Ring in the new year with solid music, join All For One at Smoke in New York on New Years Eve. One of the most consistently swinging bands, a all-star hard bop sextet, One For All has been performing for about ten years. This year they released their 11th album, Lineup on Sharp Nine Records. In the style of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers or the other great hard-bop groups of the 50's and 60's, One For All is a 'super group' of the finest seasoned jazz musicianss. As their name implies, they work together for a common goal of delivering solid musical collaboration with all members contributing their individual styles. One For All includes Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone), Jim Rotondi (trumpet), Steve Davis (trombone), David Hazeltine (piano), Nat Reeves (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums).
Trumpeter Jim Rodondi is a worthy successor to Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, Rotondi is a stylist who continues to explore rich harmonies with original and soulful eloquence. He often performs with vibraphonists and organists, providing rich overtones and a dense aural carpet with which he weaves intricate and logical patterns of sound. Whether he is blowing with fiery fury or a mournful cry, Rotondi never looses the emotional connection with the audience.
Rontondi attended North Texas State University, where he graduated with a degree in trumpet performance. Jim was awarded first place in the International Trumpet Guild's jazz trumpet competition for the year 1984. After college Jim began recording and touring internationally with the Ray Charles Orchestra. Then he join the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. During this time Jim also became a member of organist Charles Earland's quintet. He currently tours with his own group, as well as with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Grammy-winner Toshiko Akiyoshi.
Jim's extensive recording experience most recently includes the release of his fifth date as a leader, titled "Destination Up", for the Sharp Nine label following the successful release of four CDs on the Criss Cross Jazz label. He can also be heard on several of Charles Earland's Highnote Records releases. Other recordings include saxophonist George Coleman's Octet, featuring Harold Mabern, as well as drummer Ray Appleton's Sextet, which features Slide Hampton, Charles McPherson, and John Hicks.
With 16 CD's out under his own name and appearing as sideman on countless others, Eric Alexander has made his mark on the jazz world and documented his progress as a tenor master. He has a rich tone and an aggressive, driving style that grabs the listeners attention and doesn't let go. One can hear the influence of Sonny Stitt, Jackie McLean and George Coleman in his playing. At William Paterson College in New Jersey Eric advanced his studies under the tutelage of Mabern, Joe Lovano, Rufus Reid, and others. "The people I listened to in college are still the cats that are influencing me today," says Alexander. "Monk, Dizzy, Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson--the legacy left by Bird and all the bebop pioneers, that language and that feel, that's the bread and butter of everything I do. George Coleman remains a big influence because of his very hip harmonic approach, and I'm still listening all the time to Coltrane because I feel that even in the wildest moments of his mid- to late-Sixties solos I can find these little kernels of melodic information and find ways to employ them in my own playing."
During the 1990s, after placing second behind Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Alexander threw himself into the whirlwind life of a professional jazz musician. He played with organ trios on the South Side of Chicago, made his recording debut in 1991 with Charles Earland, and cut his first album as leader in 1992. Fifteen recordings followed including his latest recording, 'Nightlife in Tokyo'.
Brilliant pianist David Hazeltine has successfully forged his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the accumulated greatness and weight of a modern piano tradition. David's influences include Art Tatum and Bud Powell and such great living masters as Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton.
Since moving to New York City in 1992, David has made a name for himself as a "musician's musician." In addition to his working trio (with drum legend Louis Hayes and bassist Peter Washington), David is in constant demand as a sideman. Recent credits include work with Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, the Faddis-Hampton-Heath Sextet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Louis Hayes Quintet, and Marlena Shaw, for whom he serves as pianist, arranger, and musical director. Recently David was spotlighted on Marian McPartland's "Piano Jazz" radio program.
In addition to David's fifteen dates as a leader, his recorded work as a featured sideman reflects his status as one of the first call pianists in New York. Recent efforts include sessions with James Moody, Freddy Cole, Marlena Shaw, Jon Faddis, and Louis Hayes.
Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisers on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990's while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea's acclaimed sextet Origin
Born in Worcester, MA in 1967, Steve Davis was raised in Binghamton, NY and graduated in 1989 from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz (University of Hartford). Davis has released eight CDs as a leader and is also featured on over seventy recordings and has worked in recent years with a broad range of jazz icons including Freddie Hubbard (New Jazz Composers Octet), The Horace Silver Octet, The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band, Slide Hampton`s World of Trombones, quintets led by Larry Willis, Cecil Payne, Phil Woods, Steve Turre`s One 4-J and sextets led by Geri Allen, Andy Bey and Toshiko Akiyoshi (feat. Lew Tabakin).
Nat Reeves has been teaching at the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut for 16 years, began performing professionally in the 70's. He began playing jazz and the acoustic bass in Richmond, Virginia and soon found his way to New York City where he performed with up and coming musicians including Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller and Tony Reedus. In 1982, Mr. Reeves toured Japan with Sonny Stitt and began teaching at the Artist Collective, directed by Jackie and Dollie McLean. For the next 12 years, he primarily performed with the great Jackie McLean throughout the world and appears on five of Mr. McLean's recordings. In 1995, Mr. Reeves once again teamed up with Kenny Garrett and he has been touring throughout the world with him ever since. Mr. Reeves appears on Kenny Garrett's last recording released in 1997. Songbook was produced by Warner Bros. and was nominated for a Grammy.
Joe Farnsworth has been living in the New York area since 1990. He studied with the great drummer Art Taylor while attending William Patterson College. While still living at home in Massachusetts, Joe studied with Alan Dawson who was also Tony Williams' teacher. Joe has been playing with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander since the two met while they were students at William Patterson. It has been a very fruitful musical association. Farnsworth and Alexander have been together on too many sessions to list, with Eric as leader or a fellow sideman.
All For One on December 31st, New Years Eve at Smoke Jazz Club & Lounge, 2751 Broadway in New York. The club phone number is: (212) 864 6662 and website is www.smokejazz.com.
by Don Berryman
