Billy Harper: Tenor Sax
Eddie Henderson and David Weiss: Trumpets
Craig Handy: Alto Sax
George Cables: Piano
Cecil McBee: Bass
Billy Hart: Drums
One of the highlights of late1950s and early 1960s was the development of "hard bop", a driving first-born descendent of the bebop era. Jazz legends like Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Max Roach were the innovators who created this sound and Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard developed this sound and perhaps bought this music to it’s greatest heights. The gig where it all exploded into mainstream was at Club La Marchal in Brooklyn, New York, resulting in the 2 classic Blue Note LP’s entitled Night of the Cookers (which featured Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan). The Cookers is comprised of many of the musicians who contributed to the development of this sound and to pushing the music forward from there. While giants in their own right, the members of this ensemble have performed and/or recorded with pretty much every jazz great of the past 40 years including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Herbie Hancock, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Dexter Gordon, to name just a few. Combined they have appeared on over 1,000 recordings including many of the groundbreaking and most important recordings in the history of this music. Since the band was formed in 2007, the group has performed to sold out houses and enthusiastic audiences around the world including the Jerusalem Jazz Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival ,the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, the Den Haag Jazz Festival, the Viersen Jazz Festival, and Jazz Burghausen among many others.
The group performs newly arranged versions of original, classic compositions by Billy Harper, Cecil McBee and George Cables along with works by the other members of the ensemble.
The group’s debut CD will be released in June 2010 on Jazz Legacy Records.
Touring periods:
US: June and August 2010,
Europe: July 23- August 1 and October 21- 31 and November 18- 28
David Weiss: Trumpet
J.D. Allen: Tenor Sax
Nir Felder: Guitar
Luques Curtis: Bass
Jamire Williams: Drums
The late 1960’s were a turbulent but exciting time for jazz. The music seemed to simultaneously get more complex and simpler at the same time as a variety of influences infused the music. Some were experimenting with soul, rock and exotic rhythms from the India and the Far East. Others were carrying on the innovations of the second great Miles Davis quintet, using the group’s ever- shifting rhythms and harmonic complexities as a springboard to new compositional ideas. Some somehow combined both to create some new, exciting music. The Point of Departure Quintet is re-examining some of the most innovative music of the period, some of it neglected, some, perhaps, never quite as developed as it could have been as things seemed to move at a pace during that period that left some music from being fully realized as they quickly moved on to the next new thing. Among the composers being re-examined and re-imagined are Andrew Hill, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and music from the unsung Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet (who recorded two seminal but under appreciated records for Blue Note in the late 1960’s).
Known for introducing many of the finest young musicians to the jazz world for the past 10 years through his sextet (Marcus and E.J. Strickland), the New Jazz Composers Octet (Myron Walden, Jimmy Greene, Greg Tardy, Xavier Davis and Nasheet Waits) and as a producer (first CD’s by Robert Glasper, Jeremy Pelt and Marcus Strickland), Weiss introduces some of the finest young musicians on the scene today, Bassist Luques Curtis, Guitarist Nir Felder and Drummer Jamire Williams.
The group’s debut CD, a live recording, will be release in June 2010 by Sunnyside Records
Dizzy Gillespie, when asked in a Downbeat magazine interview, "what trumpet players do you hear today whom you like", Dizzy's reply was "Charles Tolliver - I like him". Charles Tolliver, entirely self-taught, is a remarkable talent who has gained an outstanding reputation as a trumpetist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1942, his musical career began at the age of 8 when his beloved grandmother, Lela, presented him with his first instrument, a cornet, and the inspiration to learn. After a few years of college majoring in pharmacy at Howard University, and formulating his trumpet style, Charles began his professional career with the saxophone giant Jackie Mclean. Making his recording debut with McLean on Blue Note Records in 1964, Charles has since recorded and/or performed with such renowned artists as Roy Haynes, Hank Mobley, Willie Bobo, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Booker Ervin, The Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Oliver Nelson, Andrew Hill, Louis Hayes, Roy Ayers, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, and Max Roach.
