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A Brief Biography on the
Artists
Interview With
Marvin Stamm
Photos
Photos
Compact Disc
Reviews
Connecting
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Soph, Ed(ward B.) (Coronado, CA, 21 March 1945) Drummer
A native of Houston, TX, Ed Soph's career spans forty years as a performer, recording artist, author, and teacher. He initially studied rudimental snare and classical percussion and counts himself most fortunate to have had the invaluable opportunity of playing drum set with experienced, older musicians in the jazz clubs of Houston during his formative years in the 1960's
Mr. Soph attended the University of North Texas (1963 - 1968) and studied drum set with the master teacher, Tommy Gwin. He occupied the drum chair in the prestigious "1:00 Lab Band" during his five years at North Texas and worked steadily in the clubs and recording studios of Dallas. He also toured with the Stan Kenton Orchestra the summer of 1965.
Upon graduation in 1968, Mr. Soph, owing to the recommendation of the great alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, joined Woody Herman's "Thundering Herd". He toured internationally with Mr. Herman's band, making a number of recordings, among which is the Grammy winning album, Giant Steps.
Moving to New York City in the early 70's, Mr. Soph began an association with legendary trumpeter Clark Terry that continues today. He also worked at length with pianist Bill Evans, vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonists Lee Konitz, Joe Henderson, and David Liebman and with vocalists Chris Connor, Vic Damone, and Joe Williams.
Mr. Soph resided on the East Coast until the late 1980's at which time he moved to Denton, Texas where today he is Associate Professor of Music at the Univ. of North Texas.
He continues to perform and record extensively, most notably in a group co-led with trumpeter Marvin Stamm. They recently released a CD, The Stamm-Soph Project, featuring pianist Bill Mays and bassist Rufus Reid. He also tours with a trio that includes pianist Stefan Karlsson and bassist Tom Warrington, having recorded two critically acclaimed CDs on the Troppe Note label. Other freelance recordings include CDs with trumpeter Bobby Shew, trombonists Carl Fontana and Jiggs Whigham, and saxophonists Joe Henderson and David Liebman. A more comprehensive discography of his recorded works may be found at <www.allmusic.com>.
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Reid, Rufus (L.) (Sacramento, CA, 10 Feb 1944) Double bass player
Rufus Reid is one of the most in-demand bassist in the world. He received his Associate Arts Degree from Olympic College and his Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance at Northwestern University. His formal teachers were James Harnett of the Seattle Symphony and Warren Benfield and Joe Guastefeste of the Chicago Symphony.
Beginning his professional career in Chicago, he later moved to New York and has performed and recorded with many of the Jazz masters. Among them are Gene Ammons, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Don Byas, Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Dorham, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Dizzy Gillespie. He continues performing and recording with Benny Golson, J.J. Johnson, Benny Carter, and Joe Henderson, Kenny Burrell, Kenny Barron and Jimmy Heath to name a few. Double Bass Delights is the most recent 1997 recording in duo with bassist Michael Moore.
Mr. Reid also has performed and recorded with Andre Previn, Kathleen Battle and the St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra. He also had performances of "Two Faces", a Concerto for Solo Double Bass and Jazz Trio, composed for him by Benny Golson with the Wayne Chamber Orchestra. It was debuted at William Paterson College and had its New York premiere in October in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.
In partnership with drummer Akira Tana, they formed the quintet, TANAREID and have released five recordings. Their most recent, Back To Front, was released in 1998. Involved in Jazz education, Mr. Reid has published two bass method books and was awarded with the Humanitarian Award from the Int'l Assn. of Jazz Educator Achievement Award by Down Beat Magazine in 1998.
