J IMMY COBB QUARTET ing? IN THE KEY OFx © . Every Time We Say Goodbye Written by Cole Porter Chappell & Co. Inc., Warner Chappell Music Inc. (ASCAP) . With You I’m Born Again Written by Carol Connors, David Shire Check Out Music (BMI) I'll Still Be In Love With You Written by Steve Satten Sattuna Music Co. {ASCAP) RTeesan Music Co. (ASCAP) Emily Written by John Mandel, John H. Mercer EMI Miller Catalog Inc., EMI April Music Inc. (ASCAP) Stairway to the Stars Written by Matt Malneck, Parish Mitchell, Frank Signorelli EMI Robbins Catalog Inc., EMI April Music Inc. (ASCAP) . | Had the Craziest Dream Written by Mack Gordon, Harry Warren WB Music Corp., Warner Chappell Music Inc. (ASCAP) Remembering U Whitten by Jimmy Gobb, Cavid Matthews Setting Sun Music, RTeesan Music Co. (ASCAP) What Will I Do Written by Irving Berlin Irving Berlin Music Company, Williamson Music Co. (ASCAP) If Ever I Would Leave You Written by Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe Chappell & Co. Inc., Warner Chappell Music Inc. (ASCAP) . We'll Be Together Again Written by Carl Fischer, Frankie Laine Cares Music Company, Music Sales Corp. (ASCAP) Terry Fischer Music Co. (ASCAP)Some things you can bank on — Tiger Woods and a ten foot putt, LeBron James and an uncontested dunk, Derek Jeter with men on base in the bottom of the ninth of game seven of the World Series. Add one more to the list ~ the unerring time and feel of Jimmy Cobb's signature cymbal beat. That rhythmically assured pulse fueled countless sessions over the past six decades, including some of the all-time classics by jazz giants like Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Cannonball Adderley, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, and Wynton Kelly. And at age 80, the indefatigable Cobb is stil going strong as a leader in his own right, still swinging after all these years. On Jazz in the Key of Blue, the Washington D.C. native leads a stellar crew that includes trumpet sensation Roy Hargrove and guitarist extraordinaire Russell Malone. Veteran bassist John Webber, a charter member of Cobb's Mob Jimmy's working quintet), is the glue that holds things together on this intimate ballads session. “We just picked out tunes that we thought Roy would sound good playing,” says Cobb in typically unassuming fashion. “He really loves playing ballads, and you can hear that side of his playing here.” Cobb explains that he first encountered Hargrove in Texas back in the mid 1980s when the trumpeter was still in high school. “We went down there and played for his class,” he recalls. “And when Roy made his gigs around that time, his mom and dad used to come with him to the gigs because he was still so young. Oh, he was a great little trumpet player then. | knew he was going to be a monster, so he just turned out to be what you thought he was going to be. He's the kind of cat who just loves to play. And he's getting better and better at it every day.” Hargrove blew into New York in 1989 and took the Big Apple by storm with his crackling energy and bristling high-note facility. Over the past two decades he has matured considerably, revealing himself to be a seasoned ballad player of uncommon depth and sensitivity. That quality comes across in no uncertain terms on Jazz in the Key of Blue. Though Cobb remains a forceful presence behind the kit, he stuck strictly to brushes on this more subdued ballads session. His sheer mastery of the brushes underscores each track with finesse and an all-knowing sense of cool. In short, Jimmy knows how to make the music FEEL good, regardless of the setting. Whether it's a burning uptempo romp, an earthy blues shuffle, or the most fragile of ballads, he somehow comes up with just the right groove to make it work. As his wife and producer Eleana puts it, “Jimmy's such a great drummer. | always thought that Kind of Blue never would've been Kind of Blue without him as the drummer. It would've been a whole other record with Philly Joe Jones or someone else He's just got a way of playing where everybody floats, which really comes across on tunes like ‘Flamenco Sketches’ and ‘Blue in Green.’ It's quite remarkable how he does that,So thought it might be nice to lay back on this one and do a long tone kind of record, where people could just put it on and make a magical mood with this music.” That sublime mood sustains from track to track, and Cobb's inimitable touch with brushes sets the proper tone throughout. They kick it off in elegant fashion with “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” which opens with Malone's gorgeous chordal melody intro. Cobb underscores this melancholy lament with alluring brushwork while Hargrove takes his time and sings the plaintive melody through his horn before breaking loose with a sparkling improvisation that is brimming with virtuosic curlicues and bursts of bold-toned brilliance. Malone’s easy-going solo culminates in some spirited chordal melody and octave playing. Their version of Billy Preston's beguiling minor key waltz, “With You I'm Born