This is a pretty serious milestone for Brian and me. It is the 100th release in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series. Making it even more special is the artist that we've chosen to feature on this track, Samsara. Those of you that know me well, know that one of my top ten, maybe even top 5 records is Miles Davis' Live Evil. The sax player on that record is Gary Bartz. On a crazy whim, I took a shot and reached out to Gary via Facebook, and much to my surprise he not only got back to me but he agreed to play on a track! I can not express how excited and grateful I am about this. I was raving about Gary's harmonic sense to a good buddy of mine and he sarcastically reminded me, "ah yeah, he played with MILES!!!"
Okay, a little bit about Gary...Born in Baltimore, schooled at Julliard, played with Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and was a member of Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop AND Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers all BEFORE he played with Miles. There is no resting on his laurels though, Gary has made at least 30 albums as a leader and even more as a sideman with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Kenny Burrell, Woody Shaw, Phyllis Hyman, Norman Connors, Jackie McLean and a whole Wikipedia page more. In 2015, Gary was presented with the BNY Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award, which was presented at a special ceremony at The Kennedy Center. Gary continues to tour the world performing, recording, and teaching. He is a Professor of Jazz Saxophone at Oberlin College. Gary lives in Oakland and I'm in SF, so in a post-plague world, it shouldn't be too hard to make some more music together. Dreams have already come true. Enjoy!
The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, San Bruno, CA, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN & Gary's House, Oakland CA. Prodigiously mixed and mastered by the Grammy-winning and extremely good-humored, Matt Winegar (Primus, Fantastic Negrito).
Okay, a little bit about Gary...Born in Baltimore, schooled at Julliard, played with Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and was a member of Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop AND Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers all BEFORE he played with Miles. There is no resting on his laurels though, Gary has made at least 30 albums as a leader and even more as a sideman with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Kenny Burrell, Woody Shaw, Phyllis Hyman, Norman Connors, Jackie McLean and a whole Wikipedia page more. In 2015, Gary was presented with the BNY Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award, which was presented at a special ceremony at The Kennedy Center. Gary continues to tour the world performing, recording, and teaching. He is a Professor of Jazz Saxophone at Oberlin College. Gary lives in Oakland and I'm in SF, so in a post-plague world, it shouldn't be too hard to make some more music together. Dreams have already come true. Enjoy!
The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, San Bruno, CA, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN & Gary's House, Oakland CA. Prodigiously mixed and mastered by the Grammy-winning and extremely good-humored, Matt Winegar (Primus, Fantastic Negrito).
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