Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart | "Perpetual Pendulum" | Available March 25 via Smoke Sessions Records

Organist Larry Goldings, Guitarist Peter Bernstein

and Drummer Bill Stewart Release New Album, Celebrating More Than Three Decades as a Trio

 

Perpetual Pendulum Due Out

March 25, 2022 via Smoke Sessions Records

Album Marks Homecoming for the Trio,

Born at Smoke Jazz Club Predecessor Augie’s

Perpetual motion has been dismissed as an impossibility by scientists, but perhaps they should check in with organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart. The trio has been creating vigorously swinging music together for more than 30 years and show no signs of slowing down. That’s not quite an eternity – though in jazz terms, it might as well be.

 

The longevity of the musical hook-up between Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart was the inspiration behind Bernstein’s “Perpetual Pendulum,” one of the scintillating new tunes on Perpetual Pendulum, the trio’s new album together. Due out March 25, 2022 from Smoke Sessions Records, the date combines the bandmates’ originals with fresh takes on jazz classics by what is surely the longest-lasting organ trio in modern jazz.

 

“Thirty-plus years is definitely a milestone,” Bernstein says. “Especially when you consider it in light of jazz history; it’s trippy to think about, but that's equivalent to keeping a band together from 1940 to 1970. If you think about how short a time so many of our musical heroes were even active, let alone have a group together – I mean, the classic Coltrane quartet was only together for about four years. So it is pretty significant.”

 

Perpetual Pendulum was recorded last July at New York’s Sear Sound, a studio with which the trio shares a storied history dating back to their second outing together, 1992’s Light Blue. The session marked the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut, Goldings’ 1991 album The Intimacy of the Blues.

 

But their history stretches back even earlier. Goldings and Bernstein had met while still in high school, when both attended the Eastman School of Music’s summer jazz program. The guitarist met Stewart two years later when both were enrolled at William Paterson University, and the drummer and organist hooked up for the first time at a New School session. When Goldings and Bernstein established their spot on the weekly Augie’s calendar, they tried a few drummers before clicking with Stewart and establishing a collective voice that’s endured through three extremely busy solo careers and Goldings’ move to the west coast.

 

“We all really dig each other, and that's probably the most important thing,” Goldings says in an attempt to explain the trio’s indefinable chemistry. There’s a lot of crossover in what we like to play and listen to, and our individual visions of jazz tend to align. It’s hard to say, because we never really discuss it; we just try to make good records. We came up together.”

 

The origin of their trio makes the release of Perpetual Pendulum on Smoke Sessions particularly significant. Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, the label’s parent venue, was opened on the former site of Augie’s Jazz Bar, where Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart established their rapport on a regular Thursday night gig beginning in 1989.

 

“It was a dive,” Goldings remembers. “It was a hole in the wall. Our weekly night there was the reason why I started playing the organ: the kinds of little places where we could get gigs frequently didn't have pianos. At Augies, we literally passed the basket to get paid… But between there and the Village Gate, we amassed a local fan base. So, it is significant that we’re releasing this album with Smoke. That room is hallowed… grease.”

 

Perhaps that grease was part of the magic, as it can still be heard in the trio’s gut-level playing on the title track, Perpetual Pendulum – check out the stick-to-the-ribs groove on “Prelude,” Golding’s bluesification of George Gershwin’s Prelude #2. Or the slick venom they bring to Stewart’s self-explanatory political hit piece, “FU Donald.”

 

Stewart originally recorded the latter tune on his 2018 album Band Menu, with a trio featuring Walter Smith III and Larry Grenadier. He knew it would make a perfect fit with his lifelong collaborators, however. “I don't think I've ever actually written anything specifically for this trio, to be honest,” Stewart admits. “I just know the way Pete and Larry play, so I just bring things in and see what works.”

 

Bernstein concurs. “I know whatever I write, these guys can play it. Harmonically, Larry will be totally inside whatever I might be hearing, and Bill makes every band sound like a band. I don't have to worry about writing with these guys in mind. They've informed my whole sound, so they’re always a reference point in whatever I write.”

