Description
A front line of alumni from the Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano bands… A rhythm section of cream-of-the-crop younger players… Jazz and pop standards alongside newer works… Producer Gunther Schuller, a 1994 Pulitzer Prize and Down Beat magazine Lifetime Achievement Award winner…
Playing for Keeps — Britt Woodman, Joe Wilder, John LaPorta — three seasoned elder statesmen who long ago established stellar reputations as important jazz artists, but who (then in the twilight of their careers) were hard to find.
All three had remarkable careers.
73-year-old trombonist Woodman with Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and then his boyhood friend Charles Mingus solidified his reputation as the droll, eye-twinkling, sardonically witty master of the ‘plunger/growl.’
Trumpeter Joe Wilder, 71, the youngster of the group, spent his early years in some of the same bands as Woodman, then moved on to prominence with Count Basie, as well as studio and pit work in which he displayed extraordinary facility in both the classical and jazz realms. Warm, rich tone, love for the trumpet’s low register, melodic invention and urbane worldliness are hallmarks of the Wilder style, fluency is his calling card.
John LaPorta, 73, first drew national attention five decades ago, going on to play with Woody Herman, Charles Mingus and Lennie Tristano, then teaching at the Manhattan School of Music. His playing maintains a very contemporary quality (witness his 1987 work with Orange Then Blue on Music for Jazz Orchestra) and is loaded with vitality and surprise.
The never-less-than-amazing Jack Wilkins on guitar and the sinewy, subtitle push of Ed and George Schuller on bass and drums provide the harmonic and rhythmic underpinnings of this session.
PERFORMERS
Joe Wilder, trumpet; Britt Woodman, trombone; John LaPorta, tenor saxophone, clarinet; Jack Wilkins, guitar; Ed Schuller, bass; George Schuller, drums
PROGRAM
1. While You Were Out… – George Schuller 5:52
2. Isfahan – Billy Strayhorn 6:17
3. Love for Sale – Cole Porter (arr. LaPorta) 7:24
4. Just the Way You Are – Billy Joel 5:00
5. Britt’s Blues – Britt Woodman 5:56
6. Body and Soul – Johnny Green 6:42
7. U-Dopea – Ed Schuller 5:28
8. Chazz – George Schuller 5:00
9. J B Blues – John LaPorta 6:41
10. Sweet Lorraine – Cliff Burwell 6:07
Recorded Jan. 4, 1992 at the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York City, New York.
Produced: Gunther Schuller
ALSO AVAILABLE
for downloads and streaming on Amazon as well as other digital sites.
