SMOKE IN THE SKY
Musicians: Dave Schumacher (bandleader, baritone saxophone, composer); Peter Brainin (sax soprano, sax tenor) Josh Evans, Jesus Ricardo (trumpet); Manuel Valera (piano); Alex "Apolo" Ayala (bass); Mauricio Herrera (congas); Joel Mateo (drums)
Tracks List: Smoke in the Sky; You Know It’s Wrong; Caridad; (No More) Smoke In The Sky; El Dilema de Chegüi Metralla; Cal Massey; Walk Spirit Talk Spirit; Poinciana
CD RELEASE SHOWDave Schumacher & CubeyeCelebrate The Release Of Their New CDSmoke In The SkyFriday, April 19th 7:30 pmClements Place15 Washington StNewark, NJ 07102 While Schumacher has given listeners a taste of his command of the Latin Jazz language on his previous efforts, here for the first time, leading his current working band that he’s dubbed Cubeye, he offers a full album’s worth of songs that advance the genre with an exciting 21st Century sensibility. Assisting him in firing up the music on the disc by turns heated and warm, are likeminded “musically bilingual” players – trumpeters Josh Evans and Jesus Ricardo, tenor and soprano saxophonist Peter Brainin, pianist Manuel Valera, bassist Alex “Apolo” Ayala, drummer Joel Mateo and percussionist Mauricio Hererra – each one of whom is well known for being equally skilled in playing both jazz and Latin music as one can witness throughout. Drawing upon an aggregate of experience performing with the likes of Arturo O’Farrill, Hilton Ruiz, Papo Vazquez, Yosvany and Yunior Terry, Melvis Santa and the Mambo Legends Orchestra, their combined talents are instrumental in bringing Schumacher’s cross-cultural vision to fruition.
Schumacher freely admits that two of the biggest influences on Cubeye’s musical concept are Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The saxophonist recalls traveling with the latter’s big band to Japan in 1987 to perform at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival as one of the greatest highlights of his lengthy career. From the very start of “Smoke In The Sky”, the impact of those iconic bands on the group is clearly evident with blasting horns hitting hard in the Messenger tradition on top of the pulsating percussion that hearkens to Fort Apache’s relentless rhythmatism. Dave notes, “I was hearing the melody and harmony of the date’s fourth track, my ballad “(No More) Smoke In The Sky”, over an up-tempo groove. Manuel created this dramatic re-imagination of the original song.”
Dave’s arrangement of “You Know It’s Wrong” by fellow Chicago saxophonist Eddie Harris has something of the pensive sophistication of the great Wayne Shorter in its engaging melody that is played over Herrera's traditional bata rhythms before he digs in with a soulful solo, followed by Ayala’s bass interlude leading into the incendiary conga solo over vamping that brings the melody back in. Dave remembers “I first heard Eddie play this, originally a 4/4 shuffle, at Sweet Basil in the mid 80’s. It always stuck in my mind and I reframed it in a 6/8 groove.”
Valera’s tour de force arrangement of the AfroCuba de Matanzas classic “Caridad” begins with Schumacher’s brawny baritone blowing mournfully, at first unaccompanied then backed by bata drums, before the band joins in with a slow fanfare that prefaces its recitation the enchanting melody and the incendiary soloing that follows. Dave recalls “I heard AfroCuba de Matanzas live in New York twice in the mid 90’s and they had a huge impact on me. “Caridad” is a composition that I really dug from their Raices Africanas album.”
Dave proves himself to be an authoritative balladeer on his brooding “(No More) Smoke In The Sky.” He recalls the distressing tale behind the emotive song’s title. “This ballad was inspired by an image that came to my mind while on tour in Los Angeles in 1992. It was on the fateful day that the verdict was released in the Rodney King case and the city started to ignite. As I saw smoke rising above the California sky, I had a flashback to a younger self and an image I had never thought about. I suddenly saw myself on the back porch of my childhood apartment in Chicago in 1968 looking at smoke rising in the sky above the West side of the city. As an 8 year old I had no understanding of the gravity of that day which was the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.”
“El Dilema de Chegüi Metralla” is Dave’s tribute to Hector Davila (aka Chegüi Metralla), his close friend and brother, the album’s co-producer and a talented musician, composer and arranger in his own right. It’s a straight ahead swinger in the Messenger tradition that features, as Blakey would say, “no one in particular,” showcasing each of the band member’s soloing strength.
The date’s three final tracks display Dave’s talents as an imaginative arranger, beginning with Stanley Cowell’s “Cal Massey,” the late pianist’s tribute to the largely unheralded Philadelphia trumpeter. He asserts, “One of my absolute favorite albums is Clifford Jordan’s Glass Bead Games on Strata East. I have spent countless hours listening to this record over the years and love many of the compositions on it. I was hearing “Cal Massey” in this groove for Cubeye and created the arrangement.”
Dave’s dynamic arrangement of McCoy Tyner’s “Walk Spirit Talk Spirit” gets started with an extended Ayala bass solo followed by a piano and percussion intro before the horns take off on the well known melody for an adventurous excursion. “I bought McCoy’s Enlightenment as a freshman in high school in 1974 and “Walk Spirit Talk Spirit” became an immediate favorite of mine,” he recalls. “I hadn’t thought about playing it for decades, but as I formed Cubeye it immediately came to mind. I wrote the arrangement and with the additional input from the cats in the band we came up with this rumba version.”
The undertaking of re-imagining the song “Poinciana” might be thought of as a fool’s journey, considering just how deeply embedded in the jazz psyche Ahmad Jamal’s interpretation of the Nat Simon composition, but Dave rises to the occasion. He admits, “Of course Ahmad Jamal’s classic version is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of “Poinciana,” but I had also been listening to a killin’ live Sonny Rollins bootleg playing it in a different vibe. My arrangement is a confluence of influences; from Israel Cachao Lopez’s “Descarga Cubana” from Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature, Frank Emilio's “Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga” as well as the impact of the Sonny Rollins and Ahmad Jamal versions on me.”
Dave concludes “The vision for this group had its seed in my musical life’s experience and interests but this extremely talented group of cats have brought this vision to life. Without their high level of artistry, musical chemistry and in no small part their input to the overall settings of the music created, this musical vision that I call Cubeye would not live as it does!”
Dave was an original member of Harry Connick, Jr.’s Orchestra from its beginnings in 1990 until 2009. He has thrilled audiences touring with Harry in North America, Europe, Asia (Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and South Korea) and Australia. His baritone sax can be heard on each of these Harry Connick, Jr., Columbia recordings: Oh My NOLA, Chanson du Vieux Carré, Only You, When My Heart Finds Christmas, Come By Me, Blue Light Red Light, Songs I Heard, Thou Shalt Not, What A Night and others.
As a freelance artist Dave was a touring member of the T.S. Monk On Monk Ensemble from 1999 to 2000 touring the U.S. and Europe, as well as touring Europe with the Tom Harrell Octet in 2000. Dave has also done freelance work with Nicholas Payton’s Louis Armstrong Tribute Big Band, Joe Lovano’s 52nd Street Themes Nonet, the groups of Jack McDuff, Eddie Gladden, Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Big Band, Tom Harrell Big Band, Lin Halliday and many others.
As a leader and composer/arranger, Dave has recorded 3 CD’s – Every Corner and from Another Life on the Amosaya Music label and Endangered Species on Summit Records. Dave has recorded as a sideman with Lionel Hampton, Harry Connick, Jr., Tom Harrell, Scott Whitfield, Jason Lindner, Mel Torme, Ben Wolfe and salsero Billy Carrion among others.
Viva The Latin Jazz!!
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