 

The guitarist contributed two pieces to the album. The trio reprises his “Little Green Men,” which they originally recorded on Light Blue, in a ferociously swinging version. The aforementioned “Perpetual Pendulum” is a new piece, taken at a smoldering lope that prompts slow-burn solos from both the composer and Goldings. The organist’s “Let’s Get Lots” is a tune as witty and playful as the wordplay in its title. Stewart’s second composition is “Lurkers,” a quietly forceful piece highlighted by the avalanching intensity of Goldings’ solo.

 

Both John Lewis’ “Django” and Wayne Shorter’s “United” have been longtime staples of the trio’s live sets. Originally recorded by Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1961, “United” is driven by a forceful propulsion that eventually erupts into a taut bout of trading between Stewart and his bandmates. A trademark of the Modern Jazz Quartet, “Django” opens with an elegant solo turn by Bernstein, perhaps keeping the tune’s namesake, Django Reinhardt, in his mind’s eye. Goldings enters with lush, blossoming chords before effortlessly pivoting into a swaggering swing.

 

Despite the trio’s mutual love of classic standards, “Come Rain or Come Shine” is one perennial that they’d never tackled onstage. An impromptu warm-up led to its welcome inclusion on the album, a bright moment that showcases the old friends’ warm, easy camaraderie. Gary Bartz’s “Libra” is another new addition to the repertoire, ignited by Stewart’s steamroller rhythms and featuring absolutely blistering solos by all three. Duke Ellington’s “Reflections in D” is the polar opposite – airy, elegant and tender, floating on the waves of Stewart’s shimmering brushwork.

 

If it’s challenging to imagine a band with the kind of longevity that Goldings, Bernstein and Stewart share, it’s even more rare to find one maintaining this brilliant level of musicianship and chemistry. Its value isn’t lost on the trio, as Bernstein concludes.

 

“I think we all share a pure feeling of gratitude,” he says. “With these cats, I feel pressured to play my best because they’ve heard everything I can do. At the same time, I feel comfortable trying anything with them because I know whatever I do, they're going to hold it together. We’ve all grown through our individual experiences, but we always come back to this. And it's only getting better.”

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Bill Stewart · Perpetual Pendulum

Smoke Sessions Records · Release Date: March 25, 2022

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OUT FRIDAY: Sasha Dobson's 'GIRL TALK' (w/ Peter Bernstein + special guest Norah Jones)

Sasha Dobson presents her authentic self on Girl Talk featuring Peter Bernstein,

out September 10, 2021

“Dobson has the genes and a strong musical foundation to make powerful, uplifting music”

— NPR Music 

“An eminently listenable voice: sensuous but diffident, and devoid of showy pretense”

— The New York Times 

“[Sasha Dobson] has jazz in her genes”

— San Francisco Chronicle

Singer, composer, master lyricist and multi-instrumentalist Sasha Dobson has performed across the world as both a leader and first-call collaborator. The stylistic chameleon has released projects with such defining voices as Norah Jones, Chris Byars, Don Was, Jay Lane, Jesse Harris, Mikael Jorgensen and Charlie Burnham; she has composed with Bill Murray, opened for Willie Nelson and toured with Neil Young. Now, with the release of Girl Talk, Dobson issues her most personal recording to date. Ten tracks of original compositions and enduring favorites feature a core trio of Neal Miner on bass, Dred Scott and Kenny Wollesen on drums and album guest artist Peter Bernstein on guitar — and unveil Dobson’s intrinsic fascination with spontaneity and the resonant bebop tradition. Girl Talk will be available as a digital download, CD and vinyl LP on September 10, 2021. 

“Over the years, I developed into a guitarist and songwriter,” says the New Yorker, “But in my heart and soul, I am a jazz singer and improviser. And this album represents something essential that I needed to do.”

Dobson’s wit resonates across her phrasing. Raised inside the music by her father, pianist Smith Dobson who played for two decades with Bobby Hutcherson, as well as Art Pepper and Red Holloway, and her mother, highly sought vocalist Gail Dobson, a young Dobson internalized nuances of the music early in her artistic development. That active listening and sense of time has allowed her to craft a self-renewing career among countless diverse expressions, but she always returns to the music that’s a part of her. 

