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From the CD liner notes
There is a long history of jazz tenor sax pairings:
Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt; John Coltrane/Sonny Rollins;
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis/Johnny Griffin, Dave Liebman/Steve Grossman. With
this in mind, Chicago-born guitarist Nicholas Hoffman assembled Fangs, a
collective of five very talented and swinging musicians from the Pacific
Northwest. Veteran tenor saxophone players –
Hadley Caliman
and Gary Hammon join a traditional Hammond B3 trio consisting of Hoffman,
organist Delvon Dumas, and
drummer Jud Sherwood to create a fresh,
straight ahead sound that reflects the respect, love and understanding
that the band has for the jazz tradition.
This fourth independent recording effort by Nicholas represents a further
evolution of his blues-based, fluid sound and features nine songs, including these originals:
- Are You For Me is a tender ballad by Gary Hammon that
showcases his very warm and rich sound.
- Slightly in the Tradition is a burner written by Gary, based
on Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train.”
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- Fangs is an ominous 16-bar blues written by Nicholas with
Hadley and Gary in mind.
- Linda is Hadley's beautiful original written for his wife,
featuring tenor sax, organ, and drums.
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Producer’s Postscript
After a weekend of hangin’ in the studio and at a live gig, I can offer my
perspective. First, the band was smokin' and these guys really play as a unit. So many things
impressed me: Delvon’s non-stop energy (jamming constantly in between the
tunes), Hadley’s steady hand, Gary’s joy at returning to the studio, Jud’s
rock solid “always there” drumming and Nicholas’ constant quest for perfection.
Oh and don’t forget the beautiful sound that engineer David Lange captured.
It was a special effort. Thanks to everyone that made it possible and thanks
to the band for letting me be there with them. I can’t wait for the next CD!
- Robert Guttman, December 2004.
Fangs was produced by Nicholas Hoffman, Jud Sherwood, and Robert Guttman, and
released by the Jazz Project.
It includes four original songs and classic tunes by
Herbie Hancock, Tadd Dameron, Cedar Walton, David Newman, and Harold Mabern.
Listen to MP3 sound bytes from Fangs:
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