Saturday
I have a new album out on Fresh Sound Records; it’s entitled Saturday, and features Mr. Michael Formanek on bass and Mr. Ethan Iverson on piano, playing my own compositions. The album is available for streaming or download on all the major platforms, including Fresh Sound’s new Bandcamp page; physical copies are available from Fresh Sound, Amazon, and others.
Michael Formanek and Ethan Iverson are both heroes of mine, Michael since hearing him with Tim Berne at the Internet Cafe in the late 90’s, Ethan since hearing him with Kurt Rosenwinkel at Smalls—the old Smalls— in 2001, before the Bad Plus got big. It’s an honor, thrill, privilege, and joy to be working with them.
Ethan arranged for us to record the album at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ; yes, that Van Gelder studio, the studio where A Love Supreme and Go and Spring and Unity and Alligator Boogaloo and Power Of Soul and and and and………were recorded. It was my first time in that legendary room; Don and Maureen Sickler made the session easy and relaxed. It was a special day.
Fresh Sound Records is run by Mr. Jordi Pujol, lifelong resident of Barcelona and one of the most knowledgeable and passionate jazz fans I know. It’s an important and storied label: in my teens and early 20s, several Fresh Sound New Talent releases were textbooks for me: Brad Mehldau and Jorge Rossy’s When I Fall In Love, Gerald Cleaver Adjust, and Bill McHenry Graphic, among many others. Fresh Sound was also the home of early releases from Rebecca Martin, Robert Glasper, The Bad Plus, Kris Davis, Walter Smith III, Jeremy Pelt, Marta Sanchez, and more.
Jordi and I have worked on a lot of records together— he’s been very supportive of my community for many years. With two of my long-time close collaborators, pianist Jacob Sacks, pianist (who designed the album cover for Saturday), and bassist Masa Kamaguchi, we’ve recorded nine albums with Jordi; our first, Barcelona Holiday, which came out in 2011, features music by Thad Jones, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk. Since then, we’ve done albums devoted to songs by Cy Coleman, Johnny Mandel, Tadd Dameron, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Harold Arlen. I’m very proud of these records, and we’ve learned so much making them.
Happily, Fresh Sound is still very active, with lots of new releases and plenty of re-releases. Just glancing at the catalog, there’s a new album from legendary Jazz Messengers tenor saxophonist David Schnitter, and several from up-and-coming NYC players, including bassist Jeong Lim Yang and pianist Matt Marantz. Jordi’s reissue catalog is extensive; for instance, Fresh Sound has kept major releases on VeeJay and Keynote in circulation, while Jordi’s Chano Pozo boxset is a singular document, the absolute best introduction to Afro-Cuban music I know of.
It’s an honor to be involved with Fresh Sound; Jordi is truly devoted to the music. Respect and gratitude for Jordi Pujol and Fresh Sound Records.
I’ll give a brief rundown of the tunes on the album. For paid subscribers, I’ve included charts to all the tunes— feel free to print and play!
We start with “Stephen Paul”, an out-of-time, minor-key melody. Stephen Paul, of course, is Stephen Paul Motian (he was listed in the Manhattan phone book in the early 2000’s as either Stephen Paul Motian or Stephen P. Motian). It’s a sort of early-morning mood, meant to evoke one of those days I wake up thinking of something or someone very clearly. Michael and Ethan really get deep into the spirit of it.
I then imagine the sun coming up, birds chirping, the whole world coming to life, and it’s “Saturday”, a blues in D. The album really gets started here— this is the sound of Dad putting the family in the car, taking a trip to “wherever Dad wants to go”. I like the Duke Ellington thing we get into on the out head.
Whatever you do, “Don’t Mention The War”. The two major and one minor chord, descending by minor thirds, approximates to me how it sounds when we can’t say the one thing we’re all thinking about. Ethan’s solo and Michael’s irreverence really get this tune off the ground.
The single note melody and sliding harmony indicate that all is not what it seems; whatever is being said, something else is meant. Is it a “Veiled Promise”, a veiled threat, or something else entirely?
An aggressively simple song, “Just Forget It” features some backbeat fun. Michael keeps everything from being too precious, I’m channeling some Sixties drumming, and Ethan lets his indie flag fly.
American music is African American music; to a lesser degree, it is also Jewish American music. “Hyman Arluck" is the birth name of Harold Arlen, and this song is my way of honoring the Jewish diaspora, and my bid for scoring a film. It’s great to hear Michael bow the melody.
An Erroll Garner phrase attached to a Tim Berne-inspired melody for an open improvisation into what I hoped would be an ambient drum solo, along the lines of Tony Williams on Grachan Moncur III’s “Nomadic”, “Angular Saxon” is what it is.
As the story drifts, winds down, and meanders, the only punctuation possible is an “Ellipsis”…..
If “Saturday” is a blues, “Sunday” is rhythm changes, with Ethan contributing some changes to the A sections.
David Byrne described heaven as “A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens”. This simple tune is meant as a depiction of what it would be like in heaven if it was as Byrne described, with an incredible Ethan intro.
So that we end on an up note, here’s a version of my tune “One Hour”, which I’ve recorded before. Nice to hear Michael, the real leader of the band, keep us on our toes.
So, now the album is released, and I’m immensely proud of it. I hope you get a chance to hear it, and I hope you dig it; it was cunningly engineered to be highly enjoyable and worth many listens.
Thank you all for the support and interest you’ve shown in my writing; writing on Substack has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’ve got quite a few articles I’m working on:
An overview of M’Boom— discography, concert footage, members, and legacy.
Donald Bailey and Jimmy Smith, 1957 to 1967.
Listening to Chick Webb.
Joe Chambers, composer and improviser.
Make A Jazz Noise: Frank Zappa, 1972.
For James Williams and Tony Reedus.
Personal History: Bass Players and I
Max Roach Duets, 1976-1982
I’m looking forward to writing these posts, and many more. Thanks for all the support— see you next week.
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