“I’ve loved playing in diverse projects as a guitarist, drummer and vocalist, but I am always listening to jazz when I am home. That’s my happy place,” she says. 

Sasha Dobson by John Fell

Now she’s released her own. A fiercely receptive interactivity emerges on Girl Talk at every turn, particularly between Dobson and Bernstein. “There’s something about working with Pete that just sparked a flame,” says Dobson. “I felt motivated to push forward through these ideas — kind of what I set out to do in New York as a jazz singer and as an artist.” 

Engineered by Colin Monacs and Andy Taub, and mastered to digital and vinyl by Vadim Camby and Bill Scibbe, respectively, Girl Talk came together in two sessions with Dobson at the production helm. Written between the band’s first studio date before the pandemic hit, and their second, scheduled during the lockdown, Dobson original “Better Days” features Wollesen on drums and spotlights her sophisticated concept of harmony, master-level song interpretation and deep connection to the blues no matter which feel she’s channeling in the moment. Throughout “You’re the Death of Me,” another of Dobson’s originals, she and Bernstein sit in a groove together, buoying each other from one phrase to the next. 

The album’s title track showcases Dobson’s effervescent, at times wry sense of humor as well as her sacred connection with longtime collaborator and close friend, singer-songwriter Norah Jones who recorded backing vocals to the Neal Hefti tune remotely during the lockdown. Despite the artists recording their parts at different locations and times, Dobson’s lock-in with Jones reflects their intuitive pacing and phrasing as well as Dobson’s expert storytelling. “The lyrics are a little quirky and subversive,” she says, “a little counter, counterculture [laughs].”   

“The Great City” crept into Dobson’s consciousness during the lockdown. At a time when she witnessed New York gutted from the inside, she meditated on its pain and resilience, electing to film a music video as a tribute to the city she loves so much. Bernstein proffers a swinging statement on the Curtis Lewis composition, while Dobson’s signature improvising follows the head out. Miner’s presence on Girl Talk extends beyond the low end. Apart from a strong pulse and melodic foundation, his contributions include arrangements for “Sweet and Lovely,” “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise” and “Autumn Nocturne.” 

“Neal is one of my best friends of all time,” says Dobson, who connected profoundly with the bassist-composer in Manhattan’s West Village when she was 18. The two have been playing together for more than 20 years. Their hookup during live performances radiates from the bandstand and pulses across Girl Talk whose title track Miner introduced to Dobson. “After years of collaboration,” says Dobson, “we are one and the same when it comes to feel, tempos, arrangements and repertoire.” 

Sasha Dobson by Megan Schlow

Dobson feels fortunate to have world-renowned Brazilian percussionist and good friend Mauro Refosco contribute nuances of mood on “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” and “These Boots Were Made for Walking,” along with Steven Bernstein and Ian Hendrickson Smith. “Mauro is the cat,” says Dobson, who frequently plays off his choices and against elastic grooves he pulls and bends and integrates from countless regions across the world. 

Apart from two dates in the studio with her core trio, the pandemic compelled Dobson to lean heavily on tracking as she added personnel and prepared the album for mixing — a practice the sonic purist never thought she’d engage, but one that offered unexpected perks, including vital remote contributions from her brother, vibraphonist and multi-instrumentalist Smith Dobson, based in San Francisco. The sibling-artists were able to collaborate for the first time. “He’s an incredible musician and one of my favorite drummers,” says Dobson, “but he’s also a chameleon like me.” 

“All the records I’ve made in the past — under my name and as collaborations with other artists — have been an explosive new learning experience,” she says, “but the one thing I haven’t done in my 20-year career so far is record what I can do, and what I was raised to do.” For Dobson, it sure is good to be home. 

