Adam Rongo - Tell Your Story (2013)

Young saxophonist Adam Rongo introduces himself to a national audience on the appropriately-titled Tell Your Story, delivering a sparkling debut of straight-ahead post-bop material featuring a seasoned cast of players superbly interpreting a selection of new and exciting cover tunes—all telling a musical story that is unfolding quite nicely. Originally from Essexville, Michigan, and coming from a musical family, Rongo gravitated to the saxophone, studied in Chicago as well as at Michigan State University and learned the jazz ropes from such masters as Dick Oatts, Rob Parton, Tom Garling, Mike Smith and Diego Rivera just to name a few. 

Based in New York where the saxophonist has been performing as a sideman and bandleader, Rongo has established himself as one of the rising young guns in the area's jazz scene performing with some of the finest musicians in the world. Trombonist Michael Dease and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. are just two of the players he has collaborated with and does so again here as part of a core quintet for this album. Eight other players appear as guests bringing the vibraphone, guitar, and baritone sax into the mix. 

Having declared a personal goal of "not just to make my own music flourish, but the music of others...," Rongo draws upon the music of jazz greats like Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Griffin, Jimmy Heath and others to light the fire beginning with Steve Wilson's "Turnin' The Corner" and continues on the following Gene De Paul classic "You Don't Know What Love Is." Wielding the alto saxophone like a wild man, Rongo performs his first of three compositions with the fast-paced "Temporary Paralysis" featuring the great Etienne Charles on trumpet, Behn Gillece on vibes and Rodney Whitaker on bass with solos of their own. 

The soft piece of the set goes to the lovely Johnny Green standard " You're Mine, You " performed in a duet with guitarist Randy Napoleon for one of the memorable tunes of the recording. The exciting original "Doppelganger" captures the sax man's finest performance on the alto as well as featuring Emmet Cohen on excellent piano work. One of the most challenging charts of the album has to be the Dease original "Good & Terrible" showcasing some of Rongo's chops along with fine key work from pianist Miki Hayama and stellar cymbal accents from drummer Owens. The Wager is a hard-driving original falling squarely within the hard bop genre while, "Two Tees" and Carmichael's "Stardust" are traditional in texture. 

The session rounds out with the title track and closes on the energetic Griffin standard "Fifty-Six" capping an attention- grabbing set of splendid jazz. Perhaps little known at this junction in his young career, saxophonist Adam Rongo has one heck of a musical tale to tell on the impressive Tell Your Story and does so with intensity, elegance and grit in delivering a gem of a debut, well done! ~ by Edward Blanco, AAJ. 

D Clef Records, DCR 160, 2013
Recorded 13th July, 2013 at Tedesco Studios, Paramus, New Jersey;
14th July, 2013 at Trading 8's Recording Studios, Paramus, New Jersey 

Musicians:
Adam Rongo - Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Arranger (#2,7,9-11)
Michael Dease - Trombone
Emmet Cohen - Piano
Rodney Whitaker - Bass
Ulysses Owens Jr. - Drums 

Guests:
Anthony Stanco - Trumpet (#1,2,6)
Etienne Charles - Trumpet (#3,5)
Tim Mayer - Tenor Saxophone (#1,2,6)
Tony Lustig - Baritone Saxophone (#1,2,6)
Miki Hayama - Piano (#6)
Behn Gillece - Vibraphone (#3,7,10)
Randy Napoleon - Guitar (#4,8,9), Arranger (#4,8)
Evan Sherman - Drums (#11) 

Tracks:
01. Turnin' The Corner {Steve Wilson} (5:41)
02. You Don't Know What Love Is? {Gene De Paul} (5:12)
03. Temporary Paralysis {Adam Rongo} (6:05)
04. You're Mine, You {Johnny Green} (4:16)
05. Doppelgänger {Adam Rongo} (5:27)
06. Good & Terrible {Michael Dease} (6:12)
07. The Wager {Adam Rongo} (3:43)
08. Two Tees {Jimmy Heath} (4:52)
09. Stardust {Hoagy Carmichael} (4:11)
10. Tell Your Story {Behn Gillece} (4:32)
11. Fifty-Six {Johnny Griffin} (5:52) 

