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| Release from Donald Harrison, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham New Half Note Release From Donald Harrison, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham. Check out the classic three-way New York Cool as avatars of three generations -- Donald Harrison, Ron Carter and Billy Cobham -- tap their vast reserves of harmony and groove for an interactive conversation that defines the art of jazz improvisation. Without the safety net of piano, this trio of saxophone, bass, and drums romps through a free-wheeling set of standards and originals -- performing a high-wire act with exhilarating results. Label chief, Jeff Levenson, said, “These musicians are locked in, inspired by one another, stepping up and back with uncommon grace.” The CD features eight tunes: standards “Body and Soul, ” “I’ll Remember April, ” “Star Eyes, ” “Easy Living” plus two Harrison originals, “Harrisburg Address” and “Blues for Happy People” and Ron Carter’s “Third Plane.” Although steeped in his New Orleans roots, Harrison can play it all -- traditional, swing, bop, post-bop. modern, smooth, avant-garde and beyond. He even created a genre, Nouveau Swing, in which he merges acoustic swing with modern, R & B, second-line, hip-hop, Mardi Gras Indian music and reggae. The son of the late Mardi Gras Indian Big Chief, Donald Harrison, Sr., he began touring with Roy Haynes in 1980 and moved to New York in 1982 where he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. A few years later, he co-led a band with Terence Blanchard that impacted the development of the neo-conservative movement. After the group split in 1989, he went on to lead his own stellar bands and has performed with Lena Horne, Eddie Palmieri, Biggie Smalls, Cyrus Chestnut, The Head Hunters and others. Carter has been a world-class bassist since the 60s and is considered among the greatest accompanists of all times. He started on the cello at age 10, eventually moving to the bass before heading off to play in the Eastman School’s Philharmonic Orchestra. After graduation in 1959, he moved to New York to play in Chico Hamilton’s Quartet and enroll in graduate school. Since then, he has performed and/or recorded with Eric Dolphy, Randy Weston, Thelonious Monk, Jaki Byrd, Art Farmer, Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis, working with the trumpeter from 1963-68. He has led his own bands since the early 70s, arranged and composed for numerous recordings with jazz giants around the world and made acclaimed albums of his own. Applauded as fusion’s greatest drummer, Cobham uses his powerful technique to drive some of the genre’s most important recordings including groundbreaking works by Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. With his dazzling ambidextrous skills as a drummer, he is also an accomplished composer and record producer. Born in Panama in 1944, he and his family moved to New York when he was three and he made his stage debut with his father at eight. He was hired as the drummer for pianist Horace Silver while also playing with Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Scott, George Benson and Dreams before joining Miles. Always innovative and willing to experiment, Cobham has worked with George Duke, Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington, the Grateful Dead, Jack Bruce, Peter Gabriel and the Saturday Night Live Band. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |