Catalog # Pao 11290. Distributed by Universal Music Group

Billy Drewes – Alto Sax & Clarinet, Jim Rotondi – Trompet & Flügelhorn, 
Ed Neumeister – Trombone, Fritz Pauer – Piano, Peter Herbert – Bass,
Jeff Ballard – Drums


Arranged and Produced by Ed Neumeister
In memory of Fritz Pauer

Celebrating the 100th birthday of the great Billy Strayhorn, composer, arranger, trombonist, Ed Neumeister, releases his latest album with a collection of his arrangements of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s lessor known masterpieces arranged for jazz sextet. Ed Neumeister, who played  with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for over fifteen years, takes the Ellington/Strayhorn evolution as inspiration and adds his personal touch to the arrangements that allows the players to contribute with their own unique voices resulting in a modern creative reading of these half-century old classics.
Included in the collection is the complete Queens Suite, Come Sunday from Black Brown & Beige, DEPK from the Far East Suite, and the Juan Tizol classic Caravan, featuring some of the finest interpreters of creative music today.

1.	Caravan 		(Juan Tizol) 		10:01
2.	Come Sunday 	(Duke Ellington) 	10:48

The Queens Suite (Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn)
       3. Sunset and the Mocking Bird			04:05
       4. Lightning Bugs and Frogs			04:47
       5. Le Sucrier Velours				04:49
       6. The Single Pedal of a Rose			04:39
       7 Northern Lights				03:07
       8. Apes and Peacocks				05:11

From Far East Suite (Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn)
       9. DEPK						07:53

Recorded live December 8, 2010, at Orpheum Graz, by ORF Radio  

Street Date: Digital & Europe November 29, 2016, US Spring 2016

Media Contact:
Greg Pasenko
BluJazz Productions
gregpasenko@blujazz.com

Quote for center panel:
 “Bill Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.” Duke Ellington

Suite Ellington

Reflection is the latest recording from the Ed Neumeister Quartet and features the great Austrian pianist Fritz Pauer and New York stalwarts Drew Gress and John Hollenbeck on bass and drums. We have been together for more than seven years, so this is a “band”. “New Standards”

MeisteroMusic, released last year, was our first recording. It’s no mystery that players get to know each other by playing together, so when the vibe is great from the first note you can imagine how it feels to be playing together over years. All of the music on the CD is original with Drew, Fritz and John contributing one piece each. What’s amazing is that I asked each of them to contribute a piece for the CD. We hadn’t yet played what I recently wrote and I didn’t describe a vibe or mood that I was looking for, but all three pieces fit the CD perfectly. The pieces by Drew, Fritz and John are spread out evenly on the CD and they act as great supporting contrasts to my pieces. The CD was recorded while on tour in Europe, November 2004 and February 2005.

The term reflection has several possible meanings. It can mean Mirror Image, a technique frequently used in music and is incorporated here in the tune Reflection where the 2nd half is a mirror of the 1st half. Watch out Bach. Reflection can also mean Indication (sign or signal). And, reflection can mean consideration or contemplation. Take your pick.

Another working concept of this CD is transparency, which means clearness, simplicity or intelligibility. All cool concepts in music and life.

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Ed Neumeister Quartet - Reflection

New Standards can mean any number of things and that’s why the title was chosen. One of the musical elements the title is intended to portray is the tradition of the jazz standard which, of course, has been a major part of my development as an improvising artist. Here we have “Take the A Train”, “The Peacocks” and “Speak Low”, clearly standards, but I wanted to put my own touch on these tunes. “Take the A Train” has been twisted both rhythmically and harmonically. In “Speak Low” the original four-bar phrases have been stretched into five-bar phrases and the harmonies have nothing (or very little) in common with Kurt Weil’s original harmonies. The form has also been reorganized in that we don’t hear the bridge until after the solo section; each soloist has his own solo form. “The Peacocks”, by Jimmy Rowells, wasn’t rearranged, just interpreted. “Picks and Pans”, by John Scofield, is a tune that we’ve been playing for ten years so, obviously, we like to play it. It should be considered a jazz standard!