Total Time: 56:26 

Credits:
Producer - Michael Dease
Recording Engineer - Tom Tedesco, Chris Sulit
Mixing, Mastering Engineer, Graphic Design, Layout - Andrew Swift
Photography - D Dipasupil 

Good & Terrible

Michael Dease - Coming Home (2012)

Trombonist Michael Dease's Coming Home is the evolutionary culmination of all of the small group work of which he has been a part. Dease's musical personality reveals itself fully on the disc, one he has populated with a very fine band and thoughtfully composed and selected pieces for that band. Dease's previous work as a leader on Dease Bones (Astrix Media, 2007), Clarity (Blues Back Records, 2008) and Grace (Legacy Jazz Productions, 2011), as well as with multi-reedist Sharel Cassity on Just For You (DW Records, 2009) and Relentless (Legacy Jazz Productions, 2009). Where Curtis Fuller is the patriarch, Wycliffe Gordon the earthy keeper of the flame (and Dease's teacher) and Luis Bonilla the Latin soul of the trombone, Dease is its intellectual heart. Following his fellow Augusta Georgia trombonist teacher to Juilliard, Dease established himself as part of an ambitious group of young musicians who were combining smarts, chops, bandstand and practice and translating that into recordings. Members of this group include Sharel Cassity, trumpeter Carol Morgan, and pianist Orrin Evans. Dease's compositional and performance approaches are ruled by passionate precision. His playing is exact and well-practiced. His tone is expansive and uniform through all registers. These characteristics are demonstrated immediately on the opening tune, "Solid Gold" where Dease shows great velocity in both head and solo playing. He adds mass to this velocity, creating an infectious momentum when playing with a mute as on Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood." Tony Lustig drops in with his tenor saxophone for the piece giving it a throaty presence. Lustig adds foundation to "Good and Terrible" with his crack baritone playing. His solo is at once gentle and virile on this angular, post-bop piece. Alto saxophonist Steve Wilson turns the gas on high, navigating Dease's complex circuitry. Dease rolls up his sleeves and gets his hands dirty on a searing performance of Oscar Peterson's "Blues Etude." While playing with his typical precision in the head, Dease begins to properly slur and wail in his solo, throwing off notes like pale blue sparks. He shares his solo space with bassist Christian McBride who amply demonstrates why he is Christian McBride and no one else. The instructive presence of pianist Renee Rosnes is heard throughout this fine disc as its timekeeper and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. Dease could not have put together a better band for this recording. He has come fully into his own as a leader. ~ by C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz. 

D Clef Records, DCR 157, 2013
Recorded 12th August, 2012 at Alleycat Studios, South Orange, New Jersey 

Musicians:
Michael Dease - Trombone
Steve Wilson - Alto Saxophone
Renee Rosnes - Piano
Christian McBride - Bass
Ulysses Owens, Jr. - Drums
Eric Alexander - Tenor Saxophone (#11)
Tony Lustig - Tenor Sax (#4), Baritone Sax (#5)
Andrew Swift - Percussion (#10) 

Tracks:
01. Solid Gold {Michael Dease} (6:58)
02. Motherland {Michael Dease} (5:46)
03. Blues Etude {Oscar Peterson} (7:46)
04. In A Sentimental Mood {Duke Ellington; Arr. Michael Dease} (4:56)
05. Good & Terrible {Michael Dease} (7:01)
06. Lifewish {Renee Rosnes} (7:42)
07. The Shade Of The Cedar Tree {Christian McBride} (6:42)
08. Just In Time {Jule Styne} (3:41)
09. All Heath {Michael Dease} (6:30)
10. The Release {Michael Dease} (5:41)
11. Take It To The Ozone {Freddie Hubbard} (6:18) 

Total Time: 69:05 

Credits:
Producer - Michael Dease
Producer [Assistant], Mixing, Mastering, Graphic Design, Layout - Andrew Swift
Producer [Assistant] - Ulysses Owens Jr.
Engineer - John Lee
Photography [Cover] - Ernest Gregory
Photography [Inside] - Simon Yu
Liner Notes - Christian McBride 

Coming Home EPK