The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods

Rhombus Records
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: The Greg Abate Quintet Featuring Phil Woods

Greg Abate is a 67-year-old saxophonist, flautist, composer and arranger. His music career began shortly after high school, when he gigged with relatively unknown bands in the California area, but he didn’t really become “known” until joining the Ray Charles band in 1973. Another job with the reincarnated Artie Shaw orchestra followed in ’82, along with stints with the likes of Red Rodney, but the major part of Abate’s time has been spent with lesser-known groups. His discography is quite limited (about a dozen albums). 

Phil Woods, a famed saxophonist, clarinetist and composer, is in his 80s. Unlike Abate, Woods has worked with most of the name musicians who ruled the roost from the 1960s onward. His discography is in the hundreds, both as a sideman and leader. Abate — and the music world — consider Woods to be one of the premier alto saxophonists of the bop era, which explains Abate’s thrill at having this giant as a member of the quintet featured on this album.

The supporting members include pianist Jesse Green, son of trombonist Urbie Green (an icon unto himself); bassist Evan Gregor; and drummer Bill Goodwin. The latter is another elder statesman, still swinging at age 71. Green is in his  40s and Gregor is the youngster, still in his 30s. I must note that Woods performs on only five of these 10 tracks, and thus the quintet becomes a quartet on the other tunes.

Abate composed and arranged all but two of the selections. “Marny” is a John Patrick chart, and Woods contributed “Goodbye Mr. Pepper,” a tribute to the great Art Pepper. The genre is bop; except for “Marny,” delivered as a ballad, everything is done at mid- to up-tempos. Woods performs exclusively on alto sax, while Abate switches between alto, soprano, baritone saxes and flute.

This session takes me back to the peak of the period that began in the 1950s. This group feels more West Coast than East; it’s relaxed and pensive. Both Abate and Woods are exceptional talents, but there’s no doubt that Phil remains one of the major names on alto. Charlie Parker was “the man,” but Woods fully deserved — and still deserves — his reputation as “one of the new Parkers.” The fact that he’s in the sunset of his career (age-wise) pains me deeply, but he still blows up a storm.

This is a stellar album, and Abate deserves kudos for producing it.

Grace Kelly and Phil Woods: Man with the Hat

Pazz Productions LLC
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Man with the Hat

You aren’t a jazz fan if Phil Woods' name is unfamiliar. At the opposite end of the age spectrum, Grace Kelly is more than 60 years his junior. Both play alto sax, and Kelly performed on stage with Woods when she was just 12 years old!

The two met while Kelly was attending the Stanford Jazz Residency Program in California, where Woods was an instructor. Several months later, at a concert in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he invited her on stage. After their performance, he was impressed enough to "knight" her with the iconic leather cap he always wears.

Even that wasn’t really the beginning. Kelly took piano lessons when she was 6, then clarinet and saxophone classes in the fourth grade. Stan Getz and Charlie Parker were initial catalysts. An instructor was impressed enough to arrange for her first recording at the age of 12; this album is her fifth. During that period, she has performed at more than 500 concerts, and currently is a student under a full scholarship at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. It’s difficult to find a name musician she hasn't performed with.

This album also features three additional primo artists: pianist Monty Alexander, bassist Evan Gregor and alternating percussionists Bill Goodwin and Jordan Perlson. Two of the tunes are composed by Kelly, and one by Woods; the rest are jazz standards done by Billy Strayhorn ("Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus Eaters"), Cole Porter ("Every Time We Say Goodbye"), Jerome Kern ("The Way You Look Tonight") and Benny Carter ("People Time").

Everybody is excellent, and Kelly is outstanding. She’s more than a prodigy; she's an "original" and, most important, she swings. Her intonation is a bit weak at times, but more experience will take care of that.

This young lady has "it" ... and her path ahead should be clear.

Phil Woods and the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble: Solitude

Jazzed Media
By Ric Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 9.2.10
Buy CD: Solitude

Sax player, composer and arranger Phil Woods needs no introduction; this 81-year-old icon has played with almost every jazz star who could be named.

He performs here with the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, an award-winning organization with which Woods has been associated since 2004.

Woods began his professional career in the 1950s, played in the States until '68 and then moved to France, where he lived and worked for four years. Upon his return to our shores, he formed a quintet that still is in existence, albeit with some personnel changes. He has a prolific discography, with more than three dozen releases as a leader, and almost a dozen as a sideman.

Woods has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, and has won four. He composed all the tunes here, and did three of the arrangements.

This album, recorded in 2008, features one of 14 DePaul student jazz groups. Twenty-two students (in various combinations) contributed to these tracks, and Woods' rhythm section is heard on three. The result is one of the best university-affiliated groups I've heard.

It's beautifully rehearsed and swings wonderfully.

Mark Colby: Reflections

Origin Arts
By Ric Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 4.2.09
Buy CD: Reflections

Tenor saxman Mark Colby has played, recorded and toured with many jazz legends during the past 40 years, including Maynard Ferguson, Gerry Mulligan, Clark Terry and Charlie Haden.

Although Colby isn't well known outside the Chicago area, he's a “first call” musician when name artists come to town. And while Colby has recorded only two albums under his own name, he has been heard on literally thousands of commercials in the Windy City. He also teaches, and has been a member of DePaul University's faculty since 1983.

