Brev Sullivan | "Ira The Tribute Album"

Although Ira Sullivan performed with jazz luminaries like Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Roland Kirk, and Art Blakey, his music is not as widely known among general audiences; however, as a master on the saxophone, flute and trumpet, he had a reputation among his peers as an outstanding bebop soloist. Trumpeter Brad Goode called Sullivan “one of the greatest soloists in the history of the music.” Sullivan limited his touring performances and instead chose to focus on teaching at the esteemed Frost School of Music, becoming one of the leading jazz educators in the U.S., mentoring several generations of up-and-coming musicians. Sullivan passed away in 2020 at the age of 89, but his musical legacy lives on in a new recording project titled Ira The Tribute Album by The Blue Road Records Band. The band is the house band of Blue Road Records Studio, a Miami institution founded in 2019 by guitarist Miriam Stone. 

The Blue Road Records Band is made up of some of the sterling musicians who have made a home in South Florida, including Brev Sullivan, one of the lead guitarists and son of Ira Sullivan.  Sullivan passed away while Stone and Brev were working together, and they decided to record a tribute album to Sullivan. Brev relates, “My father had so many families, not only his actual family, but also his touring family as well as his family of students. I wanted to make this album to not only preserve his legacy but also preserve the memory of those moments that are dear to me when I performed with him on stage.” Brev brought his father’s complex charts to the recording sessions. A bebop player at heart, Sullivan embraced a younger generation of musicians, like Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius, whom he mentored and who learned from Sullivan’s iconoclastic approach to music. The charts reflect the later period of Sullivan’s life when his music touched on the sounds and harmonies of fusion. Ira The Tribute Album is a fitting tribute to the multi-instrumentalist who has influenced so many lives through his teaching and music.