When you hear the term "walking bass" in jazz or blues style music you usually think of fingers strolling across the fret-board of an acoustic or electric bass guitar. Listen closely to the B3 style of Rhoda Scott, the legendary American born Jazz keyboardist and you'll get a very different visual. It's her feet do all the walking. "It's something to see... somewhat akin to flying a helicopter... with every extremity dedicated to a different instrument!" says Russell Bond, who recently engineered her latest CD project "From C to Shinning C" in Studio A. "With just her and (drummer) Lucien, they sound like a complete jazz quartet, complete with rhythm guitar and bass".
Born in the States, Rhoda moved to France more than 30 years ago, and has been instrumental in helping instill a deep American Jazz consciousness throughout Europe, where she enjoys a continually growing and fiercely devoted following.
Hammond B3 aficionado Pete Fallico is the person responsible for bringing Rhoda to Northern California for a brief yet successful tour of Northern California this past March, and arranged for some well seasoned players to join Rhoda in the studio. Rhoda is not new to the studio, with over 50 albums in her discography, so it was no sweat to take a rare day off from the tour to record 50 minutes of fantastic, traditional, B3 style jazz!
Joining Rhoda in our Studio A were two legendary saxophonists, Plas Johnson and Red Holloway. Rhoda had worked with these two longtime friends and musical cohorts, individually, in the past and jumped at the chance to bring them both in together on this session.
Plas Johnson may be best recognized for his sultry contribution to Henry Mancini's original theme for the Pink Panther movies, though his impressive career has seen him working with the ultimate "who's-who" list; Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and Sarah Vaughan.
Red Holloway's list of "who's-who" is equally as impressive having played with Jazz and Blues legends Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, Lionel Hampton, Jack McDuff, Billie Holiday, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and a long list of others.
Each contributed original composition to the playlist; Red Holloway's "Waitin' for the Plane", written en-route to the gig, and Plas Johnson's "Reveries", written during the to groups short lunch break.
Rhoda's drummer, French born Lucien Dobat, has been touring with her for a while now and probably knows Rhoda's style better than anyone. His incredible sense of dynamics and rhythmic artistry makes him a natural choice to compliment Rhoda's prowess.
Check out the LIVE fade at the end of "Monday Monday" as an example of Lucien's fantastic touch!.
Bay Area jazz guitarist Carl Lockett sat in on guitar for this quickie get together in the Studio and added his tasteful touch on rhythm and solo guitar for most of the album's 9 songs.
Carl is another well respected musician in the jazz community, having performed with Chuck Mangione, Jimmy Smith, Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff, Merl Saunders & David Crosby, to name a few. A perfect compliment to the Rhoda/Lucien machine
It's an amazing thing to witness musicians this proficient gather, unrehearsed, and produce music this cohesive. A joy to see and hear.
"From C to Shinning C" is now available at cdbaby.com or through Doodlin Records. Give it a listen!
(Of course, its also available at the iTunes Music Store.)
Lucien Dobat, Plas Johnson, Rhoda Scott, Red Holloway, Carl Lockett
(Cheezin' in the back row are producer Pete Fallico and Annex owner/engineer Russell Bond)
For more info about these incredible players, visit their websites at:
Rhoda Scott: rhodascott.com |
Plas Johnson: plasjohnson.com |
Red Holloway: redholloway.com