In 1968 Charles Tolliver was voted as the Downbeat Critic's Choice in the Trumpet category. In 1969, he formed the quartet Music Inc which has become internationally respected for its innovative approach. In 1970 he and his alter ego, pianist Stanley Cowell created Strata-East Records, which documented some of the most important jazz being created in the 1970’s. These included Charles’ two seminal big bands records, which he decided to revisit in 2003 when he reformed his Big Band. The group debuted at the Jazz Standard in September 2003. Reviewing that show, Gary Giddins wrote: “[Tolliver's] trumpet retains much of its vigorous tone, diligent logic, and controlled fury. But his most powerful achievement is as a composer-conductor. At Jazz Standard, his dramatic semaphore directed intricate section work in long numbers with balanced pace, color tones, and excitement..." More critical acclaim soon followed and the group was signed to Blue Note Records. The recording, “With Love” was nominated for a Grammy and the Jazz Journalists Association presented him with the “Best Large Ensemble of the Year” award in 2007. The band followed this with the critically acclaimed “Emperor March”, recorded live at the Blue Note in New York City and released in March 2009.
David Weiss: Trumpet
Myron Walden: Alto Sax
Jimmy Greene: Tenor Sax
Steve Davis: Trombone
Norbert Stachel: Baritone Sax
Xavier Davis: Piano
Dwayne Burno: Bass
Nasheet Waits: Drums
Hailed by critic Jim Macnie as a “think tank” of today’s leading jazz talent, the New Jazz Composers Octet (NJCO) is proud to release The Turning Gate, its first recording for the Motéma label and third album overall. Featuring ambitious new pieces by founder-trumpeter David Weiss, pianist Xavier Davis, saxophonist Myron Walden and bassist Dwayne Burno, the album once again “stretches hard bop’s kind-of-unstretchable formula” (Macnie) and points the jazz “mainstream” toward a new horizon. Much of the music on The Turning Gate is the fruit of prestigious grants from Chamber Music America’s Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project: New Works Creation and Presentation. Among the funded works are two tracks conceived by Weiss: his own “The Turning Gate,” inspired by an old Korean legend that “happiness is just around the corner, always out of reach”; and “Bad Alchemy,” by the ’70s avant-rock band Henry Cow, an eccentric source well beyond the comfort zone of most jazz musicians, but incisively arranged by Weiss and beautifully performed by the Octet. Also funded by CMA is Xavier Davis’ “The Faith Suite,” a remarkable six-movement opus, with each movement “representing a different type of faith or lack of faith,” according to Davis (the first composer to win the CMA award twice). The suite portrays faith as ancient, humbling and doubt-inducing, but also able to inspire great feats of courage and devotion. In these six movements one hears the sheer breadth and depth of the Octet’s ability and dynamic range. There are fiery solo statements by trombonist Steve Davis, tenor/soprano saxophonist Jimmy Greene, baritone saxophonist Norbert Stachel, alto saxophonist Myron Walden, drummer Nasheet Waits and of course Xavier Davis himself. Completing the program is Dwayne Burno’s romantic ballad “Once,” featuring leader Weiss in an exceptionally poignant solo; and Myron Walden’s “Onward,” which proceeds from a breathtaking chorale-like introduction to the main body of the tune, closing the album in high spirits. Here and throughout the date we hear Weiss’ gift as a producer, his yen for “building a rhythmic geography, conjuring a particular emotional landscape, offering an important role to each member” (Macnie) — qualities that have informed every NJCO outing to date.