Again,” is handled with tender loving care by the crew. Cobb's sensitive brushwork again defines the fabric of the piece while Hargrove carries the haunting melody with a decidedly lyrical approach, supported by Malone's pianistic chording. Roy becomes emboldened during his solo as Russell deftly feeds him rippling arpeggios and soulful Stax/Volt-type chording. Malone also contributes some beautiful chordal melodies and tasteful single note runs in his own refined solo, “I'l Still Bein Love With You,” by songwriter Steve Satten (who also wrote the ttle track to Cobb's 1981 recording with Gregory Hines and Freddie Hubbard, So Nobody Else Can Hear), is another vehicle for Hargrove's remarkably nuanced vocal phrasing on trumpet Malone's solo here is glistening and tastefully executed with an emphasis on color and mood “Emily” is a buoyant waltz that is fueled by Malone's expert pianistic type comping on guitar and Cobb's inimitable cymbal beat. Hargrove plays the melody with gusto and kicks up the energy level 2 notch on his solo, nonchalantly double-timing the tempo on this easy-going number. Malone's solo is playfully cascading and Webber contributes a fine bass solo to cap this appealing number. “Stairway To The Stars” is a tune that Cobb remembers playing with Dinah Washington during his three-year stint with the great singer in the early ‘50s. “I've always had a thing for that one,” says the great drummer who embarked on a worldwide tour this summer with his special edition So What band to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’ landmark recording, Kind of Blue. “Certain tunes throughout your lifetime stick with you, and this is one of those for me.” Hargrove's solo on this somber piece is virtuosic and freeflowing — an inspired highlight of the session “| Had the Craziest Dream” introduces a more spirited tempo to the proceedings. Malone's solo here, breezy and swinging, is right out of a Joe Pass-Herb Ellis bag and culminates in some profoundly blue statements. Webber also contributes a potent bass solo on this oft- recorded chestnut from the Great American Songbook, written by Harry Warren, one of the most prolific composers for movie musicals during the 1930s. “Remembering U,” which Cobb wrote with pianist and frequent collaborator Dave Matthews, returns to the balladic theme of the recgrd. Hargrove displays soulful restraint in singing the melancholy melody through his horn. The energy lifts during Roy's solo as Jimmy supplies a jaunty swing factor underneath. And Malone contributes more sweet, rich-toned chordal melodies that go down like a box of dark chocolate covered cherries. “What Will | Do?,” an Irving Berlin classic that has been covered by everyone from crooners like Bing Crosby, Perry Como and Johnny Mathis to Chet Baker, Rosemary Clooney, Julie London, and Nat King Cole, is handled with a jaunty touch by Cobb and his crew. Webber puts some bounce in his bass line and Hargrove responds with some spirited soloing ‘on top. Malone adds another beautiful melodic solo and Cobb grounds the plaintive melody with just the right touch on brushes. “If Ever | Would Leave You,” a tune long associated with Robert Goulet from his acclaimed role in the 1960 Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, is treated here as an alluring bossa nova. Hargrove embraces each note as Cobb deftly plays one brush on the snare while keeping time with a stick on the rim. Malone adds a cascading chordal melody and Webber kicks in another deep-toned solo. The collection closes on a swinging note with an effervescent take on “We'll Be Together Again.” Cobb's slyly syncopated brushwork sets a breezy, upbeat tone on this standard, which is generally handled as a down ballad (including classic renditions by such great singers as Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, June Christy and Johnny Hartman). Whereas Billie's version was rendered as a painful, plaintive farewell, Cobb and his crew merely sign off swinging lightly and politely with plenty of bounce in their step. It's more hopeful than heart breaking, providing a fitting conclusion to this classy encounter between the revered elder and his accomplished young sidemen. - Bill Milkowski Bill Milkowski is a regular contributor to Jazz Times and Drum! magazine. He is also the author of “JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius” (Backbeat Books).CHESKY RECORDS: HOW AND WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO Chesky Records’ CDs and SACDs sound a lot better than what you are used to hearing. The first thing that sets us apart is that we don’t record in studios; we document the sound of musicians performing in natural acoustic settings such as churches, concert halls and small clubs. These spaces sound beautiful and we prefer their natural reverberation over even the best digital processors. Taking the musicians out of the confines of the normal studio environment seems to inspire them and makes their instruments sound richer and warmer. For these “on location” sessions we set