Double bassist Dave Green has been a main stay and leading figure on the European Jazz Scene for an incredible six decades, from early adventures with childhood friend, Rolling Stones drummer, the late Charlie Watts, through working with so many of the great names at the very vanguard of the jazz movement on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the sixties and into the seventies including Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, Stan Tracey, Coleman Hawkins, Don Rendell and Ian Carr, and Michael Garrick. As a long-time member of Humphrey Lyttleton's band, whilst also working successfully on the improvised jazz scene with luminaries such as the late John Stevens and Lol Coxhill, Dave Green has defied categorisation seeing the essence all styles of the music as the eclectic spark of creativity 'in the moment'. This approach has born fruits with his own musical projects, be-it in his band Fingers featuring Garrick and Coxhill with drummer Alan Jackson, to his present Trio of master improvisors with saxophonist Iain Dixon and drummer Gene Calderazzo. This present album, RAISE FOUR, came about through an invitation by radio presenter and producer Jez Nelson to put a project together a project for Jazz On 3. Typically, Dave went for the musical jugular, pairing his Trio, featuring Dixon and Calderazzo, with the great improvising saxophonist Evan Parker. "This album captures a moment in time when my trio of Iain Dixon and Gene Calderazzo got together with the giant of improvised music Evan Parker. It was a very challenging prospect but ultimately very rewarding and an unforgettably joyful experience." Jazz in such hands is unlikely to create nothing less than the epitome of Jazz as an improvised music. The set of music draws from purely improvised free composition through to the compositions of Thelonious Monk and an exquisite ballad by Billy Strayhorn. Although it would be had to equate the music with the leadership of anyone other than Dave Green, the music successfully flows freely and inspiringly between all the participants achieving a musical conversation of the highest order. Trio Records is very proud to release Raise Four; a unique document of music by Dave Green who has typically defied genre specifics whilst creating a set of music with his musical comrades that defines the very essence of Jazz Music.
