Trumpeter Sean Jones Releases “No Need For Words” on May 24th, 2011

Sean Jones Releases “No Need For Words” On MAY 24 – MACK AVENUE RECORDS

LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE STREAMING TRACKS FROM NO NEED FOR WORDS

As
we’ve all been told, birds do it, bees do it – but anyone who’s
actually gone to the trouble of falling in love knows that it’s a lot
more complicated when humans get involved. Which can make the reality of
relationships a bit disappointing for those weaned on a steady diet of
radio-friendly love songs, but can also provide a much richer experience
than it’s possible to describe in a couple of verses and a chorus.

As has become evident over the course of his five previous albums, Sean Jones is particularly adept at plumbing complex emotional depths through his trumpet playing and composing.

So
when he set his mind to recording a set of love songs, it should come
as no surprise that he delved into the evocative nuances of love rather
than the more obvious boys-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl generalities.

“I
didn’t want to do your typical love songs record that just deals with
one aspect of love,” Jones explains. “Not just the love from a man to a
woman or the positive emotional side of falling in love. I wanted to do
an album that really dealt with a few different shades of love.”

2010
was certainly a year of change for the trumpeter. In the spring he
stepped down from his position as Lead Trumpeter of Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, a position that Jones held for over half a decade. Additionally, he formed a new relationship with Marcus Miller, joining the bassist this past summer for a European tour.

Now, in 2011, the title of Jones’ sixth CD for Mack Avenue, No Need For Words, sums
up his overall approach. This is music that cuts straight to the
emotional heart, whether dealing with passion, sensuality, parental
nurturing, or spiritual forgiveness. Regardless of the particular
feeling involved, Jones and his band communicate directly and movingly.

“It’s
definitely an emotional statement,” Jones says. “I tried to make sure
that the melodies I created and the vibe that I put on each particular
tune really carried the message rather than having it expressed
verbatim.”

The
title track itself, however, refers specifically to one aspect of love
in which the verbal becomes unnecessary: the physical, carnal side,
represented by some of Jones’ most sensual playing, his horn virtually
reaching out of the speakers to lower the blinds and light the candles
in the room where you listen.

“Look
and See”, on the other hand, opens the album with a bright, engaging
fanfare played by Jones and his longtime frontline partner, alto
saxophonist Brian Hogans. The tune represents a far less
intimate, more universal brand of love, something that Jones found
missing from the repertoire as he prepared the album.

“I
was thinking about the universality of love while we were on tour in
Russia,” Jones recalls, “and I started asking people, ‘What do you think
about love?’ One young lady said, ‘Love is all around you. All you have
to do is look and see.’ I immediately was inspired and started to hear
music.”

That
sort of inspiration is key to Jones’ creative process. Despite his
penchant for creating albums that revolve around a central theme, those
concepts arise out of the music he writes, not vice versa. “I allow the
music to dictate what kind of album I’m going to put out,” he says. “I
don’t like to write music that’s contrived. For the past couple of years
I’ve really been dealing with different types of love, so that’s the
music that’s been speaking to me lately.”

Jones’
parents have both figured into that line of thinking. The gorgeous
melody of the soulful “Momma” is such that, despite the album title,
listeners may find themselves searching their memories for a forgotten
lyric; it’s the type of song that instantly insinuates itself into the
consciousness, seeming as familiar as a half-forgotten song. “Lately
I’ve been seeing how my mother is getting older and I just want to make
sure that she knows I love her and I appreciate what she’s given to me,”
Jones says. “She’s not old by any means, but I wanted to give her
flowers while she’s living.”

With
a darker but ultimately redemptive view of the parent-child
relationship, the gospel-inflected “Forgiveness (Release)” deals with
the composer’s long-held feelings toward his father. “‘Forgiveness’ is
specifically about letting go of the anger I had harbored up towards my
father. It wasn’t necessarily about forgiving him or accepting his
apology as much as it was about letting the situation go. I think that’s
really what forgiveness is about, getting rid of the actual happening
of the event so that you can move on with your life.”

Anger
also enters into romantic relationships, expressed in the
electrically-charged “Love’s Fury”, which features guitarist Matt
Stevens responding to Jones’ request for a savage growl. “I told him, ‘I
want it to sound like some kind of animal is going to come through the
speakers and rip you apart.’ I tried to make it sound as nasty and evil
as I possibly could.”

The
disjointed, angular stop-start of “Touch and Go” depicts the
back-and-forth, love-hate, on-again/off-again aspect of many
relationships, while Hogans’ “Obsession (Cloud Nine)” reflects just what
the title suggests, the all-consuming nature of love. But Jones’ view
of love isn’t all so jaded; “Olive Juice”, driven by Khalil Kwame Bell’s
churning percussion, was inspired by a friend’s newfound love and takes
its title teasingly from an episode of Friends.

Despite the multifarious views of amour represented on No Need For Words, an
entirely different type of chemistry runs throughout the album – that
between Jones and his bandmates, the core of whom are together for their
fourth CD in five years. Jones assembled the rhythm section for his
2006 album Roots, after observing the fact that Miles Davis’
groups were comprised not of the legendary trumpeter’s friends but from
the strongest available talent.

“Miles didn’t really hire his boys,” Jones says, who
plans to tour with Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller and Wayne Shorter in
Europe this summer, a direct nod to the Miles Davis legacy. “Miles
just went out and got the people he thought would fit best together to
create something new. I think it’s easy to hire people that you’re
comfortable with: we know them, we know they can play, we’ll know
they’ll get it done. But I tried to pick people who I’d played with but
didn’t necessarily know all that well, bring them together and see what
kind of sound came up. And the rhythm section that came out of that is
very unique.”

That section consists of Philadelphia-based pianist Orrin Evans, whose recent projects include his raucous Captain Black Big Band and the collective group “Tarbaby”; bassist Luques Curtis, who co-leads a Latin-oriented quartet with his pianist brother Zaccai; and Miami-born drummer Obed Calvaire, who has also performed with Wynton Marsalis, Bobby Watson, Lizz Wright and Steve Turre.

No
matter what angle they take on the subject, Jones and company’s blazing
interactions reveals what any jazz fan knows is the greatest love of
all: that between an artist and his music. As Jones says, “I like to
play from the heart and not the head.

Sean Jones · No Need For Words

Mack Avenue Records · Release Date: May 24, 2011

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