The Jazz Explorers

"Jazz My Soul' [is a] stunning CD ... stylish ...filled with passion...extremely well crafted... subtle yet powerful and emotive...passion for the music...compositions wonderfully melded into your very special sound..." Peter Merrett, PBS FM Melbourne Australia,
"...one of the best recordings to hit the jazzscape to date...", Sheldon Nunn, KTSU 90.9 FM, TX
" Dig. The Jazz Explorers is an incredible exploration of contemporary and classic jazz...funky smooth rhythms, driving hard bop...sensuous vocal cuts...the delicious voice of Carmen Lundy... an excellent soundtrack for sophisticated coolouts and upscale hangouts..." Rafe Gomez, Groove Boutique, CD 101.9, NYC, NY
"O's Notes: "...It's definitely worth exploring". D. Oscar Groomes - O's Place, Jazz Newsletter
" this CD rates in the top 5 of my all-time jazz CD favorites." Denise Squier, Indie-Music.com
"This is one of the finest releases of 2007...outstanding artists...just fantastic!" Jacques Edmond, CKCU-FM Ottawa, Canada
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
George Cables
As a leader and a sideman, George Cables defines mainstream jazz piano. When he was 18 he worked with Steve Grossman and Billy Cobham. He quickly gained recognition and worked with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard . He was on piano with Dexter Gordon during the tenor's successful return to the United States from 1976 to 1978. George was Art Pepper's favorite pianist and did work with Bebop and Beyond, as well. Mr. Cables has played countless sessions and concerts and has recorded frequently as a leader for the Contemporary label, including the 1979 classic Cables Vision, as well as for Concord, and SteepleChase. As you will hear, George made a beautiful and major contribution to the Jazz Explorers project.
Greg Cohen
Hailing from Los Angeles, bassist Greg Cohen has played in many styles and genres with everyone from Bill Frisell and John Zorn to the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Perhaps best known as Tom Waits' bass player, Cohen has also composed for the Lincoln Center Theater and collaborated on film score arrangements for "Ed Wood" and "Fried Green Tomatoes". He is currently bassist and music director with Ornette Coleman. Greg played beautifully on "Mystique" for the Jazz Explorers.
Andrew Cyrille
Andrew Cyrille has worked with a stellar list of greats including Mary Lou Williams, Roland Hanna, Roland Kirk, Coleman Hawkins and Junior Mance, as well as Cecil Taylor, Rashied Ali, and Milford Graves. As a leader with his group, Maono and as collaborator with the Group, a band that included the violinist Billy Bang, bassist Sirone, altoist Brown, and trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah, Cyrille has been on the cutting edge of where Jazz is going. With Graves, Don Moye and Kenny Clarke, he recorded the all-percussion album Pieces of Time for Soul Note in 1983. When not leading his own bands, Cyrille also works as a sideman with, among others, John Carter, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Jimmy Lyons.
Tim Duffy
Growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, in the shadow of the Newport Jazz Festival, Tim Duffy, at age twelve, met the great Duke Ellington. As a teenager he ran away with Howlin’ Wolf, studied sculpture and film at the Rhode Island School of Design and fell in with saxophonist Charles Lloyd. Tim's improvisational, artistic explorations led him into film and the New York circles of Sun Ra, Allen Kaprow’s ‘happenings’, Yoko Ono and a summer spent around Andy Warhol. In the early 1970s, Tim migrated to Colorado where he pioneered experimental workshops around the state which evolved into his funk-gospel-jazz fusion-celestial circus, the Orchestra of Clouds. In the 80s, Tim was an art director for motion pictures from Disney, Viacom and PBS. In the early 90s, he returned to Colorado where he assembled The Rocky Mountain All-Stars. As an active, adventurous composer, Tim draws on his diversified, deeply rooted experiences and his vast network of creative fellow travelers to bring forth the latest extension of his expressionist explorations, the innovative new ensemble, the Jazz Explorers.
