Laika Records (Germany) will release
Martin Wind's LIGHT BLUE on March 2, 2018. The recording, his 20th as a leader
or co-leader, features old friends: Anat Cohen (clarinet), Ingrid Jensen
(trumpet), Matt Wilson (drums), Scott Robinson (multi-reeds), Bill Cunliffe
(piano), Gary Versace (piano, organ), Duduka DaFonseca (drums) and Maucha Adnet
(vocals). There are milestones in a musician's career, and life for that
matter, which pass without acknowledgement. What with rehearsals, travel, and
recording sessions, a busy professional rarely has the opportunity to note a
watershed moment. With the realization of his latest release LIGHT BLUE, Martin
Wind registers the significance of this moment in time. This recording comes
some twenty-five years after recording his first release as a leader, Gone With
The Wind (September Records), twenty years since he recorded in New York,
Family (A Records), and LIGHT BLUE is being released shortly before he turns
fifty. Since that initial outing, Wind has released another 18 albums as a
leader or co-leader and he has become one of New York's most in-demand bassists.
Wind recorded LIGHT BLUE with engineer Matt Balitsaris at
Maggie's Farm in April 2017 in between a myriad of gigs including backing
singers Dena DeRose and Ann Hampton Callaway, Ted Rosenthal's Monk Project,
showcasing his quartet in Los Angeles, and performing with Pat Metheny and Matt
Wilson at the Wichita Jazz Festival. The remainder of the year found him
touring with Matt Wilson's "Big Happy Family" (performing Honey And
Salt, the poetry of Carl Sandburg), presenting Schubert's "Trout
Quintet" and the premiere of his composition "Looking Back" with
the American Chamber Ensemble, and performing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody
in Blue" with Ted Rosenthal and Phoenix Symphony. Somehow he also found
time to tour with his partner, the legendary Belgian guitarist Philip
Catherine.
LIGHT BLUE is actually two recordings. Side A: LIGHT
features the Martin Wind Quintet with Scott Robinson, Ingrid Jensen, Gary
Versace, and Matt Wilson, all musicians Wind has performed with on an almost
continual basis. Wilson and Jensen can be heard on Wind's very first New York
recording, and the bassist is a member of the drummer's quartet Arts &
Crafts, as is Versace. Robinson has been a member of the Martin Wind Quartet
since it's inception in 2007. Side B: BLUE is a new group of old friends
called, "De Norte a Sul". This group shares multi-instrumentalist
Robinson with LIGHT. Cohen and Wind formed the group NY3 with Wilson in 2014,
and besides performing Brazilian music with Maucha Adnet and Duduka DaFonseca,
Wind's son and their daughters have become great friends. This is the first
time Wind's music has included a vocalist and lyrics written for his
compositions. Adnet maneuvers the Brazilian-favored Portuguese and English
lyrics with a remarkable beauty.
Besides being a master musician, Wind penned the ten
compositions heard on LIGHT BLUE. There are seven new pieces and three that are
new versions of some of his "classic" compositions, such as "10
Minute Song" and "Cruise Blues," both from his quartet recording
Salt 'N Pepper (2008), and "A Sad Story" from Gone With the Wind
(1993). His skills as an arranger are evident here, as they were on the
critically acclaimed Turn Out The Stars (What If? Music, 2014), on which Wind
performed music written or inspired by pianist Bill Evans with his quartet,
plus the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana.
More on Martin Wind: The artist was born in Flensburg,
Germany in 1968 and he took third place in the International Thelonious Monk
Bass Competition in 1995. In 1996 he moved to New York. He earned a master's
degree in jazz composition and performance in 1998 from New York University and
now is on the faculty at NYU and Hofstra University. He performs solo, in duo
with Philip Catherine and Ulf Meyer, leads his own quartet, and is a member
Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts, Bill Cunliffe Trio, Bill Mays Trio, Dena
DeRose Trio, and many others. He has also performed and/or recorded with the
following artists: Guidon Kremer, Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostopowitch,
Lalo Schifrin, Monty Alexander, Pat Metheny, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Slide
Hampton, Toots Thielemans, Buddy DeFranco, The Metropole Orchestra, Radio Big
Bands Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Berlin, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker,
Eddie Daniels, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Bucky
Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Larry Goldings, Johnny Mandel, Frank Wess, James Moody,
Hank Jones, John Scofield, Sting, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michel Legrand, Mulgrew
Miller, Ken Peplowski, Anat Cohen, Benny Green, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and
others.
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