Sasha Dobson Website

Apple Music

Amazon Music

Spotify

Mike LeDonne's The Groover Quartet + Big Band - It's All Your Fault (2021 HighNote Records)

Mike LeDonne belongs to an elite group of musicians — those who have mastered the piano AND the organ while creating original voices for each. However, here on It's All Your Fault, LeDonne sits down at the organ, puts his foot on the pedals and lays down some of the hippest organ licks you're likely to hear. Two groups are featured on this recording. Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet has had the rare opportunity to play and record together for twenty years and counting. They had no difficulty integrating their sound into this all-star big band put together by Mike and his preferred arranger and conductor, Dennis Mackrel. Recorded in the famed Van Gelder Studio and actually using the original Hammond C-3 organ that Jimmy Smith et al. used for their recordings, the music within this recording is adventurous. It's a continuation of the groove that was established years ago by organists interacting with big bands and it reveals to us the Blues, the Rhythm & Blues and the Jazz that Mike heard coming up through the jazz ranks.

1. It's All Your Fault (M. LeDonne) 6:35

2. Matador (G. Green) 6:46

3. Rock With You (R. Temperton / D. Myers) 6:11

4. Still (L. Richie) 6:55

5. Party Time (L. Morgan) 5:34

6. Bags and Brown (M. LeDonne) 5:17

7. Biggest Part of Me (D. Pack) 6:20

8. Blues for Jed (M. LeDonne) 7:53

Mike LeDonne’s Big Band (Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6):

Organ: Mike LeDonne (org)

Steve Wilson, Jim Snidero (as)

Eric Alexander, Scott Robinson (ts)

Jason Marshall (bs)

Jon Faddis, Frank Greene, Joe Magnarelli, Joshua Bruneau (tp)

Mark Patterson, Steve Davis, Dion Tucker, Doug Purviance (tb)

John Webber (b)

Peter Bernstein (g)

Joe Farnsworth (ds)

Mike LeDonne’s Groover Quartet (Tracks: 4, 7 & 8):

Mike LeDonne (org)

Eric Alexander (ts)

Peter Bernstein (g)

Joe Farnsworth (ds)

Pre-order

Cory Weeds - O Sole Mio! Music From The Motherland (2021 Cellar Live)

Cory Weeds delivers a blistering set of Italian themed tunes backed up by one of the pre-eminent organs bands in jazz today!

The results speak for themselves: swinging bop lines executed by all, crackling rhythm section accompaniment and interaction, and an ensemble sound that underscores the values of swing, groove and participatory interaction over a carefully selected set of compositions--thanks to the support of Giulio Recchioni and the Italian Cultural Centre--that celebrate through reinvention and interpretation some great Italian music ("O Sole Mio," "Toma A Surriento"), as well as compositions taken from the rich history of contribution that Italian-Americans have brought to jazz and the American popular song (Marmarosa, Corea, Martino, Mancini).

Although to some, perhaps, the ideas presented here may appear on the surface to be disparate and tangentially connected: a jazz version of "O Sole Mio," a fifth instrumentalist added to a longstanding quartet or even the Hammond B3 organ in jazz (a relatively late addition to the music's instrumentarium with an unusual historical pedigree of roller rinks and makeshift churches), jazz has long been about thwarting normative conventions and looking for points of intersection that connect and unite players and sounds that span nationalities, race, language, gender and musical history.

1. O Sole Mio 07:14

2. Mr. Lucky 05:12

3. Speak Softly Love (Theme From The Godfather) 08:09

4. On The Stairs 05:55

5. Estate 07:22

6. Chick's Tune 06:11

7. Torna A Surriento 08:07

8. Moody Blues 06:01

9. Capricci di Camere (Whims OF Chambers) 06:22

Cory Weeds – alto saxophone

Eric Alexander – tenor saxophone

Mike LeDonne – Hammond B3 organ

Peter Bernstein – guitar

Joe Farnsworth - drums

Produced by Cory Weeds & Mike LeDonne

Recorded at Armoury Studios on October 6, 2019

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Chris Gestrin

Pre-order

Pat Bianchi - In The Moment (SAVANT RECORDS November 2018)

Capable of everything from vibrato-laden intimate murmurings to sermonizing at a roaring volume, the jazz organ can sometimes be strangely dispiriting - like being stuck at a bar with a non-stop talker. Pat Bianchi will have none of that, eschewing all the clichés and displaying the instrument's versatility with a set list that ranges from Chick Corea to Patsy Cline to Monk and Billy Eckstine. 

