Standard Domain

Two years ago, Willard Jenkins hipped me to the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and helped me get a gig there, documenting the event on video. At the heart of festival was tenor saxophonist Paul Carr, who was both producing the festival, and closing it with his Quintet. At that time, I didn't know Paul's music, but noted that he was playing in a band with Terell Stafford, Mulgrew Miller, Michael Bowie, and Lewis Nash. That's rather fast company so I had to assume that Paul could really play, otherwise he wouldn't be on the stage with those cats. A few weeks later, in Rockville, Maryland, where the Festival is based, I heard Paul and his group burn through a set. Paul's playing was right in the pocket, his saxophone an amalgam of the Texas tenor thing (he's from Houston), some Trane, and some Joe Henderson. I was impressed. (Check out the YouTube videos.) What I also noted about Paul was his humility. In addition to his obvious devotion to Jazz and the tenor saxophone, and now his work putting together the Mid-Atlantic, Paul founded and runs one of the DC area's best programs for teenagers, the Jazz Academy. But when we did a wrap-up interview, he didn't bra, about who he is and what he's done. Instead, he talked about the volunteers who make the Festival happen, and the musicians who make it matter. He sent me home with Musically Yours, his Joe Henderson tribute, and I've been following his music seriously since then. Standard Domain is Paul Carr's fifth recording as a leader. The session was done just before Christmas, 2011. Nine tracks in one day? The Houston native and mainstay on the Washington, D.C. Jazz scene was quick to acknowledge the challenge of recording this way: You've got to be a little delusional, especially not rehearsing first. When you're going through nine tunes in six hours, that's rough. The trick is to have the right guys. Paul has done a lot of playing with bassist Michael Bowie and trumpeter Terell Stafford. He's also played and recorded with Lewis Nash. The newest member of the ensemble is pianist Joey Calderazzo, best known for his work with Michael Brecker and Branford Marsalis. Standard Domain includes an engaging mix of the classic American songbook, Jazz standards, and Paul's own compositions, focusing on songs with memorable melodies because they usually produce great development sections and great improvisations. For this CD, he explains, I wanted to revisit great melodies, some known and some not so known. The goal was to find new melodies within, adding our musical perspective, while at the same time, considering what each composer had in mind for that particular tune. There were no rehearsals for the session, or conversations about how we were going to approach this material, Paul reports. Nobody asked, what's the concept, or what's the vibe. I wanted them to bring their own voice and vibe to the project. Paul wrote the title track, Standard Domain, especially for this group of musicians. That melody had been going around in my head, he remembers. I wanted to write a melody that people would remember. When I sat down to harmonize it, I realized it had very traditional changes like the songs from those Blue Note sessions, so I included an interlude so people would realize this was written today, in the twenty first century. It was the first track they recorded and on the playback, Paul remarked, Lewis just hit it out of the park. If Lewis Nash were a baseball player, he'd be an MVP, many times over. There's a reason he's been on over four hundred recordings. What do I like about his playing? Everything! He interprets the music in his own way. You hand Lewis a piece of music and that's it. You don't have to say anything, except maybe to discuss the tempo. He brings so much to the table, he has so much game. He's wonderful to play with, and wonderful to be around. He definitely makes me raise my game, that's for sure. Once the solos begin, it's obvious that these talented players were in the zone that unusually warm December today. I love hard-bop rooted jazz and as