Steve Kenny Quartet - Quartets (2018)

Several years ago, I formed the Steve Kenny Quartet as a stop-gap for how I was dearly missing the many years of performing at the Artists’ Quarter in the ensemble “What Would Monk Do?”. Many of the original series of performances of the Steve Kenny Quartet ended up being similar in format to the WWMD gigs, but with new personnel and a few more of my originals mixed in with the Thelonious Monk material. Eventually, the actual “What Would Monk Do?” ensemble reformed and played the Twin Cities Jazz festival and a number of standing-room-only performances for Saturday Night Jazz at The Black Dog. It had become a reality that I was performing in these multiple amazing working Jazz quartets. A set of conversations with Tim Faricy led to the idea of a product that would include multiple incarnations of these quartets playing my original compositions. Without Tim’s support and encouragement, this recording would not have been possible. The result is an assortment of 4 different “Quartets” of musicians spread across several years and at least 4 separate recording sessions.

Air Monk is a mashup of Sonny Rollins’ Airegin and Monk’s In Walked Bud. Thirteenth Step is influenced by a Nicholas Payton’s tune called The Backwards Step. The idea behind Bird Flu came to me while listening to the Sean Jones’ tune called Doc’s Holiday, where the rules of the improvisation included that each chorus had a specific figure that had to be respected as part of the form, and I wanted to explore that concept more specifically. Monk Fruit was a collaborative work I germinated in the studio with a written 3-bar form. Significant Other is based on some amorphous Irish folk music, and Fake Blues is influenced by Joe Lovano’s tune, Fort Worth. The Ghost Suite came about in 2014 when the ensemble Zeitgeist commissioned Minnesota Jazz composers to write works for Zeitgeist to play on an upcoming tour and as part of the Twin Cities Jazz Festival that year. The Ghost Suite honors the untimely passing of three individuals closely associated with Zeitgeist. The first movement, Bob’s Bounce, pays tribute to Bob Samarotto who was a long time Zeitgeist member and also played authentic Bebop saxophone. Stoked is dedicated to Eric Stokes, who composed chamber works and was a famous Minnesota composer. Crimea River is for Yuri Merzhevsky, a stunning classical, Jazz, and klezmer violinist who settled in Minnesota after being a refugee of the former Soviet Union.

Steve Kenny