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Liebman, Dave [David] (New York, 4 Sept 1946) Flutist and saxophonist
In the mid 1960s he studied theory and composition with Lennie Tristano, and saxophone and flute with Charles Lloyd. After playing with the rock group Ten Wheel Drive (1970) he worked with Elvin Jones (1971-3) and Miles Davis (1973-4). During his association with Davis he formed his own group, Lookout Farm (1973), with the double bass player Frank Tusa, the pianist Richard Beirach, the tabl- player Badal Roy, and the drummer Jeff Williams. With this ensemble Liebman attempted to blend a bop style inspired by the work of John Coltrane with elements of traditional Indian music. He played a fusion of jazz and the popular genre funk in the late 1970s, and in 1978 he toured with Chick Corea, visiting Australia, where he later taught. In the 1980s he has returned to the bop style with the group Quest, which he leads with Beirach, and in collaborations with Jones.
Selected Recordings
As unaccompanied soloist: The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner (1985, CMP 24) As leader: Open Sky (1972, PM 001); Drum Ode (1974, ECM 1046); Sweet Hands (1975, A&M Horizon 702); with R. Beirach: Quest (1981, Palo Alto 8061); "Lieb": Close-up (1983, Contempo Vibrato 002); Sweet Fury (?1985, From Bebop to Now 1002); Homage to John Coltrane (1987, OWL 046)
Bibliography
L. Feather and I. Gitler: The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies (New York, 1976/R1987) C. Berg: "Dave Liebman: the Harmonic Harvest of Lookout Farm," Down Beat, xliii/7 (1976), 14 D. Liebman and others: Lookout Farm: a Case Study of Improvisation for Small Jazz Group (no place of publication, 1978) L. Gicking: "David Liebman's Discography," Pendulum (Artists House 8, ?1980) [liner notes] M. Williams: The Australian Jazz Explosion (London and elsewhere, 1981), 160 L. Gourse: "Richie Beirach and Dave Liebman's 'Quest': What's in a Name?," Jazz Times (Washington, 1980-) (Feb 1985), 5
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Macmillan Reference LTD 1988
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Stamm, Marvin (Louis) (Memphis, 23 May 1939) Trumpeter and flugelhorn player
Throughout his distinguished career, Marvin Stamm has been praised for both the art and the craft of trumpet playing. Leonard Feather stated that "Mr. Stamm is an accomplished performer whose technical skill is used as a means to stimulating original ends."
While attending North Texas State University, a school noted for its innovative lab bands, Mr. Stamm was discovered by Stan Kenton. After graduation, he joined Kenton's orchestra as his Jazz trumpet soloist, touring with him in 1961-1962 recording five albums with the orchestra. In 1965-1966, he toured worldwide with Woody Herman.
Settling in New York in late 1966, Marvin Stamm quickly established himself as a busy Jazz and studio trumpeter. New York was bustling with jazz activity during that period, and Stamm performed at key venues with many of the significant players in the business. He gained considerable recognition for his playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (1966-72) and the Duke Pearson Big Band (1967-70), as well as performing with Frank Sinatra (1973-74) and the Benny Goodman Sextet (1974-75) among others. Stamm was also a recognized first call studio player (1966-88), and he recorded with: Bill Evans, Quincy Jones, Oliver Nelson, Duke Pearson, Thad Jones, Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Patrick Williams, Michel Legrand, Frank Foster, Paul Desmond, George Benson and many more.
Marvin Stamm's first solo album, Machinations, was composed and arranged by Jazz legend, John Carisi. After touring for several years with Frank Sinatra, he recorded Stammpede in 1982 that heralded his re-dedication to a solo Jazz career.
Eschewing the lucrative studio scene, Mr. Stamm has focused his attention on his first love, playing Jazz. Since that time, he has been a member of John Lewis' American Jazz Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Band, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Louis Bellson's big band and/or quintet and, on many occasions, performed with the big band of composer Maria Schneider.
Currently, Mr. Stamm's activities include performing as a soloist, touring with his Jazz quartet or in duo with pianist Bill Mays. He has embarked on a new and quite successful venture, that of performing with symphony orchestras throughout the country and abroad. He continues to maintain his ties with George Gruntz' Concert Jazz Band, and, when time permits also travels with other all-star units.
