(Straight-ahead jazz / Post-Bop) Paul Gormley - I'm walkin' - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

I'm Walkin' is my contribution to the rich legacy of jazz trios....piano, bass, and drums. We're 3 twenty- first century musicians offering our interpretation of this classic format. We're steeped in the heritage of the great trios. Swinging trios: Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, The Three Sounds, Les McCann, Victor Feldman. Introspective trios. Bill Evans, Chick Corea, and Ahmad Jamal. Trio's can be led by bassists or drummers: Shelly Mann, Ray Brown, Roy Haynes. The list could go for pages. These trios helped form my fundamental concepts of jazz. These concepts are alive in this CD.
We're 3 musicians interacting together in one room. These are complete takes. There's no layering-overdubbing, punch-in corrections, drum machines, pitch correction, or editing several takes together to make one complete song. Eight swingin' tunes, that don't require listeners to have a textbook to understand what's being played. Some might call this way of making music old school. I say good school!
Much credit for this project must go to Llew Matthews and Jake Reed. Their inspiration is everywhere, but here is some special credit. The arrangement of "Road Song" is all Llew. I suggested a little gospel feel for "Gravy Waltz". Llew's creativity gave us the cool intro that we also used as an interlude. Note Jake's cool brush work on that interlude. Cubano Chant features some call- piano- and response-bass and drums. Jake came up with the melody drums that worked perfectly with my bass part. He plays a terrific solo on this too. I love playing with these guys. A few words about the song "I'm Walkin'". In this case walkin' refers to the type of bass line (quarter notes) that I'm playing. My solo is a walking bass solo with some Ray Brown "Bucket-a-Dung" riffs added for extra color. You'll hear it.
As producer I pick the tunes, call the keys and tempos, and set a general direction for feel and solo order. Maybe most important is finding players who think and feel the music the same way. I think that is evident here. I want these artists to have the freedom to play what they feel which allows for some inspired playing. This magical interaction is a major reason we become musicians. We live for these moments. I like to say when these moments happen that "I'm sure glad I became a musician". Recording I'm Walkin' was wonderful fun for us as players. I think you'll hear that and we hope as listeners you'll share in the fun.

Paul Gormley - Bass
Llew Matthews - Piano
Jake Reed - Drums