An exciting recording of swinging straight-ahead jazz played by an impressive quintet headed by jazz drummer N. Glenn Davis, featuring alto saxophone legend Phil Woods on several tunes. Also features premier NYC pianist Mark Soskin (15 years with Sonny Rollins), bassist Dean Johnson (10 years with Gerry Mulligan), Jack Schantz (recorded with Oscar Peterson and soloist with Woody Herman), and exciting young saxophonist Dave Sterner.
MUSICIANS:
N. Glenn Davis: drums
Phil Woods: alto sax (tracks 1, 4 & 6)
Dave Sterner: alto & soprano sax
Jack Schantz: trumpet & flugelhorn
Mark Soskin: piano
Dean Johnson: acoustic bass
Artist(s)/Title:
N. Glenn Davis Quintet "Come Right In" with special guest Phil Woods
Glenn Davis, like many jazz musicians, has been playing professionally for decades, though it
was September 2007 before he released his debut CD as a leader A Different View (also on
Jazzed Media). Beginning in the 1970s, Glenn spent an extended period playing in the
Northeast, but he returned home to Cleveland, Ohio, where he now teaches music, composes
and performs.
His first Jazzed Media CD featured several fine musicians with whom he gigs locally. For his
second release, Glenn has a new mix of instrumentalists, except for alto and soprano
saxophonist Dave Sterner, a member of Ernie Krivda's Fat Tuesday Big Band and himself a band
leader. Trumpeter and flugelhornist Jack Schantz, a veteran of the ghost bands of Tommy
Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Woody Herman, teaches at the University of Akron and
is the artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. He has appeared on a number of CDs,
including An Oscar Peterson Christmas. Glenn was familiar with pianist Mark Soskin from his
many recordings as a sideman with Sonny Rollins and finally met him when he played
Nighttown in Cleveland with Jamey Haddad. Davis knew bassist Dean Johnson from their
days playing together at Berklee. Johnson spent over a decade with Gerry Mulligan's last
quartet; he has long been in-demand as a free lancer in New York City, having recorded with
vocalists Jackie Cain & Roy Kral, Roseanna Vitro and Carla White.
Glenn was very pleased with the results of the recording session, as were his fellow musicians.
Phil Woods added, "I had a ball doing this one for Mr. Graham Carter and his Jazzed Media label, the last of the honest, independent record companies run by a man who LOVES jazz!!"
What more can a jazz fan ask for?
-Ken Dryden
Ken is a regular contributor to All Music Guide, All About Jazz New York, Coda and Hot House.