Most of the musicians who support Colby on this release also hail from the Chicago area: Eric Hochberg (bass), Bob Rummage (drums), Mike Pinto (guitar), Bob Lark (flugelhorn) and Jeremy Kahn and Ron Perrillo, splitting the piano chores. One track also features the great Phil Woods on alto sax.

Colby wrote three of the tunes, and Woods composed another; the rest are covers of standards from popular musicians and composers.

This relaxed, lightly swinging unit is a joy. Aside from your living room, they'd fit comfortably in jazz clubs and college auditoriums; in fact, the latter venues make up a significant part of Colby's touring schedule.

The Thelonious Monk Orchestra: At Town Hall

Riverside Recordings
By Ric Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 2.7.08
Buy CD: At Town Hall

You can't be a true jazz fan if you don't acknowledge the tremendous contribution that Thelonious Monk made to the genre. 

He was born in 1917 in North Carolina, moved to New York two years later, and began playing piano at age 9. He dropped out of high school in his sophomore year (1935) and began to play in the famous jazz clubs that abounded in the city. 

In 1941, he was hired by drummer Kenny Clarke, then a fixture at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem. That's where Monk made his mark among the younger musicians of that time, who were busy creating bebop. Monk became fast friends with Bud Powell, the first bop pianist. 

His skills weren't only recognized by the young artists. I remember an old film that was shot at Minton's, where Count Basie was seated next to Monk's piano, listening to him play; the look on Basie's face said it all. He had a smile a mile wide. The famous Coleman Hawkins, also a fan, hired Monk in 1944. 

Monk made his first recording in 1941, but he didn't start to get the exposure he deserved until '52, when Blue Note signed him. About that time, however, he was arrested for drug possession and lost his cabaret license, which meant he couldn't work legally in New York. 

It was a false accusation: Powell was the real culprit, and Monk had "covered" for him. Six years passed before Monk got his license back. 

Monk was so advanced that even the recording studios that covered jazz were slow to sign him, and they didn't keep him for long. Blue Note, Vogue and Columbia were among the labels that dropped him before he signed with Riverside. This Town Hall concert was recorded live in 1959 and initially released on LP. Riverside, bless them, has begun to re-master and re-release some of the classic records made through the 1950s and '60s; this is one of them. 

The band was legendary: Donald Byrd, Phil Woods and Pepper Adams were among the sidemen. All tunes are Monk originals; when you realize this was done almost 50 years ago, you begin to perceive just how far ahead of everyone he was. Unlike almost all the pianists of that era, Monk was a true two-handed player. He also was among the first to realize the importance of "space and silence."

I've never forgotten one of his quotes, taken from an interview in 1961: "You know, anybody can play a composition and use far-out chords, and make it sound wrong. It's making it sound right that's not easy." 

If you've always been a fan, renew your enthusiasm; if he's new to you, listen and become amazed ... along with those of us who've already realized his genius. 

Phil Woods and the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra: Unheard Herd

Jazzed Media
By Ric Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 4.5.07
Buy CD: Unheard Herd

Those who love jazz are aware of the contributions by Woody Herman and his big bands. 

In his early years, his was "The Band That Played The Blues," but he didn't become big-time until forming his first "Herd" in the mid-1940s. The Herd musicians became living legends: Flip Phillips (tenor sax), Bill Harris (trombone), Jimmy Rowels (piano), Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Dave Tough (drums), arrangers Ralph Burns and Neil Hefti, brothers Pete and Conti Candoli, and the fantastic "Four Brothers" sax section of Stan Getz, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Serge Chaloff. 

Woody's second Herd produced far fewer recordings than either the first or subsequent groups. This LA Jazz Orchestra CD was conceived by Jazzed Media owner Graham Carter who, with the help of Phil Woods (sax) and Ron Stout (trumpet) — two alumni of the Herds — used actual arrangements of the second herd for this session. 

When one considers that these charts were written more than half a century ago, it becomes clear that Woody was quite far ahead of the rest of the big band world. 

The slightly diminished rating here results primarily from the way these arrangements have aged. Jazz continues to advance; the Herds of the 1970s and '80s were even more swinging than the initial groups, and those albums would earn a five-star rating even today. 

That said, this CD hasn't received the attention it deserves since being recorded in May 2004, and I'm trying to correct that. 

All the tracks are familiar swingers. "Keen and Peachy," an arrangement by Shorty Rogers of the "Fine and Dandy" melodic line, is a bop standard. "The Great Lie," an Andy Gibbson/Cab Calloway tune, dates back to 1949 but wasn't released until some 20 years later. "Man, Don't Be Ridiculous" was another 1949 chart written for Serge Chaloff, but was used primarily as an "air-check" rather than part of the band's "book." 

"Yardbird Suite," written for Woody by Gerry Mulligan, never was recorded by him. "My Old Flame," the only ballad on this release, usually was done by Herman as a solo; Woods does it here as a tribute. "We The People Bop" was the Herd's contribution to the scat vocal mode that was so familiar to bop. 

The closing track, "Boomsie," is a blues in F arrangement by Rogers; it later became known as "That's Right," and was done by the band after it got tired of playing "Caldonia." 

Those who remember Woody will love this release. I certainly do!