Consciously acknowledging his debt to the influence and guidance of former teachers and fellow musicians, Marvin Stamm also commits a good deal of time helping young music students develop their own voices. His involvement in Jazz education takes him to universities and high schools across the U.S. and abroad as a performer, clinician and mentor, perpetuating the traditions of excitement and innovation that Jazz represents.
In November 2000, Mr. Stamm released two new CDs on his newly formed Marstam Music label. The first, a duo CD, By Ourselves, documents Mr. Stamm's long-time collaboration with pianist Bill Mays and presents eleven tracks among which are Victor Young's "Beautiful Love", "You And The Night And The Music", Sonny Rollins' "Airegin" and Dizzy's lovely "Con Alma".
The second CD, The Stamm/Soph Project, is a quartet setting created with drummer Ed Soph that features bassist Rufus Reid and pianist Bill Mays; saxophonist Dave Liebman also guests on three tracks. This endeavor contains ten compositions that include Thad Jones' classic, "Three and One", Miles Davis' beautiful masterwork, "Nardis" and Clifford Brown's eternal "Joy Spring".
The critical response to Stamm's work in the 90's has been highly enthusiastic; he released Bop Boy (1991) and Mystery Man (1993) Downbeat reported that "Stamm has a gorgeous tone on the trumpet and flugelhorn, and he flies through the changes." JazzTimes said that "the Memphis native has chops and talent in abundance. He can burn on bebop changes, or mellow out on a ballad, all the time maintaining the lucid consistency that enthusiasm and experience engenders."
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Mays, Bill [William Allen] (Sacramento, CA, 5 Feb 1944) Pianist
Born into a musical family and beginning at the piano at age five, Bill Mays had his first exposure to jazz as a teenager.....a solo concert by Earl "Fatha" Hines. Later, discovering the music of Bill Evans, Art Tatum, Horace Silver and Jimmy Rowles, he found himself "hooked" and embarked on his professional career. Since that time, Bill has been the musical director for Sarah Vaughan, accompanied singers Frank Sinatra, Al Jarreau, Mark Murphy and Helen Merrill. Before moving to New York in the mid-80s he spent 12 years as a session player in Hollywood making many records and recording hundreds of TV and movie scores.
As a highly sought-after sideman, Mr. Mays has performed with many of the greats in Jazz among them Gerry Mulligan, Clark Terry, Sonny Stitt, the Mel Lewis Orchestra, Shelly Manne, Benny Golson and many more. Mr. Mays continues to tour extensively throughout the world performing both with his own groups and with others. A prolific composer and arranger, he has contributed music to the recordings of many artists, among them Woody Herman and Phil Woods and has also written classical music for various combinations of chamber groups. Mr. Mays brings a wealth of diversity and experience to his music and never fails to bring the listener along on a journey of great musical beauty.
Bill Mays has thirteen recordings under his own name as well as the new duo recording, By Ourselves, with Marvin Stamm. His new release, Summer Sketches, is garnering critical acclaim; among his other recordings are Out In PA, Mays In Manhattan, An Ellington Affair, Bill Mays At Maybeck Hall and Bill Mays/Ed Bickert. Besides his busy career as a performing artist, Bill Mays is a prolific composer/arranger and increasingly sought-after educator.
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The Interview
The Jazz Zine :
1) I remember as a teenager, the excitement of seeing The Stan Kenton Innovation Orchestra performing live at Carnegie Hall. Kenton was very impressionable in those days. For me, his music seemed larger than life. I remember on that night seeing the big man performing with jazz giants to be like Art Pepper, Bob Cooper, Shelly Manne and others. You signed on much later with the Mellophonium Orchestra. Tell us what the Kenton exposure was like for you. Has that experience, as well as the stint with Woody Herman helped shape the artist you are today?