For this, Bianchi's first recording on Savant, the leader has brought along a number of friends and colleagues including Pat Martino, Joe Locke, Carmen Intorre, Jr. the late, lamented Kevin Mahogany and others making for an extra-special debut recording.

Pat Bianchi (organ)

Paul Bollenback (guitar)

Byron Landham (drums)

With special guests:

Peter Bernstein (guitar)

Carmen Intorre Jr (drums)

Joe Locke (vibes)

Kevin Mahogany (vocal)

Pat Martino, (guitar)

1. Humpty Dumpty

2. Blue Gardenia

3. Don't You Worry 'bout A Thing

4. Mr. PM

5. Barracudas (General Assembly)

6. Crazy

7. No Expectations

8. I Want To Talk About You

9. Fall

10. Four In One

Mike LeDonne and the Groover Quartet - From the Heart (SAVANT RECORDS 2018)

Joining Mike LeDonne and his Groover Quartet on 'From the Heart' is the great drummer Mike Clark. After collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton and others, Clark has influenced a generation of percussionists and brings his own unmistakable style to two of the tracks.

For three decades Mike LeDonne has been an exceptional avatar of the Hammond B3 organ. Forged by his impressive jazz apprenticeship, with the likes of Milt Jackson, George Coleman and Benny Golson, LeDonne comes from a long and distinguished line of masters of that instrument. And for eighteen years, he's lead the Groover Quartet his formidable foursome consisting of tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Joe Farnsworth.

1 Someday 5:41

2 From the Heart 8:22

3 You'll Never Know What You Mean to Me 6:58

4 Here Comes the Doctor 7:34

5 Come Back Baby 9:04

6 Fun Day 6:29

7 You Send Me 6:06

8 Then Came You 6:24

Mike LeDonne (Hammond B-3 organ)

Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone)

Peter Bernstein (guitar)

Joe Farnsworth (drums)

Mike Clark (drums on "From the Heart" and "Here Comes the Doctor")

Larry Goldings / Peter Bernstein / Bill Stewart - Toy Tunes (PIROUET RECORDS 2018)

Larry Goldings - Peter Bernstein - Bill Stewart

Take to the musical playground with Toy Tunes

Available via Pirouet Records

"The best organ trio of the last decade." - The New York Times

"unusual camaraderie of world-class players Three of the world's best players in the current jazz scene..." - Jazzstation

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart possess a special place within the rich history of organ trios; with their adventurous eclecticism, they progress beyond the bop-influenced soul jazz of the likes of Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff and Shirley Scott and into their own singular musical realm.

Larry Goldings has collaborated with the "who's who" of soul, pop and jazz, from Maceo Parker, Tracy Chapman, and James Taylor to Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, and Charlie Haden, and is in demand as a composer for film and TV. Peter Bernstein has been called "the most universally respected and admired jazz guitarist of his generation", and his work with such greats as Sonny Rollins, Jim Hall, Joshua Redman, and Brad Mehldau backs up the claim. Known for his melodicism and polyrhythmic complexity, drummer Bill Stewart has played with Joe Lovano, Dave Holland, and, like Goldings, Maceo Parker, and has had a long-time collaboration with John Scofield. All three are recognized composers.

Toy Tunes marks the trio's twelfth album since their first release in 1991. It's their second recording with PIROUET. The press greeted their first PIROUET CD, 2014's Ramshackle Serenade, with "It doesn't get much better than this" (All About Jazz), and "Another memorable outing from one of current jazz's finest small groups" (JazzTimes). Goldings states that, "Our approach has never been dictated by the 'organ trio' format but rather by our individual personalities, our broad range of musical interests, our desire to be highly interactive, and to grow together as musicians."

