Heads Of State - Four In One

Size: 167,6 MB
Time: 72:10
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Four In One ( 7:17)
02. And He Called Himself A Messenger ( 4:25)
03. Dance Cadaverous (10:00)
04. Moose The Mooche ( 5:28)
05. Aloysius ( 6:36)
06. The Day You Said Goodbye ( 7:53)
07. Milestones ( 4:47)
08. Keep The Master In Mind ( 6:56)
09. Someone To Watch Over Me ( 8:11)
10. Sippin' At Bells ( 3:55)
11. Freedom Jazz Dance ( 6:38)

HEADS OF STATE, FEATURING FOUR OF THE MOST RESPECTED and admired jazz artists of our time releases its first recording Search for Peace. A band over 50 years in the making, Gary Bartz, Larry Willis, Buster Williams, and Al Foster had performed together countless times in different combinations and contexts over their storied careers, but it wasn’t until September 2014 that they appeared as a quartet.

The occasion that night was a tribute to McCoy Tyner, and the results were so inspired and the response so overwhelming that they knew right away they had something worth keeping. As pianist Larry Willis puts it, “I don’t think there are any bands that are doing quite what we’re doing right now.” Now, their unique chemistry and musicianship is documented on Search for Peace. It features selections by John Coltrane (“Impressions”), Jackie McLean (“Capuchin Swing”), Benny Carter (“Summer Serenade”), Billy Strayhorn (“Lotus Blossom”) and, of course, the moving title track by Tyner (“Search for Peace”) Gary Bartz contributes two compositions (“Uncle Bubba” which Gary performed with McCoy and “Soulstice”) and there are two standards (“Crazy She Calls Me” and “I Wish I Knew” which Tyner famously recorded with Coltrane).

It is a well-chosen and balanced set, but the selections are somewhat beside the point; this all-star quartet makes everything sound like magic.

Four In One

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Heads Of State - Search for Peace

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:08
Size: 156,5 MB
Art: Front

( 5:46)  1. Impressions
( 4:32)  2. Uncle Bubba
(11:41)  3. Search for Peace
( 7:28)  4. Capuchin Swing
( 7:21)  5. Soulstice
( 9:26)  6. Crazy She Calls Me
( 7:23)  7. Summer Serenade
( 6:55)  8. Lotus Blossom
( 7:33)  9. I Wish I Knew

Heads of State is an all-star group featuring saxophonist Gary Bartz, pianist Larry Willis, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Al Foster. The quartet's debut album, Search for Peace, will be released July 17 by Smoke Sessions Records. JazzTImes is pleased to present this exclusive album preview for a limited time only. http://jazztimes.com/sections/AlbumPreviews/articles/164384-jt-album-preview-heads-of-state-s-search-for-peace

In the distinguished roster of jazz clubs in Buffalo history, the most unjustly unsung, by far, was Bemo Crockett’s Revilot Club on East Ferry Street near Jefferson. It operated magnificently in an era when jazz was not yet flourishing in Buffalo as it would soon when W. D. Hassett’s Downtown Room in the Statler and Ed Lawson’s Tralfamadore took hold and changed Buffalo live jazz listenership in a big way.

The Revilot once known as the Bon Ton was a wonderful club which booked the cream of early 1970s jazz musicians. Some of its best moments were predictable groups led by Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, for instance. But some were as unpredictable as can be. Who would have expected drummer Roy Haynes to assemble one of the most powerful quartets heard live at the time? Almost as unpredictable was a group led by alto saxophonist Gary Bartz who was seldom considered a jazz star even though some amazing records called “Harlem Bush Music” were made by a group called Gary Bartz’s NTU Troop (named after a noun suffix in Bantu language).

In keeping with his life of total unpredictability in jazz, here in the 21st century, featuring alto saxophonist Bartz, is a powerhouse quartet of musicians who call themselves Heads of State and are veteran jazz musicians who all had experience playing in bands that played Bemo Crockett’s Revilot Club.

Bartz is the lead solo voice with pianist Larry Willis, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Al Foster. You don’t find a more well-traveled quartet of jazz musicians than this. But, in its straightforward mainstream way, it is a wonderful way to reintroduce Bartz, an unusual alto saxophonist who must now be understood to be almost singular. The alto is an instrument usually thought to be utterly beholden in jazz to Charlie Parker ever since he and Dizzy Gillespie overturned jazz with bebop in the 1940s. Bartz, though, in 2015, is a lyrical player--a singer on his instrument but one with a lusty tone rather than the exquisite sound of, say, Johnny Hodges (whom Duke Ellington used to refer to as his band’s “Lily Pons.”)

Bartz is very much his own player when you hear him in the 21st century. When this band played the Smoke Club at first, they were booked as the Larry Willis All-Stars but one listen to this disc and it’s obvious why Bartz was one of the most stellar of all performers at the Revilot Club in the early ’70s. Timeless music, beautifully played. 

~ Jeff Simon http://buffalo.com/2015/06/25/news/music/disc-reviews/disc-review-heads-of-state-search-for-peace/

Personnel: Gary Bartz (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Larry Willis (piano); Al Foster (drums); Buster Williams (bass).

Search for Peace

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