Founded in 1996, the New Jazz Composers Octet came about to nurture the skills and explore the ever-expanding musical capabilities of all its members in a cooperative setting. Starting from a deep commitment to the timeless harmonic language and improvisational ethos of the 1960s Blue Note era and beyond, the NJCO debuted on record in 1999 with First Steps into Reality, picked by Doug Ramsey as a top-five CD of the year. Walkin’ the Line followed in 2003 and received a top-ten nod from Tony Hall in Jazzwise. Thomas Conrad of Jazz Times has praised the band’s “acutely intelligent charts” and “post-modern, open, asymmetrical structures.” As author Howard Mandel wrote in his liner notes to Walkin’ the Line: “[The NJCO] proposes that the future springs forth from a recent, still-immediate past; that the idiom of small group acoustic modernism conveys exceptionally elegant, liberated and meaningful music, nearly 50 years since its first bloom….” It makes perfect sense, then, that the NJCO has served as a touring and recording band for the great Freddie Hubbard for the past decade, appearing with the trumpet legend on 2001’s New Colors and this year’s On the Real Side, which garnered Hubbard an appearance on the June 2008 cover of Downbeat (the Octet figures prominently in the article, of course). In addition to Weiss, the NJCO boasts some of the most accomplished figures on the current scene. Greene and Davis are both veterans of the Tom Harrell Quintet. Burno has distinguished himself in bands led by Roy Haynes, Bobby Hutcherson, Roy Hargrove and countless others. Walden does knockout work in the Brian Blade Fellowship, while Waits performs with everyone from Jason Moran to Fred Hersch to Peter Brötzmann. Steve Davis served in the final edition of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and went on to appear with Chick Corea’s Origin, Jackie McLean, Eric Alexander and many more. Together, as Bret Primack has argued, the NJCO demonstrates that “jazz isn’t history, but alive and well.” It’s never been more clearly apparent than on The Turning Gate, new from Motéma Music.
Tributes, Celebrations, Recreations and other projects
Curtis Fuller: Trombone
James Spaulding: Alto Sax
Javon Jackson: Tenor Sax
David Weiss: Trumpet
Mulgrew Miller: Piano
tba: bass
Louis Hayes: Drums
For select dates, Special Guest: Bobby Hutcherson
Jazz lost one of their leading lights with the death of Freddie Hubbard in December, 2008. One of the most influential trumpet players this music has ever seen, Hubbard was also involved in many of the groundbreaking recordings of the 1960s and helped define the Blue Note sound with his contributions to so many of the classic Blue Note recordings of the era. He was also an important composer with many of his tunes becoming instant classics and are now part of the standard jazz repertory. To celebrate the legacy of this groundbreaking musician, many of his closest friends and long time collaborators have come together to bring his music to life again.
Curtis Fuller: Trombone
Louis Hayes: Drums
Mulgrew Miller: Piano
Peter Washington: Bass,
Donald Harrison: Alto Sax
Javon Jackson: Tenor Sax
Jeremy Pelt: Trumpet
Steve Davis: Trombone
Howard Johnson: Tuba
Mark Taylor: French Horn
Jason Marshall: Baritone Sax
With so many classic recordings as a leader under his belt it might come as a surprise to some that Art Blakey's considered his best album to be the little known gem "Golden Boy". Believed to be recorded soon after play Golden Boy (starring Sammy Davis Jr.) opened on Broadway, Blakey, at the time, was leading his most famous edition of the Jazz Messengers with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton and Reggie Workman. This group was enhanced with the addition of Lee Morgan, Charles Davis, Julius Watkins, and Bill Barber on second trumpet, baritone sax, French horn and tuba to augment the group to play arrangements of the material from the show by Wayne Shorter (featuring some of his first writing for large ensemble), Cedar Walton and Curtis Fuller for a rare large group recording by the Blakey.
This music from this neglected masterpiece was painstakingly transcribed from the original recordings by trumpeter/arranger David Weiss and was never performed live until it's premiere at the Iridium Jazz Club in 2008. For this special encore performance, an all-star group featuring Curtis Fuller, who performed on the original recording and contributed an arrangement, and many other prominent ex-Jazz Messengers bring this great music back to life.
