DFQ~Dale Fielder Quartet

Plays

The Music

Of Pepper Adams

Clarion Jazz CJ8707

Dale Fielder-alto, tenor & baritone sax

Jane Getz-piano; Edwin Livingston-bass

Thomas White Drums

Rue Serpente / Enchilada Baby / Boss Allegro /

Lovers Of Their Time / I Carry Your Heart /

Bossa Nouveau / Baubles, Bangles & Beads /

Now In Our Lives / Frugal Apathy / Dimensions

Total Time 71:12

For his new CD project, Dale Fielder chose to explore the music of the man who inspired him to play the baritone sax, one Park “Pepper” Adams III.  DFQ~Dale Fielder Quartet plays The Music Of Pepper Adams is 12^th in a series of recordings that began in 1993 for saxophonist/composer Dale Fielder.  It is his first recording since his 2005 top-twenty CD, Baritone Sunride.   

In a 10 tune set that lasts for a generous hour and eleven plus minutes, Fielder has chosen seven Pepper Adams compositions that were personal favorites of Pepper Adams.  They were among Adams’ last and were what he considered as his best work, just before his death in 1986 at the age of 55.  The seven  compositions were culled from Adams’ Reflectory, The Master and Adams’ Effect sessions.  Fielder included the standard, “Baubles, Bangles and Beads”, because they are also associated with Adams and recorded on his very first album in 1957.  However the sleepers of the entire CD may very well be Fielder’s 2 originals, “Frugal Apathy” a very interesting 6/8 Afro-Cuban composition that certainly sets the baritone sax in new territory; and the complex closer “Dimensions” where upon listening to how hard Fielder and Getz can swing, one realizes the power of the element of swing in jazz.  Combined with a touch of innovation, it can be a really beautiful thing.  Here Fielder swings mightily and creatively in the lower register of the baritone.  This solo alone certainly makes the case for Fielder being among jazz’s current top baritone saxophonists.

In his jazz review of Fielder’s live recorded performance that yielded this new CD, jazz writer and baritone sax aficionado Skoot Larson,  (www.skootsjazz.com/jazz_reviews), commented on the parallels between Adams and Fielder: “While Dale Fielder is passionate about the legacy of Pepper Adams, he could never be  accused of being an imitator. Pepper Adams played with a hard, brittle edge to his tone as he roared through the changes. Dale displays a similar facility as he moves across the horn’s spectrum top-to-bottom, but Fielder has a less harsh sound, all his own, that polishes the edges and brings new beauty to Pepper’s works.  Fielder also adds more depth to Adams by performing on the other saxophones in his arsenal.”

All the usual suspects are here with Fielder as they have for the last 12 years.  The legendary ex-Mingus Workshop pianist, Jane Getz‘s playing here confirms why she too is consistently considered an important pianist in jazz.  She is the real deal.  What she has accomplished in her piano style is to make all her own another unheard side of the Bud Powell  influence, the only influence she lists when asked.  Getz touches the piano in a way similar to jazz greats Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan, two other pianists directly influenced by Bud Powell and are personal favorites of Ms. Getz.  The ubiquitous and always tasteful percussionist Thomas White locks down the rhythms on the drums in a multi-directional manner with his usual aplomb.  A new face is on bass, Edwin Livingston who has been with the quartet for just over a year now.  His playing and soloing skills performed here are sure to impress.

When asked to describe the CD, Fielder laughingly called it “The New West Coast Cool”.  It is certainly one of the most listenable records this writer has heard recently.  All and all this is a CD that combines depth and passionate playing along with surprising  accessibility.  Highly Recommended.

---Leslie Colrane

For further information please contact:

CLARION JAZZ

Le Montrose Suite Hotel

900 Hammond Street, Suite 434

West Hollywood, CA 90069

(310) 927-2699

www.clarionjazz.com

Also Available from Clarion Jazz:

Dale Fielder Quartet - Baritone Sunride – CJ 80412

Dale Fielder Group/Force - Suite: Clarity – CJ80401

Dale Fielder Group/Force - Howling Monk  – CJ80303 

Dale Fielder

Interview (Excerpt)

July 2007

By Leslie Colrane

Saxophonist/composer Dale Fielder’s new CD, DFQ~Dale Fielder Quartet plays The Music Of Pepper Adams (Clarion Jazz CJ80707), is 12^th in a series of recordings that began in 1993.  It is his first recording since his 2005 release, Baritone Sunride (Clarion Jazz CJ80412).  In a 10 tune set that lasts for a generous hour and eleven plus minutes, Fielder chose to explore the music of the man who inspired him to play the baritone sax, one Park “Pepper” Adams III. Recorded June 9^th of 2007 and speedily released on July 25th, I got together with Dale Fielder just before the eve of his CD release performance at The Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles to discuss his latest recording.

