Heaven Steps to Seven New York Standards Quartet

• Leonard Bernstein:
• 1Tonight06:12
• Charlie Parker:
• 2Cheryl08:40
• Horace Silver:
• 3Peace04:12
• Ralph Rainger, L. Robin:
• 4If I Should Lose You08:17
• Cole Porter:
• 5Every Time We Say Goodbye05:52
• Cole Porter:
• 6I Love You08:03
• Bud Powell:
• 7I’ll Keep Loving You09:58
• Herbie Hancock:
• 8Eye of the Hurricane05:07
• Total Runtime56:21

Info for Heaven Steps to Seven

Building on the significant success of their sixth release, Sleight of Hand (Whirlwind, 2017), the New York Standards Quartet presents another coruscating showcase of reimagined, classic songs on their new album Heaven Steps to Seven. Saxophonist Tim Armacost, pianist David Berkman and drummer Gene Jackson present individual arrangements full of characteristic inventiveness; and, for the first time in the studio, they are delighted to document bassist Ugonna Okegwo’s relationship with the band, a regular on their US tours.

The NYSQ have come a long way in their thirteen years to date, Tim Armacost warmly acknowledging the closeness of the collaboration: “We all contribute suggestions for classic songs (also known as jazz ‘standards’) to reinterpret, and the music we conceive taps into the important values of the band – our longevity, our deep friendship. Sometimes we bring pretty much completed arrangements, others just evolve on the bandstand as we play.”

Such a musical affinity, reaped from the vastness of their respective experiences in many different projects, is distilled into a recording of remarkable finesse, once again refracting kaleidoscopic colors across old favorites and less-familiar treasures from the jazz heritage. Having played together for so long, Armacost highlights two key facets: “One is to discover a beautiful standard you haven’t heard before; the other is finding something well known, then portraying it differently. So we honor the tradition of this music, representing it authentically, but also creating environments which feel new.”

The breadth of the detailing is remarkable – from Armacost’s vamping, fast-walking-bass take on Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Tonight’ to Gene Jackson’s boisterous arrangement of Cole Porter’s ‘I Love You’. Porter’s instantly recognizable ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’ is a Berkman feature for tenor, full of complex harmonies; and the pianist’s lyrical reharmonisation of Horace Silver’s ‘Peace’ sparks group improvisation with the basic direction of “anybody can play a snippet of the melody at any time”.

Charlie Parker’s ‘Cheryl’, deconstructed by Berkman, separates the elements into a longer narrative with scope for extemporary development, while his melodic recontextualisation of ‘If I Should Lose You’ (a vocal favorite, also heard on Hank Mobley’s ‘Soul Station’) sprawls and swings with soprano fervor. First introduced to Armacost during a concert in New York, he essentially transcribed Bud Powell’s piano ballad ‘I’ll Keep Loving You’ for this quartet – now a favorite in their repertoire; and Herbie Hancock’s ‘Eye of the Hurricane’, feistily arranged by Gene Jackson (Hancock’s drummer of many years), side-steps its ubiquitous super-burn.

Recorded off the back of a week-long tour, the first-take immediacy of these eight sparklers is evident. “In this project, we’re definitely committed to the standards, it’s part of our DNA”, says Tim Armacost. “People still feel a connection with these melodies, so our invitation – with the same commitment as if it was our original music – is: Join us in this space while we experiment with this thing.' The most rewarding aspect of NYSQ is the playing itself. Trust allows us to explore places that, artistically, we’ve never been to before – that’s why we love doing it!”

Tim Armacost, tenor & soprano saxophones
David Berkman, piano
Ugonna Okegwo, double bass
Gene Jackson, drums

Recorded January 11, 2017 by Michael Marciano at Systems Two Studios, Brooklyn, NY
Mixed and mastered February 24, 2018 by Katsuhiko Naito
Produced by NYSQ

The New York Standards Quartet (NYSQ)
is made up of pianist David Berkman, drummer Gene Jackson, saxophonist Tim Armacost, and double bassist Daiki Yasukagawa. As a band the New York-based unit have developed a near telepathic relationship playing together in a variety of settings since their formation in 2006. Conceptually, the NYSQ strives to develop its own language within the tradition of performing standard jazz repertoire.

The Guardian, in a glowing, four-star review of the band’s recent tour across the UK, asserts the NYSQ is “a group devoted to radical reinvention of famous pop songs and Broadway show tunes. Plenty of contemporary jazz artists do that, but few more divertingly than this vivacious foursome, who delightedly cherish the originals while brusquely deconstructing their harmonies and tweaking their melodies, sometimes only slipping in the original theme on the way out of the piece. This is a collective class act.”

After creating a lifetime of original music (each of the members are notable composers & bandleaders) the NYSQ felt it would liberating to perform music based on simpler, standard jazz repertoire, and in particular the songs that they had learned while growing up learning jazz. By playing tunes such as “Confirmation” or “All the Things You Are,” they put the focus on the playing of the tune and what they do with it, not so much on the tune itself. The songs are therefore blank slates to write on, with a lot of freedom and room for interpretation. They have also expanded their approach to include arrangements and reinventions of these songs, as well as original compositions that have a close connection to forms and harmonies derived from standards. The bond the group shares is further strengthened by a common love for Japanese culture, food, and language.

The NYSQ has been touring and developing together for ten years, and it shows in the music. Audience response has been phenomenal and the band has maintained a hectic touring schedule at festivals and venues around the world. Recent highlights include performances in New York City (Smalls Jazz Club, Kitano Hotel), Japan (ten annual tours with concerts and club appearances at the Karuizawa jazz festival, Shizuoka’s Lifetime Jazz Club, Tokyo’s Body and Soul, two live NHK radio broadcasts and many other major jazz performance venues in Japan), tours around the United States, Great Britain and Europe. The band has also recorded seven albums: Live in Tokyo (2008), UnStandard (2011), Live at Lifetime (2013), on the Challenge Records (Netherlands) and D-Musica (Japan) labels. The NYSQ released their fourth album The New Straight Ahead (2014), fifth album Power of 10 (2015), sixth album Sleight of Hand (2017) and seventh album Heaven Steps to Seven (2018) on Whirlwind Recordings. Click here to download the EPK on the contacts page.

This album contains no booklet.