Smoke
Sessions Records, the new imprint of New York City's influential uptown club
Smoke, releases new live recordings by a trio of three masterful jazz piano
peers, Cyrus Chestnut, Orrin Evans, and Eric Reed. Smoke has a reputation among
a number of pianists as "the place" in New York City and these
recordings will only help to reinforce this claim. "Smoke is the best
place musically to play in New York," says pianist David Hazeltine, who
released an album on Smoke Sessions Records earlier this year. "It's very
intimate and they get a great sound: it's studio quality with the added energy
of a live audience."
CYRUS CHESTNUT - MIDNIGHT MELODIES
Cyrus
Chestnut, the soulful straight-ahead piano master, releases his first live
recording, captured in front of an enthusiastic and appreciative audience in
the club's comfortably intimate setting. In addition, Chestnut boasts that
Smoke's Steinway B is the best piano in the city. "It's just my ticket. We
connect. It's warm and it's sharp at the same time with a lot of earth in it. I
like clubs like the Jazz Standard or Smoke, where you can sit down at the piano
and get down-home, because that's the kind of audience they attract."
Joining
Cyrus are bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, two veterans of the
John Hicks' trio. Together they take listeners on a musical odyssey that
includes music by Billy Strayhorn, John Coltrane, and, of course, John Hicks
like the album's penultimate masterpiece, "Naima's Love Song." Cyrus
is one of the great piano voices of his generation as he proves again with this
rewarding live debut. Midnight Melodies is available for purchase as an 8-panel
CD-Deluxe Album complete with liner notes, interview and additional photos or
as a high resolution download mastered for iTunes.
Cyrus
Chestnut · Midnight Melodies / Smoke
Sessions Records · Release Date: July 8, 2014
ORRIN EVANS - LIBERATION BLUES
Orrin
Evans - pianist, bandleader and musical catalyst - is a bona fide, jazz
original. Brimming with music and ideas, Orrin's Liberation Blues debuts one of
his most impressive projects yet, a new quintet lineup that includes Sean
Jones, JD Allen, Luques Curtis, and Bill Stewart. It's a group wholly of
Orrin's imagination that pairs established stars Sean Jones and JD Allen for
the first time. It's also hard to miss Bill Stewart's presence. When planning
for this project, Orrin recalls a conversation with his wife and main sounding
board, "Let me do something that people wouldn't expect, somethin' that I
wouldn't even expect," the pianist explains. "Listen...now is the
time for Bill Stewart!"
The
recording, made live at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City, occurred immediately
following the passing of Orrin's close friend and fellow Philadelphian, the
bassist Dwayne Burno and is dedicated in his memory. The opening selections
comprising the "Liberation Blues Suite" are also dedicated to Dwayne
and feature two of his compositions. Orrin explains, "In my eyes, Burno is
now a 'Free Man'... but with that freedom, we've lost a great man right here on
earth. So, there's still a blues we feel missing our brother and friend."
Simply put, the playing is inspired. The varied program with compositions by
Paul Motian, Trudy Pitts, Miles Davis, and, of course, Orrin, concludes with a
memorable surprise visit from Philadelphia vocalist Joanna Pascale on a
impassioned version of "The Night has a Thousand Eyes." Liberation
Blues is available for purchase as an 8-panel CD-Deluxe Album complete with liner
notes, interview and additional photos or as a high resolution download
mastered for iTunes.
Orrin
Evans · Liberation Blues / Smoke
Sessions Records · Release Date: August 12, 2014
ERIC REED - GROOVEWISE
When
pianist Eric Reed decided he wanted to make a live record at Smoke Jazz Club,
he didn't want to make a good record...he wanted to make a great one. "I
could have got guys who play exactly what I want, but it wouldn't have been
very interesting. It would have been good. It would have been swinging or it
would have sounded nice, but there wouldn't have really been a spark. You don't
just want it to sound good, you want it to be killing," states Reed. His
Groovewise is that record. Though Reed is usually heard in trio, the new album
features a quartet with Seamus Blake, Ben Williams, and Gregory Hutchinson and
is the first recorded meeting of Reed and Hutchinson in over 15 years.
Inspired
in front of a live audience, the creative energy flies off the bandstand.
Groovewise opens with what was a spur-of-the-moment reading of Clifford
Jordan's "Powerful Paul Robeson" for Jordan's wife, Sandy, who was in
attendance and it closes with the extended title track "Groovewise."
In between these solid bookends is a swinging program heavily influenced by the
weight of loss. Eric celebrates the memories and music of Mulgrew Miller, Cedar
Walton, and Marian McPartland with original compositions dedicated to them. His
original title, "Until the Last Cat has Swung," makes the explicit
point that the music is alive and well and will continue to be in the hands of
new generations who are dedicated to the art form. Although Eric confesses that
he'd like a few more years before he is responsible for being a "keeper of
the flame," Groovewise makes the point that jazz is much better off that
he already is. Groovewise is available for purchase as an 8-panel CD-Deluxe
Album complete with liner notes, interview and additional photos or as a high
resolution download mastered for iTunes.
Eric
Reed · Groovewise / Smoke
Sessions Records · Release Date: September 9, 2014
Several
new titles for 2015 are already in production including recently recorded dates
from Eddie Henderson (with Gary Bartz, George Cables, Doug Weiss, and Carl
Allen) and Steve Turre (with Bruce Williams, Xavier Davis, Gerald Cannon, and
Willie Jones III.) Henderson's set reimagines some of his heavily sampled '70s
hits in an acoustic jazz context and includes an energized version of Miles'
"Gingerbread Boy." Turre's program includes his highly original
arrangements of Gershwin's "S'Wonderful" and Rodgers and Hart's
"With a Song in my Heart," as well as moving originals like
"Trayvon's Blues." Both recordings were made at the legendary analog
studio Sear Sound in NYC. Look for these releases to arrive in early 2015.
All
Smoke Sessions releases are produced using vintage techniques and audio paths -
i.e.; Rupert Neve-designed mixing consoles (Amek-Angela), Studer mastering
decks, and Manley tube equalization - in combination with modern high
definition recording techniques. Label co-founder Paul Stache records the
sessions and works closely to mix the dates with GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer
Roman Klun who then masters them. Each release features original photography by
Jimmy Katz, as well as an original 2,000-word artist interview. The recently
released limited edition 200-gram audiophile collection was mastered for vinyl
by celebrated engineer Kevin Gray and includes a classic "tip-on
style" gatefold record jacket. Smoke Sessions titles are handsomely
packaged as an 8-panel CD-deluxe album complete with liner notes, interview and
additional photos or as a high resolution download mastered for iTunes.
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