Rush Hour (Joe Lovano album)
Encyclopedia
Rush Hour is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Joe Lovano
featuring an orchestra arranged and conducted by Gunther Schuller
recorded in 1994 and released on the Blue Note
label.
awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This is one of the most exciting jazz releases of 1995... on the basis of this date alone, Lovano must rank as one of the top tenors of the 1990s".
Joe Lovano
Joseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
featuring an orchestra arranged and conducted by Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
recorded in 1994 and released on the Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
label.
Reception
The Allmusic review by Scott YanowScott Yanow
Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...
awarded the album 4½ stars stating "This is one of the most exciting jazz releases of 1995... on the basis of this date alone, Lovano must rank as one of the top tenors of the 1990s".
Track listing
- All compositions by Joe Lovano except as indicated
- "Prelude to a KissPrelude to a Kiss (song)"Prelude to a Kiss" is a 1938 song composed by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, with lyrics by Irving Gordon.In 1989, saxophonist Nelson Rangell covered the song from his self-titled album.-Notable Recordings:...
" (Duke EllingtonDuke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Irving GordonIrving GordonIrving Gordon was an American songwriter.-Biography:Irving Gordon was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a child, he studied violin, and after attending public schools in New York City, went to work in the Catskill Mountains at some of the resort hotels in the area...
, Irving MillsIrving MillsIrving Mills was a jazz music publisher, also known by the name of "Joe Primrose."Mills was born to Jewish parents in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919...
) - 3:58 - "Peggy's Blue Skylight" (Charles MingusCharles MingusCharles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
) - 3:33 - "Wildcat" - 2:57
- "Angel Eyes" (Earl Brent, Matt DennisMatt DennisMatt Dennis was a singer, pianist, bandleader, arranger, and writer of music for popular music songs.He was born in Seattle, Washington. His mother was a violinist and his father a singer, and the family was in vaudeville, so he was early exposed to music. In 1933 he joined Horace Heidt's...
) - 5:09 - "Rush Hour On 23rd Street" (Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
) - 8:53 - "Crespuscle With Nellie" (Thelonious MonkThelonious MonkThelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
) - 5:43 - "Lament For M" (Schuller) - 5:41
- "Topsy Turvy" - 4:27
- "The Love I Long For" (Howard DietzHoward DietzHoward Dietz was an American publicist, lyricist, and librettist.-Biography:Dietz was born in New York City and studied journalism at Columbia University...
, Vernon DukeVernon DukeVernon Duke was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y...
) - 3:11 - "Juniper's Garden" - 2:40
- "Kathline Gray" (Ornette ColemanOrnette ColemanOrnette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
) - 3:26 - "Headin' Out Movin' In" (Schuller) - 11:13
- "Chelsea BridgeChelsea Bridge (song)"Chelsea Bridge" is a jazz standard written by Billy Strayhorn. The song has been recorded by Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Wynton Marsalis, Keith Jarrett, Lew Tabackin, Vince Guaraldi, and Tony Bennett, among many others...
" (Billy StrayhornBilly StrayhornWilliam Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...
) - 3:41
- "Prelude to a Kiss
Personnel
- Joe LovanoJoe LovanoJoseph Salvatore "Joe" Lovano is a post bop jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Since the late 1980s, Lovano has been one of the world's premiere tenor saxophone players, earning a Grammy award and several nods on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls...
– tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, soprano saxophoneSoprano saxophoneThe soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
, bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, arrangerArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents... - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
– arranger - Jack WalrathJack WalrathJack Walrath is an American post-bop jazz trumpeter and musical arranger known for his work with Ray Charles, Gary Peacock, Charles Mingus and Glenn Ferris, among others....
– trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air... - David Taylor – bass trombone, tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- John ClarkJohn Clark (musician)John Clark is an American jazz horn player and composer.-Biography:John Clark was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Rochester, New York. His father was William H. Clark, a professor of German and dean of education at the University of Rochester, and his mother was Margaret Garmey. He and his four...
– French horn - Richard Oatts – fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, tenor saxophone - Ed SchullerEd SchullerEdwin G. Schuller is an American jazz bassist and composer.Schuller was born in New York City; his father is Gunther Schuller and his younger brother is drummer George Schuller. Schuller learned clarinet and guitar as a child and switched to bass at age 15; that same year he had his first...
, Mark HeliasMark HeliasMark Helias is an American jazz double bass player and composer born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.He did not begin playing the double bass until the age of 20, graduating from Yale University's School of Music with a Masters degree in 1976. He has also studied at Rutgers University...
– bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2... - George SchullerGeorge SchullerGeorge Schuller is an American jazz drummer. He is the son of composer Gunther Schuller.He was born in New York City and raised in Boston, graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music with a BA in jazz performance in 1982. He then played locally with Herb Pomeroy, Ran Blake, George...
– drums - James ChirilloJames ChirilloJames Louis Chirillo is an American jazz guitarist, jazz banjoist, composer, arranger, and band leader...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Judi SilvanoJudi SilvanoJudi Silvano, born 1951, is a jazz singer and composer. A native of Philadelphia, her singing style bears similarity to Norwegian jazz singer Karin Krog. She is a scholar of Sheila Jordan and of Jeanne Lee. Her husband is tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano....
– vocals