Building on the significant success of their sixth release, ‘Sleight of Hand’ (Whirlwind, 2017), the New York Standards Quartet presents another coruscating showcase of reimagined, classic songs on ‘Heaven Steps to Seven’.
Available on CD and high quality, 180 gram, 12” LP - comes with download code containing the high-res digital album.
Saxophonist Tim Armacost, pianist David Berkman and drummer Gene Jackson present individual arrangements full of characteristic inventiveness; and, for the first time in the studio, they are delighted to document bassist Ugonna Okegwo’s relationship with the band, a regular on their US tours. It’s a recording of remarkable finesse, once again refracting kaleidoscopic colours across old favourites and less-familiar treasures from the jazz heritage. Having played together for so long, Armacost highlights two key facets: “One is to discover a beautiful standard you haven’t heard before; the other is finding something well known, then portraying it differently. So we honour the tradition of this music, representing it authentically, but also creating environments which feel new.”
The breadth of the detailing is remarkable - from Armacost’s vamping, fast-walking-bass take on Leonard Bernstein’s “Tonight” to Gene Jackson’s boisterously arrangement of Cole Porter’s “I Love You”. Recorded off the back of a week-long tour, the first-take immediacy of these eight sparklers is evident.
