Talkin’ about

Cory Weeds & Jerry Weldon Cory Weeds Meets Jerry Weldon (Cellar 2025)

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NEW RELEASE: CORY WEEDS & JERRY WELDON –

Two-tenor winner.  

Personnel

Cory Weeds & Jerry Weldon (tenor saxophone), Miles Black (piano), John Lee (bass), Jesse Cahill (drums)

Recorded

on October 28, 2024 at Warehouse Studios, Vancouver

Released

as Cellar in 2025

Track listing

Hey Lock! / Princess / Toy / Olé / Just As Though You Were Here / Oh Lady Be Good / I Had The Craziest Dream / One Flight Down / 323 Shuter

Cory Weeds’s Cellar label features some of the best tenor saxophonists in the business, Eric Alexander and Grant Stewart among those, young guns like Jacob Chung and not least veteran class act Jerry Weldon, New Yorker that played with Lionel Hampton, Brother Jack McDuff, Cedar Walton, George Benson. Big man with a big sound, and a head full of hot ideas, teaming up with Weeds himself on Weeds Meets Weldon in a band that worked together for a handful of gigs, featuring pianist Miles Black, bassist John Lee and drummer Jesse Cahill.

You get two flavors for the price of one, Weldon’s bossy and energetic style and Weeds’s lean, more Mobley-ish way of playing, firmly based in the hard bop vein, stretching its limit with the challenging ‘sleepers’ by Clifford Jordan, Princess and Toy. Just As Though You Were Here is rich with nuance and melodic invention, for minute after minute, a prime example of Weldon the balladeer. Miles Black speaks his witty and buoyant piece in Freddie Redd’s Latin-tinged Olé.

They all find joy in the archetypical changes of Weeds’s fast-paced 323 Shuter, a kinetic ending of a sympathetic effort to carry on the rich tradition of the tenor duet.

Omer Govreen Quartet All Things Equal (JMI 2025)

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NEW RELEASE: OMER GOVREEN QUARTET –

Quartet of Amsterdam-based bassist and composer raises its game, inspired by desperation and confusion.  

Personnel

Floris Kappeyne (piano), Aleksander Sever (vibraphone), Omer Govreen (bass), Wouter Kühne (drums)

Recorded

on January 20 & 21 at Reservoir Studios, NYC

Released

as JMI 25 in 2025

Track listing

Side A: All Things Equal / The Pole/Call / For Granted / Side B: Comfort / Rivers (Intro) / Narrowing / Waiting For Wouter

You’re a musician and sick of diseases and the disease or you have childhood traumas that are strong as the jawbones of a hyena, you’re transfixed by the beautiful eyes of the moon, the toilet is clogged and the rent is due and the lamp post asks you to dance or you’re Jewish bassist Omer Govreen, based in Amsterdam, in a good place, sidekick to luminaries as Michael Moore and Tineke Postma, but you’re in the middle of global chaos and trying to make sense of what essentially is senseless, either way, love or the leaking faucets of fate or war, you can’t help but spill some of this in your work, outlet for various emotions.

Equilibrium between intense and melancholic, enervating and cathartic, All Things Equal, the second album of Govreen’s quartet following 2022’s Maya featuring pianist Floris Kappeyne, vibraphonist Aleksander Sever and drummer Wouter Kühne, is a sound to behold. All cats equal, so to speak, they wander freely through Govreen’s expressionist landscape, never losing the big picture and with a clear focus obviously gained from experience of playing together for a long time.

Among many delights, the elegiac All Things Equal is beautifully brought to its conclusion with a repetitive strain that is worked out dynamically by all concerned, The Pole/Call is a painting that mixes the sweetest pink with spots of deep purple, Narrowing a sparkling and subtle polyrhythmic spree. Here and there, the link between bop and Ornette Coleman is skittishly defined, a playful side to a record that depends strongly on Govreen’s flexible and warm-blooded bass playing.

You can’t imagine someone else, a trumpeter, a guitarist, joining this outfit. This is it, this is as it should be. An acoustic jazz quartet that inventively strives for the way Radiohead or Edward Munch worked up strong emotions. High praise.

Ghezzi while you can

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SAM GHEZZI –  

Hep cat Sam Ghezzi and his European compatriots of blues and swing are gathering steam this year. Trento-born Ghezzi has been part of the Amsterdam jazz and blues scene since the late 2010’s and is currently based in Paris. During a talk that we recently had for the Dutch Jazzism magazine, Ghezzi said: “From everywhere in the world, freaks that focus strictly on certain periods of swing and bebop are gathered in Paris. Scenes within scenes, so to speak. I’m kind of a free bird and jump from one to the other. This way, I’m learning a lot of stuff.”

