featuring
Sheryl Bailey - GuitarJim Ridl - Piano
Gary Wang - Bass
Joe Strasser- Drums
For All Those Living, the latest release from Sheryl Bailey, debuts the versatile virtuoso guitarist’s new working quartet featuring pianist Jim Ridl, bassist Gary Wang and drummer Shingo Okudaira. The followup to her critically acclaimed big band tribute to the late Emily Remler, A New Promise, For All Those Living is Sheryl‘s first recorded outing leading a group with traditional piano, bass and drum accompaniment. Inspired by the classic recordings of Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio, Bailey, dubbed “a sizzling guitar goddess” by Elliot Simon in AllAboutJazz, displays a somewhat more refined approach to her instrument here without sacrificing the distinctive originality that she has become known for as leader the Sheryl Bailey 3, unquestionably of one of jazz’s edgier power trios.
Cited by Vintage Guitar magazine as “one of the top players in an emerging generation of guitar players,” Bailey, in the decade and a half since taking third place in the 1995 Thelonious Monk International Guitar Competition, has proven herself to be a compelling instrumentalist in a variety of settings. Hailed as “a modernist burner with an abundance of Pat Martino-style chops” by guitar authority Bill Milkowski in Jazz Times, on For All Those Living Bailey teams up with the master guitarist’s frequent collaborator, pianist Jim Ridl, to advance the Montgomery-Martino straight ahead jazz guitar tradition on a program comprised of eight brand new original pieces that prove her to be just as talented a composer as she is a player.
The eighth release of original compositions on her own PureMusic label, Bailey has long been a believer in Art Blakey’s dictum that “creating new music is the jazz tradition.” On For All Those Living the new pieces are focused on the theme of healing and hope twenty percent of the proceeds from the sale of cd’s will benefit New York’s Ronald McDonald House where the guitarist has long contributed her talents as an instructor through a relationship with the New York Pops) and are in her words, “connected to the people and places that affect my life.” She says of her “An Unexpected Turn,” the date’s easy grooving opener, “Life takes us to unplanned places and always reminds us to sit back and enjoy the ride.” Originally written as a jazz waltz, the composer was unsure of its merit as an addition to her voluminous songbook before changing the meter and it came to life as a straight ahead swinger that serves as an excellent vehicle for tasty soloing by her and Ridl.
The title track “For All Those Living” is a melancholic waltz that is Bailey’s prayer of hope for all those nursing a heart that has been broken by the loss of a loved one to a long illness. “Where their suffering ends, ours begins, until we let go and embrace and celebrate our impermanence and the gift of awakening within each moment,” says the articulate songwriter. The piece’s mood, evidencing the guitarist’s distinctive harmonic sense, shifts subtly with a subconscious melodic reference to “Blue Skies,” thus revealing her unfaltering positive life view, which is confirmed with the track’s final optimistic chords.
“A Muse Sings” is Sheryl’s dedication to her dear friend, the late Jimmy Wyble, who she says “filled my life with inspiration and determination and convinced me that angels walk amongst us.” The man, whose versatile stylings led to his legendary status as both a jazz and Western swing guitarist (playing with a variety artists from Benny Goodman to Bob Wills) and once identified Bailey as “one of the top five,” is memorialized on this moving paean that also features Gary Wang’s lyrical bass.
Bailey wrote “Masa’s Bag,” another dedication, this one for her guitarist friend Masa Sasaki, after one of their many Monday evening jams. An extended blues form, the dual influences of Grant Green and Wes Montgomery are on full display here, both in the composer’s fluid single note lines and her soulful chording. Ridl’s smoking piano is spotlighted here, along with Bailey’s bluesy guitar, after which the two engage in some swinging eights with Okudaira.
"29-11,” an autobiographical musical statement on Bailey’s “soul numbers,” is a cleverly constructed minor with a bridge in 5/4 that once again reveals her distinctive talent as a composer, along with her firmly held belief that although jazz is a complex music, it should never loose the bounce and joy inherent in it’s spirit.
Bailey wrote “Wilkinsburg,” a tribute to her frequent guitar duo partner Jack Wilkins, after a “fun and music filled road trip” the two took to the composer’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here she exhibits with Ridl, Wang (who solos soulfully) and Okudaira, the same kind of complementary musical relationship she enjoys with Wilkins, settling into the kind of relaxed swinging groove that can only be achieved in the company of sympathetic souls.
“For A Russian Princess” is a beautiful waltz written for an equally beautiful princess, on which Bailey demonstrates her uncanny ability to utilize her virtuoso technique to achieve emotional intensity in a serene setting.
The closing “Moblin” is Bailey’s dedication to the great Hank Mobley, of whom she says, “When I think about soul and swing, this is the source.” Soul and swing, the hallmarks of the guitarist’s own work, are on full display here, a fitting conclusion to a date that exudes an abundance of both.
A player of uncommon skill, Sheryl Bailey humbly describes herself as a “hybrid.” Her work with bassist Richard Bona, playing jazzy Afro-pop and David Krakauer, performing his innovative form of Klezmer, as well as with pop diva Irene Cara have proven her to be truly versatile artist. On For All Those Living she once again shows that she is a great jazz guitarist at heart. One of the most creative playing on the scene today.
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