Sharel Cassity - Gratitude

Internationally acclaimed saxophonist and woodwindist Sharel Cassity’s new release, Gratitude, shares with audiences and listeners a conversation of joy, hope, and celebration. Joining Cassity on the release are eight-time Grammy-award-winning bassist and composer Christian McBride, drummer Lewis Nash, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut as well as Terrell Stafford and Michael Dease, a longtime collaborator of Cassity’s. With its persistently effervescent and positivity-focused spirit, the ebullient Gratitude offers something new from the multi-instrumentalist and iconic rhythm trio.

Gratitude is laden with smart and intoxicating hooks, emotionally uplifting and nuanced improvisation, and arrangements that reflect a musicianship well-informed by the work of jazz’s all-time heaviest hitters. That’s not surprising, given that, from collaborators to media coverage, Cassity has a career stamped with high scores across the board. She’s worked with artists including Aretha Franklin, Vanessa Williams, Grammy-award-winner Jennifer Hudson, and Top 40 singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant. She’s also shared stages with Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Roy Hargrove—among many others—and the albums she’s released as a bandleader have garnered favorable reviews by the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and JazzTimes, as well as a cover story for Downbeat Magazine.

Growing up in Oklahoma, one album that became Cassity’s personal guiding light was McBride’s Gettin’ to It. After moving to New York City in 2000, which she called home until briefly relocating to Qatar in 2015, she worked her way up in the performing scene and eventually came to play alongside each member of the rhythm section featured on McBride’s album. Cassity decided to assemble that same rhythm section—McBride, Nash, and Chestnut—for the making of Gratitude.

Gratitude isn’t the first time Cassity has recorded with Nash and Chestnut, who appeared on her 2014 Venus Records release, Manhattan Romance, with Rufus Reid. She also has had prior experience performing with McBride, with whom she toured Aspen as a member of his big band in 2009. Cassity first met Nash in a masterclass while she was a student at Juilliard, and not long after, performed with him professionally in 2008 in the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band. The All-Star Big Band, of which Cassity became a member in 2009, was also where Cassity met Chestnut, who quickly became a mentor. After that period of performing in the big band together, Cassity toured Japan with Nash’s big band, which included Chestnut, Steve Wilson, and Terrell Stafford.