arranger Randy Sandke to assemble this all-American, 12-piece ensemble for a panorama of New York-inspired tunes, recorded in the Big Apple in the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse as part of the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival. In doing so, he raided the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, as well as several independent history-minded players in the area, and emerged with a band that fires off the numbers with crisp virtuosity in any idiom called for. Thankfully, there is also more than enough gusto in the playing, due in no small part to the live festival recording situation.

"The Harlem Medley," a lengthy leadoff stream of delicacies from the land of Ellingtonia, gets close enough to the Ellington sound to convey the idea without being slavishly imitative or ghostly. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra boys know their Ellington craft well and apply the plunger mutes accordingly. From there, the band doubles back to Dixieland, works its way up to swing, and slides without a glitch into bebop ("Scrapple From the Apple"), a Mingus shuffle blues ("Nostalgia in Times Square"), transitional Coltrane ("Grand Central"), and some Monk ("52nd Street Theme"), before being deposited back in Harlem by -- naturally -- the "'A' Train."

In between the main tour stops, Concord Jazz teammates guitarist Howard Alden and clarinetist Ken Peplowski serve up another of their fluid duets on Irving Berlin's "Slumming on Park Avenue." Other high points include clarinetist Allan Vaché wailing in the trad flagwaver "Chinatown" and trumpeters Sandke and Warren Vaché duking it out on "42nd Street." In all, a well-recorded souvenir of what sounds like a heartwarming local celebration. AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell

1. Echoes of Harlem / Drop Me Off in Harlem 03:07

2. Jungle Nights in Harlem 03:37

3. Boys from Harlem 03:33

4. Sugar Hill Penthouse 02:31

5. Blue Belles of Harlem 03:07

6. Harlem Speaks 05:28

7. Chinatown, My Chinatown 03:09

8. Rose of Washington Square / Broadway Rose 06:43

9. Slumming on Park Avenue 05:13

10. 42nd Street 05:59

11. Scrapple from the Apple 05:48

12. Nostalgia in Times Square 08:14

13. Grand Central 08:31

14. Grand Central 04:42

15. Take the "A" Train 07:46

16. What's New * 05:09

* Bonus Track

Randy Sandke - trumpet

Warren Vaché - trumpet

Wycliffe Gordon - trombone

Ken Peplowski - clarinet, tenor sax

Allan Vaché - clarinet

Scott Robinson - alto sax, tenor sax, flute

Joe Temperley - baritone sax

Howard Alden - guitar

Eric Reed - piano

Mark Shane - piano

Rodney Whitaker - bass

Joe Ascione - drums

Recorded live at the 1999 JVC Jazz Festival New York.

Directed by Randy Sandke.

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Renee Rosnes & David Hajdu - Ice on the Hudson (October 12, SMK Jazz)

Pianist/Composer Renee Rosnes and

Author/Lyricist David Hajdu to Release

First Album of Songwriting Collaborations

Ice on the Hudson, Available October 12 via SMK Jazz

Ice on the Hudson features vocalists René Marie, Janis Siegel, Darius de Haas and Karen Oberlin and an all-star ensemble interpreting diverse songs about the emotional complexities of adult life in today’s world.

There’s a special chemistry that’s found only in the rarest of songwriting partnerships, forever linking the names of composer and lyricist in the minds of listeners. The names Renee Rosnes and David Hajdu are already well known to music lovers: Rosnes as one of her generation’s most acclaimed jazz composers and pianists, Hajdu as an award-winning author and critic. With Ice on the Hudson, their first collaborative album of songs, the pair reveals a breathtaking synergy, crafting a collection of deeply felt and genre-defying songs that join words and music with alchemical results.

Ice on the Hudson, due out October 12 via SMK Jazz (a newly launched imprint curated by Smoke Sessions Records), brings together four magnificent vocalists: revered, GRAMMY® Award-nominated jazz singer René Marie; Manhattan Transfer co-founder and nine-time GRAMMY® winner Janis Siegel, celebrated musical-theater actor and art-song interpreter Darius de Haas; and acclaimed jazz/pop performer Karen Oberlin. Their voices are matched by a stunning ensemble, featuring Rosnes at the piano along with cellist Erik Friedlander, saxophonists Steve Wilson and Seamus Blake, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, bassist Sean Smith, drummer Carl Allen, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato.

