Gary Bartz & Maisha - Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: ND7
Barcode: 0745125277974
Release Date: 07 Oct 2022
Genre: Funk / Jazz

Orchestrated by Gilles Peterson following their performances together at his We Out Here festival, legendary jazz saxophonist Gary Bartz and ensemble Maisha have recorded for Night Dreamer’s third ‘Direct To Disc’ session.

Gary Bartz, a hero of the US jazz scene, has quite a musical resume; his informative years were spent performing with Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers after studying at the Juilliard Conservatory of Music. He recorded for key labels such as Milestone and Prestige and became a luminary of the 1970s fusion movement. Today he remains a formidable talent at the age of 79.

Maisha, a London-based, six-piece led by drummer Jake Long alongside the electric guitar of Shirley Tetteh; keyboardist Al MacSween; Axel Kaner-Lidstrom on trumpet; bass player Twm Dylan and Tim Doyle on percussion. The band debuted in 2018 with an EP for Jazz Re:freshed in 2016 before being snapped up by Gilles Peterson for their highly regarded album debut ‘There is a Place’ of 2018.

During Maisha’s European tour, Gary Bartz flew in from his native city of Maryland, Baltimore to record together (this would culminate, only a few weeks later, in their show for the prestigious London Jazz Festival, hosted at one of the city’s most loved and respected music venues: the Royal Festival Hall). Neither had recorded before in the direct-to-disc tradition and both rose to the idea immediately, relishing the challenge of doing so.

The session became a forum of ideas; the members of Maisha contributing melody, rhythm and phrasing next to the accomplished skill of Bartz. With his 50 years of musical experience ahead of the band, the musical synergy captured between the Blue Note artist and the young sextet has been captured in this unique and stirring recording.

The album features three tracks that were sketched, arranged and performed within the recording session alongside alternative versions two of Bartz’s original compositions from the early ’70s: the haunting ‘Uhuru Sasa’ and the spiralling jazz-funk of his ‘Dr Follows Dance’

TRACKLISTING
A1. Harlem to Haarlem
A2. The Stank
B1. Leta's Dance
B2. Uhuru Sasa (ND D2D Version)
B3. Dr Follows Dance (ND D2D Version)

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