George Garzone - Themes for Good Friends

For more than fifty years George Garzone has been one of the defining voices of the modern tenor saxophone and one of its most revered teachers, with Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Donny McCaslin, Mark Turner and Chris Cheek among those who passed through his classroom at Berklee, where he marks his fiftieth year on the faculty in 2026. Themes for Good Friends finds him stepping forward with a quintet of equals: trumpeter Randy Brecker, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Santi Debriano and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. 

The record began with a chance encounter. Leaving a Garzone club date in New York, Jojo Records founder Simon Belelty asked Debriano to help put together a session worthy of him. Debriano and Garzone had met as students in Boston around 1970 and shared bandstands ever since, so when Debriano proposed this band, Garzone said yes immediately. What came out of Van Gelder Studio is straight-ahead jazz that moves between originals and interpretation, and between the full quintet and two duets that bookend the session: "Theme for Ernie" with Perdomo, and "Giant Steps" with Watts. In his liner notes, T.J. English writes that Garzone's sound carries the whole history of the tenor saxophone, the daring of Coltrane and the lyricism of Getz, in a voice that belongs to no one else.

Tracklisting

1 · Theme for Ernie (Fred Lacey)
2 · U-Jaama (Archie Shepp)
3 · It Will Happen to You (Jimmy Van Heusen)
4 · Ripty Boom (Santi Debriano)
5 · Giant Steps (John Coltrane)
6 · Just Ring the Bell (Luis Perdomo)
7 · The Mingus That I Knew (George Garzone)
8 · To Michael Brecker (George Garzone) 

George Garzone · tenor saxophone
Randy Brecker · trumpet (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8)
Luis Perdomo · piano
Santi Debriano · bass
Jeff "Tain" Watts · drums