Stamm:
Certainly these experiences had much influence on me, especially in the early years. Stan and Woody were great bandleaders and mentors as evidenced by all of us who came through their groups and have become part of the jazz scene over many years. They helped many of us to learn and grow through their influence and guidance. Through the constant touring and recording opportunities, we had great exposure to the many jazz fans and began to develop our own following. We also were strongly influenced by those musicians whom we sat next to and played with night after night. For me, it was saxophonists Charlie Mariano and Marvin Holiday and trombonist Bob Fitzpatrick on the Kenton band. On Woody's band, it was bassist Michael Moore, trumpeter Paul Fontaine, trombonist Carl Fontana, saxophonists Sal Nestico, Frank Vicari, Bob Pierson and drummer Ronnie Zito.
The Jazz Zine :
2) You studied at North Texas State University and received your bachelor of Music degree there in 1961. What are your feelings on jazz education today with its bearings on the younger musicians? While they seem to have grown technically more proficient in their music and the scene is much cleaner and healthier than it was in the past, has this changed the course of jazz? In this newer, more refreshing, climate, can we still produce another Zoot Sims or Dexter Gordon from it? I guess what I'm saying is: Will it still be the Art Form it was when the musician no longer has to suffer and pay the dues?
Stamm:
This is a quite a philosophical question and requires much more than a brief answer, so let me start by making this point … everyone in life suffers and pays dues, whether they are musicians, carpenters or plumbers; everyone pays his or her dues one way or another! But to the question of whether one has to be a drug addict or an alcoholic to produce great music… in my opinion, the answer is "No!"
Without attempting to go into all the many issues with regard to Jazz Education, I do feel that it does, in a large sense, give the impression that one can pretty much learn this music in the classroom through the use of educational tools. I do not believe this is to be true. Non-players may enter a fine school and learn about Jazz and the process of improvisation and small and large ensemble playing, but if they haven't already been "hooked" on the music before entering university, with rare exception, they never will be. If they come in already speaking the language, this classroom environment can then be extremely useful, giving them more tools to work with and aid in using those tools to further themselves and better refine their skills.
Regardless of any program, past or present, whether at North Texas or other fine schools, those who really play this music come there already being "infected" with the music. They come seeking a place where they can continue to play and learn, but on a higher and more sophisticated level and with players who are more developed than they are. What education provides or should provide is a platform from which this further and higher level of learning and garnering of experience can take place, thus preparing the young player for entering the "real" world where the real education then begins.
It also is very important to recognize that the tradition of mentorship is one of the most important components of this music. I feel that much of this tradition, the mentoring process, has been set aside at this juncture. So much emphasis has been placed on being "young" that it has short circuited the process, and this is why so much is written and said about the lack of depth in a great deal of the music being produced today by these young geniuses. I wrote of this in an article written for BirdLives, a web site created by a friend in which many controversial issues regarding today's music are spoken about, issues often not confronted openly in most forums for fear of offending. I will quote:
"At some point in our lives, we were all "young lions" and recognized as burgeoning talents. That said, we were given the opportunity to grow infinitely as players and as people when we were able to play along side the older, more experienced musicians who imparted their musical wisdom to us, allowing us to become part of their music. Our musical proximity to more experienced players over a period of time helped us mature and develop our own voices. This invaluable process helped fan the flames of our intense desire to learn more from our mentors and peers and fueled our hopes of one-day being accepted by them as equals. It stimulated and motivated us to work harder in order to feel that we belonged on the bandstand with our elders. Nothing can ever replace these experiences.
But what 22 year-old signatory to a big recording contract would ask prominent musicians with established reputations - whose maturity might make evident his or her own shortcomings - to join his or her group? Instead, these young musicians called upon young people their own age or younger and, in doing so, deprived themselves of an opportunity afforded generations of Jazz musicians before them. This is not to deny the fact that these young people are talented or that they play well, but how much can they learn from others just as inexperienced, compared to the opportunity of being in the musical company of those who have spent years finding their voices and refining their art? Artists strive to attain knowledge and skills above and beyond those they possess in the present - this is what produces growth and maturity in a musician."
