Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Jeremy Kahn Sextet to Play Chicago Jazz Festival

© Gary Carner. Copyright Protected. All rights reserved.



Jeremy Kahn's extraordinary arrangements of Pepper Adams' ballads will be given their world premiere this Saturday, September 3, at the Chicago Jazz Festival, one of the world's great jazz events.  A few months ago, this tremendous band, under Kahn's leadership, and with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, recorded seven Adams ballads, five of which Kahn re-arranged in different genres.  This time around, the same band--Pat LaBarbara, tenor sax; Jeremy Kahn, piano; Dennis Carroll, bass; George Fludas, drums; Alexis Cole, vocals; and with Geof Bradfield on tenor in place of Alexander--will perform several of these little known ballads that will be released next April as Volume 5 of Pepper Adams: Complete Compositions.  This is Kahn's third date of Pepper tunes, all equally provocative.  Volume 1 is a quartet date, featuring baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan.  Volume 2 is for jazz trio.  Samples of all the released tracks are available by clicking through the home page link "Pepper Adams: Complete Compositions," then choosing the appropriate session.  I hope to see you at the Festival.  As always, it's free.