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| Myron Walden's Youthful Inspiration Reborn NYC sax man Myron Walden departs from the standard jazz idiom with Myron Walden Countryfied (out in June from Demi Sound Records), a funky, down-home project where "lithe, Southern soul-drenched melodies" (JazzTimes) meet a little blues and rock and roll. An early Countryfied performance at NYC venue Pianos showed the sheer energy of the group. Countryfied, Walden says, is "down-home music. Nod your head, tap your foot, say 'Amen.' From the first bar, we're in the groove." Countryfied results from Walden's reconnection with the inspirations that first made him love music. Growing up in Miami, he listened to Ray Charles, Otis Redding and James Brown on the radio, "from country to whatever, " he says now. He also heard gospel music in church. More recently, his work with the Brian Blade Fellowship was revelatory. "Here's a jazz guy, " Walden says of Blade, "who knew country and blues and made me realize the vast possibilities of music. I wanted to be able to express myself and my emotions beyond the boundaries of style." After a fall show at New York's Fat Cat featuring Walden's Countryfied, New York Press praised the "rambunctious country blues and gospel-tinged suites" and enthused Walden's "...tenor sax brilliantly complimented an understated organ and an impossibly agile rhythm section, producing a sound that demanded attention without seeming the least bit raw." Myron Walden's Countryfied will bring its soulful, rock and funk inspired cuts driven by Walden's phenomenal sax to Coco66 in Brooklyn on April 12th and April 26th. Since September 2009, Walden has composed, arranged and released two very different albums with two very different ensembles, the Miles Davis-inspired 'Momentum' and 'Momentum Live' and the reflective In This World albums 'To Feel' and 'What We Share.' He also played a series of enthusiastically reviewed New York appearances with six different bands last fall. "My passion is too big to be catalogued in one style, " he says. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Jazz News :: home page |