Adonis Rose, Maurice Brown, Tia Fuller - Piece of Mind

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 91:35
Size: 210,8 MB
Art: Front

(15:45) 1. Keep Your Soul Together
(12:58) 2. Piece of Mind
( 5:50) 3. Entropy
( 9:12) 4. Nostalgic Impressions
( 9:19) 5. Lovely
( 5:38) 6. Maurice's Rap
( 7:06) 7. Sunny Side of the Street
(13:59) 8. Blue Llama Jam
( 5:16) 9. Here Tonight
( 6:26) 10. Little Liza Jane

Caught in concert at Blue Llama Records, drummer Adonis Rose creates a classic sounding post bop team with a front line of Tia Fuller/ss-as, Maurice Brown/tp, Miki Hayama/p Jasen Weaver/b and guest vocalist Sasha Masakowski for a mix of originals and fun standards. Rose flexes his muscles and lets everyone else join in on the groove of Freddie Hubbard’s “Keep Your Soul Together” with Brown searing on some nice Hub tones and Fuller poignant on the alto sax over Hayama’s electric keys. The dreamy “Piece of Mind” has a Brown in a sweeter tone, and Rose supplying a nifty backbeat, while the team is ethereal on mood for backing Masakowski on a lovely “Entropy”. She gives extra salty caramel’d soul to “Sunny Side of The Street” and goes hip hoppy with the trumpeter on the festive “Maurice’s Rap”. Everyone joins in on the 14 minute party of “Blue Llama Jam” with Rose keeping the stallions reigned in just enough to keep the wagon train from toppling over. Purebreds at play. https://www.jazzweekly.com/2020/10/adonis-rose-piece-of-mind/

Personnel: Adonis Rose – drums; Tia Fuller – alto/soprano sax; Maurice Brown – trumpet; Sasha Masakowski – vocals; Miki Hayama – piano; Jasen Weaver – bass

Piece of Mind

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Nicholas Payton - Gumbo Nouveau

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1996
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:00
Size: 134,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:58)  1. Whoopin' Blues
(6:24)  2. When The Saints Go Marching In
(4:10)  3. Wild Man Blues
(6:31)  4. After You've Gone
(6:53)  5. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
(4:01)  6. Down In Honky Tonk Town
(5:32)  7. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
(6:02)  8. Li'l Liza Jane
(3:34)  9. Weather Bird
(7:51) 10. St. James Infirmary

Only 22 at the time of this CD, Nicholas Payton had already quickly developed into a major trumpeter. Possessing a fat tone that is sometimes reminiscent of Freddie Hubbard, by the mid-'90s Payton had become New Orleans' latest significant contribution to jazz. On his second Verve release, Payton interprets and modernizes ten songs associated with his hometown and/or Louis Armstrong. Fortunately, Payton generally retains the flavor and joy of the original versions, even while he transforms much of the music into hard bop. To cite a few examples, "Whoopin' Blues" has parade rhythms, send-offs worthy of Lionel Hampton, and boppish solos, "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" is taken as a slow and lightly swinging ballad, and "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues" is turned into a jazz waltz. "Li'l Liza Jane" becomes a largely unrecognizable hard bop romp and this version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" is a bit melancholy, but "Wild Man Blues" is a real tour de force for the trumpeter and the duet between Payton and pianist Anthony Wonsey on "Weather Bird" has the leader liberally quoting from Louis Armstrong's classic version. Throughout the date, Payton is the lead voice, pianist Wonsey is the main supporting player, and there are occasional solos from altoist Jesse Davis and tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield. New Orleans jazz purists may not care for all of the updating, but the overall results are fresh and quite likable. Recommended. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/gumbo-nouveau-mw0000183253

Personnel: Nicholas Payton (trumpet); Jesse Davis (alto saxophone); Tim Warfield (tenor saxophone); Anthony Wonsey (piano); Reuben Rogers (bass); Adonis Rose (drums).                 

