Good Music (2018)

Featuring Dan Balmer, Dave Captein and Jason Palmer

“There are only two kinds of music. Good music and the other kind.”  – Duke Ellington.

It’s a phrase I’ve heard my whole life.  Early on, I realized that it doesn’t really matter what style of music you play; it’s who you’re playing with, and whether you’re achieving that collective symbiosis.  It’s about serving the song.  When I studied with Joe Henderson at 17, and toured with Ray Charles at 18, both men reinforced this path.  It’s served me well – busking, touring with obscure jazz groups and major pop stars, in the studios of New York, on Broadway and TV, composing, leading bands, and making records.

Good Music, my sixth recording as a leader, is all about music for music’s sake.  I love and play all kinds of music and have always gravitated to records and musicians who embrace fearless flexibility.  I’ve also been planning to record a “chordless” saxophone trio project for some time. Ultimately with the likes of guitarist Dan Balmer in town, I expanded the instrumentation on four tunes.

I’ve included arrangements of everything from the soundtrack to my Berkeley in the 60s childhood (The Youngblood’s Get Together and The Beatles’ And I Love Her) to one of my all time favorite ballads, Sammy Cahn’s  I Should Care, and an accordion-enhanced Adios.  The five new original compositions further showcase the sonic breadth of the band.  I hope you dig Good Music!