After
leading his legendary group Quest in the 1980s and after over two decades of
the Dave Liebman Group, the NEA Jazz
Master unveils a brand new band, Expansions. The adventure features members of a
new generation of talented musicians eager, like their bandleader, to alter the
language of jazz. These musicians, heard on the new CD, “Samsara,” include Bobby
Avey on piano, Matt Vashlishan on reeds, Tony Marino on bass and drummer Alex
Ritz. The directions are unpredictable and dazzling, with an emphasis on
collective improvisation…a milieu seemingly built for Liebman as evidenced in
his extraordinarily diverse stylistic career.
As a
saxophonist and composer, Newhall, Iowa native and Luther College grad Chad Eby has earned widespread critical
acclaim as “a consummate improviser” (Jazz Times), who “has tremendous poise
and natural melodic sense” (Ottawa Sun), and whose “tone is boundless,
blues-inflected, and wholly satisfying” (All About Jazz). His commissioned
works have been performed by Wynton Marsalis, Bill Charlap and Kurt Elling, and
various jazz orchestras across the country. He is currently assistant professor
of music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music,
Theatre and Dance. For his new CD, he’s
put together a quartet to present his music inspired by the work of poet Shel Silverstein
on “The Sweet Shel Suite.”
Also this
week, trombonist/composer/arranger Jamie
Dubberly and Orquesta Dharma present “La Clave Del Gumbo,” combining the
rhythms and sound of New Orleans brass bands with Afro-Cuban jazz and salsa;
trombonist Jason Jackson unveils his
second disc as a leader, “Inspiration,” featuring Roy Hargrove, Terell
Stafford, Pete Christlieb, Dick Oatts and others; and contemporary jazz
trumpeter Rick Braun offers up “Can
You Feel It.”
