"peter Criss"

Chopin melodies used as a basis for jazz improvisation? In the wrong hands, the results could be truly catastrophic. Yet it’s a notion with great appeal for celebrated Dutch piano marvel Peter Beets. It's a happy coincidence that the fifth Criss Cross CD under Beets' leadership arrives during the bicentennial year of Chopin's birth. But it’s clearly not a project haphazardly thrown together at the last moment. Instead, Peter recruited three of New York’s premier jazzmen - guitarist Joe Cohn, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson - as co-conspirators. Together, this quartet wrings extraordinary measures of beauty, excitement and yes, fun from eight of Chopin’s most memorable pieces. Their collaboration is, in a word, breathtaking.

Peter Bernstein - Brain Dance (1996) {Criss Cross Jazz CRISS 1130 CD}
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© 1996 Criss Cross Jazz | CRISS 1130 CD
Jazz / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Guitar

For his third Criss Cross release, guitarist Peter Bernstein leads an all-star organ combo that also includes tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trombonist Steve Davis, organist Larry Goldings, and drummer Billy Drummond. Some of the music that the quintet performs is typical for this type of hard bop/soul-jazz group, including a hot minor-toned blues, "Means and Ends," and Percy Mayfield's blues ballad "Danger Zone." However, a few of the other selections (particularly Bernstein's four originals) are more complex and serve as evidence that the music was being performed in 1996, not 1966. The musicians all play up to their capabilities and Goldings shows that he was one of the most inventive organists of the decade.

Peter Bernstein's second CD as a leader reunites him with pianist Brad Mehldau and once again features him in a quartet. However, both Bernstein and Mehldau had grown quite a bit as soloists during the previous two years (the pianist really tears into "Nobody Else but Me") and this time they are joined by the virtuosic bassist Christian McBride and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. In addition, the songs (five Bernstein originals and four standards) are stronger and challenge the soloists to play at their best. Among the highlights are "Jet Stream," "Jive Coffee" (Bernstein's sly revision of "Tea for Two"), "Will You Still Be Mine," and a tasteful "My Ideal" in addition to "Nobody Else but Me." An excellent effort.

Dr. Lonnie Smith - The Art Of Organizing (2009) {Criss Cross Jazz - Criss 1318}
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© 2009 Criss Cross Jazz | Criss 1318 CD
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Post Bop / Hammond Organ B-3

Brace yourselves for The Art of Organizing, the very first appearance on Criss Cross by organ master Dr. Lonnie Smith. Organ jazz is of course an important part of the Criss Cross catalog. Our releases by the likes of Melvin Rhyne and Sam Yahel bear that out, also demonstrating how this vital idiom spans the generations. And you're very likely to find that a Criss Cross organ date involves modern master guitarist Peter Bernstein, an important leader for our label in his own right. Indeed, it is none other than Bernstein who joins Smith on The Art of Organizing.