Berlin Jazz Festival - 1985

I’ve been listening to this solo for years now! The first time I heard it was probably freshman year at Juilliard. Carl Allen, who was running the Juilliard Jazz program at the time, was actually on this live recording (Berlin Jazz Festival 1985) which featured Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Ira Coleman, and Kenny Garrett. I remember I wanted to impress him and learn something he played on and since I love young Kenny Garrett (back in his bebop days) I figured I would learn this one. I’ve since rewritten and relearned this whole recording again including the Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw solos that come after!

Click here for solo.

Stevie wonder is without a doubt one of the greatest musicians of all time. He is one of my biggest influences and I love his music today even more today than I did when I first heard it. Everyone is familiar with the popular Stevie ballad “lately” Many a R&B singer have attempted to cover this song. Many have failed and very few have succeeded. One successful and very famous rendition is by Jodeci (90s R&B group led by Singers KC and JoJo). They masterfully execute this song and sing with sooooo much soul I must say they actually did this song justice. Well when I heard this song I was blown away with it’s emotionality and thought man I want to sing this song one day. Last week, I said to myself ,f*** it, let’s do it.”So I recorded a cover of my own” a slightly more mellow version. I wanted to find a nice spot to record that had a great view and I figured what better place then a reverberant dance studio overlooking 65th street!! I did the video in the Kaufman Dance studio at The Juilliard School (my alma mater) and I must say, aside from the amazing visual I think the song came out pretty good. Let me know what you think?