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Rising star pianist/composer Noah Haidu’s resplendently expressive “Standards” CD celebrates the 40th anniversary of the release that launched Keith Jarrett’s great Standards Trio. With bassists Buster Williams and Peter Washington, drummer Lewis Nash and guest saxophonist Steve Wilson, Haidu felt drawn to the format used by Jarrett, DeJohnette and Peacock for their Standards Trio. When Nash joined Haidu and Williams during their 2021 tour, the connection was electric. “When Buster, Lewis and I played for the first time,” says Haidu, “we played a lot of standards and I could feel that there was something special happening that I wanted to document.”
Veteran saxophonist Greg Abate has garnered much critical acclaim from reviewers, radio and the jazz fan, most recently placing #2 on last year’s Downbeat Reader’s Poll. His longtime friendship with bassist Paul Del Nero started back in 1977 in the jazz fusion group Channel One. By the mid ‘80s they were traveling with the Artie Shaw Orchestra before branching out on separate career paths. Over the years they’ve continued their friendship and played together as their schedules permitted in the Rhode Island area. In 2021 they began talking about doing a recording that was well overdue. The resulting disc, “Reunion,” is their first since 1994.
Also this week, Nova-Scotia based trumpeter Paul Tynan and Bay Area baritone saxophonist Aaron Lington continue their 16 year partnership with “Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Six”;
the Bill O’Connell Quartet with special guest Randy Brecker were recorded in performance in New York for the new release, “Live in Montauk”;
and Idle Hands, the curated collective sextet that includes Donny McCaslin, Behn Gillece, Will Bernard , Art Hirahara, Boris Kozlov and EJ Strickland, unveil their second project, “Get a Grip.”