Musicians:
John Heard: Bass
Danny Grissett: Paino
Lorca Hart: Drums
Herman Riley: Tenor Saxophone & Flute ("Ruby My Dear")
Nolan Shaheed: Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Limited edition Dual DIsk!
(CD on one side - high resolution 96/24 quality DVD-A and/or DVD-V audio on the other)
The Jazz Composers Songbook is artwork both tactile and musical.
The beautiful cover was painted & created by Mr Heard himself and given to us as a serigraph. John is one of the most respected musicians living . First time listeners become instant admirers as if they’d been listening all their lives. That’s what John Heard does. He brings you musically to a place many musicians dream of, but never get to. Its not a mystery when you hear & feel his passion and understanding for these pieces.
On this tribute to the second wave of Jazz composers from the ‘50’s : Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, Sonny Rollins, and Horace Silver among others, Straight Ahead spotlights John Heard on bass leading a group of outstanding musicians such as Danny Grisset on piano, Lorca Hart on drums, Herman Riley on sax/flute and Nolan Shaheed on trumpet and flugelhorn.
At 17 years young, John was playing with with Stanley Turrentine, Booker Irvin, Horace Parlan and Roland Kirk. When asked about recording iconic tunes like “Soulville”, “Ruby My Dear”, and “Lester Left Town” among others , John merely said “I ain’t afraid of these songs, I’ll put together a quintet and we’ll put a smile on them again”. When you hear this record, smiles will just be the beginning. As one of our co-founders and producer Stewart Levine points out “ We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here, we’re just taking it on another ride…” Enjoy