While both Rosnes and Hajdu can boast considerable accomplishments in their respective fields, songwriting was a fairly new endeavor for both. Rosnes had had a handful of her instrumental compositions set to lyrics, and Hajdu had collaborated on a few songs with Fred Hersch and others. When Rosnes and Hajdu decided to try writing together, five years ago, “Everything clicked,” in Hajdu’s words.

“Renee is one of the most gifted, most sophisticated and most creative composers alive,” Hajdu says. “I consider myself the luckiest boy in the music world for getting to write with this flat-out genius. We both enjoy the exhilarating thrill of doing something that we care about, that draws on our professional and life experiences, but that provides a whole new set of challenges for us.”

For Rosnes, who has long drawn inspiration for her own music from sources as diverse as the natural world and the visual arts, the partnership has given her rich depths of emotion and narrative to plumb. “David is a powerful and compelling storyteller,” she says, “and each of his lyrics has many layers and great substance. It’s been a fulfilling experience to take his words and search for melodies that truly allow the story to shine through.”

Given the tantalizing complexity of Hajdu’s words, Rosnes found herself exploring a wide range of sensibilities, never concerned with genre. Ultimately, while some pieces fit comfortably into the jazz songwriting tradition of Jon Hendricks or Bob Dorough, others evoke the world of musical theater or such respected singer-songwriters as Joni Mitchell or Randy Newman. “When I embarked on this project with David, I put the idea of genre out of my mind,” she explains. “I was most interested in allowing the lyrics to inspire and move me in whatever direction that musically translated to.”

“A Tiny Seed” opens the album with a parable both timeless and timely, about a wall-building king and the seemingly small detail that grows to topple his kingdom. Marie’s wry, soulful vocal offers inspiration to those hoping to turn such fairy tales into reality. Her serpentine lines bring an exotic mystery to “Little Pearl,” a reinterpretation of Rosnes’ instrumental “The Quiet Earth.”

Siegel’s voice seems to float into a whimsical daydream on “I Used to Like to Draw,” a tender reminiscence of the childhood days when we all gave vent to our imaginations, before the supposed reality of adult life quashed such fancies. Siegel also sings “The Passage,” which takes the natural splendor that inspired Rosnes’ instrumental piece “Gabriola Passage” into the realm of transcendence. On the title track, “Ice on the Hudson,” she takes the bizarre fact that the Hudson River flows both upstream and downstream as a metaphor for the often contradictory aspects of grown-up reality – one of several instances of complex ideas that stem from the collaboration between two artists with a wealth of life experience.

Oberlin offers a bit of culinary respite from the world’s divisiveness on the playful “I Like Pie” and a bit of romantic perspective on “I Still Feel the Same.” The moving “All But You” builds from scraps of both songwriters’ biographies to paint a picture of living with a missing someone. Rosnes suggested a song based on her experience as an adopted child wondering about her birth parents, which Hajdu countered with his own background. “Renee said it felt strange growing up not knowing who her biological parents were, but my father sat at the dinner table with me every night my whole life, and I don’t know who my father was either. We share that feeling of a hole in your life, that there are people who could have been there who were not.”

Hajdu based “To Meet My Brother” on the tragic loss of his sister and the feeling of wanting to be reunited, whatever the cost. Darius de Haas brings tender yearning to that piece and an urgent sensuality to “Confound Me.” His knack for theatrical drama illuminates “Trotsky in Mexico,” a Sondheim-like musing on the Russian revolutionary’s fling with Frida Kahlo.

A five-time winner of the JUNO award, Renee Rosnes is one of the premier jazz composers and pianists of her generation. Upon moving to New York City from Vancouver, Canada, she quickly established her enduring reputation as a creative original and versatile collaborator, touring and recording with such masters as Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, BobbyHutcherson, J.J. Johnson, James Moody, and Ron Carter. With 16 recordings as a leader, Rosnes has grown ever more ambitious musically, as her most recent album, Beloved of the Sky (Smoke Sessions Records), attests. 