Goldings' relaxed, lyrical Fagen was named for Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, whose records "introduced me to a whole new world of harmony and song structure."  Larry comments that Stewart's Don't Ever Call Me Again "possesses Bill's unmistakable combination of craftiness and wit." The piece sports a funky fusion feel, and the three keep the communication going as they converse with Stewart's talkative drums. Bernstein wrote the dreamy Lullaby For B for his oldest son. Goldings says it "unravels like a novella, and, due to its rich harmonies and unexpected structure, is a joy to play." The standard I'm In The Mood For Love is a variation on the arrangement Goldings wrote almost 25 years ago for the great Jim Hall.  "The three of us knew and loved Jim, and he inevitably pops into our consciousness when we play this." Goldings calls Carla Bley's And Now the Queen "a gem of a composition. I still can't fathom how she can say so much in four bars. Carla's pieces invite the interpreter to dive right in and explore. She gave us her own handwritten chart from which to work!" As for Toy Tune, Goldings says that improvising on Wayne Shorter's pieces "is akin to playing with a Rubik's Cube." The trio takes a slightly more relaxed stance than Shorter's original version, playing delightful games over the changes, with Stewart wailing over the fading riff at the end.

Bernstein's Calm is a beautiful mood piece with a serene church-like quality, and with Maybe, Goldings recounts that, "When I was in elementary school my mom took me on a train from Boston to New York to see my first Broadway musical, Annie. Charles Strouse wrote the music, and his song Maybe has always stuck with me. With its timeless melody and shifting key centers, it seemed like a natural fit for us to interpret." Depth, lyricism, complexity - it's all here, as three of the strongest musical personalities of their generation, join hands to play music that is pure joy.

Voro García Quintet - Live at Jamboree (SEDAJAZZ RECORDS 2018)

"Muy afortunado me siento al poder reunir esta banda de ensueño para tocar mis últimas composiciones y poder grabarlo en uno de los clubes de jazz más emblemáticos de España como es el Jamboree de Barcelona.

También he contado con el aporte de uno de mis técnicos de sonido preferido: Jorge Pérez. Este valenciano cuenta con una experiencia nacional e internacional muy extensa e interesante.

Tengo la suerte también de haber contado con Antonio Porcar, para las fotografías que se incluyen en el disco. Los diseñadores gráficos son los mismos que diseñaron mi último proyecto (guillotinaestudio.com).

Grabado el 10 de agosto en el Jamboree durante el festival de jazz de MasiMas.

Muchas gracias."

Voro García

1 A la luz

2 Bones

3 Salto al vacío

4 Ibiza Gris

5 Hell Glammer

6 Samba pa tri

7 Stablements

Voro Garcia, trompeta

Chris Cheek, saxo tenor

Peter Bernstein, guitarra

Dee Jay Foster, contrabajo

Jorge Rossy, batería

Peter Bernstein (with Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Gregory Hutchinson) – Signs Live! (SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS 2017)

Guitar-Virtuoso Peter Bernstein Reunites

Classic Quartet from Sophomore Release

for Live Recording, Signs LIVE!

Quartet Features Brad Mehldau,

Christian McBride, and Gregory Hutchinson

Available July 28 via Smoke Sessions Records

“Still studying, inventing and respecting after all these years…“

— The New York Times

A record release party two decades in the making, Signs LIVE! reunites the four master musicians who came together 20 years earlier to record the acclaimed Signs of Life, the second album by guitar-great Peter Bernstein. Recorded live at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the album captures the long-awaited live debut of Bernstein’s once-in-a-lifetime quartet featuring pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Gregory Hutchinson.

Bernstein’s second release for Smoke Sessions Records, Signs LIVE! (available July 28) allows audiences around the world to share the experience of the lucky few who were in the room for this summit meeting with four of modern jazz’s most revered artists. The two-disc set documents both sets of the quartet’s third and final night, with each soloist given the space to work out – an opportunity which each of these musicians seizes brilliantly.

When they originally came together to record Signs of Life for Criss Cross in December 1994, only the most psychic of jazz fans could realize the impact that the members of Bernstein’s quartet would end up having on the shape of the music over the next two decades. Mehldau had only recently formed his soon-to-be landmark trio, and had apprenticed alongside Bernstein in legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb’s band. McBride had garnered notice along with Mehldau in Joshua Redman’s quartet and had only a few months prior released his leader debut for Verve. Hutchinson was just beginning to make waves as a member of Roy Hargrove’s band.

