WAYNE ESCOFFERY QUARTET

Wayne Escoffery is a 2014 & 2021 Downbeat Critics Poll Winner for both the tenor and soprano saxophones and a Grammy Award-winning musician. He is considered one of the jazz world’s most talented saxophonists and in-demand sidemen. Escoffery leads his groups, which tour internationally and has made several highly acclaimed studio recordings with said groups.

His current working quartet features pianist David Kikoski, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr., who took over for the late great Ralph Peterson Jr.

The band’s 2020 album The Humble Warrior on the Smoke Sessions Records label has gotten rave reviews and received four stars in the June 2020 issue of Downbeat Magazine. Full band lineup: Wayne Escoffery: Tenor Saxophone | David Kikoski: Piano | Ugonna Okegwo: Bass | Marvin “Smitty” Smith: Drums

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Greely Walton was born in Mobile, Alabama on October 4, 1904. He played violin in his youth before settling on saxophone, and went on to study music at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1920s.

During the 1920s he first worked with Elmer Snowden, then with Benny Carter. For seven years beginning in 1930 he played with Luis Russell during which time they served as Louis Armstrong’s backing ensemble. After leaving Russell in 1938 he worked with Vernon Andrade, and in the Forties he worked with Horace Henderson, Cootie Williams, and Cab Calloway.

From 1945-47 he acted as musical director for The Ink Spots, and played with Noble Sissle and Sy Oliver towards the end of the decade. In the Fifties he worked in radio and television in the 1950s.

Retiring from music before the end of the decade, tenor saxophonist Greely Walton transitioned on October 9, 1993 in New York City.

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Three Wishes

The Baroness asked Clarence “C” Sharpe what his three wishes would be if they could be granted:

1. “That’s a big thing! Let’s see. My First wish is to have – this is going to sound rather square – love between all men.”
2. “The second is musical success for my wife and myself.”
3. “And for the third, I’d like to be able to leave something of musical validity to the world.”

*Excerpt from Three Wishes: An Intimate Look at Jazz Greats ~ Compiled and Photographed by Pannonica de Koenigswarter

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Requisites

Mood Indigo is an album recorded by saxophonist Frank Morgan on June 26 & 27, 1989. It was released on the Antilles label. It was recorded at RCA Recording Studios, Studio C in New York City.

The altoist contributed two compositions among the twelve he selected among the array of standards by the best in the business. Being members of the quintet that Morgan put together for this date, Cables and Williams were also invited to contribute one song each.

Morgan chose not to drag out the album with lengthy solos, rather opting to deliver an honest and sensitive interpretation of these popular songs. This approach kept the album under an hour.

1. Lullaby (George Cables) – 1:29
2. This Love Of Mine (Hank Sanicola, Sol Parker, Frank Sinatra) – 6:36
3. In A Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington) – 4:18
4. Bessie’s Blues (John Coltrane) – 8:59
5. A Moment Alone (Buster Williams) – 1:46
6. Mood Indigo” (Ellington) – 5:59
7. Up Jumped Spring (Freddie Hubbard) – 4:58
8. Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) – 4:29
9. We Three Blues (Frank Morgan) – 6:55
10. ‘Round Midnight (Thelonious Monk) – 6:55
11.  Lullaby (Cables) – 1:36
12.  Gratitude (Morgan) – 0:35

• Frank Morgan – alto saxophone, voice (tracks 1–4 & 6–12)
• Wynton Marsalis – trumpet (tracks 4 & 6)
• George Cables (tracks 1, 3, 8, 10 & 11), Ronnie Mathews (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 7) – piano
• Buster Williams (tracks 2, 4–7, 9 & 10) – bass
• Al Foster (tracks 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 & 10) – drums

• John Snyder – producer
• Joe Lopes – engineer

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Michael Evans Osborne was born in Hereford, England on September 28, 1941 and attended Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire and the Guildhall School of Music.

From 1962 to 1972, Osborne was a bandmate in the Mike Westbrook band. During this period he also worked with Michael Gibbs, Mike Cooper, Stan Tracey, Kenny Wheeler, Humphrey Lyttelton, Alan Skidmore, John Surman, Harry Miller, Alan Jackson, John Mumford and Lionel Grigson.

During 1974–75, Osborne was part of the saxophone trio S.O.S. with John Surman and Alan Skidmore. They recorded an album, BBC radio and television sessions, and toured extensively in Europe.

Health issues hastened the end of his career in 1982, and returning to Hereford, alto saxophonist, pianist, and clarinetist Mike Osborne, who was a member of Brotherhood of Breath, transitioned while living under care at the time on September 19, 2007, aged 65.

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