David Hajdu is an award-winning author, critic, and songwriter. A three-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thompson Award for Music Writing as well as a three-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Hajdu is the author of five books, including Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Positively 4th Street, and Love for Sale: Pop Music in America.

reneerosnes.com

www.davidhajdu.com

Peter & Will Anderson - Clarinet Summit (SteepleChase Records 2017)

Young Anderson Brothers (Peter and Will are identical twins) both on clarinet here band together with two veteran clarinetists Ken Peplowski with rich background in big band jazz and multiple Grammy Award winner Paquito D’Rivera to perform live to a jubilant audience.

“They are sparkling virtuosos and their clever, tidy arrangements for various combinations of clarinet, alto and tenor saxophone are smart and refreshing…. everything they play sounds fresh, creative and in the moment.” (Paul de Barros – Soundposts)

01. How About You? 6:37

02. When You Wish Upon a Star 6:08

03. Very Saxy 6:43

04. Prelude to a Kiss 2:14

05. I'll Never Be the Same 2:06

06. Cry Me a River 2:42

07. Make Someone Happy 5:33

08. How Insensitive 4:23

09. Groovin' High 6:12

10. Creole Love Call 8:41

11. A Night in Tunisia

Will Anderson clarinet

Peter Anderson clarinet

Paquito D'Rivera clarinet

Ken Peplowski clarinet

Tardo Hammer piano

David Wong bass

Kenny Washington drums

Ken Peplowski - Enrapture (2016)

Label: Capri Records

Source: Allaboutjazz

How on earth do you successfully bind the music of Duke Ellington, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fats Waller, Herbie Nichols, Bernard Herrmann, Peter Erskine, and Noël Coward into one coherent statement? The answer is simple: You don't, unless you're Ken Peplowski. Over the course of ten tracks from the aforementioned composers and other well-known tunesmiths, Peplowski manages to simultaneously express his love of myriad sounds and styles, a fondness for days gone by, and an ability to move ever onward. This much-heralded reed man wears his eclecticism like a badge of honor on Enrapture, an album that speaks to his ability to dig into the past while also addressing his outlook on the present.

In his liner essay for this project, Peplowski remarks on the true-to-self nature of this quartet recording, noting that "this is us, in as close to a live setting as one could ask for in a recording environment." In keeping with that statement, the majority of the performances captured here are first takes. The decision to work that way proves to be a smart play, as the band is able to capitalize on the energy, spontaneity, and attentiveness that can only exist on the first pass of a song. Peplowski also shows himself to be practiced in the art of sequencing songs, shrewdly playing to diverse tastes and the constant need for mood change-ups.

In lesser hands, the idea of knocking out a slew of songs in short order and moving all over the map could be disastrous, but it's a winning formula for this foursome—Peplowski's working quartet, with pianist Ehud Asherie, bassist Martin Wind, and drummer Matt Wilson. This band sounds like a million bucks all the way through, from the reveille-like kick-off at the top of "The Flaming Sword"—an adrenaline-fueled slice of tropically-infused Ellingtonian exotica—to the easy-does-it, bluesy send-off of "Willow Tree." And rest assured, there's plenty to enjoy and admire in between those bookends. Peplowski's inviting tenor pleasantly glides along on "An Affair To Remember," Wind's bass and Peplowski's clarinet engage in a slow and revealing pas de deux on "Oh, My Love," Erskine's "Twelve" gives the band a chance to pull at the threads of convention and take a looser and more interactive approach to group (inter)play, and the slowly unfolding beauty and drama of "Vertigo Scene D'Amour/Madeleine (Love Music From "Vertigo")" highlights the emotional experiences of the protagonist in Hitchcock's classic film. All the in-studio discussions, extra takes, and edits in the world couldn't produce a better outcome than what these four did in the heat of the moment(s) to create Enrapture.  Dan Bilawski

01. The Flaming Sword (6:35)
02. An Affair To Remember (5:15)
03. Oh, My Love (2:25)
04. Cheer Up Charlie (5:15)
05. I'll Follow My Secret Heart (4:02)
06. Enrapture (4:43)
07. Twelve (5:38)
08. Vertigo Scene D'amour (6:51)
09. When October Goes (4:40)
10. Willow Tree (7:35)

Ken Peplowski: Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone

Ehud Asherie: Piano

Martin Wind: Bass

Matt Wilson: Drums

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