Bernstein thought these rising stars would make the perfect band for the follow-up to his Criss Cross debut, Somethin’s Burnin’. “We were all young dudes,” he recalls. “I wanted to do more original tunes and thought these guys would play them well even though it wasn’t a working band. It was just an easy afternoon in the studio, but since then I’ve met a lot of younger players who were excited about this album, hearing those guys at the beginning of their illustrious careers.”

The fame that each member of that unbelievable band achieved speaks for itself. Bernstein, of course, went on to be one of the most prominent guitarists in jazz, in demand among his peers as well as an older generation of masters. Over the next twenty years he worked extensively with such legends as Sonny Rollins, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Cobb, Lee Konitz and Lou Donaldson as well as a generation of stars that includes his Signs of Life band-mates, Joshua Redman, Diana Krall, Nicholas Payton, Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart.

The four hours the quartet spent in the studio that day would end up being the only time they would ever play together – until this reunion 20 years (give or take 18 days) later. The one-off session grew in status over the intervening years, however, becoming something of a cult classic that compelled Bernstein to start thinking about reuniting the quartet to investigate the music in front of a live crowd for the first time.

“It felt great to finally play in front of an audience,” Bernstein says.”I brought in some new tunes and we didn’t end up having a full rehearsal, but given the level of musicianship of those guys it was no problem to not only play the music but to get inside it and open it up, which is what I was hoping for.”

The selection of mostly original material on Signs LIVE! bridges past and present, including songs that were originally recorded for Signs of Life and have since become perennials in Bernstein’s repertoire (“Blues for Bulgaria,” “Jive Coffee”). The set list also features several pieces later recorded for Bernstein’s Smoke Sessions debut, Let Loose (“Let Loose,” “Resplendor,” “Cupcake”) along with other highlights from throughout the guitarist’s discography and a pair of Thelonious Monk classics.

“We wanted it to sound as much like being at the live gig as possible,” Bernstein says. “It was a really fun night.”

That’s a typical understatement for the guitarist, who insists he’s never gone back to listen to the album being celebrated on this occasion. (“They used to play it at Small’s during the break sometimes,” he shrugs, “so I heard it in passing.”) It’s not the album itself he was eager to revisit, Bernstein insists; it’s the camaraderie and chemistry represented by this band, and the unfortunate lack of opportunity to explore the music further.

“I have the memory of that afternoon in the studio, and I’m happy to have that,” he says. “That was a lifetime ago, so it felt really good that all those guys had kept right in the groove that they had started in back in the mid ’90s. They were all that much more experienced, that much deeper, that much stronger, that much more themselves. 20 years is some real passage of time.”

Given the thriving careers that all four men enjoy, it may be another 20 years before they’re able to share the stage again – if ever. Fortunately we now have more than a single afternoon’s collaboration to show for their scintillating congregation. With more than two hours of music, thrilling interactions, inspired improvisations and exquisite sensitivity, Signs LIVE! is an essential document of a band that has long since achieved – and far transcended – the overwhelming promise of their rousing first meeting.

“Signs LIVE!” was produced by Paul Stache and Damon Smith

and recorded live in New York at Jazz at Lincoln Center at 96KHz/24bit

and mixed to 1/2″ analog tape using a Studer mastering deck

Available in audiophile HD format

1. Blues for Bulgaria

2. Hidden Pockets

3. Dragonfly

4. Jive Coffee

5. Pannonica

6. Useless Metaphor

7. Let Loose

8. All Too Real

9. Resplendor

10. Crepuscule with Nellie / We See

11. Cupcake

Peter and Will Anderson - Blues for Joe (GUT STRING RECORDS 2017)

This album of music is dedicated to our longtime friend and private teacher for six years,  saxophonist Joe Temperley.  Joe’s youthful spirit, blunt humor, and strong Scottish accent filled  up the room wherever hewas.  His sound and finesse on the baritone saxophone was unparalleled,  whether he was roaring through Ellington's “Cottontail” or singing sweetly on “Single Petal of a Rose.”  It’s no surprise that Joe was recruited by some of the greatest orchestras in jazz,  including Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.  

