Steve Davis Sextet “Correlations” released March 2019 last updated May 2019 "Steve Davis is the Poet Laureate of the trombone." - Chick Corea STEVE DAVIS CORRELATIONS STEVE'S 20TH ALBUM AS "A SET OF INSPIRED NEW N.1 EDITOR’S PICK REVIEW LEADER TUNES AND CLASSIC COMPOSITIONS FROM JAZZ MASTERS" A REVIEW OF THE LATEST ALBUM FROM HEAR TROMBONIST STEVE Steve Davis shows his trombone 10 NEW JAZZ ALBUMS YOU DAVIS’ NEW ALBUM, and composition skills on this rich NEED TO HEAR THE TROMBONIST ‘CORRELATIONS’ collection of bop and post bop www.stevedavismusic.com Booking inquiries: [email protected] Steve Davis Sextet “Correlations” MARCH 2019—ISSUE 203 YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE NYC JAZZ SCENE NYCJAZZRECORD.COM VIEW three horn players, as well as xavier Davis. “Bautista’s Revenge” (it’s a baseball reference) is built on an irresistible Latin beat and adds the great percussionist Cyro Baptista for even more fire while “Song for My Love” is a simple, gorgeously romantic tune written for Davis’ wife. Among the covers, the leader turns in an especially moving performance on the classic Horace Silver ballad, “Peace” while the entire group turns up the heat on McCoy Tyner’s “Inner Glimpse”, Correlations with Escoffery and Bruneau delivering memorable, Steve Davis (Smoke Sessions) high-energy solos. by Joel Roberts Steve Davis’ new sextet is a tight, crisp, nuanced group, exceedingly well-schooled in the art of hardbop As the title suggests, Steve Davis’ new album, his 20th and carries on the tradition of Blakey, McLean, Silver, as a leader, is all about relationships—and the 51-year- et al., with power and panache. old hardbop trombonist has had some remarkable ones alexander during his three-decade career in jazz, having played For more information, visit smokesessionsrecords.com. This in the bands of such legends as Art Blakey, Benny project is at Smoke Mar. 7th-10th. See Calendar. Golson, Chick Corea and Jackie McLean, as well as the Christian McBride Big Band and being a founding von member of the allstar unit One for All. schlippenbach The new sextet Davis debuts here is also built on VEIN feat. globe uniter some longstanding relationships, many of them Norrbotten Big Band growing out of the jazz mecca of Hartford, Connecticut, Symphonic Bop where Davis and several bandmembers were mentored VEIN Trio already has a reputation as “one in the jazz program founded at the Hartt School of of Europe’s most exciting ensembles”, Music by McLean and where Davis has long been a faculty member. That sense of familiarity and shared according to John Fordham, of The Guardian. LISTEN / SEE MORE : Steve experience makes Correlations sound like anything but With Symphonic Bop, recorded with the Home Songs a first encounter for the sextet, which is completed by Papanosh with Roy Nathanson, Marc Ribot acclaimed Norrbotten Big Band Orchestra Davis & The Correlations Sextet ahnee trumpeter Joshua Bruneau, saxophonist Wayne LARRY LAKECIA SIDNEY (Enja-Yellowbird) under artistic director Joakim Milder earlier sharon Escoffery, pianist xavier Davis, bassist Dezron Douglas by Mark Keresman GRENADIER BENJAMIN freeman BECHET and drummer Jonathan Barber. this year, and the ensemble’s thirteenth Of the 11 tunes included on the album, seven are Papanosh is a French jazz quintet inspired by the album, VEIN expands its range beyond the Davis originals, starting with “Embarcadero”, wildly inclusive styles of The Art Ensemble of Chicago crystalline precision and intimacy of the a spirited swinger propelled by stirring solos by all and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. Once a Lizard, small ensemble to the awesome power and saxophonist Roy Nathanson is a co-leader of The Jazz Passengers while Marc Ribot is one of the most eclectic depth of an internationally acclaimed jazz SEE MORE guitarists alive, encompassing Cuban music, free jazz orchestra. It’s like seeing your favorite movie and Philadelphian soul/R&B music. Collaborating, on a bigger screen. The three permanent they give us Home Songs. members of VEIN Trio all contributed new The album is a mystery inside a conundrum, a blur of styles and tactics yet cohering as a complete entity. pieces on the album, and the outstanding “Loosy” is a blues-styled piece with a languorous feature of Symphonic Bop is its diversity of tempo, heavy gospel overtones (especially in the horn style and mood.. unison section) and razor-sharp asides from Ribot. Trumpeter Quentin Ghomari gets a honey of a solo, eloquently ranging from the crackle of Louis Armstrong to bits of sonic envelope-pushing of Lester Bowie. Nathanson recites some droll Beat-like poetry in such a subdued manner one may think the reading was coming from another sound-system next door. “Skatefunk” is a loping chunk of old-school funk Take Five: The Hot Sardines Hit with jagged, growling baritone saxophone from Nathanson and scorching, distorted Ribot, which the Trail, Ella Fitzgerald Takes breaks into hardbop swing and apocalyptic bursts from Nathanson and Raphael Quenehen’s saxophones amid driving slabs of Sebastien Palis’ Hammond B3. Flight, and Steve Davis Locks In While credited as a Bolivian folk song, “K’arallanta” features plaintive gospel-charged ensemble hornplaying evocative of South African Capetown jazz. Ribot’s solo incorporates bittersweet bluesy sustain, served up with provocative restraint. One of the hallmarks of Papanosh’s style is their unison passages for horns, the quintet sounding at times like a bigger combo, big ‘n’ brassy with stirring accord, tight arrangements with a touch of raggedness Christy Doran’s Sound SEE MORE reminiscent of not only New Orleans but also Balkan Fountain brass bands. Another is that all tracks are driven by For The Kick Of It persuasive rhythm courtesy of Thibault Cellier (bass) „The trio will explore the musical territories and Jeremie Piazza (drums)—some swing, some bluesy riffing, always compelling. Home Songs is exuberant pushing to the limits the capabilities of the Saturday night party music with hints that a standard guitar trio.“ contemplative Sunday is just around the corner. For more information, visit yellowbird-records.com. DISTRIBUTED AND MARKETED BY NEWARTSINT.COM Nathanson is at Bar Lunàtico Mar. 13th. Ribot is at The Stone at The New School Mar. 8th. See Calendar. SEE MORE THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD | MARCH 2019 25 NAI NYC JAZZ RECORD _ VEIN.indd 1 12/02/2019 16:16 www.stevedavismusic.com Booking inquiries: [email protected].