jazz&people presents

Dmitry BAEVSKY & Jeb PATTON

''We Two"

jazz&people is proud to present ''We Two'', the very first duo album by two great jazz musicians: saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky and Jeb Patton.

A story of friendship is behind this album.

A story of friendship resulting from a spirit of community inspired by music.

Dmitry Baevsky and Jeb Patton have known each other for quite a while. They met years ago in New York, driven by the same desire to learn the language of jazz and to make it their idiom of predilection. Sharing the same admiration for their predecessors and wanting to cross paths with them in order to learn from the source, striving to integrate all the subtlety of modern jazz in their means of expression, they rubbed shoulders at the same places, took part in the same jam sessions, worked in the same clubs at the very heart of the New York club scene.

Over the years, their paths kept crossing and as their careers progressed, the two musicians developed an understanding and a sense of comaraderie that translated naturally into their music, driven by a shared respect for jazz and a ceaseless striving for excellency. After two small-group recordings, « Down With It » in 2010 (with bassist David Wong, drummer Jason Brown and invited guest trumpet player Jeremy Pelt) and « The Day After » in 2017 (in a quartet setting with David Wong and Joe Strasser on drums), Dmitry Baevsky suggested to Jeb Patton that they make a recording in the simplest possible setting : a duo.

What better way for these two musicians to reveal their entente than in a tête-à-tête? What better context than a one-on-one, in which they elaborate the music together, privileging careful listening to one another other, a dialogue, a complementarity? The complicity is evident between Jeb Patton's elegant and articulated piano playing and Dmitry Baevsky's vivid, precise and lyrical alto saxophone, each supporting the other with a constant presence, both profiting from unfailing support to deploy the full range of their expression. Rarely have two musicians given the impression of making their artistic proximity so manifest.

Without gimmicks and in a relaxed state of mind, the two musicians do what they do best : improvise on standards. Carefully avoiding tunes that have been heard a little too often, Dmity Baevsky has chosen a collection of rare standards and tunes composed by jazz giants, which adds an additional charm to the quality of their inspiration : the one of discovery. From Duke Ellington to Jimmy Heath, from Horace Silver to Charlie Parker or McCoy Tyner (and a nod by Baevsky to Sonny Rollins), the compositions fall within the timeless language of modern jazz, without forgetting the spirit of the blues, as highlighted by a song that comes from Ray Charles repertoire.

In order to capture in the best possible way the perfect complicity between these two protagonists, the album was recorded in a historic jazz recording studio in France, the "Studio Gil Evans" built in the Maison de la Culture of Amiens. Other than the quality of the recording studio's Steinway piano, the acoustics of the room allowed the two musicians to record side by side, as if playing on a stage, without screens or headphones, thanks to the science of the recording engineer Philippe Teissier du Cros. The result is an album recorded as closely as possible to the music, which captures the depth of the piano and the texture of the saxophone, the respiration of the music and all the sparks of their inspiration.

" Between them, Dmitry & Jeb create thrilling jazz, nourished by the great history of adventurous swing. '' (Culture Jazz)

The musicians :

Dmitry Baevsky (born in 1976) : a native of Saint Petersburg, son of a writer and a translator, he left Russia to hone his craft and to embark on the adventure of the New York jazz scene at the age of 19. His virtuosity, his assimilation of bebop, his mastery of all tempos, rapidly made him one of the most brilliant saxophonists of his generation. In 2005, he recorded his first album, accompanied by two giants, the pianist Cedar Walton and the drummer Jimmy Cobb. Since then he has made a series of heralded albums with musicians such as the guitarist Peter Bernstein, the trumpet player Jeremy Pelt, the guitarist Joe Cohn and the pianist David Hazeltine. He is achieving a career on an international scale, regularly performing in Europe as well as in New York jazz clubs.

'' Listen to a few notes on any Dmitry Baevsky recording and you immediately will hear his distinct musical voice. '' (Hot House)

'' Dmitry Baevsky is a mind-blower, a major new alto saxophonist. '' (Stereophile)

'' Baevsky has chops that make other alto players consider finding another town. '' (JazzTimes)

Jeb Patton (born in 1974) : a graduate of Duke University, where he studied with Paul Jeffrey (Thelonious Monk's last saxophonist), he was a diligent student at Queens College of a heralded master of the piano, Sir Roland Hanna (1932-2002), from whom he assimilated the entire tradition of jazz, and of saxophonist Jimmy Heath, who, after having been his professor, hired him for his different groups such as the Heath Brothers with his brothers Percy (acoustic bassist) and Tootie (drummer), the Jimmy Heath’s Generations Quintet, as well as the Jimmy Heath Big Band, with which Patton performed often in the United States and throughout the world. Creator of two albums under his own name, Jeb collaborates with artists such as the saxophonist Charles McPherson, the singer Roberta Gambarini, brothers Peter and Will Anderson, drummer Rodney Green, and plays regularly in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the house big-band of the Village Vanguard.

"A highly personal lyricism and a sense of swing that invigorates each of his interpretations." (Jazz Magazine)

"Patton is a player of great expression, bringing to the surface every little vignette that gives a song its depth and character." (All About Jazz)

"Jeb Patton is one of the most promising jazz musicians of his generation." (All Music Guide)

L’album

1. Swingin' the Samba (Horace Silver)

2. Something for Sonny (Dmitry Baevsky)

3. Inception (McCoy Tyner)

4. Le Sucrier Velours (Duke Ellington)

5. All Through the Night (Cole Porter)

6. Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’ (Joe Greene)

7. Fools Rush In (Rube Bloom)

8. The Serpent’s Tooth (Jimmy Heath)

9. Quasimodo (Charlie Parker)

10. You'd Be So Easy to Love (Cole Porter)

Dmitry Baevsky, alto saxophone

Jeb Patton, piano

recorded on march 27th 2018 at ''Gil Evans'' studio in Amiens, France

Photos © Whitney Heard

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Dmitry Baevsky & Jeb Patton ''We Two"

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