1. Blue Minor
2. Way 'Cross Town
3. I Waited For You
4. Little T
5. Cool Green
6. Tempus Fugit
7. Park Avenue Petite
8. Chant
9. Born To Be Blue 10. Opus De Funk
Personnel
Benny Green – piano
Peter Washington – bass
Kenny Washington – drums
Produced by:
John Lee and Jimmy Heath Executive Producer: Lisa Broderick
Price: $10.00
This is the first trio record I’ve made as a leader in 10
years. For a while, I just wasn't motivated to have a band.
That changed for me in the winter of 2009 when my friend, the
great guitarist Satoshi Inoue, brought Kenny, Peter, and
myself to Japan as his rhythm section. After a wonderful short
tour as a quartet, the three of us continued with some
additional concerts. The chemistry was just great. We have
similar backgrounds, and have all played, traveled and
recorded together in various configurations for about 25 years
now. Kenny and Peter are longstanding heroes. They keep me
honest and inspire me to practice.
What I wanted this CD
to be is a real and honest jazz record. We love this music. It
is our lives and while it is a tremendous joy and a
rejuvenating escape from the mundane, it is as well a
responsibility to our parents and mentors and certainly to
present and future listeners who also love or in some
instances would like to experience what jazz is for the first
time.
My father introduced me to jazz, first with
Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Dream". When he played me Charlie
Parker’s “Scrapple From The Apple”, that did it. I knew what I
wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Since that
introduction to this music, I’ve been blessed to have
something beautiful to believe in and to begin to learn to
take care of. I've been privileged to play, travel and record
with the hardest swinging bassist and drummer in the history
of jazz - Ray Brown and Art Blakey. These men were kings. They
inspire me to reflect my listening and playing experiences as
honorably as I possibly can.
When this CD is released
in the spring of 2011 I will be 48, Peter around a year or so
younger, and Kenny just a few years ahead of us. There are
young folks coming along now who are good kids, and who know
nothing of what jazz is. Who can blame them for believing it's
a face on a magazine cover or anything employing a horn or
improvisation? Most singers and songwriters today are marketed
as being somehow jazz-influenced or jazz-based.
Although it was not a conscious objective, I realized after
this recording session that with the exception of "Born To Be
Blue", which was written by the vocalist Mel Torme, the tunes
in this program were penned by some of my favorite jazz
instrumentalists. The records these people made are treasures,
they are an ongoing source of inspiration, information, wonder
and pure joy.
This is why I chose our title, and I
suppose it has a double meaning -- we receive from our source,
which for us are the great jazz records. I feel confident in
speaking for my wiser brothers, that Kenny, Peter and I all
wish to give our younger listeners the best representation we
can of what our parents and teachers have inspired us to do,
all with love.
Thank you for listening to this music,
we hope you will enjoy it. Peace and happiness!
