The Kenyatta Beasley Septet - The Frank Foster Songbook by the Kenyatta Beasley Septet (2019) [Hi-Res]

Trumpeter and educator Kenyatta Beasley is pleased to announce release of Frank Foster Songbook by the Kenyatta Beasley Septet. Beasley leads the album’s fiery septet through the compositions of Frank Foster, bringing a burning dynamism to his late mentor’s work. The Frank Foster Songbook was recorded live over the course of two nights at Brooklyn’s Jazz 966 in 2013. Beasley’s septet features Dezron Douglas on bass, Alvester Garnett on drums, Anthony Wonsey on piano, Eric Wyatt and Mark Gross on saxophone, and Vincent Gardner on trombone. The album features special guests Wynton Marsalis, Mark Whitfield, Keith Loftis, and Carla Cook.

The career of Frank Foster, the famed composer, arranger, tenor saxophonist and educator, was shaped by two celebrated stints with the Count Basie Orchestra. The first as a sideman and star soloist (1953-64), the second as leader and key revitalizer of the Basie Band after the Count’s death (1986-95). The countless compositions Foster wrote over his 40+ year career have since become standards of the jazz idiom. Beasley was tasked with the responsibility of narrowing Foster’s life’s work down to the eleven compositions that can be heard on this recording. The impetus of this project was when Beasley was working with students at Ohio State University to write a book to add Foster’s music to the lexicon of written music used in jazz education. After making several trips to Foster’s home towards the end of his life, Beasley decided to shift his focus, for the time being, towards recording this project. Beasley arranged Foster’s tunes for the ensemble heard in the recording, weaving Foster’s arrangement ideas in with his own.