Berklee Jazz Drums

For the 2018 opening celebration of the Berklee Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice, Teri Lyne Carrington asked her students to select and perform songs from the famed jazz Real Book - a compilation of lead sheets or scores of jazz standards - written by women composers. When she released there was only one in the entire book, Carrington, a Grammy Award winning virtuoso jazz drummer, composer, inter-disciplinary artist, activist and educator, who has worked tirelessly over the last decade to advocate for inclusivity and raise the voice of women, trans and non-binary people in jazz, set out to shift the narrative.

A technically skilled guitarist, Thom Rotella is capable of playing both commercial jazz and in a style influenced by Wes Montgomery. When he was six he started playing for the fun of it on his grandfather's guitar and he began serious guitar lessons when he was ten. As a teenager, Rotella played rock but soon discovered jazz through Wes Montgomery's recordings. He went to Ithaca College (as a classical guitar major), and at Berklee he often studied under Gary Burton (1970-1972). Rotella left Berklee to tour with a lounge band, moved to Los Angeles and, with Tommy Tedesco's guidance, he became a studio musician. However after a few years he missed playing live music and in 1984 Rotella moved to New York where he continued working in the studios but also had the chance to appear in clubs. In 1987 he recorded his first solo album for DMP.

Alan Broadbent has long been appreciated as a fine pianist and arranger, talents he combines on this studio effort with bassist Brian Bromberg and drummer Kendall Kay, along with background color by the Tokyo Strings. Impeccably recorded and mixed, Alan Broadbent's Every Time I Think of You is the perfect CD for unwinding at the end of a long, demanding day.