Nothing but the truth. And it needs to be said that the singer, saxophonist and blues harp player performs with verve and wit. Entertainment value is high, Ghezzi pushing crowds and band mates to the zestful limit as a bug-eyed cross between Speedy Gonzales and Louis Prima, without loss of musicianship, a combination all too rare these days.

Ghezzi fronts several bands, most of which also consist of the sassy rhythm section of bassist Cesar Fuente and drummer Joe Korach. The Hi-Stakes is an uplifting jump ‘n’ blues ‘n’ jive ‘n’ boogaloo outfit, based on guitarist Linus Eppinger’s nifty tunes. It recently released its second album Do It!. Bad Boy is the outlet for Sam Ghezzi Blues Band, featuring local hero Dusty Cigaar on guitar.

The Roaring Cats, featuring Mo van der Does on clarinet, seems inspired by the good ol’ swing and dance band days of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford, Jean Goldkette, Raymond Scott… Good ol’ stuff in a spanky jacket, all original tunes. Play Roaring Cats is super-witty, remarkably hot, while Ghezzi stretches out flexibly and frivolously with a voice that blends with its septet like whipped cream and hot chocolate.

Sam Ghezzi - Bad Boy
The Hi-Stakes - Do It!
The Roaring Cats - Play The Roaring Cats

Listen to The Hi-Stakes and Seal The Deal here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyo05yAPEuA&list=RDcyo05yAPEuA&start_radio=1

Win Win

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SCOTT HAMILTON & THE GHOST THE KING & I  

In the 1970’s, tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton made his entrance in the jazz world as a young player with a remarkable sense of swing and a warm-blooded saxophone sound reminiscent of the great swing saxophonists. Very prolific ever since, Hamilton withstood every trend and remained true to his original way of dealing with the Great American Songbook.

Hamilton has always been warmly received in Europe. In The Netherlands, he played and recorded with Rita Reys, Rein de Graaff and The Metropole Orchestra, among others. Currently, Hamilton is linked with The Ghost, The King & I, the trio of Dutch pianist Rob van Bavel, one of Europe’s greatest pianists, guitarist Vincent Koning and bassist Frans van der Geest. The Ghost, The King & I have started a crowdfunding campaign to make the release of a new album possible in the near future.

A good match, positively a win-win situation. Over the years, The Ghost, The King & I has succeeded in breathing new life into standards and evergreens in a quite imposing and graciously swinging way. Their last album is We Got Rhythm from 2024, a new look at the work of Gershwin.

Check out the Voordekunst crowdfunding link here and donate: https://www.voordekunst.nl/projecten/19822-gki-featuring-scott-hamilton-strings

Scott Hamilton 2
The Ghost, The King And I - We Got Rhythm
The Ghost The King & I

Big Nick

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LOST IN THE CRACKS – BIG NICK NICHOLAS 

It’s easy to get lost in the cracks of the jazz realm. For every famous musician there’s someone who scuffled and stayed under the radar of the general audience.

Ever wondered who’s Big Nick? Most fans know about John Coltrane’s tune Big Nick. Trane’s playful homage to Nicholas was featured on Duke Ellington & John Coltrane. (There’s also a bonus track on the CD issue of Coltrane with his iconic quartet)

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCu7Dd8CqoE&list=RDGCu7Dd8CqoE&start_radio=1

Big Nick, born George Walker Nicholas in Lansing, Michigan and raised in Detroit in 1922, played tenor saxophone in the style of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Hershel Evans. Big-toned, old-school tenor. He played in the bands of Earl Hines, Tiny Bradshaw in the 1940’s, moved to New York City, played with J.C. Heard, toured with Dizzy Gillespie in Europe.

The tenor sax solo on Dizzy’s Afro-Bop classic Manteca from 1947 is Big Nick’s.

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXv6ky1QHA8&list=RDrXv6ky1QHA8&start_radio=1

Everybody, at one time, knew Big Nick. Because Nicholas was the leader of the house band of the Paradiso club in New York, just inside the borders of Harlem at the end of Central Park West. One of those essential jazz characters that is adored by everybody, he welcomed an army of luminaries on stage: Hot Lips Page, Charlie Parker, Red Allen, Lou Donaldson, Horace Silver, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Ike Quebec, Joe Newman, Clark Terry, Gene Ammons, Joe Wilder, among others.

His jazz slang, reminding somewhat of Babs Gonzales, was legendary. Vocalese group Lambert, Hendricks & Bevan covered his tune Deedle Deedleum at Newport in 1963.