Gumbo Nouveau

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Adonis Rose - On The Verge

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:03
Size: 144,8 MB
Art: Front

(8:04)  1. Robin In Pink I
(9:18)  2. Liyah's Blues
(9:20)  3. Lies In Beauty
(6:39)  4. Shed
(7:28)  5. Gingerbread Boy
(8:57)  6. Robin In Pink II
(7:40)  7. On The Verge
(5:33)  8. Shades Of Light

While rhythm is as fundamental to mainstream jazz as changes and melody, to denizens of New Orleans it's even more elemental. Drummer Adonis Rose may have left the Crescent City in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it hasn't changed the approach he's honed on two previous releases as a leader Song for Donise (Criss Cross, 1998) and The Unity (Criss Cross, 1999). On the Verge brings back three collaborators from these earlier releases trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Tim Warfield and bassist Reuben Rogers but Rose changes pianists this time, enlisting the increasingly ubiquitous pianist Aaron Goldberg and a relative newcomer, vibraphonist Warren Wolf (last hear on trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's Identity (MaxJazz, 2005)). The result, while never short on groove, covers considerable dynamic territory rather than being as consistently hard-hitting as one might expect from a drummer-led session. That's not to say there isn't some bodacious energy to be found on this largely original set of eight tunes, featuring four from Rose and one each from Goldberg and Warfield. The fiery 9/8 theme of Rose's modal title track is urgently propelled by Rogers and Rose, who light a serious fire under Goldberg's Tyner-esque solo, Warfield's potent tenor and a vibrant solo from Wolf that suggests, if there's any justice, that he'll be heard more from and soon. Rose takes his most visceral solo of the set over Goldberg and Rogers' ostinato before curiously ending, seemingly in mid-sentence. 

Rose's "Liyah's Blues swings hard, with a straightforward stop/start melody that opens up for strong solos from everyone, but especially Payton, whose tradition-centricity is equally expanded by his forward-reaching ideas, supported and urged on by Rose, Goldberg and Rogers. The shifting tempos and cued sections of an imaginative take on Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy make it fit within the context of the originals, and breathes new life into this enduring classic. Elsewhere the material ranges from the deceptive simplicity of Warfield's late-night ballad, "Lies in Beauty, to the organic and relaxed 5/4 pulse of Goldberg's "Shed. Two extended versions of Rose's soft but nevertheless rhythmically insistent "Robin in Pink blend the cerebral with passionate understatement, while the set closes with flautist Hubert Laws' "Shades of Light, its gentle Latin vibe acting like a cool-down from the workout of the preceding title track. On the Verge is a down-the-middle set of contemporary straight-ahead jazz that's not likely to shake any foundations or introduce any significant innovations. But with a set of engagingly diverse material and committed performances by Rose's sextet, it's an album that makes a case for the continued validity and modernity of the mainstream tradition. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/on-the-verge-adonis-rose-criss-cross-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel: Adonis Rose: drums; Nicholas Payton: trumpet; Tim Warfield: tenor and soprano saxophones; Warren Wolf: vibraphone; Aaron Goldberg: piano; Reuben Rogers: bass.

On The Verge

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Adonis Rose Quintet - Song for Donise

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 1997
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 56:42
Size: 91,0 MB
Art: Front

(7:21)  1. Dia's Blues
(6:46)  2. Estrella del Mar
(6:28)  3. Seventy Ninth Street
(7:29)  4. Song for Donise
(6:27)  5. Reflections
(8:31)  6. My Foolish Heart
(6:47)  7. E.S.P.
(6:48)  8. Love Walked In

A veteran of groups led by trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Nicholas Payton, this is drummer Adonis Rose's debut as a leader. For Song for Donise, he gathered his colleagues from Payton's quintet Payton, tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist Anthony Wonsey, and bassist Reuben Rogers to perform five post-bop originals, two standards, and one jazz classic, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter's "ESP," played at an incredibly fast tempo. As this is a working band that has toured regularly and has recorded under Payton's name on Verve, the group's sound becomes the recording's focus, although the feel seems looser and more energetic than on Payton's recordings, best exemplified by the interplay between Payton and Warfield on "Dia's Blues," an up-tempo number on which Payton and Warfield play different melodies and solo collectively. Other highlights include Wonsey's "Seventy Ninth Street," an up-tempo swinger built on some well-placed drum hits on which Wonsey quotes Leon Parker's "B.B.B.B" during his solo, and the Shorter-ish "Reflections," also written by Wonsey. This is a very good debut from a fine young musician. ~ Greg Turner http://www.allmusic.com/album/song-for-donise-mw0000038289

Personnel: Adonis Rose (drums); Tim Warfield (tenor saxophone); Nicholas Payton (trumpet); Anthony Wonsey (piano); Reuben Rogers (bass).

Song for Donise

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