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CHRISTOPHER BURNETT
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Christopher Burnett Quintet
The Standards, Vol. 1 (ARC2925)
RELEASE: JANUARY 2021
No matter how modern or abstract or unclassifiable jazz can get in the 21st century, standard tunes remain a touchstone for a great many players, across widely varying jazz idioms and sub-genres. When someone improvises on a standard, we hear how they sound, but we also hear how they hear. Where do they place the beat? Where does their harmonic imagination lead? What melodic secrets do they reveal? What inner aspect of their soul do they choose to lay bare? From Buddy Bolden onward, jazz improvisers have taken the tools and vernacular of their day, of their musical community, and sought their own truth within that common framework.
Such was the goal of alto saxophonist Christopher Burnett on The Standards, Vol. 1. Yet the decision to record a full album of standards was made after much reflection. Every player faces the challenge of making a standard his or her own, rather than relying on past interpretations, and this was a concern. There’s also the risk of standards, in Burnett’s words, becoming caricatures: “In this era of information overload,” he says, “[playing standards] can become ego vehicles to play loads of memorized melodic permutations and other intellectually derived constructs over the changes.”
With The Standards, Vol. 1, Burnett sought to capture a straightforward and honest encounter with the songbook tradition and the modern jazz canon. In this, he had solid support from a working band with pianist Roger Wilder, bassist Bill McKemy and drummer Clarence Smith, expanded to include guitarist Charles Gatschet on four tracks, as well as Stanton Kessler on flugelhorn for Herbie Hancock’s enduring “Dolphin Dance.” (Wilder and Smith were both featured on Burnett’s 2014 ARC release Firebird.) Kessler, on two additional tracks, appears in a larger ensemble with two flutes (Terri Anderson Burnett, Freda Proctor), clarinet (Samantha Batchelor) and baritone saxophone (Aryana Nemati), Gatschet on guitar as well, as Burnett wields the arranger’s pen and summons some truly colorful reed-plus-rhythm section sonorities. Top engineer Bill Crain captures it all beautifully in Studio A of his BRC Audio Productions.
Artist: Christopher Burnett Quintet
www.BurnettMusic.biz
The complete Liner Notes by David R. Adler are available.
Get the entire album as a free gift at:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/arc-recording-of-46215144
Contact: Label Operations
Email:
[email protected]Voicemail: (913) 251-5141
The Standards, Vol. 1 (ARC-2925)
1. Dolphin Dance (Hancock, arr. CbQ)
2. Corcovado (Jobim, arr. Burnett)
3. Boplicity (Henry, arr. CbQ)
4. Windows (Corea, arr. Burnett)
5. All The Things You Are (Kern, arr. CbQ)
6. Freedom Flight (Burnett, arr. CbQ)
Total Playing Time Approximately - 38:33
Artist Personnel
Christopher Burnett - alto saxophone, composition, arranger, bandleader
Roger Wilder - piano
Bill McKemy - acoustic bass
Clarence Smith - drums
Charles Gatschet - guitar (2, 4-6)
Freda Proctor - flute (2+4)
Terri Anderson Burnett - flute (2+4)
Samantha Batchelor - clarinet (2+4)
Aryana Nemati - baritone saxophone (2+4)
Stanton Kessler - flugelhorn (1, 2+4)
Production
Bill Crain - mixing, mastering, session engineer, album producer
William Crain - mixing, mastering, session engineer, studio manager
Stanton Kessler - session producer
Reverend WM Thornton - session photography
Album artwork - David Terrill (art direction)
David Adler - liner notes
Label
Artists Recording Collective LLC (ARC)
Catalogue number - ARC2925
Distribution worldwide
www.ArtistsRecordingCollective.BIZ
Producers
Christopher and Terri Burnett
www.BurnettMusic.BIZ
Genre
jazz standards
Album release date:
20 January 2021
Recorded, mixed and mastered at BRC Audio Productions, Kansas City, KS USA