up all of our equipment the day before we record, so the gear will be fully “warmed up” when we start. At the end of the setup day we normally do a sound check with the musicians, record a little, and fine-tune the sound before the session begins. Depending on the type of music, we record from one to four days. Instead of close miking all of the instruments we use one very special microphone that “hears” the full 360 degree soundfield of the musicians and the recording venue's acoustic space. This microphone gives our recordings precise, sharply focused lateral imaging and virtually holographic depth. Our custom-made, audiophile-grade electronics preserve the instruments’ full harmonic richness and delivers superb low-level resolution. Even the most subtle details of the music are presented with full fidelity. We always record all of the musicians “live” and never overdub vocals or instruments. Our goal is to capture a moment in time. By having all the musicians in the same space, playing together, reacting to each other as they would in a concert setting, we are recording a spontaneous performance—that’s something an overdubbed recording, pieced together from a variety of real and synthesized sounds, can never come close to. Our minimalist approach also lets us eliminate large mixing consoles (which are always loaded with op amps and integrated circuits) from our recording chain. Our hand built, all discrete, vacuum tube mixer is the equal of the very best audiophile electronics, and the musical signals travel over the highest quality wires. We have tried to perfect every aspect of the recording chain. Because we want to maintain the instruments’ full dynamic range we do not use “compressors” in the signal path. Yes, we've heard from our customers that Chesky CDs and SACDs do not sound as loud as other labels’, but that is because our recordings preserve the music’s original dynamic range. In other words, on a Chesky Recording when the music is soft, it is soft and when it is loud, itis loud. On conventional recordings, the music’s original dynamics are compressed to sound loud all the time (this sort of dynamic range compression is, in some ways, even more musically destructive than the “lossy compression” used to create MP3 music files). When you listen to one of our recordings on TRUMPET a good system you will hear a sound that is © remarkably close to the original performance. A Chesky Records’ CD or SACD is faithful to the BASS musical truth, and we promise, you really can DRUMS hear the difference! A GUITAR AMP FRONT Enjoy! So MICROPHONE David and Norman Chesky ‘Note, you may hear the trumpet change places from track to track. Sometimes he felt like moving around. OUR EQUIPMENT LIST Microphone: Soundfield Mark 5 (modified) Microphone preamps: George Kaye designed and built vacuum tube preamps, Tube Tech Microphone cables: custom made Crystal Cable Power cables and filters: Jack Bybee Analog-to-digital converters: custom Mytek Digital AC powerline conditioning: proprietary designs and Equitech High-resolution digital recorders: Genex Optical and Tascam DVD Monitor speakers: PMC LB1* * Keop in mind that when we record we cannot use large audiophile speakers. Most of our gear is in very small rooms in a church or concert hall, so we usually wind up sitting about three feet away from the speakers. The PMC speakers were designed for"nearfield” listening of this sort. If we were to sit this close to a normal audiophile speaker the high frequencies would be overwhelming,Musicians Jimmy Cobb - Drums/Leader Roy Hargrove - Trumpet/Flugelhorn Russell Malone - Guitar John Webber - Bass Produced by: David Chesky and Eleana Steinberg Tee Executive Producer: Norman Chesky Recorded, Edited, and Mastered by Nicholas Prout Second Engineer and Session Coordinator: Rick Eckerle Assistant Engineer: Alex Sterling Session Assistant: Luigi Giugliano Recorded October 14th, 2008 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, New York City Production Assistants: Lisa Hershfield, Jesse Lee Art Direction: Jeff Wong Photo Credits: 39 West Studios Dedication: “Emily” for Lucca and Paloma Chesky, with love “Remembering U” in memory of our dear friend, Ulysses Slaughter Special Thanks: To all at Chesky Records To Steve, Susannah (Red), and Travis Satten Special Credits: Russell Malone uses a Gibson L5 through a Roland Cube Amplifier Roy Hargrove appears courtesy of Groovin’ High RecordsJIMMY COBB QUARTET Seernsasene Jimmy Cobb - Drums/Leader Roy Hargrove - Trumpet/Flugelhorn Russell Malone - Guitar John Webber - Bass Produced by: David Chesky and Eleana Steinberg Tee Executive Producer: Norman Chesky Recorded, Edited, and Mastered by Nicholas Prout { Every Time We Say Goodbye 6:49 With You I'm Born Again 5:30 I'll Still Be In Love With You 5:08 aa Emily 4:52 QF Stairway to the Stars 5:23 suremauoioco I Had the Craziest Dream 4:31 Thisis 2 hybrid SACD and wil Raneubertag UW. gigi il on all CD and SACD Player. . What Will I Do 4:12 If Ever I Would Leave You 6:25 We'll Be Together Again 4:16 68 I