Center Stage Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez & Ronnie Cuber

• 1 Signed Sealed Delivered 07:17
• 2 Watching The River Flow 08:04
• 3 I Can't Turn You Loose 05:14
• 4 Che Ore So 06:14
• 5 Them Changes 05:41
• 6 Way Back Home 06:06
• 7 Lucky 13 03:50
• 8 Honky Tonk / I Can't Stop Loving You 08:41
• 9 My Little Brother 05:05
• 10 Things Ain't What They Used To Be 06:10
• Total Runtime 01:02:22

Info for Center Stage

For the first time in a very long time super drummer STEVE GADD joins up with his friends from Gadd Gang times, EDDIE GOMEZ and RONNIE CUBER for a production with the WDR Big Band. Under the direction of Michael Abene, a heavenly groovy album emerges, with Steve Gadd and his friends taking center stage. Recorded in January & February of 2022! The cooperation between Steve's Gadd Gang and the WDR Big Band was hanging in the air for quite some time. Already back in 2011 there was talk about a potential collaboration with the Big Band under the leadership of Michael Abene (the chief conductor of that orchestra from 2004 to 2014). I love Michael and highly esteem his work, says Gadd, his arrangements as well as his piano playing. It is just a matter of trying to get the schedule together, but I am sure at some point we will be able to get it together.

Steve Gadd, drums
Eddie Gomez, double bass
Ronnie Cuber, baritone saxophone
Bobby Sparks II, organ, Hammond
Simon Oslender, organ, piano
Bruno Müller, guitar
WDR Big Band
Michael Abene, conductor

Steve Gadd
is one of the most sought-after studio/live drummers in the world. His feel, technique, and musicality on such tunes as Paul Simon's "Fifty Ways", Steely Dan's "Aja", and Chick Corea's "Nite Sprite" were so awe-inspiring and his concepts so innovative that they instantly assured his special position in the history of the percussive arts. Gadd attended the Manhattan School of Music as well as Eastman School of Music. After the army, he rapidly rose to prominence with a wide variety of artists, including Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke, Rickie Lee Jones, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Dr. John, Michel Petrucciani and Stuff. Today, Gadd is as busy as ever, working with James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Blicher Hemmer Gadd, Mika Stoltzman, and his own, Grammy Award Winning Steve Gadd Band!

Eddie Gomez
was born in 1944 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He moved to New York City with his family when he was a child. He attended the New York City High School of Performing and Art, and later graduated from the Juilliard school in 1963. By age 18 he had also played with such luminaries as Paul Bley, Buck Clayton, and Marian McPartland. Soon after this period, he would begin an 11 year stint with Bill Evans and the Bill Evans Trio. He would tour and record extensively with the group during his time, with 2 albums winning grammy awards. Eddie Gomez left the Bill Evans Trio in 1977, and has since played with Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, McCoy Tyner, Hank Jones, Nancy Wilson, and Chick Corea. Two of the albums that Eddie Recorded with Chick have been awarded Grammys.

Ronnie Cuber
was born in 1941 in New York City. He initially started playing jazz on the tenor sax, but switched to bari in 1959, as a member of Marshall Brown’s Newport Youth Band. He has gone on to become one of the classic faces of the bari sax not only in jazz, but across a wide spectrum of popular and contemporary music. He is best known for his stints with George Benson (producing 3 albums), his time with the J Geils Band (featured on hits such as freeze frame), and his time with the Mingus Big Band. Ronnie Cuber plays an iconic bari solo on the Mingus Big band hit ‘Moanin’. Aside from these three collaborations, Cuber has recorded dozens of albums under his own name, and been featured on hundreds more albums. He continues to play and tour regularly, with a large resume of collaborators including, Lonnie Smith, Maynard Ferguson, Paul Simon, Tom Scott, Randy Brecker, Jimmy McGriff, Idris Muhammad, Lee Konitz, Grant Green, Billy Joel, and Sam Jones.

This album contains no booklet.