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
