Edgewood Sax Quartet

[jeffcrom]

I wanted to warn you all about the new ensemble that's about to be inflicted on the world. The Edgewood Sax Quartet will make its debut on Friday the 13th of April at WonderRoot Arts Center in Atlanta. Four of Atlanta's best saxophonists (well, three of the best plus me) will be presenting a program of music that's kind of all over the place stylistically, although it's mostly jazz-based. We'll be playing my off-center originals, a couple of Ornette tunes, some Steve Lacy (including Steve's arrangement of "Staples" that I stole from the back of the Saxophone Special album), and my arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "That's Earl, Brother" featuring a lost Charlie Parker solo in four-part harmony.

I know that few of you live anywhere near the creative music wasteland that is Atlanta, but I'd love to see some of you there.

[DTMX]

Who's in the line up, Jeff? One of those dudes looks like Ben Davis.

[jeffcrom]

Who's in the line up, Jeff? One of those dudes looks like Ben Davis.

Yep. I play alto & baritone, Eric Fontaine on soprano & tenor, Ben Davis on tenor, and Bill Nittler on baritone.

[AllenLowe]

any sound samples?

[jeffcrom]

any sound samples?

Well, I hesitated to give any, since all we have at this point are rough rehearsal recordings. But here you go, warts and all. I think these come from what was just our second rehearsal, so be warned.

[AllenLowe]

that's great stuff. Listening now.

[king ubu]

Yep, enjoying it a lot, Jeff!

[jeffcrom]

Thanks, guys. I am enough of a perfectionist that I was really reluctant to post those rehearsal samples, but I appreciate your comments.

[king ubu]

Well hey, there are a few goofs, but the arrangements are great and the quality of both perfomance and recording is surely good enough for these tracks to make for very enjoyable listen!

[DTMX]

Jeff - this is some good stuff! And the recording is really good too, considering that it was not intended for release. I've got a lot of professional recordings that don't sound this clear (and I'm listening through headphones/earbuds).

I won't be able to attend the WonderRoot gig, but hopefully I can catch a performance somewhere down the line.

BTW: I always thought Ornette's "The Legend of Bebop" would sound good in a sax quartet arrangement. Don't know why that song never caught on as a standard.

[johnlitweiler]

The samples are a pleasure to hear. Now break a leg next Friday.

[jeffcrom]

Thank you, gentlemen.

[NIS]

I,m listening to your samples right now. I like it.

Wish I lived a little closer to Atlanta.

[mjazzg]

I'm enjoying the music. I'll be there for the London UK gig

[jeffcrom]

The debut performance was sloppy as hell, but with lots of spirit, and the decent-sized audience dug it. I think my favorite part was a a collaboration with another ensemble. Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel, an Atlanta group that is exactly what the name says, was on the bill, and we played my arrangement of Steve Lacy's "Dreams" over their other-worldly improvisation. We just need to play in front of people a lot, and that's not going to be easy in Atlanta.

Thanks to all for the nice comments about the rehearsal clips.

[jeffcrom]

Pictures, courtesy of nice folks on Facebook.

And with Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel:

[jeffcrom]

The Edgewood Sax Quartet had our second performance tonight - a full-length concert in a wonderful performance space, a stone-and-wood church where I've enjoyed performances by Evan Parker, Sam Rivers, David Ware, and the Peter Brotzmann Tentet. I probably should have mentioned it here beforehand, but I was pretty nervous about it, considering how sloppy our first show was.

This one was, I think, everything I thought this group could be. It was recorded by one of Atlanta's best recording engineers, so I'll see if it really as good as I thought. Maybe some it is even releasable.

[JohnS]

Thanks Jeff, all nice stuff. But if you think Atlanta's a wasteland you should try living here.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Or here!

MG

[.:.impossible]

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[Chuck Nessa]

Indeed.

[jeffcrom]

There is now an Edgewood Sax Quartet website. It's pretty basic at this point, but I'll be adding to it and improving it in time. Under "Music," there are four tracks from our recent concert, much better musically and sonically than the rehearsal clips on our Bandcamp page.