Welcome to the Harlem holiday house, still swingin' "in the deepest recesses of the groove" at 121st and Lenox in the footsteps of all that jazz has become.

I've spent a lot of time listening, interviewing and watching artists perform live. In this edition I want to turn you on to several CD's by artists that I know, have seen perform and that I feel are worthy of your attention.

Jonathan Batiste, Helen Sung, Neal Smith, Wycliffe Gordon, Lenore
Raphael, Wes "Warmdaddy" Anderson and a recording of the 2007 "A Great Day In Harlem" benefit concert recorded at the famed Apollo Theatre. In addition to those artists we put in a few Icon's for you as well.

JONATHAN BATISTE is still a student at Julliard but swings well past
his age. On this CD we find the New Orleans born pianist and his trio
in fine form with a Monk inspired set recorded live at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. I've had a chance to spend a lot of time with the
young Batiste at Jazz At Lincoln Center, Julliard and even uptown in
Harlem where he so thrilled one of the last remaining original Cotton Club Dancers who was in attendance that evening that she had to grab a
microphone and testify. There is a reason the Movado watch company has named him one of the stars of the future and added his music to their website.

HELEN SUNG is another of my favorite artists. I first heard the
former New England Conservatory pianist performing with violinist Regina Carter and was so struck by her soulfulness that I ran back stage during intermission to find out who she was. This led to a session with Wynton Marsalis during the taping of our "In The Swing Seat" program on XM Satellite Radio and the discovery of this fine CD. Check out Sung's version of "Willow Weep For Me" and you'll understand.

NEAL SMITH is one of the most honest and spiritual musicians that I've ever met. Not only is he a drummer with Cyrus Chestnut's trio but he's a composer and leader in his own right. His talent as a composer comes through on this CD in the choices that he makes on the drums paying other peoples music.

LENORE RAPHAEL is another one of my favorite people and a true New
Yorker. What I like about her playing is her clever use of space and her
very soulful touch. This CD was recorded live at St. Michaels Church
Theatre in New York City where she is the Artist Director of their jazz
series. I was suposed to be the MC for this set but a case of pnuemonia
kept me home. Luckily it was recorded and you and I can both enjoy it as often as we'd like.

WYCLIFFE GORDON is one of the most in demand artists in the world.
The former Jazz At Lincoln Center trombonist has toured the world and was recently sent as a musical Ambassador for the U.S. State Department to South Africa where he and his fellow musicians spread the good word. Not only is Gordon a great trombonist but he also is a wonderful composer and wrote the score for a wonderful documentary about Paul Robeson. On this CD Gordon is expressive as he brings out the color in the foundation of jazz and the root of all American music. "BloozBluzeBlues."

WESSELL "WARMDADDY" ANDERSON
I always thought Wes was from Louisiana because he used to live in Baton Rouge, but I just found out that he's from Brooklyn. He is connected to Lousiana through Wynton Marsalis and we were together at Wynton's house on the day of hurricane Katrina. Wes was playing piano, Wynton was on trumpet playing a tune called "New Orleans" There was so much feeling, so much soul and so much blues in their playing that it was as if they were sending a protective spirit around the Crescent City. While all that was going on we were watching the weather channel and praying the storm would pass by New Orleans, and it did, but then the levy broke......but that's another story. On "Space" Anderson's latest,
I hear hints of of Cannonball Adderley but mostly the easy and sophisticated sound of Wes "Warmdaddy" Anderson. Listening to this CD is comfortable, like a warm Sunday afternoon. By the way I heard that Wes and bassist Rodney Whitaker teach a jazz studies program at Michigan State University swingin' so hard that students who can't get in up a Julliard where Victor Goines another connection to New Orleans is the Dean of Jazz Studies.

Finally a live recording at the Apollo Theatre of the "2007 A GREAT NIGHT IN HARLEM " benefit concert for Wendy Oxenhorns' Jazz Foundation of America, an organization that gives back to the musicians who have given us so much of their lives and souls. This concert raised 1.5 million dollars to help JFA continue their work that has kept the elderly greats of jazz and blues, pioneers of all today's music from hunger, eviction and homelessness. When you see the list of artists who participated and you'll want to have a this piece of history and help a great cause.

We're improvising with this newsletter so if it's not perfect, please accept our apologies, we hope to ultimately bring you a perfect "set." I guess it's just like the music we love, the more you work at it, the better you become. Our focus is really on the independent artists who have been working at it for quite a while and they can really play. We're working on getting more of them up on the site, but for now these are a few who I think you'll dig.

Spread the word, thanks for checking us out and most importantly,

Keep Swingin'

Maxx


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