Sonny Fortune
Sonny Fortune started his career playing in R&B groups in Philadelphia and moved to New York in 1967. He has worked with Elvin Jones, Mongo Santamaria and McCoy Tyner, as well as Buddy Rich and the great Miles Davis. Sonny's solo albums for Horizon and Atlantic are hybrid jazz/funk projects, showing Miles' influence. Sonny has also recorded for Konnex and toured with Nat Adderley and Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine. His excellent feature track with the Jazz Explorers, "In Memorium, Elvin Jones", recorded the week of his friend's passing, is filled with emotion and is a fitting tribute to a giant of Jazz.
Bob Funk
Bob Funk has worked as a trombone player with The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, BB King, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Tom Waits, Albert Collins, Al Kooper, Sammy Davis, David Sanborn, Frank Sinatra Jr. and many more. In 1979 Bob arrived in New York from Colorado where he had already spent several years working, occasionally with Tim Duffy. As an original member of the Uptown Horns, he has performed on over 200 albums include James Brown's Grammy Award winning "Living in America", Joe Cocker's version of "Unchain My Heart", "Hot, Hot, Hot" by Buster Poindexter and the soundtrack for the Oscar winning "When We Were Kings". Bob is proud to be a player, producer and arranger with the Jazz Explorers.
Eric Gunnison
Pianist Eric Gunnison, originally from in Buffalo N.Y., attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. Eric lives in Denver, has a long association with Tim Duffy and has toured and recorded with vocal jazz group Rare Silk, Carmen McRae, saxophonist Nelson Rangell and trumpeter Ron Miles, as well as having performed in concert with Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, Phil Woods, Red Rodney, Bobby Shew , Jerry Bergonzi, Ginger Baker, Paul Warburton, John McNeil and Eddie Gomez. Eric has appeared in concert with both the Colorado and Colorado Springs Symphonies. He also works with his own band, Wake Up Call, performing his original music. Eric has worked as an educator and clinician and is active in the local studio scene. Eric contributed important and memorable performances to the Jazz Explorers project.
Billy Hart
The legendary Billy Hart is one of the great sidemen. He has worked with Buck Hill and Shirley Horn, the Montgomery Brothers, Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery As a member of Herbie Hancock's late Sixties-early Seventies sextet and with McCoy Tyner and Stan Getz and with Miles Davis on 1972's "On the Corner", Billy has made huge contributions to the history of Jazz. As a leader, he has recorded for Horizon, Gramavision, and Arabesque. His solid, yet sensitive drum work on the Jazz Explorers first sessions helped establish a direction and identity for this project.
Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman is one of the best soprano and tenor saxophonists in jazz. A versatile, unique improviser who's explorations cover hard bop and beyond, Mr. Liebman studied with Lennie Tristano and Charles Lloyd and has played with Ten Wheel Drive, Elvin Jones and Miles Davis' Seventies Jazz/Rock fusion projects. As a leader Liebman formed Lookout Farm in 1974, and Quest in the 1980s with pianist Richie Beirach. Dave, who is very active in jazz education and has written several books, has recorded countless sessions.He has gained a high profile in recent years through his collaborations with Joe Lovano and the late, great, Michael Brecker . Dave's great attitude at the first Jazz Explorers session helped lift the project off the ground and he delivered soaring performances.
Victor Lewis
Victor Lewis has been the drummer of choice for Woody Shaw, Carla Bley, Kenny Barron, David Sanborn and Dexter Gordon. Victor was a music major at the University of Nebraska and after his band opened for Herbie Hancock's Sextet in 1972, Lewis was encouraged by Buster Williams and Billy Hart to move to New York, where he was soon in great demand. He has performed with many, many top artists and was featured with Horizon, a group he co-led with Bobby Watson. Although uncommon for a drummer, his compositional skills have resulted in his songs being recorded by other jazz musicians and has led sessions of his own for the Red, AudioQuest and Enja labels. When Billy Hart was unavailable for the second Jazz Explorers session, Victor graciously filed in and delivered a beautiful groove on "Sunday Morning".