Ed Neumeister Quartet - New Standards

"Wake Up Call" 

Ed Neumeister and his NeuHat Ensemble. 

Buy Now at: https://www.edneumeisterstore.com
Read reviews: www.edneumeister.com


1. Birds of Prey        7:58
2. Dog Play              8:33 Featuring Billy Drewes on clarinet
3. New Groove         7:51 Featuring Rich Perry on tenor saxophone
4. Reflection            9:21
5. Deliberation         7:40 
                        Solos: Mark Gross (alto saxophone) & Ed Neumeister (trombone)
6. Locomotion         11:16 Solos: Dick Oatts (tenor saxophone) & Ed Neumeister
7. Processize           8:56 Featuring David Berkman on piano
7. Wake Up Call       5:25

total running time:    67:00

Composed, arranged and conducted by Ed Neumeister

"Wake Up Call" was recorded in New York September 2014 with the NeuHat Ensemble:
Saxes: Mark Gross , Billy Drewes , Dick Oatts , Rich Perry, Adam Kolker
Trumpets: Tony Kadleck, Ron Tooley, Dave Ballou, Jon Owens
Trombones: Keith O’Quinn, Larry Farrell, Marshall Gilkes, David Taylor
Rhythm: David Berkman - pno, Hans Glawischnig - bs, Steve Cardenas - gtr, John Riley - drums, John Hollenbeck - percussion.
Conducted by Ed Neumeister

Produced, mixed & Mastered by Ed Neumeister for MeisteroMusic Productions.
ed@edneumeister.com

Buy Now

NeuHat Ensemble "Wake Up Call"

Credits:
Gary Versace - piano, Drew Gress - bass, 
Tom Rainey - drums, Ed - - - Neumeister - trombone
Composed and arranged by Ed Neumeister
Recorded January 29, 2021 at Brooklyn Recording by Andy Taub assisted by Sam Wahl
Video by Luke Marantz
Mixed and Mastered by Ed Neumeister for MeisteroMusic Productions
Ed Neumeister plays a S.E. Shires 925 Sterling Silver Trombone with a 508 Slide and Warburton - Oviedo 6T mouthpiece.

Cover Art: Giulio Camagni, #4 2020, acrylic on canvas
Graphic Design by Buro Nardin

PR by Jason Paul Harman Byrne at Red Cat Publicity

Funded, in part, by a generous grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Program

Liner Notes:
Ed Neumeister Quartet, What Have I Done?

What Have I Done?

Riverwalk

2a all soundscapes

Ed-N-R-Ingo 1b 2

with: Fritz Pauer - piano, Drew Gress - bass, John Hollenbeck - drums & Ed Neumeister - trombone.

Spring Street

A Walk in the Woods

Ed's new Quartet + 3 album/CD “Covers” will be released August 23, 2024.

The + 3 are represented by Caroline Davis-Flute & Alto Saxophone, Ingrid Laubrock-Soprano & Tenor Saxophones and Billy Drewes-Soprano Sax, Clarinet & Bass Clarinet.

On the Covers album, Ed is joined by some of his favorite collaborators on the planet. This current quartet has been performing together for several years and individually, I’ve been making music with them for decades. Tom Rainey and I go back to the early 80’s. Drew Gress and Gary Versace back to the 90’s. The Great bassist Cameron is featured on 3 swinging tracks.

Covers

Stairway to Heaven

Stairway To Heaven

Ed's new Quartet + 3 album/CD “Covers” will be released August 23, 2024.

On the Covers album, Ed is joined by some of his favorite collaborators on the planet. This current quartet has been performing together for several years and individually, I’ve been making music with them for decades. Tom Rainey and I go back to the early 80’s. Drew Gress and Gary Versace back to the 90’s. The Great bassist Cameron is featured on 3 swinging tracks.