The public has been sold a real "bill of goods" over the last 20+ years as to what this music is and who can play it. Many of those "geniuses" have been created by the critics and journalists and recording company PR people, all of whom have things other than the interest of the music or an "art form" at heart! Do not be fooled! There are many great musicians, younger and older, who have grown up in this music and who are playing great Jazz with as much substance and depth as ever. Just listen to Bob Brookmeyer or Jimmy Knepper, Chris Potter, Dick Oatts, Phil Woods, Mulgrew Miller, Bill Mays, Rufus Reid, Ed Soph, John Riley, Randy Brecker and Scott Wendholt; and this is just to name a few! And more a coming up all the time like the young undiscovered trumpeter, Sean Jones, who is going to turn everybody's head around! All these people and many more are out there playing this music and doing so at the highest level, but most are not being recognized by the powers that be because they don't fit the image or into the picture of what they want to purvey to the public.
Can we still produce the quality of player that we have so admired in the past? Absolutely!
We are doing so! It is happening all the time, but not be through either the precepts of the Jazz Education community or at the dictates of recording companies seeking to imitate "pop music" by trying to create Jazz "stars." It is happening the "old-fashioned" way in the same manner it has been done for years, and like fine wines, the process is one of slow maturation But because so many things are different from what existed 60 years ago and because everything today has to be created in the "right now", much of what is recognized is just the creation of marketing rather than maturation, and we don't readily recognize the "real deal" from all the "pap" we are being fed. You cannot take shortcuts in the creative process, and when this is attempted, it produces music of no real substance. So, we must look in the right place for those truly creative musicians and not at the "images" the recording companies and their marketing teams are trying to dictate as Jazz. Just listen… they are out there!
The Jazz Zine :
3) I feel like one the privileged few on the planet. At one time in my life I had the honor of seeing Clifford Brown performing with Max Roach at Basin Street East in New York City. That moment has lived with me throughout my life. Since that time, whenever I listen to the trumpet, foremost in my mind, regardless of the speed or the tempo, is articulation. I hear a lot of articulation in your playing. Is this something that you have to work on constantly in your practicing? Or, are you blessed with this as a natural ability in your playing?
Stamm:
Though I certainly believe I have been blessed with natural talent, I feel that a key to my playing, and also to my longevity is that I have always been a "practicer." As to articulation, yes … this ability may be due to practicing, but how one applies that ability comes from how one hears themselves playing their music. This is due to years of listening and playing and absorbing much from the music of wonderful musicians. The process seems to be one of osmosis. But I do put in a lot of time on the horn because I love playing my instrument, and, the older I have become, the more I enjoy making music with it and the more I feel that keeping myself "together" on the horn is a necessity. All instruments give you back what you put into them, but I feel this is especially true in regard to the trumpet.
The Jazz Zine :
4) Other than trumpet players, who have been the biggest influences in your musical career?
Stamm:
This is almost an impossible task! So many players have been influences on my music during every period of my life, a great many being players I have worked with through the years, but I will try to mention a number of them. In the early years, the biggest influences other than trumpeters and heard almost exclusively on records were J.J. Johnson, Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderly, Gil Evans, John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, Hank Jones, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly as well as players from the west coast scene, Shelley Manne, Frank Rosolino, Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Leroy Vinegar and others, mostly through their recordings.
I also must include the many "local" players in the early years of my growing up in Memphis and while going to school in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Among these players were tenor saxophonists James Clay, John Hardee and Peyton Parks, trumpeters John Anderson and Willie T. Albert, guitarist Jack Peterson and baritone saxophonist Claude Johnson.