Billy Harper: Tenor Sax
Bennie Maupin: Tenor and Soprano Sax and Bass Clarinet
Charles Tolliver and David Weiss: Trumpet
Geri Allen: Piano
Dwayne Burno: Bass
Victor Lewis: Drums
A cornerstone of the Blue Note label roster prior to his tragic demise, Lee Morgan was one of hard bop's greatest trumpeters, and indeed one of the finest of the '60s. An all-around master of his instrument modeled after Clifford Brown, Morgan boasted an effortless, virtuosic technique and a full, supple, muscular tone that was just as powerful in the high register. His playing was always emotionally charged, regardless of the specific mood: cocky and exuberant on up-tempo groovers, blistering on bop-oriented technical showcases, sweet and sensitive on ballads and also found ways to mimic human vocal inflections by stuttering, slurring his articulations, and employing half-valved sound effects. As his original compositions began to take in elements of blues and R&B, he made greater use of space and developed an infectiously funky rhythmic sense. Morgan got his start with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band but rose to prominence with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. In 1964, he recorded The Sidewinder for Blue Note Records. The Morgan-composed title track was a funky, danceable groover that drew from soul-jazz, Latin boogaloo, blues, and R&B in addition to Morgan's trademark hard bop. It was unlike anything else he'd recorded before and became an unlikely hit for the label. It inched onto the lower reaches of the pop charts, and was licensed for use in a high-profile automobile ad campaign. Its success helped push The Sidewinder into the Top 25 of the pop LP charts, and the Top Ten on the R&B listing. Sales were brisk enough to revive the financially struggling Blue Note label, and likely kept it from bankruptcy; it also led to numerous 'Sidewinder'-style grooves popping up on other Blue Note artists' albums. Morgan was asked to write more tunes in the style of The Sidewinder in hopes of a follow-up hit and Morgan obliged but Morgan also formed a working band that was increasingly moving into more modal and free-form music, stretching the boundaries of hard bop. His funkier instincts were still evident as well, shifting gradually from boogaloo to early electrified. This sound is reflected on his last two albums, Live At The Lighthouse and what has become known as the Last Session which featured a tight, energetic, boundary stretching working band with bold new compositions from most of it's members. Unfortunately the development of this group was cut short by Morgan's tragic death in 1972. He was just 33 years old.
For this celebration of Morgan's music, Trumpeter/Arranger David Weiss has put together a group that will feature the two saxophonists who were members of Lee's last groundbreaking working band, Bennie Maupin and Billy Harper and features the music from the repertoire of this great band.
Jimmy Greene: Tenor and Soprano Sax
J.D. Allen: Tenor Sax
Myron Walden: Alto Sax
Norbert Stachel: Baritone Sax and Bass Clarinet
Diego Urcola and Avishai Cohen: Trumpet
Joe Fiedler and Michael Dease: Trombone
Xavier Davis: Piano
Dwayne Burno: Bass
Nasheet Waits: Drums
Wayne Shorter is one of the most important composers of the post be-bop era and perhaps the greatest jazz composer alive. His all-encompassing work starts with the hard bop classic compositions he wrote for Art Blakey, on to his groundbreaking Blue Note records which featured many tunes that have become timeless jazz standards, his innovative, conceptual records like "The All Seeing Eye", the music he wrote for the classic Miles Davis quintet, whose sound helped define an era in jazz, his fusion hits with Weather Report, his brilliant almost through composed work such as "Atlantis", and his later orchestral reworkings of some of his classic tunes. It is very unlikely there has been another composer who has covered more musical territory more brilliantly than Wayne Shorter. The concept of the Endangered Species band is to pay tribute to jazz' greatest living composer and approach his work as he would, as an ever changing, always evolving body of work. The group will perform music from all eras of Mr. Shorter's great career from the Blakey era ("Mr. Jin"), through music from "The All Seeing Eye" and classics from the Miles Davis era ("Fall"), up to his latest compositions from "Alegria" and "High Life".
Award winning composer (winner of the prestigious Chamber Music America Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project: New Works Creation and Presentation grant and the American Composers Forum's Jerome Composers Commissioning Program.) and arranger (Down Beat Critics Award, Rising Star Arranger) David Weiss has reimagined Mr.Shorter's work for a 11 piece mini big band that features many of the finest young players and rising stars on the jazz scene today.
CONTACT: David Weiss Music (212) 477-3647 davidweissmusic@gmail.com