Brilliant Arranger and Bandleader, Mark Masters has just released his latest CD, " Night Talk" performed by "The Mark Masters Ensemble". The topic of this CD is the songs of composer Alec Wilder who is considered to be one of the favorite composers of the 20th century. Wilder's songs have been recorded by singers Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee and Mildred Bailey. His songs have also been performed by Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett and Fred Hersch.
Mark Masters has always selected the finest Jazz musicians to join his Ensemble and he invited one of the great Baritone Sax voices of our time, Gary Smulyan to lead the charge. According to Masters, "A great instrumentalist like Gary is akin to a singer, so I just wanted to let him play the melody and make it his own". The result is the creation of a wonderful new piece of creative music.
What makes Mark Masters' approach to arranging so special is that Mark uses the music he carefully selects for his Ensemble as a starting place and then recomposes the material so it becomes original and new again! Mark states " There's no point in taking somebody else's melody and leaving it completely intact". "Listen to all those great records Sinatra made. He had such reverence for the song."
Be sure to take a good look at the players in the Ensemble listed below, they all are without a doubt some of the great musicians performing today!
Mark Masters has long been recognized as one of the great Jazz Arrangers of the last decade. He formed his first Ensemble in 1982. Master's life is wholly dedicated to Jazz including founding the non-profit American Jazz Institute that supports not only Jazz history but includes a local 24 hour Jazz station located in Indian Wells California, KAJI/FM 95.3. KAJI is a low frequency radio station lead by noted Jazz Broadcaster, Alan P. Schwltz and it can be reached from anywhere in the world at: WWW.AmJazzIn.Org.
Playlist:
1. You're Free
2. Don't Deny
3. Ellen
4. Moon and Sand
5. Baggage Room Blues
6. I Like it Here
7. Night Talk
8. Lovers and Losers
9. I'll Be Around
Players"
Mark Masters- Arrangements, Production with Thomas Burns
Gary Smulyan- Baritone Sax
Bob Summers- Trumpet
Don Shelton- Alto Sax, Alto Flute,
Jerry Pinter- Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax
Dave Woodley- Trombone
Ed Czach- Piano
Putter Smith- Bass
Kendall Kay- Drums
I have selected two songs from "Night Talk" that I want to share with you. The first is an interesting Alec Wilder tune you may not be familiar with, "Baggage Room Blues". This solid Blues tune was also recorded live by Stan Getz and Chet Baker. The second "YouTube" is an uptempo arrangement of the standard "I'll Be Around".
"Baggage Room Blues"
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