Jul 27, 2021 10:30 AM
John Pizzarelli’s Ode to Pat Metheny
It was in his darkest hour, during the early stages of the 2020 lockdown, that guitarist-vocalist John Pizzarelli…
Dayna Stephens is set to release his first recording as the leader of a trio, Liberty.
(Photo: Paolo Soriani)It almost doesn’t feel like it, but Dayna Stephens has issued eight albums in just over a 10 years. His ninth, Liberty (Contagious), is due out Feb. 28, and it’s the first time the saxophonist has led a trio date. A video for “Loosy Goosy,” a cut off the upcoming album, premieres below.
The able rhythm tandem—bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric Harland—that joined Stephens on his 2007 leader debut, The Timeless Now, again convenes here, granting the saxophonist a sacrosanct landscape over which he roams, rhapsodizes and blows bottomless lines on a tune he refers to as kind of “squirrelly.” But check out Harland’s snare work.
“Balancing our multiple unique levels of diversity and world views with the awareness that we are all a part of a global community atop a spinning delicate crumb in space,” Stephens begins in a press release while discussing the album’s title, “has proven to be a persistent puzzle for our species that leaves me wondering if ‘Liberty’ is capable of being one of those vast fields of common ground it once seemed to be.”
The saxophonist also has a live quintet recording, Right Now: Live At The Village Vanguard (Contagious), with pianist Aaron Parks, Street and drummer Greg Hutchinson due out April 24.
For additional information about Liberty, visit the bandleader’s website. DB
John Pizzarelli hit the woodshed, literally, to develop material for his new recording Better Days Ahead: Solo Guitar Takes On Pat Metheny.
Jul 27, 2021 10:30 AM
It was in his darkest hour, during the early stages of the 2020 lockdown, that guitarist-vocalist John Pizzarelli…
This year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been canceled. It was scheduled to take place in October.
Aug 9, 2021 10:28 PM
New Orleans musicians reacted with distress and disbelief — along with some relief — to the latest COVID…
Corea was named Artist, Pianist and Keyboardist of the Year for the final time in the 69th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll.
Aug 27, 2021 2:14 PM
Editor’s Note: This article is from the August 2021 DownBeat Critics Poll issue.
At the time of this writing,…
Carla Bley, the 2021 critics’ choice for the DownBeat Hall of Fame
Aug 17, 2021 10:50 AM
Given the tenor of the times, Carla Bley’s extraordinary career shouldn’t have happened. What were the chances…
Squint is Julian Lage’s debut on Blue Note Records.
Aug 3, 2021 9:53 AM
Clasping his hands to his chest, then raising them to the heavens, Julian Lage evoked echoes of the exuberant child he…
