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Faces and Places on CD

On "FACES and PLACES", the new release from saxophonist composer, Jed Levy, he takes the listener on a journey through the many perspectives and genres of music that have informed his vision of todays modern jazz. Along the way he tells stories and paints musical pictures of both people and places that have inspired him. All done in his own personal vocabulary formed by a diverse career in music which has included intersecting with people like the great pianist Jaki Byard, organists Jack McDuff and Don Patterson, Jam Band Funk with drummer Mike Clark and Charlie Hunter, Afro Cuban music with Chico O'Farrill, Swing with the Cab Calloway Orchestra and performances with The Temptations/The Four Tops.

As a bandleader he has toured Asia, South America and Europe playing concerts and festivals in places as diverse as Port au Prince, Haiti to Kharkiv, Ukraine. Levy has 10 previous CD's on the SteepleChase and Reservoir Labels as well as over 40 appearances on recordings as a sideman. His compositional talents, which are prominently featured on this CD, have led to artists like The Headhunters, Don Friedman, Ron McClure, Eddie Henderson, Peter Leitch, Jack Walrath and Mike Clark recording his music.

Joining him on this new release are his stellar NYC working band featuring Grammy Winner LUIS PERDOMO- piano (Tom Harrell, Ravi Coltrane, Miguel Zenon), ALVESTER GARNETT-drums (Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter, Regina Carter) and PETER SLAVOV-bass (Joe Lovano, Quincy Jones, Paul Winter). The synergy displayed by the quartet on this CD was forged over a series of gigs in NYC where it became clear to the leader that something greater than the sum of the parts was happening and it was time to record this group and the body of music they were performing. This CD is the product of that decision.

The songs on this CD speak to the diversity of musical experience of not only their composer, but of the entire group. Consider the rhythmic mood shifts on the album-opening "Email, " whose title stems from the composer's realization that the first two notes of the A-section are the same as his AOL inbox chime. The song skillfully weaves an opening rubato tenor-piano introduction (which we hear rhythmically recast on the closing "Postscript"), raucous hard rock on the coda, and Afro-Cuban flavored A-sections into a piece that best exemplifies Levy's personal vision. Each subsequent song tells a different story. "Danza de Berrios" portrays drummer Steve Berrios; "Calcata" tone-parallels a mysterious 12th century town near Rome; the bright energy of "Twiddle Twaddle" signifies a friend's expression for chatting; the swinging "St. Simons" reflects a lovely winter vacation with family on the Georgia Sea Island where tenor saxophone hero Lucky Thompson once resided.

In his liner notes for "Faces and Places" the esteemed jazz writer, Ted Panken says of this recording "The proceedings clearly cement Levy's stature as a modern master, with a gorgeous tone and infallible time feel, able to spin out a seemingly endless flow of improvised melody that denotes his exhaustive knowledge of tenor saxophone vocabulary". Levy himself comments "At the root of it all, I am a songwriter. I see the different musical genres that flavor this recording as one continuum, branches of one tree; my goal is to play all of it from the perspective of a Jazz musician. "