"Double trouble!  It always makes my soul smile when I see siblings playing music together. Creating music is such a magical experience, and being able to do it with members of your family makes it even more special.  I also think Peter and Will have the telepathy thing going on because they've got such a cohesive sound.  When I listen to this album “Blues for Joe,” all I have to do is close my eyes and I feel as though I am transported right back to my days with Bird, Coltrane, and Cannonball!  It doesn't get any better than that.  These cats are definitely the future!

Peter and Will, my beloved brothers, big-time props for your awards.  You two deserve every drop.  I was very happy to hook up with both of you on my trip.  You are two beautiful 360 degrees human beings;my favorite kind.  You will take jazz into the future!"  -Quincy Jones, June 2017

Blues for Joe (Peter Anderson)

The Royal Standard (Peter Anderson)

Exceptional Elegance (Will Anderson)

Lush Life (Billy Strayhorn)

Relaxed Beauty (Will Anderson)

Minor Joe (Peter Anderson)

Vitality (Peter Anderson)

Body and Soul (Johnny Green)

The Truth Will Prevail (Will Anderson)

Few and Far Between (Will Anderson)

Peter Anderson (tenor sax) 

Will Anderson (alto sax) 

Peter Bernstein (guitar) 

Pat Bianchi (B-3 Organ) 

Kenny Washington (drums)

Recorded July 31st, 2016 in NYC

Rale Micic, John Abercrombie, Peter Bernstein, Lage Lund - Inspired (ARTIST SHARE 2017)

By Raul da Gama / jazzdagama

There has not been, nor will there likely be, a dearth of guitarists acknowledging a very large debt to and paying homage to Jim Hall. However, the nonchalant, playful charm of Hall’s musical genius can neither be masked, nor underscored with greater profundity than in the exquisite performances on Inspired by this quartet that includes John Abercrombie, Peter Bernstein, Rale Micic and Lage Lund. Each of the guitarists frames this recital with sizeable performances either solo, in duo, trio and quartet formations. In all instances the music takes the form of a vignette that is hushed and reflective, where the guitarists purr seductively and there are numerous magical moments gifted to the listener by each of the musicians throughout the recording.

One cannot help but feel that Micic, Bernstein and Lund look to John Abercrombie to lead with the sublime delicacy of his thumb and finger picking. It should come as no surprise that this should be so. Abercrombie’s artful musicianship is well-formed and well-suited for this purpose. His maturity and his style remain deceptive, his limpid, euphonious tone artfully leavening his logical, but nonetheless oblique and unpredictable melodic thinking. It’s just the kind of thing you would want to draw into the music if you were Micic, Bernstein and Lund in the first place. As if to capitalize on this priceless gift from Abercrombie each of the others adds his own warmth, swelling dynamics and subtle inflections to three of Jim Hall’s original compositions on this recording: “Dream Steps”, “Bon Ami” and “All Across the City”. In each of these three charts the Inspired guitarists prove adept at creating monumental, all-pervading ensembles while leaving – in each instance – breathing space for the voice of the individual. The pieces played solo – “Alone Together” by Micic, “My Ideal” by Bernstein, “Body and Soul” by Lund and “Embraceable You” by Abercrombie – a performances of insurmountable beauty.

In other cases – music in which they perform as duos, trios or in the instance of the quartet performance – the guitarists offer individual voices, crucial textural components and complex meditations on the interactions between visceral humanity and the vitality that each of them brings to the music. Although one is hard-pressed to single out any particular song to make a case for this, “All Across the City” the one quartet piece on the album is the epitomé of this sublime interaction. It really is a flawless record where a quiet bravura element is present no matter where or to whom the listener’s ear is tuned into for, from end to end, the music seems to flow unimpeded as if gleefully egged on by the ghost of Jim Hall himself.

Steve Haines - Secret Stash (feat. Peter Bernstein) 2017

1. Ketch Me If You Can 06:14

2. The Pivot 06:52

3. Secret Stash 07:23

4. Con Alma (With Soul) 05:05

5. The Best Thing for You 05:46

6. The Masquerade is Over 05:27

7. Pity 04:06

8. While We're Young 05:00

Peter Bernstein, guitar

Thomas Linger, piano

Steve Haines, double bass

Larry "Q" Draughn, drums

Brandon Lee, trumpet on "The Best Thing for You"