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Mark Masters celebrates Billy Harper & Sam Rivers on two Capri albums out June 6 Acclaimed arranger and bandleader Mark Masters reimagines music by visionary saxophonists Billy Harper and Sam Rivers on two stunning new albums Both albums are out June 6, 2025 via Masters’ longtime label Capri Records and feature Billy Harper as special guest soloist with Masters’ virtuosic ensemble Sam Rivers 100 celebrates the late composer’s centenary with music from his Blue Note years, while Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! Draws inspiration from throughout Harper’s storied career ” Masters recomposes his chosen material in ways that open fresh insight into both the mind of the original composer and the mind of Mark Masters.“ – Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes “Whatever the theme, Masters and the ensemble always deliver the goods.” – Jack Bowers, All About Jazz On a pair of thrilling new albums for longtime label home Capri Records, acclaimed arranger and bandleader Mark Masters works his recompositional magic on the work of two masters of the tenor saxophone, both very different but equally brilliant composers. With Sam Rivers 100, Masters honors the 2023 centenary of avant-garde jazz pioneer Sam Rivers, while on Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! he explores the wide-ranging compositions of spiritual jazz legend Billy Harper. Both albums, to be released on June 6, 2025, feature ingenious new arrangements for different configurations of the Mark Masters Ensemble, and are graced by the breathtaking solo work of Billy Harper. “Billy Harper is a longtime hero of mine, ” says Masters, who first invited the tenor great to guest on his 1990 album Priestess, which also featured trombonist and Charles Mingus sideman Jimmy Knepper. “Billy is a very gifted composer whose music is singular, and I also love his playing.” Priestess was also Masters’ debut release for Tom Burns’ Denver-based Capri Records imprint, kicking off an association that now extends to 15 releases over 35 years. “First and foremost, Tom is a friend, ” Masters says about the longstanding relationship. “He cares about and believes in the music, and he apparently likes what those of us on Capri do.” “Mark and I have similar tastes in almost everything, ” Burns says, “but most importantly the music. His arranging style is reminiscent of so many great arrangers without being an imitator. He has a unique voice and never ceases to surprise me with his creativity.” One needn’t ponder very hard about Capri’s ongoing support for Masters’ output given the scintillating music to be found on both Sam Rivers 100 and Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! The former grew out of a series of performances in late 2023 to celebrate what would have been Rivers’ 100th birthday on September 25. Masters was drawn to Rivers’ earlier, mid-‘60s work for Blue Note Records, in particular the saxophonist’s classic 1964 debut, Fuchsia Swing Song. He arranged all six of the album’s tracks for Sam Rivers 100, which comprise more than half of its 11 pieces. “I've been a fan of Sam Rivers for many years, ” Masters says. The idea for arranging his music was born almost 20 years ago, when Masters brought Rivers, then in his early 80s, and his trio to Claremont McKenna College as part of a series produced by the American Jazz Institute. “I was intrigued by how different Sam’s approach to music was at different times of his career. I was attracted to his music and was determined to do something with it eventually.” In thinking about a guest soloist to join the Ensemble for the tribute, Masters quickly decided on Harper. Though he is 20 years Rivers’ junior, Harper’s career and wide-ranging approach to the instrument overlapped inspiringly with the elder tenor master. “He was the building blocks of jazz music, ” Harper told Orlando Weekly in a preview of the concerts. “He's the stepping stone to go to the next place.” Approaching Harper’s own music for Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance!, Masters surveyed a broader swath of the composer’s career, culling material from a nearly 30-year span from 1972 to 2000. “Billy is a very melodic composer, ” Masters says. “Each of his compositions is so different from the others, and that's one of the many interesting things about his music. He doesn't compose from a formula, so each of his tunes has a very distinct personality.” The two albums are a study in contrasts, with Harper’s music carefully constructed and Rivers’ much more skeletal and oriented towards free improvisation. In that spirit, Sam Rivers 100 includes two completely free pieces by a smaller configuration of the 13-piece Ensemble, including guest appearances by longtime collaborator Tim Hagans – whose trumpet also makes up part of the 17-piece Ensemble for Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! That version of the band also includes Francesca Tanksley on piano, a continuation of her more than 35-year collaboration with Harper. “Some elements of Billy’s compositions are written in stone, so you have to write around that. I approached Sam's music like lead sheets, because unlike Billy he didn't write profound bass lines that were so much a part of the composition. Sam just wrote a melody and a set of chord changes. The challenge came in finding an orchestral way of addressing that material. So they were two equal but very different challenges.” Mark Masters Long recognized as one of the great jazz arrangers of the last few decades, Mark Masters formed his first ensemble in 1982. He’s gone on to found the non-profit American Jazz Institute and has recorded tributes to Jimmy Knepper, Clifford Brown, Dewey Redman and other greats. The vehicle for his transformative orchestrations, The Mark Masters Ensemble, has featured some of the music’s most revered performers, including Billy Harper, Tim Hagans, Gary Smulyan, Peter Erskine, Steve Kuhn, Ray Drummond and Oliver Lake. His most recent album, Sui Generis, spotlighted longtime collaborator Tim Hagans in a concerto for trumpet and chamber orchestra, Prior to that, Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster featured the legendary Art Baron, the last trombonist hired by Duke Ellington himself for his iconic orchestra, on new arrangements of music by the early ‘40s Jimmy Blanton-Ben Webster era band. Masters delved deep into the catalogue of composer Alex Wilder for 2020’s Night Talk with Gary Smulyan, reimagined works by Gerry Mulligan and Charles Mingus on 2017’s acclaimed Blue Skylight and assembled an all-star band of creative musicians to perform his own original works for Our Métier (2018). He has been named a Rising Star Arranger in the annual DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll on numerous occasions. Mark Masters Ensemble feat. Billy Harper Sam Rivers 100 Capri Records – Capri 74173 – Recorded October 16, 2023 Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! Capri Records – Capri 74176 – Recorded July 26, 2024 Release date June 6, 2025 |
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