“You hold in your hands jazz history. This is a CD that must be heard!"
~ Pianist and Producer, Donald Brown
“[Boone] is one of the very few that can lure Phil's poetry-magic and call it out and show it to the world… Beyond words… up there with the muses.”
~ Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States
“Benjamin Boone’s music is a tour de force, a mellow whirlwind of jazz and poetry.”
~ Guy Livingston, “American Highways,” ConcertZender (Netherlands Radio)
A new precedent for pairing jazz with poetry, with performances by Tom Harrell, Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby, & Chris Potter joining Boone’s core ensemble as Levine recites 14 of his iconic poems set to original music they inspired.
1. Gin
2. Making Light of It
3. The Unknowable (homage to Sonny Rollins)
4. Yakov
5. They Feed They Lion
6. I Remember Clifford (homage to Clifford Brown)
7. The Music of Time
8. Soloing (homage to John Coltrane)
9. Arrival
10. A Dozen Dawn Songs, Plus One
11. Our Valley
12. Call it Music (homage to Charlie Parker)
13. By The Waters of the Llobregat
14. What Work Is
Philip Levine – poetry and narration
Tom Harrell – trumpet (6)
Branford Marsalis – tenor saxophone (8)
Greg Osby – alto saxophone (12)
Chris Potter –tenor saxophone (3)
Stefan Poetzsch – violin (10, 11)
Karen Marguth – vocals (1,7)
Max Hembd - trumpet (4, 5, 10)
David Aus – piano (2-6, 10-14)
Craig von Berg – piano (1, 7, 8, 10)
Spee Kosloff – bass (1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12)
Nye Morton – bass (4, 5, 11, 14)
John Lauffenburger - bass (6,8)
Brian Hamada – drums (1-3, 6-8, 10, 12)
Gary Newmark – drums (4, 5, 11, 14)
Atticus Boone - French horn (6)
Asher Boone - trumpet (6)
Branford Marsalis appears courtesy of Marsalis Music
Produced by Donald Brown
Primary recording and engineering by Eric Sherbon, Maximus Media, Fresno, CA
Additional recording by Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY; Sutton Sound, San Luis Obispo, CA; and Squeeze Studio, Blue Anchor, NJ
Edited by Vincent Keenan and Benjamin Boone
Mixed and Mastered by Mike Marciano, Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY
Music by Benjamin Boone except Making Light of It and What Work Is by David Aus, and Arrival by Spee Kosloff