Okay for Now

Okay For Now

The Fool on the Hill

The Fool On The Hill

Blackbird

With A Little Help From My Friends

Dear Prudence

The Last Great American Dynasty

Black Dog

Try A Little Tenderness

Ed's new Quartet + 3 album/CD “Covers” will be released August 23, 2024.

On the Covers album, Ed is joined by some of his favorite collaborators on the planet. This current quartet has been performing together for several years and individually, I’ve been making music with them for decades. Tom Rainey and I go back to the early 80’s. Drew Gress and Gary Versace back to the 90’s.

Rocky Raccoon

Dog Play

Birds Of Prey

Reflection

1. Seven Vignettes for Violin and Piano

Soliloquy For Bass Clarinet

Come Sunday

Caravan

Sunset and the Mocking Bird

Lightning Bugs & Frogs

Le Sucrier Velours

Northern Lights - Apes and Peacocks

Suite Strayhorn - Suite Ellington

Billy Drewes (saxophone, clarinet), Jim Rotondi (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jeff Ballard (drums), Peter Herbert (bass), Fritz Pauer (piano), Ed Neumeister (trombone)

The "Suite Ellington Project" is a tribute to Duke Ellington (1999 – 1974) and Billy Strayhorn, who celebrates his 100th birthday this year (2015). Ellington was a great influence on Neumeister who from 1981 to 1996, was first and solo trombonist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, conducted by Mercer Ellington, Duke's son. Mercer would sometimes give Ed an arrangement from Ellington, an arrangement of the same piece by Strayhorn, some isolated parts and a recording.  "Go figure this out", he would say, "I want to play this." This was a great opportunity for Neumeister to study and analyze the music of these great composers. Ellington was always interested in moving the music to the future. He would constantly rearrange his own pieces. Neumeister embraces this concept by writing new arrangements of these pieces for his Suite Ellington Project.

For "Suite Ellington" Neumeister has arranged lesser-known pieces by Ellington and Strayhorn and put together an outstanding cast of supporting players with Billy Drewes (saxophone, clarinet), Jim Rotondi (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jeff Ballard (drums), Peter Herbert (bass), Fritz Pauer (piano).

Program includes the complete Queens Suite, excerpts from Far East Suite, Black Brown and Beige, Afro Eurasian Suite, and more.

Suite Ellington was recorded live by ORF at the Orpheum Theater in Graz Austria in December 2010.

DEPK

The Single Pedal of a Rose

New Groove

Deliberation

New Standards 192kbs

Picks & Pans

Trees

Osmosis

Coping Song

Take the A Train

The Peacocks

String Quartet #1

Suite Divertissement - II. Sonata Allegro from Symphony No. 13

Trois Pièces pour Quatuor de Trombones - I.  Allegro

String Quartet No. 4 - V. Allegro molto

My Shining Hour

Walking' the Dog

Longing

Smooch

Struggle

Suite Divertissement - V. Mysterioso

Trois Pièces pour Quatuor de Trombones - II. Moderato

Suite Divertissement - III. Trinkle-Tinkle

It Was After Rain That the Angels Came

Yanagumi

Ed Neumeister has composed for classical and jazz ensembles in the US, Europe, South America, Australia and Israel and performed extensively as a trombone soloist throughout the World. As a leader, Neumeister has recorded twelve albums, ranging from large ensembles to small groups to solo trombone. Neumeister’s arrangement for the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992. He recorded multiple albums in Europe, leading large ensembles and small bands; he composed for various jazz ensembles, plus classical chamber pieces and large-scale concert works. 

Neumeister has recently established a new jazz orchestra in New York, the diverse, multi-generational Assembláge, which is the third such large group of his career. Ed Neumeister received a 2020 Composer Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Ed Neumeister

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