New Music Monday — Charles McPherson, Jeremy Pelt, and Nicole Glover

New Music Monday debuts new music from Charles McPherson, Jeremy Pelt, and Nicole Glover. Tune in on Lunchtime! with Arturo Gomex on Monday, April 15 at noon.

Charles McPherson: “Reverence”
One of the living legends of the saxophone, 84-year-old Charles McPherson is still relevant and sounding up to date. Charles says he is still a bebopper at heart but plays in the style of today’s jazz, he remains traditional but not nostalgic. Although born in Joplin, MO he was raised in the Motor City of Detroit. His mother bought him his first sax for his 13th birthday. Hearing about pianist-educator Barry Harris’ open-door policy he went to see him, an encounter that changed his life. Barry told McPherson that to excel as a jazz musician you can’t be average student, that advice prompted him to become a straight ‘A’ student and read books by the great philosophers.

After the passing of his most important teacher and mentor, Barry Harris in 2021, Charles decided to pay homage to him. Recorded live at Smoke, the leading jazz club of Upper Manhattan he’s in great company with Terell Stafford-trumpet, Jeb Patton-piano, David Wong-bass and Billy Drummond-drums. The title track: “Reverence” is a dedication to Barry Harris.

Jeremy Pelt: “Tomorrow’s Another Day”
Not only of the best trumpet players to emerge in the 21^st century, but Los Angeles also native Jeremy has become a prolific recording artist releasing a new album every 8 to 9 months in the last 10 years, all solid gold with various themes. His latest features some of the younger players he has encountered in his travels to keep his sound fresh and moving forward. All nine of the tracks are originals by Pelt and three features drummer Deantoni Parks whose innovative style with jazz and hip-hop players has earned him the reputation of breaking new ground, in fact Deantoni says being called a musician is limited so he prefers the term art-creative technologists. Keeping in line with his new approach, Pelt dedicates a song the famed artist Basquiat known for his paintings about jazz because Basquiat said, “art is how we decorate space and music is how we decorate time”.

In addition to drummer Deantoni, Jeremy’s new band has Jalen Baker on vibes, Alex Wintz on guitar, Leighton McKinley Harrell on bass, Allan Mednard on drums on the six tracks not featuring Deantoni and guest Frank LoCrasto playing Fender Rhodes on one track and piano on another.

Nicole Glover: “Plays”
Growing up in Portland, OR Nicole won a scholarship to attend the award-winning American Music Program known for preparing students for a career in jazz. This led her to attend William Patterson University in Wayne, NJ. After graduation, she joined Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra traveling the world and playing with both the Melbourne and Sidney Symphony Orchestras in Australia. Her recording with veteran pianist George Cables, “Strange Lands” won a 4-star review from the London Times which described it as “otherworldly”.

Nicole is a member of the all-female band Artemis and plays with Christian McBride where she recently performed at the Lone Tree Arts Center in his quintet. Her new recording features a piano-less trio, Glover-tenor, Tyrone Allen on bass, and Kayvon Gordon on drums. Four of the eight tracks add Steve Nelson on vibraphones. Nicole lives up to the session’s title, she plays!

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.

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