Buy your copy of Al McLean & Azar Lawrence's iconic CONDUIT now! https://itunes.apple.com/album/conduit/id951876223 For more great images and music, please visit: http://www.randycolephoto.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jazz-lullabies-feat.-marie/id511548368 Composed by Al Mclean Al McLean - Saxophone Kevin Dean - Trumpet Morgan Moore Bass Dave Laing Drums Recorded on March 25, 2010 at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montreal Quebec The second installment of the film series, Jazz, Period., this performance features Montreal's best working Jazz musicians playing on rare period instruments. In this performance, Kevin Dean and Al McLean have been asked to play ornate horns dating to the early days of Jazz and Swing. Dean plays on both a rare 1936 Conn Vocabell Art Deco trumpet, and on a 1939 H.N. White King 2B Liberty trumpet. McLean takes up an opulently engraved 1925 Conn Virtuoso Deluxe alto saxophone. The instruments were carefully restored for this project, and were the catalyst for the film. "I'm always interested in connections between the past and present", says Cole. "The old instruments really bring the past alive, and we can hear the origins of the music, even in the contemporary context the players create." Cole acknowledges the challenge of having professional musicians quickly adapt to unfamiliar instruments. "The players were very gracious to play on horns that weren't their own. The result was quite special, there is a certain kind of spontaneity, and unpredictability to the performance. In some ways, it's really in the spirit of improvised music." The fabulous bop head is distinctly Al McLean, challenging, catchy and genuine. Both players cycle through intense and demanding solos, the pace is breakneck, and they deliver. McLean and Dean are backed by two of Montreal's most exciting sidemen, talented bassist Morgan Moore, and the rock solid Dave Laing on drums. This band cooks! The performance was recorded in the landmark Montreal edifice designed by Architect Phyllis Lambert. As Dean's composition offers a framework for the artists to improvise within, the Modernist building is also deliberately structural, with a simple, skeletal framework housing a bustling hub of artistic activity. The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is a cherished heritage building in a city that loves its history and culture. No wonder such musicians are to be found here, there is an audience for the finest in this venerable city - fine Jazz, food, architecture. It is said that Montreal is an anomaly in North American culture. There may not be any other city that can nurture a Jazz scene of such caliber and accessibility. When the Montreal International Jazz Festival subsides, these guys are just getting started... Al McLean can be heard regularly in Montreal's Jazz venues, and is a sought after saxophone repair man. Read more about Al McLean here: http://www.almclean.com/about.html Kevin Dean is professor, and a founding faculty member of the Jazz program at McGill University's Schulich School of Music (http://www.mcgill.ca/music/). More on Kevin Dean: http://kevindeanmusic.com/ http://people.mcgill.ca/kevin.dean/

Comments

1. Check out the Bass strings at 1:11 - how did that happen? The frequency of the pitch matched the frame rate of the camera or something? Never seen that before.
2. No negatives here! Very good. Enjoyed