Grown Folks Music

SSC1305 2012-04-24

Track List

Friday the 13th - 10:00
Laura - 7:27
Teo - 6:29
Without a Song - 8:36
Weaver Of Dreams - 8:55
Lulu's Back in Town - 8:32
If Ever I Would Leave You - 8:25

Musicians

Ben Riley - drums
Wayne Escoffery - tenor saxophone
Avi Rothbard - guitar
Freddie Bryant - guitar
Ray Drummond - acoustic bass

"Whenever I have the opportunity of playing with Ben Riley, I am reminded why I fell in love with this music we call Jazz in the first place...the groove. After four years of working in Ben’s Monk Legacy Septet, I decided to ask a few clubs to present Ben in a more intimate quartet setting joined by one of his regular co-conspirators of groove, Ray Drummond. Smoke Jazz & Supper Club was the first to jump at the chance to book the group.  On the car ride home after the quartet's first performance, guitarist Avi Rothbard and I relished the depth of what we had just experienced and concluded that that night, we had played solely ""Grown Folks Music"" – An unsurpassed maturity and sophistication with a laid back groove that was relentlessly elegant and never ostentatious.  This is all to be expected from a master musician born of the music of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Griffin, John Coltrane and the like. After this and a few other unforgettable quartet performances with Ben, I became determined to get the group recorded. I think that this CD captures Ben at his best and I hope you enjoy listening to him here as much as I've enjoy playing with him on the bandstand. Drummer Ben Riley is truly one of a kind.  
Wayne Escoffery