In the middle years after coming to New York, there were the people I worked with such as Mel Lewis, Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Woods, Dick Hyman, Roland Hanna, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Jimmy Knepper, Pepper Adams, Duke Pearson, Frank Foster and so many others.
Today, my playing is still strongly influenced by those that I play with, most important being the people in my quartet - Bill Mays, Rufus Reid and Ed Soph. Their collective creative genius provides a very strong impetus for me to constantly "push the envelope", to continually be stirring the pot of my own creative imagination in order to strive for new ways of expressing myself. I cannot tell you how important this is and how much it means to me to be working with musicians such as these.
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By Ourselves
Bill Mays, Piano
Marvin Stamm, Trumpet and Flugelhorn
- By Myself
- You and the Night and the Music
- The Lamp is Low
- The Widow in the Window
- Judy
- Beautiful Love
- Waltz for Mia
- You Must Believe in Spring
- Airegin
- Madrugada
- Con Alma
Marvin Stamm has been around a while. Still, he's not a jazz household name, though he ought to be. Many listeners may remember him from the Kenton days when he played with the mellophonium orchestra. Since than he's been involved with many aspects of playing music, from the studio to the stage and has gained a considerable amount of experience. This CD, in collaboration with the wonderful pianist, Bill Mays, is a sort of culmination of where music has taken Marvin Stamm to date.
Frankly, I'd not personally heard much of Stamm in the last fifteen years or so, until hearing these two recent CDs. While, more than the other horns, there are many prominent jazz players on trumpet: Roy Hargrove, Tom Harrell, Claudio Roditi and Wynton Marsalis just to barely skim the surface, Marvin's name should be included with these contemporaries. His playing is articulate, fluid and has the full range of all the emotions embedded into his style. On this duo recording with Bill Mays he shows us his virtuosity and appeal that's a joy to experience.
I think Mr. Stamm's identification is clearly labeled during the introduction with the first forty three seconds of By Myself. This unaccompanied moment is the type of music that music teachers tell their students to listen carefully to before they dissect it and learn it note by note.
The choice of tunes for their musical venture are interesting and varied. You and the Night and the Music is respectful to the beauty of the original line. Bill Mays takes an adventurous and swinging exploration solo and feeds a balance of tasty chords to give Marvin room to add his creative impressions to this Evergreen.
The Lamp is Low is one of those haunting melodies that, given the right day and circumstances, can reduce me to tears. The collaboration between these two stellar artists is uncanny. Good duo playing in jazz probably goes beyond the musicianship. There must be a special bond or friendship and understanding that must intertwine with the music. You get that sense in listening to this interpretation.
The Widow in theWindow is a haunting original by Kenny Wheeler.
Bill Mays demonstrates his writing skills with an infectious line titled, Judy. He weaves a pleasurable solo quoting some Benny Golson and I’m Confessing that I Love You into the mix of the solo.
Marvin treats Victor Young's, Beautiful Love with a very gentle respect and tenderness and does not stray too far from the melody in exploring. For me, it takes something special to undertake this and making it still sound like jazz.
Waltz For Mia by Ted Nash sounds like it was written around the chords of I Thought About You and offers some nice exchanges between Stamm and Mays.
Marvin's exquisite tone and control are very evident in You Must Believe in Spring. His approach is beyond beauty and almost poetic while Mays does most of the inner searchings with layers of remarkable alternates to the original melody line. Marvin concludes by going deeper within himself to continue to search for the essence of this timeless Michel Legrand original.
Airegin, the Sonny Rollins masterpiece, swings hard without the gymnastics.
Another very pretty line my Bill Mays, Madrugada is a quiet moment with much of a Brazilian feeling.
The set ends with a tribute to the master. Con
Alma by Dizzy Gillespie is played with sentiment and concludes a
set of great duo performance by Stamm and Mays.
