I first met both Grant Geissman and Gordon Goodwin at CSU Northridge in the mid 70’s. We were all students in the music department, although our musical spheres were very different in those days. I was an electronic music/composition major and they were both members of the "A" jazz band. We weren’t really friends at the time but after reconnecting with Grant while working on the Cheryl Bentyne DVD, I thought it might be interesting to explore the possibility of working together on a new project. Grant was immediately interested. It turns out that it's the 25th anniversary of his original group and that revisiting some of the old charts might be fun. This record is the result. Recorded at the Citrus College studios rather than our usual Zipper Auditorium, the sound is tighter and punchier. The musicians were absolutely first class…Jim Cox on piano and Fender Rhodes, Gordon Goodwin on Sax, Jimmy Johnson playing bass and Greg Bissonette on drums. Fusion jazz never sounded as good!
Grant is well known is Los Angeles jazz circles as a terrific player and composer. His famous guitar solo for Chuck Mangione’s ""Feels So Good" is just part of his musical legacy. He has been an in-demand session player for decades, a composer for the hit series &quoTwo and a Half Men" and the author of a number of books on Mad Magazine and the artists that made it so great. The tunes on this recording are diverse, rhythmically complex and hamronically rich. There is a great deal of variety from more straight ahead tunes like "The Hypso Calyso" to the more adventurous "Ballad of the Cosmic Wind". The solos are shared by Grant and his long time friend Gordon Goodwin with plenty given to keyboardist Jim Cox and bassist Jimmy Johnson.
8 сен 2024
