Jazz Pianist Roger Tilton has just recently released his second album featuring his talented Trio consisting of Roger Tilton on Piano, Henry Franklin on Bass and Yayo Morales on Drums. When Tilton started to put some ideas together for this album, he did not start with Bossa Nova music as the overall theme. His first thoughts were to put together music that he loved and enjoyed playing. He has always loved the music of Brazil and especially the beautiful music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. So as he gathered songs for his new CD it turned out that 7 out of the 9 tunes that made the final cut were Bossa Nova songs. That explains the title of this CD, "Mostly Bossa".
Roger Tilton is a classically trained pianist studied at the University of Redlands and took personal lessons with concert Pianist Johanna Harris, wife of American composer Roy Harris. He first became interested in Jazz listening to Stan Getz playing "Desafinado" and Ramsey Lewis playing "The In Crowd". While at the University of Redlands, Tilton met Bass Player Rob Fisher who introduced him to the music of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Denny Zeitlin. Joining The Roger Tilton Trio on this album is the legendary Bassist Henry Franklin. Franklin has a star-studded musical career including being a member of the Trumpeter Freddie Hubbert's group. He also was a part of Drummer Shelly Manne's group and Woody Shaw's band. In addition to performing regularly, Franklin also runs his own production company, recording studio and label. The third member of this talented trio, Drummer Yayo Morales was born in Bolivia and is an exceptional Jazz Drummer in the rhythms of South America and is a perfect addition to the Bossa songs on this CD. Morales also did the mastering of the songs for this CD.
The Music on "Mostly Bossa" is like most Bossa music, comfortable and enjoyable. It is so soothing and relaxing to listen to and the listener can move through the entire CD and still be looking for more.
The three members of this Trio are all so exceptional and they make the listener feel that playing Bossa Nova music is easy. This is what really professional Jazz talents do, they interpret complicated songs and rhythms and turn them into attractive and understandable music for their audiences.
I have attached two "YouTube" songs from this CD. The first tune is "Dindi" the Antonio Carlos Jobim gem. Tilton mentioned that he had not heard many instrumental versions of it but only vocal renditions. So glad he did because his instrumental captures the excitment of this wonderful Jobim tune and Brazilian music in general. The second tune is "Tokyo Blues" the Horace Silver Jazz classic that is titled as a Blues but it is actually based on Boss Nova Rhythms.
Friday night, April 1, the great Tenor Sax player, Don Menza performed to the delight of a capacity crowd at PeteCarlson's Golf and Tennis store in Palm Desert, CA. Menza's performance marked the last weekend of wonderful Jazz that was part of the Jazz Lovers Series. Under the guidance and financial support of Pete Carlson, over 40 different Musician groups have performed live Jazz concerts in his store.
Don Menza is a living Tenor legend having played with many of the great Jazz stars over the past 40 years including many years with the Buddy Rich Band. His reputation brought out many of the current top performing musicians to PeteCarlson's tonight to hear him. I wish some of the younger Tenor Jazz players could have been here tonight to hear how a great Jazz Tenor plays and sounds. It turns out that Don's favorite Tenor player growing up was the great Stan Getz and tonight's program consisted of a tribute to the music of Stan Getz. In addition to some outstanding playing, Don entertained the audience with many personal stories about Getz. Many in the audience knew Don and their response to his solos proved that he is still very much loved by his fans.
Don brought together some talented musicians tonight including his long-time trumpter and playing partner, Don Rader. Crowd favorite, Chris Conner was on Bass, Dick Weller on Drums, and an outstanding piano player named TheoSaunders. Together, this group created magic tonight!
I was able to take a video of one of the band's numbers that I think you will enjoy! If you didn't catch any of the Jazz at Pete Carlson, you missed a lot of close-up great music, all at a minimal cost. I will try to notify everyone as soon as I get a copy of next season's Jazz performances.