Leslie Colrane:  I was privileged to be present at the taping of your new recording.  I know you had some trepidation about recording another live CD.

Dale Fielder:  Yeah, as with any artist struggling for recognition and to be able to continue working, you never want to experience a negative response to a recording.  The jazz radio and critical community tend to frown on live recordings, and justifiably . . . especially in jazz radio as live recording quality can be variable and a badly recorded CD can be untranslatable for radio.  But I’m a jazz artist who has to play and after years of watching and experiencing this, I’m convinced that our best playing does come before a live audience.  It’s like Sonny Rollins says, that he considers live performance as the only genuine jazz experience.  And the dynamics on an emotional level and other levels as well are certainly different than the studio performance.  There is more of a sense of immediacy in the front of an audience of listeners and also a sense of danger without the safety net of the studio that helps you find the focus that spurs a higher level of creativity.  So this is why I tend to not mind going with the live performance because there’s a higher percentage of a successful performance.  The only thing that could really prevent it is a bad recording of it.  So it is crucial that it be as well recorded as possible.

Leslie Colrane:  How is it that you decided to record the music of Pepper Adams?

Dale Fielder:  It was just the natural process of what I was doing musically . . . especially so since I decided to pick back up with the baritone sax in 2002.  It brought me back to my initial fascination with the sound of Pepper Adams when I first consciously made the determination to be a musician when I was a kid about 10 years old.  My first heroes of any sort where of 3: Sonny Rollins and the sound of the tenor sax, Jackie McLean and the sound of the alto sax, and Pepper Adams because I also loved the sound of the baritone sax the way he played it.  I first started to play that way in high school from 7 to 12^th grade as I enjoyed the new Selmer Mark VI baritone sax the school provided for my use for 6 years.  So when I bought my new bari in 2002, I simply picked up where I left off all those years, which of course brought me back to a reexamination of Pepper Adams.  I really wanted to know more about the man and all his music and began a study process of him and his work.  This CD is a documentation of what I learned from him and an expression of love and respect I have for the man and his music.  You know, even before I picked back up with the baritone in 2002, Pepper was an influence on me in all the earlier years as an alto and tenor player.  In listening to him, I often imagined that this would be pretty close to how Charlie Parker would sound had he continued to live on.  Pepper was among the great improvisers in jazz.  But he was also a great composer and was the perfect example of the composer/improviser perfectly relating what he does improvisationally to his compositions. I wanted to not only bring attention to him as our greatest baritone saxophonist, but also to his compositions.  This is why I also played the other saxes because I wanted people to hear how beautiful Pepper’s melodies are on some of these tunes that I think get lost or unappreciated played in the lower register of the baritone sax.

Leslie Colrane:  How would you describe the music on your new CD?

Dale Fielder:  Hhmm? I’d probably call it “The New West Coast Cool!” (laughs) You know what I mean?  Listen to the beginning of Jane’s solo on “Rue Serpente!” How more cool can you be than that? But seriously, what I believe I’m trying to say is just a testament to Pepper Adams’ writing.  The music is kind of moody.  (The music) sets a vibe, you know?  Tunes like “Rue Serpente”, “I Carry Your Heart” and the ballads.  Pepper’s tunes always create a vibe, a sense of intimacy.  I think this is what has always been meant by so-called “Cool Jazz” which to me means music with the right balance of being laid back and being intense in the same space.  Which in a way is like life.  Well, true music always mirrors life.  In life you never get “one or the other” or “black or white”.  You get “both/and” and everything in between, kitchen sink included, you know?  So to be so-called “cool”, we have to learn how to handle or resolve differences or different energies so to speak and still remain ourselves.  But I know, I’m digressing.  So, hey . . . you got this new “Chill Jazz” phenomenon?  So you can say the music is “Chill Jazz with just a touch of intensity” (laughs).  Anything that might help us get more work ‘cause the “Chill Jazz” cats are really working!