New Music Monday — Alliance; George Coleman; Willie Morris

Join Arturo Gómez on Lunchtime! for New Music Monday. Arturo will debut new music from Alliance, One For All featuring George Coleman, and Willie Morris on Monday, March 11 at noon.

Alliance: “Sharel Cassity + Colleen Clark”
This all-female quartet was founded by two veterans of jazz-both highly respected by their peers and each with excellent résumés. They are alto saxophonist/flutist Sharel Cassity who was voted the 2023 “Rising Star of the Alto Sax”. Sharel is also an educator at her hometown of Chicago’s DePaul University. The other co-founder is drummer Colleen Clark, recently named Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of South Carolina. Wanting to keep their music fresh, the ladies chose two young on the rise players, Hannah Mayer to play piano and bassist Carmani Edwards. Four of the nine tunes are originals by the members of the quartet and one song adds the trumpet talents of guest Kellin Hanas.

One For All featuring George Coleman: “Big George”
This super group got its start in 1997 and rapidly garnered a following of loyal supporters when they started playing the Smoke Jazz Club on Broadway in Upper Manhattan. After releasing yearly recordings, the group’s members all went in different directions making it difficult to return to the studio until September of 2022 when this album was recorded. One For All are Jim Rotondi-trumpet, Eric Alexander-alto & tenor sax, Steve Davis-trombone, David Hazeltine-piano & Fender Rhodes, John Webber-bass, Joe Farnsworth-drums, and the legendary George Coleman as their special guest on tenor saxophone. Even though it has been eight years since their last session, it was worth the wait.

Willie Morris: “attentive listening”
Growing up Willie inherited the soulful, bluesy jazz traditions St. Louis-his ground zero is known for. After graduating from the prestigious Julliard School of Music and earning a master’s degree, Morris decided to stay in New York City. He immediately began playing with some of the more established musicians. His debut as a leader “Conversation Starter” was so well received that his label, Posi-Tone asked him to record his follow-up with no delay and here it is. Joining forces with Willie are several of the finest players of New York City, Jon Davis-piano, Boris Kozlov-bass, Denver’s own Rudy Royston-drums with Patrick Cornelius playing alto sax and alto flute.

Now in its 21st year of debuting the latest arrivals to the KUVO Jazz library, many of them are played ahead of their official release date. In addition to the music comments, I’ll provide a few tidbits about the artist, if it’s a new or an up-and-coming artist. It all begins at Noon every Monday.

Stay connected to KUVO’s programs and our community! Sign up for the Oasis E-News today!