#marcus printup

[blowyourtrumpet]

Epic Wynton v. Faddis Trumpet Battle: “Things to Come”

[mostlymonk]

Misterioso

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Featuring Marcus Printup – trumpet Dan Nimmer – piano

Arrangements by Jihye Lee

[dustedmagazine]

Marcus Printup – Gentle Rain (Steeplechase)

Music can be a cathartic means of weighing and conveying loss. Marcus Printup lost his mother in the summer of 2018. An active and ebullient singer in the Baptist church, she was an indelible and incalculable influence on her son. Gentle Rain is dedicated to her memory. It’s also a celebration of another relationship central to trumpeter’s existence, the bond he shares with his spouse, harpist Riza Hequibal Printup. She’s been a regular on his recording dates for almost a decade, but on this date the couple dispenses with colleagues and renders an album-length musical program as a duo.

The erroneous argument of incompatible instrument combinations is an idea of the past. Improvisers have demonstrated time and again that any two sound implements together can create meaningful results. Even so, that universal agency doesn’t make the coupling of trumpet and harp sans accompaniment any less challenging over the expanse of nine compositions. The title Jobim piece reflects Riza’s heritage and the dulcet introduction to the Printups’ shared tone language. Delicate acoustic guitar-like chords dance and swirl from the harp as the trumpet first open and then muted dials deeply into melancholy-tinged melody.

Riza’s “Madison” pushes over into outright sadness without stalling in maudlin excess. Another luminescent lattice of harp-etched notes frames a wistful solo for open trumpet that’s equal parts gradual momentum and meticulously considered tone. Subject matter and shared approach to instrumentation necessitate a preponderance of ballads. There’s beauty to spare on a tender rendering of “The Nearness of You” where Printup’s brass takes the opening phrases alone with another cleanly-sculpted improvisation. Supple harp tendrils caress the contours of a countermelody and the effect is once again like an enveloping aural massage in alleviating stress and tension. 

If there’s a downside to the disc, it’s in this relative sameness and consistency of tenor and mood. Printup’s been a principal member of Jazz at the Lincoln Center for over a half-century. His wife’s acumen for and creativity through the harp are unassailable. But an hour’s worth of euphonic conversations between real-life life partners can’t help but feel somewhat invasive and voyeuristic as an experience, particularly when the underlying impetus is one of such profound and shared grief. Taken in discrete doses, the effect isn’t as acute, and the paregoric effects still have persistent power. There’s courage and candor to this kind of project that’s patiently persuasive, too.

Derek Taylor

[asianamsmakingmusic]

[asianamsmakingmusic]

Stephanie Chou- alto saxophone, piano, voice Marcus Printup- trumpet, flugelhorn Joel Gombiner- tenor saxophone Jeremy Siskind- piano Daniel Ori- bass

[jazzatlincolncenter]

While out on the road with The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, we got a chance to sit down with the members and ask them a few questions. 

Today, we continue our “Questions From The Road” series with Marcus Printup.

1. When did you start playing your instrument?

I started playing trumpet in the 5th grade.  I was 10 or 11 years old.

  2. If you could play another instrument besides your own what would it be?

I mean I can play bass clarinet.  I like it because its closer to the range of my voice than the trumpet is.  I haven’t played a gig on bass clarinet since concert band in college. 

  3. Who is your biggest inspiration?

Musically I would say it’s got to be Miles Davis.  Whether you like what Miles Davis played or not he always did what he wanted to do and he progressed in the manner which he felt was himself.  From playing with Charlie Parker in the 40’s to Easy Moe B in the 90’s he did it all.  Now in life it has got to be my mother.  She always took care of people and put herself last. 

  4. Did you always want to be a musician?

When I was a kid I wanted to play running back for either the Oakland Raiders or the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Before I played football I wanted to work in a lead plant like my father but he said, “naw man don’t do that.”

Have a question you’d like to ask Marcus Printup or other JLCO members? Email questions to [email protected] and we just might feature them in a future edition.