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The Stamm/Soph
Project
Marvin Stamm, Trumpet and flugelhorn
Bill Mays, Piano
Ed Soph, drums
Rufus Reid, Bass
David Liebman (Tracks, 3,6 &8)
- Three and One
- Nardis
- The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
- Lament
- Bick's Bag
- No Hurry
- Joy Spring
- Hip Hop Blues
- Who's 'At Talkin'?
- Old Folks
In this group setting there is a nice and easy looseness where Bill Mays and Marvin Stamm are relaxed and settle into some nice grooves. Ed Soph compliments the soloists with some tasty playing that never intrudes but is always felt. And what can one add to the indefatigable Rufus Reid that hasn't been said before?
The set on this CD is comprised of a nice mix of originals, jazz standards and some Evergreens. On three of the tracks the group is joined by tenor/soprano saxophonist, David Liebman. David adds a darker color to the group that contrasts the lighter and more fluid playing of Stamm and Mays. The three tracks with Liebman are some of the best and most exciting on the CD.
Three and One by Thad Jones is one of the nicest lines written by the underrated Jones and is played faithfully to the melody with nice solos by Mays and Stamm. Rufus Reid follows adding some interesting depth with a strong solo.
Nardis by Miles Davis, has a mysterious feeling that Reid guides us through as Marvin states the theme in a pretty sounding motif until Mays picks it up and goes deep into exploration of this enigmatic composition. Marvin's solo follows and is laced with tinges of Middle Eastern feelings buried deep beneath his swinging solo.
David Liebman steps into the spotlight on the Evergreen, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. The contrast between the two horns is exciting. David solos first and is in and out of the line with some discords and abstracts that somehow neatly stay together in his playing. Marvin follows with an even flowing solo played at a blistering tempo. Toward the end both horns trade fours with Soph who shows us some neat compact solos sandwiched between the two hornmen.
Although J.J.Johnson is not remembered primarily for his writing, for me, Lament has to be one of the Jazz Classics of all time. Marvin states the very pretty theme unaccompanied until Mays finds him and together they pay tribute to the pen of our greatest jazz trombonist.
The next two tracks, Bick's Bag and No Hurry are Bill Mays compositions. Bicks's Bag is a kind of tongue-in-cheek blues that has an almost Horace Silver flavor to it. Marvin adds a low-keyed solo that swings without exaggeration. Bill Mays has that kind of feeling in his solos that follow a lot of the West Coast great pianist from the past: Hampton Hawes, Russ Freeman and Pete Jolly, to remember a few. Since Bill is from San Diego I guess some of the Left Coast has remained with him. Listen to the last few bars played by Marvin on this, it expresses the depth and experience he brings to jazz.
No Hurry, is a completely different line that's played laid back. Rufus Reid treats us to another interesting bass solo. David Liebman injects his vibrant energy to change the mood of this introspective composition bringing it to new levels. This was my favorite track on the CD.
Opening at the usual tempo Joy Spring, the Clifford Brown original is simply stated at the opening and then gets interesting with Mays and Stamm doing some neat contrapuntal exchanges until Marvin takes it out with a swinging solo.
I am not familiar with Lars Jansson but Hip Hop Blues is contagious. I downloaded this sometime back from Napster which led me to follow up on the whereabouts of Marvin Stamm. Again, Stamm is in top form during his solo, playing some incredibly fluid lines without having to raise any hell to do so.
The lone composition by Stamm on the CD, Who's 'At Talkin'? has a haunting familiarity. It sounds like something I may have heard from the Kenton days. Ok, it's time for some research. It's a fun line and it sounds like it was originally written for a big band.
The set ends with one of the all time beautiful evergreens, Old Folks by Williard Robison. Here again we get treated to the musical bonding of Bill Mays and Marvin Stamm as they extend this piece and find a variety of new ways to add new life and interpretations to this glorious standard.
This set is represented by a group of jazz players that offer us, through their worldly experiences and love, good solid jazz music that endures. There is nothing flashy going on during any of these tunes, just some good music played by very gifted artists that are communicable to all jazz fans that have ears.
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