Apr 14, 2022 12:38 PM
In Memoriam: Charnett Moffett, 1967–2022
Charnett Moffett, a renowned bassist who performed with a host jazz stalwarts and carved out a successful solo career,…
Jimmy Heath’s final recording, Love Letter, is set for release July 17.
(Photo: Carol Friedman)Verve recently announced the release of Jimmy Heath’s final recording, an album completed just one month prior to the saxophonist’s death on Jan. 19 at the age of 93.
Love Letter, a collection of ballads that spans covers like “Con Alma” and Heath originals, counts contributions by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Kenny Barron, guitarist Russell Malone, drummer Lewis Nash and vocalists Gregory Porter and Cécile McLorin Salvant. For the album, the bandleader mainly stuck to alto saxophone, picking up the soprano for “Inside Your Heart,” a piece originating in a 2010 suite Heath recorded with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra.
In Heath’s obituary, DownBeat contributor Ted Panken wrote of the late saxophonist’s enthusiasm for mentoring young musicians: “Like his lodestar, Dizzy Gillespie, to whom he dedicated the song ‘Without You, No Me,’ Heath also excelled as a communicator, conveying information he’d accrued as a performer, composer and public figure. He did this both formally—helping found the master’s degree in jazz studies program at Queens College—and informally, in off-the-cuff conversations with dozens of acolytes.”
Despite Love Letter being the final work of a performer who started leading recording dates about 60 years ago, there’s no indication that Heath’s powers were at all diminished; the recording depicts a musician keenly engaged with his material, aiming to explore the nuances of each and every composition.
“Jimmy always wanted to know the lyrics of a song before playing it,” said Carol Friedman, co-producer of Love Letter. “That particular sensitivity no doubt contributes to the intimacy of his sound and is the reason he loved playing ballads—whether a tune had lyrics or not, he was singing with that horn.” DB
Charnett Moffett
Apr 14, 2022 12:38 PM
Charnett Moffett, a renowned bassist who performed with a host jazz stalwarts and carved out a successful solo career,…
“Keith’s thing was startling,” pianist Craig Taborn says of Facing You.
Apr 26, 2022 1:31 PM
A half century has passed since Keith Jarrett released his first solo piano album, Facing You (also his first recording…
Bassist-composer Ron Carter turns 85 on May 4.
May 3, 2022 12:38 PM
On May 10, the iconic bassist-composer Ron Carter will be fêted in an 85th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. With…
“I have no concept of what I did before! That’s irrelevant,” Ibrahim said. “I can’t change anything. I can’t change the past, I can’t change the future, I can only deal with what is now.”
May 9, 2022 2:52 PM
It is 2022. The pandemic lingers, yet life is moving forward in unexpected ways.
The necessary move to video…
“The idea of dancing with a ghost, or a memory — I connect with that idea so much,” Salvant says.
Apr 12, 2022 11:06 AM
During the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cécile McLorin Salvant spent about 200 hours devouring Marcel…