Carmen Lundy
Carmen Lundy is one of America's best Jazz vocal interpreters. She is a beautiful and talented singer, composer, actor and painter. Carmen studied at Miami University and moved to New York in 1978 where she first worked with Ray Barretto and then formed her own trio in 1980 with pianist John Hicks. Ms.Lundy has recorded with Geri Allen, Ernie Watts, Fred Wesley, Kip Hanrahan, Billy Childs and her brother and long time collaborator, Curtis Lundy. Her new recording, "Jazz and The New Songbook~ Live At The Madrid DVD" has received superlative reviews. She has also appeared in "Sophisticated Ladies" and "They Were All Gardenias", portraying Billie Holiday. Carmen graces the Jazz Explorers project on two shimmering ballads with deep under-currents.
Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee has played with many artists including Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter and Keith Jarrett. Mr. McBee is from Tulsa, Oklahoma. His first major gig was with Dinah Washington in 1959. After a stint in Detroit, he joined Paul Winter's folk-jazz ensemble in 1963, and moved to New York. Cecil has also worked with Charles Lloyd, Jack DeJohnette and Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef, Alice Coltrane, Charles Tolliver, Abdullah Ibrahim, Lonnie Liston Smith, Joanne Brackeen, Art Pepper, and Chico Freeman. As a leader, his first session was for Strata East in 1974, titled "Mutima". In 1996, he formed his own quintet and began touring Europe, documented on "Unspoken". Cecil's fine bass playing and leadership are key elements of the Jazz Explorers.
Mike Miller
L.A. based Mike Miller is a versatile guitarist whose playing and writing communicates a wide musical perspective. Miller has worked with the great Chick Corea, diva Bette Midler, the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group and the Frank Zappa "Banned from Utopia" alumni band. Also among his many credits are work with Jimmy Johnson, Peter Erskine, Robben Ford, Bill Frisell, and Larry Coryell, Oliver Nelson, Don Was, the Fowler Brothers, Tom Scott and Alphonso Johnson. Miller and his wife, performer/writer Sandra Tsing Loh, wrote and scored Oscar winner Jessica Yu's documentaries "Breathing Lessons" and "The Living Museum." Mike also works with film composers Mark Mothersbaugh and Wes Anderson. On "Moroccan", he adds a dark atmospheric dialog with George Cables.
Kim Stone
Kim Stone, electric and acoustic bassist and accomplished composer has been internationally known since his work with Spyro Gyra. He currently works with the Rippingtons. A mainstay of the Colorado Jazz scene, Kim has worked for many years with Tim Duffy and "The Orchestra of Clouds" and "The Rocky Mountain Allstars". As a leader, in 1989 he released his first solo disc, "Earth School" and in 1999, released "More Often Than Not". Kim cites Charles Mingus as his greatest inspiration, which comes through on his solid playing with the Jazz Explorers.
Larry Thompson
Larry Thompson is a highly acclaimed drummer in many different genres of music. After high school, Larry went on the road with fellow classmates who later became the core of the legendary group Earth, Wind, and Fire. Gaining experience as a staff drummer at a local recording studio, he did television and radio commercials, film scores and album projects. LT has gone on to perform with jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Valentine, Robin Ford, Bryan Savage Rhythm and Blues legends John Mayall, Bernie Worrell, Fred Wesley, Otis Redding and John Lee Hooker, as well as Gregory Hines, Los Lobos and Michael McDonald.
The Uptown Horns
Since 1980, the Uptown Horns, Arno Hecht, Crispin Cioe, Larry Etkin and Bob Funk have been a world class horn section. Ater meeting in the underground NYC rock world and a year-long development period playing Downtown Tuesday nights at Tramps with everyone from Big Joe Turner and the Neville Brothers to Ronnie Spector and David Johannsen, The J. Geils Band took the section out on the "Freeze Frame Tour". Since then, their recording credits on over 200 albums include James Brown's Grammy Award winning "Living in America" and the Oscar winning film "When We were Kings". Performance/recording credits also include The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles, BB King, Tom Waits, The Honeydrippers with Robert Plant, Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the critically acclaimed CD "The Uptown Horns Revue".
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