Themes for Good Friends is the new album from Boston tenor saxophonist George Garzone. There are few musicians in jazz whose influence exceeds their discography quite like his: in more than half a century he has released only twelve records as a leader, plus eight with his trio The Fringe. There is a reason. Garzone celebrates his fiftieth year on the faculty at Berklee this year, and the cream of today's tenor players came up in his classroom, from Joshua Redman and Branford Marsalis to Donny McCaslin, Mark Turner, Seamus Blake and Chris Cheek. "A good teacher is a teacher who can teach you to teach yourself," he says. He is the quintessential musician's musician.

This record began when JOJO RECORDS producer Simon Belelty walked out of a New York club date completely captivated, and asked bassist Santi Debriano about assembling a session worthy of Garzone's artistry. Debriano and Garzone met as students in Boston around 1970 and have shared bandstands ever since. When Debriano proposed a quintet with Randy Brecker, Luis Perdomo and Jeff "Tain" Watts, Garzone embraced the idea at once. Five masters, a program steeped in straight-ahead jazz, and a single session at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs.

The title is not decorative. The album opens on an intimate duet with Perdomo, pure in tone and spacious, before the full quintet comes tumbling in on a piece by Archie Shepp. From there it moves through a Van Heusen standard rebuilt from the ground up into a joyful swing vehicle, an expansive Debriano original where everyone stretches freely, and a duet with Watts alone that spends nearly its entire length taking a Coltrane classic apart before letting the melody show itself in the closing seconds. Two Garzone compositions round out the CD and digital editions, each carrying a story of its own.

What holds it together is the axis Garzone has worked his whole life. "When I was ten or eleven, I first heard the tenor playing of Stan Getz on a record," he says. "It changed my life." The other pole is Coltrane, whom he calls simply the Supreme Being. Fifty years on, he still approaches a session as both master and student.

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A
1 · Theme For Ernie (Fred Lacey) 6'30
2 · U-Jaama (Archie Shepp) 8'16
3 · It Will Happen To You (Jimmy Van Heusen) 6'46

SIDE B
4 · Ripty Boom (Santi Debriano) 9'57
5 · Giant Steps (John Coltrane) 4'17
6 · Just Ring The Bell (Luis Perdomo) 7'39

CD & DIGITAL VERSION
7 · The Mingus That I Knew (George Garzone) 9'02
8 · To Michael Brecker (George Garzone) 7'23

CREDITS

Personnel
George Garzone, Tenor Saxophone
Randy Brecker, Trumpet (except A1, B2)
Luis Perdomo, Piano
Santi Debriano, Bass
Jeff "Tain" Watts, Drums

Produced by Simon Belelty for Jojo Records
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs (New Jersey)

Recording Engineer – Maureen Sickler
Mixing Engineer – Nancy Conforti
Mastering Engineer – Shane Carroll
Mixing & Mastering at Swan Studios NYC

Photographs by Anna Yatskevich
Design by Stéphanie Desjeunes