Saxophonist Tim Green’s New Album, “Songs From This Season” Is Available NOW

Whether
your source is the Bible or the Byrds, the notion is the same: “To
everything there is a season.” On his debut as a leader, Songs From This
Season, alto saxophonist and composer Tim Green recounts the many
seasons of his own life on a stylistically diverse set featuring a host
of established and rising jazz stars.

Released via Green’s own
True Melody Music label, Songs From This Season surveys a broad swath of
the jazz landscape, from deftly swinging hard bop to fluid modernity to
soulful gospel. The impressive list of sidemen on the session includes
pianist Orrin Evans, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, guitarist Gilad
Hekselman, drummers Rodney Green andObed Calvaire, and several of
Green’s collaborators in the thriving Baltimore/Washington D.C. jazz
scene.

The disc marks not only the emergence of a strong new
voice on the saxophone, already established by Green’s second-place
showing in the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone
Competition, but of a confident and versatile composer. Each piece on
the album, Green says, reflects a certain period in his life and the
emotion attached to it.

“I can never force a piece of music, ” he explains. “It has to be inspired by a mood or emotion I’m feeling at that moment.”

While
his compositions display the influence of many different genres, the
common thread among them is a direct emotionality, a vivid communication
with the listener. This quality was inspired by some of Green’s
mentors, most prominently Dick Oatts, with whom he studied at the
Manhattan School of Music, and Terence Blanchard, one of the guiding
lights of the Monk Institute.

“Dick Oatts really introduced me to
writing, ” Green says, “and Terence Blanchard encouraged me to not just
write music but to write an actual song. So many jazz records are just
about the solos, but I wanted mine to be more about the songs and the
melodies.”

That determination is evident from the outset,
beginning with the lyrically spiritual opener “Psalm 1, ” which Green
describes as “a prayer or a blessing over the whole album.” The Biblical
theme continues into “Siloam, ” a steely 12-bar blues in 10/4 featuring
an inspired solo by Hekselman. Another reference to the Good Book can
be found in “Philippians4:13, ” a resolute ballad inspired by a
particularly challenging period in Green’s life, one in which the
titular scripture provided solace.

While Green was raised in the
church, gospel was not a significant aspect of his musical upbringing.
He grew up in Baltimore surrounded by music; his father and uncle are
singers and his older brother was a trumpet player who Green emulated.
“My brother was one of my first influences because I just wanted to be
around him and do whatever he was doing.”

Still, a song like
“Shift” shows a distinct gospel influence, albeit one that entered
Green’s vocabulary later in his career. Upon moving to New York to study
at the Manhattan School, he was enlisted by fellow Baltimorean Marvin
Thompson for his Mo’Horns brass section, which backed gospel stars like
Fred Hammond and Richard Smallwood. “I never planned on playing gospel
music, ” Green admits. “But all of a sudden I was playing with all of
these gospel artists and it started having an influence on my music.”

“Shift”
takes the most traditional approach to that influence, with New York
gospel organist Loren Dawson, Baltimore electric bassist Adam Jonson and
vocalists Micah Smith andIyana Wakefield joining in.

On
“Dedication, ” Green pays homage to two more of his influences, pianists
Mulgrew Miller (one of Green’s mentors) and Kenny Kirkland. Miller has
called Green “a talented, committed, and accomplished young artist. And
most importantly to me, he has a song in his heart.” The endorsement of
such elders spotlights Green’s role as a torchbearer for the modern jazz
tradition.

Through Miller, Green has recently come under the
wing of one of his idols, saxophonist Kenny Garrett. On the phone with
Miller one day, Green was shocked when the pianist handed the phone over
to Garrett out of the blue. “I was really blown away because he’s a big
hero of mine, ” Green recalls. “Since then he’s been really supportive
and just lets me know he’s on my side. He wants me to go all the way,
and that’s really encouraging to me.”

More recently, Green has
also gotten bandstand endorsements with several heavy hitters who have
called upon him as a sideman. The list includes Miller, but also bassist
Christian McBride, pianist Eric Reed, and the Carl Allen/Rodney
Whitaker group.

While his own compositions are the focus of the
album, Green also revisits seasons connected to songs by his forebears.
He tackles Wayne Shorter’s burning “Pinocchio” in a trio format with
Kris Funn and Rodney Green, and shows his more tender side on Billie
Holiday’s classic “Don’t Explain.” As Green explains, “I wanted to put
one standard on the album, and that was one that I could really relate
to in terms of the words and the melody at the time.”

From the
chilled-out haze of “ChiTown, ” dedicated to Green’s wife, to the
intense, rock-influenced “Time For Liberation, ” inspired by director
Spike Lee, to the elegiac “Lost Souls, ”Songs From This Season explores
the many moods and emotions of a lifetime, ending with the aptly-named
“Hope.” There couldn’t be a more appropriate note on which to conclude
this promising and artful debut.

Release Date: February 12, 2013

Label: True Melody Music

Featuring: Orrin Evans, Warren Wolf, Gilad Hekselman, Rodney Green and Obed Calvaire, Among Others

First Runner-Up in the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition