New Music Monday—Ted Pilzecker, John La Barbera Big Band, Steve Carrington

It’s New Music Monday! Tune in at noon for Lunchtime! with Arturo Gómez as he debuts this week’s new music.

Ted Piltzecker: “Vibes On A Breath”
The dress rehearsal for this recording took place in KUVO Jazz’s Bonfils-Stanton Performance when Ted and the band played to a pack who enjoyed every song played! The next day the ensemble went into Mighty Fine Studios here in Denver and recorded this album that is on the OA2 Records label out of Seattle. Ted is an accomplished New York City based vibraphonist who likes coming to the Mile High City so he recruited a formidable line-up to accompany him on eleven stand selections, three originals and 8 covers from the jazz canon. Gonzalo Teppa is the bassist, Paul Romaine takes care of the drumming with the horn section consisting of: Brad Goode-trumpet, Paul McKee-trombone, John Gunther-tenor sax/bass clarinet, Will Swindler-baritone and tenor saxes, with invited guest Judith LeClair-bassoon on one track and Javier Díaz chimes in on percussion for two songs. Ted teaches at the Hartt School of Music where Denver’s own, Javon Jackson teaches as well. Ted loves to travel and his compositions reflect those sojourns to other lands. Interestingly, Piltzecker is an avid unicyclist and pilot, a man of multiple talents.

John La Barbera Big Band: “Grooveyard”
John was born into a musical family in upstate New York, his father and brothers are musicians. John began playing trumpet for the Buddy Rich and Woody Herman big bands where it soon became obvious that he had a knack for composing and arranging. Over the decades La Barbera has played with the finest jazz artists as well as symphony orchestras. In 1992 he and drummer Sherrie Maricle founded the all-female big band, Diva which has become very successful. John decided to become an educator in the 1980s and has taught at several prestigious schools of music, he is currently Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Louisville’s School of Music.  John’s previous big band recordings have been nominated for a Grammy®, this latest one will surely be as well. “Grooveyard” features the La Barbera brothers-Pat on tenor and soprano sax with Joe at the drums. Also in the band is Renee Rosnes-piano, Rufus Reid-bass and Steve Wilson-alto sax and flute among many other stellar players.

Steve Carrington: “Friends R Family”
There is more to the Baltimore native son Steve Carrington than being an outstanding saxophonist, he is an ordained rabbi with his own congregation and numerous followers of his teachings online. This is Carrington’s third release as a leader but his first featuring all original compositions by him. Coming up in Baltimore he played with his fellow Baltimoreans-Cyrus Chestnut, Phillip Harper, Teodross Avery, and others. He attended the Berklee School of Music then relocated to New York City to begin his professional career in earnest where he honed his skills playing in the Dizzy Gillespie band, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Heath, and others. He then returned to his hometown to teach at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. For this new session, Steve is joined by Cyrus Chestnut-piano, Mark and Mark Whitfield Jr on guitar and drums respectively with Freddie Hendrix-trumpet just to name a few. The tunes run the gamut from straight-ahead jazz to some fusion and contemporary-influenced songs.

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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