Saxophonist George Coleman can be heard in top form on a new recording called Live at Smalls Jazz Club.
On the album, Coleman delivers a set of masterful reworkings of jazz standards backed up by bassist Peter Washington, drummer Joe Farnsworth and pianist Spike Wilner (who’s also the owner of Smalls Jazz Club in New York and president of the SmallsLive Foundation).
“This is one of George Coleman’s best record dates ever,” says Farnsworth. “When two or more people get together that love music as much as George and Spike do, love will be the result.”
“Things just fall into place there with Spike on piano,” says Coleman. “It’s all about the feeling. The support I get from him, Pete and [Farnsworth] — the energy I get from the crowd. It’s a feeling, and the quartet is able to connect things there. It’s all about connection and how you make it. It’s got to be smooth. This quartet allows me to do that.”
While Coleman is perhaps most widely known for his beginnings with blues legends such as B.B. King and Ray Charles and his seminal work alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s, he has remained on the frontline of jazz throughout his career spanning seven decades.
Live at Smalls Jazz Club takes listeners on a journey throughout Coleman’s illustrious career, with tunes by Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra along with several other standards, all played with Coleman’s soulful, bluesy signature style.
Here’s the track listing:
George Coleman’s Live at Smalls Jazz Club is out May 19, 2023, via Cellar Music Group.