[blewnotes]

Jazziversaries January 24th

Bobby Wellins (sax, tenor) - 1936 :: Many happy returns to tenor player Bobby Wellins. Bobby is a Scottish tenor saxophonist best known for his collaboration with Stan Tracey on the British jazz album Under Milk Wood (1965).

Born in Glasgow, Wellins studied alto saxophone and harmony with his father Max, and also played piano and clarinet during his early years. He subsequently joined the RAF as a musician playing tenor sax. After demobilisation he played with a few Scottish bands before moving to London in the mid-1950s. He was a member of Buddy Featherstonhaugh’s quintet between 1956 and 1957, together with Kenny Wheeler. Around that time Wellins also joined drummer Tony Crombie’s Jazz Inc., where he first met up with pianist Tracey, going on to join Tracey’s quartet in the early 1960s. He also worked with Lionel Grigson in 1976.

In the mid-seventies he led his own quartet with pianist Pete Jacobsen, bassist Adrian Kendon (replaced later by Ken Baldock, and then Andy Cleyndert in the 1980s) and drummer Spike Wells. In the 1980s he formed a quintet with fellow sax player Don Weller and then with guitarist Jim Mullen; the former group included Errol Clarke on piano, Cleyndert on bass and Wells on drums, while the latter featured Pete Jacobsen on piano. Since then Wellins has led various quartets, most notably with Liam Noble on piano, Simon Thorpe on bass and Dave Wickens on drums. Latterly he has renewed his association with drummer Spike Wells with a quartet featuring Mark Edwards on piano and Andrew Cleyndert on bass.

In 2012, Wellins was the subject of a documentary film, Dreams are Free, directed by Gary Barber. Using interview and concert footage, the film traces the rise, fall and redemption of Wellins, showing how he overcame addiction and depression, and rediscovered the desire to play after ten years away from jazz.

Jimmy Forrest (sax, tenor) - 1920-1980 :: was a jazz musician, who played tenor saxophone throughout his career.

Forrest is famous for his first solo recording of “Night Train”. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart in March 1952, and stayed at the top for seven weeks. “Hey Mrs. Jones” (#3 R&B) and “Bolo Blues” were his other major hits. All were made for United Records, which recorded Forrest between 1951 and 1953. He recorded frequently as both a sideman and a bandleader.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, he played alongside Fate Marable as a young man. He was with Jay McShann in 1940-42 and with Andy Kirk from 1942–48, when he joined Duke Ellington. During the early 1950s, he led his own combos. He also played with Miles Davis, in early 1952 at The Barrel Club. After his solo career, he played in small combos with Harry “Sweets” Edison and Al Grey, as well as appearing with Count Basie.

During the late 1970s he appeared with an all star lineup in New York including Howard McGhee on trumpet, John Hicks on piano, Major Holley on bass,and Charli Persip on drums.

Joe Albany (piano) - 1924-1988 :: Joseph Albani, known as Joe Albany was an esteemed American modern jazz pianist. He was among the few white pianists to have played bebop with Charlie Parker.

Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he studied piano as a child and, by 1943, was working on the West Coast in Benny Carter’s orchestra.In 1946 he was playing with Parker and also Miles Davis. He continued for a few years afterward, and played on an album with Warne Marsh in 1957. Despite that, most of the 1950s and 1960s saw him battling a heroin addiction, or living in seclusion in Europe. He also had several unsuccessful marriages in this period. He returned to jazz in the 1970s and played on more than ten albums. He died in New York City.

He was the focus of a documentary in 1980 titled Joe Albany … A Jazz Life (Amazingly available on YouTube!) and his daughter Amy Jo (“AJ”) wrote the memoir Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood concerning him.

Jools Holland (piano)- 1958 :: Happy birthday to the English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter Jools Holland.  Jools was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine and Bono.

Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own and contributes to radio shows. In 2004, he collaborated with Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music. He currently hosts Later… with Jools Holland, a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny is based. He also regularly hosts the weekly program Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2, which is a mix of live and recorded music and general chat, and features studio guests, along with members of his Orchestra.