Big Nick failed to record prolifically. He was featured on records by trombonists Benny Green and J.J. Johnson in the 1950’s. Two solo albums appeared on India Navigation in 1984/85: Bigger Than Ever and Big Nick.

Big Nick Nicholas passed away in New York in 1997.

Listen to Big And Warm here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ70QQRqjs0&list=RDcZ70QQRqjs0&start_radio=1

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
Big Nick Nicholas - Bigger Than Ever
Big Nick Nicholas - Big Nick

Ricardo Pinheiro Songs Of Longing (Fresh Sound 2025)

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NEW RELEASE – RICARDO PINHEIRO.

Personnel

Ricardo Pinheiro (guitar), Chris Cheek (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), Michael Formanek (bass), Jorge Rossy (drums)

Recorded

in June  2024 at Timbuktu Studios, Lisbon

Released

as Fresh Sound 5139 in 2025

Track listing

Be Longing / I Hear A Rhapsody / Despedida de Lisboa / What If / Tenho Tantas Saudades / I’m All Smiles / Avô

I‘ve been happy to write liner notes to Songs Of Longing, a superb record by Portuguese guitarist Ricardo Pinheiro. Pinheiro is based in the beautific region of Sintra near Lisbon, Portugal – I was blessed to see the stunning surroundings this early summer, let’s hope that the damage done because of very recent forest fires won’t be too bad (and let’s have a minute of silence for the casualties up north.) Pinheiro is a versatile guitar player with an eclectic resume that includes fusion, ambient, jazz and poetry and Brazilian-Portuguese folk music.

But thoroughly schooled, and passionately engaged in, classic jazz, Pinheiro, also a writer of thoughtful essays and research assignments, loves to interpret standards and gives everything he plays (and composes) a melancholic ‘fado’ feeling.

This melancholic aspect of Pinheiro’s work is evident on Songs Of  Longing, a collaboration with stalwarts Chris Cheek on saxes, Michael Formanek on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums: ‘Saudade’, as the Portuguese call it, nostalgia and longing, which is ingrained in the soul of Portuguese people. It’s a great program of Pinheiro originals, and the odd evergreen like I Hear A Rhapsody thrown in. His poetic songs are vehicles for understated and lyrical playing by all concerned, all-for-one, one-for-all, so to speak: it’s pleasantly organic, featuring fellows that interact beautifully and leave egos at the door.

Recently, Pinheiro once again expressed his joy in having Cheek, Formanek and Rossy by his side: “It was amazing. These guys are so good, the real deal. I let them see the songs I wanted to do, they’re like, ‘okay, that’s fine, looks great’ and they get right down to business, give everything they’ve got and make a couple of studio days a cinch.”

Read my interview with Ricardo from 2023 here:

http://flophousemagazine.com/2024/07/02/ricardo-me/

Find Songs Of Longing on Fresh Sound here:

https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/ricardo-pinheiro-albums/57562-songs-of-longing.html

John the Baptist

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JOHN RUOCCO – RIP

American reed maestro John Ruocco sadly passed away on Wednesday, May 21 in The Hague. He was 72 years old. The New Haven, Connecticut-born saxophonist and clarinetist migrated to Europe in the early 1980’s, initially teaching at the Conservatory of Liėge in Belgium from 1981-85, then landing a spot at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in The Netherlands in 1987. He taught reeds and combo ever since and led the royal big band since the early 1990’s.

Ruocco was well-loved in the international jazz realm. The Hague jazz community mourns one of its most unique figureheads. It is not at a loss for words, crowding social media with bittersweet memories and homages. Ruocco was admired for his vast knowledge, uncompromising critical opinions, caustic wit and quirky wisdom. A mentor to myriad Dutch and international jazz artists.

Ruocco chose to live mainly out of the limelight, a humble touch of style that rather obscured his tremendous capabilities. Ruocco played with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, Barry Harris and many others. On clarinet, Ruocco was among the best of his generation. Not to mention an authority on stage.

Ruocco recorded sporadically, among others with Peter Herbolzheimer, Hein van der Geyn, Ricardo del Fra, John Abercrombie, Eric Ineke, David Liebman, Philippe Aerts and Richard Rousselet.

David Liebman Trio - Lieb Plays The Beatles
John Ruocco - Topics
John Ruocco - Quelque Part

Lieb Plays The Beatles is a particular favorite of Flophouse, a collaboration of rare sensitivity and creativity also featuring Marius Beets and Eric Ineke. John Ruocco will be sorely missed.