(Classic Jazz, Chamber Jazz) Bill Mays The Inventions Trio (featuring Marvin Stamm & Alisa Horn) - Fantasy - 2007, MP3, 320 kbps

The artistry of Bill Mays is beyond category. With deep roots in jazz, gospel, pop and classical music Bill’s eclectic career as a pianist, composer and arranger spans more than five decades. On hundreds of recordings, Bill’s concert and recording credits include work with artists as diverse as Ron Carter, Al Cohn, Buddy DeFranco, Benny Golson, Freddie Hubbard, Al Jarreau, Barry Manilow, Shelly Manne, Red Mitchell, Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Frank Sinatra, Sonny Stitt, Toots Thielemans, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Sarah Vaughan, Phil Woods and Frank Zappa.
Bill’s keyboard work has been heard on numerous movie soundtracks and TV shows, among them Adaptation, Annie, Being John Malkovich, CBS Early Morning, Consenting Adults, Dallas, Fargo, Frida, Fur, Gremlins, Interview With The Vampire, Julie & Julia, Knot’s Landing, Kojak, Ladykillers, Late Night with Jay Leno, Mission To Mars, Name That Tune, Rocky, Shaft 2, Simone, Sleepless In Seattle, Doubt, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, Superman, Where The Wild Things Are, The Alamo and Wolf.
Much respected for his compositional and arranging talents Bill has written saxophone quartets, suites for flute and piano, double bass and piano, music for the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Aureole chamber ensemble, the Woody Herman Band and incidental music for TV and film (Anamorph, Burn After Reading, Hamlet, Looker, Tribeca). He is a recipient of grants from Meet The Composer, the N.E.A., Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, is a Grammy nominee, a Steinway Piano Artist and a PennPat roster artist. His recent work on Palmetto Records documents his long-standing piano/bass/drums trio with Martin Wind and Matt Wilson (Out In Pa., Summer Sketches, Going Home, Live At Jazz Standard). The Inventions Trio's first CD, Fantasy, showcases Bill's three-movement Fantasy for Cello, Trumpet and Piano and features the members of the trio in brilliant individual and group improvisations on classical themes.The trio's latest recording, Delaware River Suite, feature Bill's multi-movement tribute to the Delaware River and environs.
Marvin Stamm is a graduate of the well-known North Texas Lab Band program. Upon completing his degree, he went on the road for several years, serving as trumpet soloist for the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman Orchestras. Marvin moved to New York City in 1966 where he spent twenty-three years as a major New York City studio musician. During this time, Marvin was a member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Duke Pearson Big Band, and the American Jazz Orchestra led by pianist and composer John Lewis. He also performed for a period with singer Frank Sinatra and with the Benny Goodman Septet. He also appears as soloist with symphony orchestras and performs as a member of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz band and the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. Marvin has also been involved in Jazz education for many years and spends a good deal of time working with young musicians. Current CDs: By Ourselves - Marvin Stamm/Bill Mays Duo; The Stamm/Soph Project;The Stamm/Soph Project - Live at Birdland and the quartet's DVD/CD Alone Together.
Alisa Horn is native of Memphis, Tennessee, where she studied with Professor Peter Spurbeck at the University of Memphis. She received her Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Michigan in 2004, studying with Professor Anthony Elliott and completed her Master of Music in Cello Performance at Northwestern University in 2006 with Professor Hans Jorgen Jensen. Alisa was the Second Prize Winner in the 2006 WAMSO-Minnesota Orchestra Volunteer Association’s Young Artist Competition and won the University of Michigan Concerto Competition performing Ernest Bloch’s "Schelomo." She was a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in 2004-2005 and was appointed the principal cellist of the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra during the summer of 2006. Alisa has given numerous solo and chamber music performances throughout the country and recently performed Miaskovsky’s Cello Concerto with the Oakville Chamber Orchestra of Ontario,
Canada. Alisa and pianist Jue He recorded the Rachmaninoff and Miaskovsky Sonatas for Cello and Piano, and were also featured on McGraw-Hill’s Young Artist Showcase, WQXR-FM, in New York City. Alisa is currently living and working as a free-lance artist in New York City and performs in the Broadway musical "Next To Normal."

Bebop meets baroque (as well as impressionism, romanticism and modernism) on this rich and playful classical crossover CD. Mays, in duet with trumpeter Marvin Stamm, and trio with Stamm and classical cellist Alisa Horn, performs an original suite, “Fantasy,” as well as melodies chosen (almost all from the classical repertoire) for their “beautiful melodies and rich grist for improvising.”
The duets offer the clear highlights. On the Borodin-derived jazz standard “Baubles, Bangles, And Beads” and George Gershwin’s “Prelude #2,” they achieve a conversational drift across genre lines and a sunny sound that recalls some of Chet Baker and Russ Freeman’s work. The closer has them sailing through Bach’s “Inventions #8,” giving way to Charlie Parker’s “Ah-Leu-Cha.” With the addition of Horn’s cello on “Fantasy,” Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” and Debussy’s “Girl With The Flaxen Hair,” the trio sounds more scripted, more dramatic and less fun. “Fantasy,” at more than 20 minutes, is lovely, with many sections and moods, but at times the stirring melodies and genre mixing give it the feel of film music. On the whole, however, it’s and unusual and unusually easy-on-the-ears disc. Its pristine recording and warm mix of voices would make an obvious treat for audiophiles.

Bill Mays - piano
Marvin Stamm - trumpet & flugelhorn
Alisa Horn - cello