Holland worked as a session musician before finding fame. He was a founding member of the British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1981 and helped the band to achieve millions of record sales, before pursuing his solo career.

Holland began issuing solo records in 1978, his first EP being Boogie Woogie ‘78. He continued his solo career through the early 1980s, releasing an album and several singles between 1981 and 1984. He branched out into TV, co-presenting the Newcastle-based TV music show The Tube with Paula Yates.

In 1983 Holland played an extended piano solo on The The’s re-recording of “Uncertain Smile” for the album Soul Mining. In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland’s absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Jools Holland as their keyboard player. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point, he again departed to resume his solo career as a musician and a TV host.

In 1987, Holland formed the Jools Holland Big Band, which consisted of himself and Gilson Lavis from Squeeze. This gradually became his 18-piece Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

Between 1988 and 1990 he performed and co-hosted along with David Sanborn during the two seasons of the music performance program Sunday Night on NBC late-night television.

Holland has a touring band, the Rhythm And Blues Orchestra, which often includes singers Sam Brown and Ruby Turner and his younger brother, singer-songwriter and keyboard player, Christopher Holland.

Jools received an OBE in 2003 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list, for services to the British music industry as a television presenter and musician. In September 2006 Holland was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent.He is also known for his charity work: in June 2006 he performed in Southend for HIV/AIDS charity Mildmay,and in early 2007 he performed at Wells and Rochester Cathedrals to raise money for maintaining cathedral buildings.He is also patron of the Drake Music Project and has raised many thousands of pounds for the charity.

Julius Hemphill(sax, alto) - 1938-1995 :: was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.

In 1968, Hemphill moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and co-founded the Black Artists’ Group (BAG), a multidisciplinary arts collective that brought him into contact with artists such as saxophonists Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, and writer/director Malinke Robert Elliott.

Hemphill moved to New York City in the mid-1970s, and was active in the then-thriving free jazz community. He taught saxophone lessons to a number of notable musicians, including David Sanborn and Tim Berne. Hemphill was probably best known as the founder of the World Saxophone Quartet, a group he formed in 1976, after collaborating with Anthony Braxton in several saxophone-only ensembles. Hemphill left the World Saxophone Quartet in the early 1990s, and formed a saxophone quintet.

Hemphill recorded over twenty albums as a leader, about ten records with the World Saxophone Quartet and also recorded or performed with Björk, Bill Frisell, Anthony Braxton and others. Late in his life, ill-health (including diabetes and heart surgery) forced Hemphill to stop playing saxophone, but he continued writing music until his death. His saxophone sextet, led by Marty Ehrlich, also released several albums of Hemphill’s music, but without Hemphill playing. The most recent is entitled The Hard Blues, recorded live in Lisbon after Hemphill’s death.

Marcus Printup(trumpet) - 1967 :: Born day greetings to trumpet player Marcus Printup.  A talented trumpeter with a lot of potential, Marcus Printup was discovered by Marcus Roberts at the University of North Florida in 1991. Printup started on trumpet in the fifth grade, played funk as a teenager, and in college was part of a ten-piece band called Soul Reason for the Blues. Since that time, he has toured and recorded with Roberts, played with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, recorded with Carl Allen, performed with Betty Carter, and cut a number of  albums as a leader for Blue Note.

Loving that Marcus Printup versioin of Speak Low...... and I know Squeeze ain't a jazz tune, but I still think it stands as an exceptional pop record with an amazing lyric! Full of London twang and slang and tells a story while its at it!

Well, if you are a January 24th Jazzling heres wishing you and awesome day and amazing year to come. May it end with you nearer your dreams.

Thanks to AAJ & JBC for the guidance,

Respect to the YouTube Massive for the uploads!

Hi-5 Inspiration Crew, thanks for the follows folks and for doing all that amazing stuff you do.

and thanks to You passin' stranger, come by again and maybe stay awhile?

Until again, Be water,

Walk tall,

Speak low,

Go placidly,

Geo

[emturner]

Marcus Printup - Lazy River