Rodney Stark

Red Rodney was the last of the original bebop trumpeters. After cutting his musical teeth playing swing with big bands, Rodney converted to jazz under the guidance of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.

"The variety is broad and the band itself can blow up a storm!" - WTJU. The charismatic performances that distinguish Outrospection center on the 11 expressive compositions from Gregg Hill, an under-the-radar composer of imagination and emotional depth. Renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker first recognized Hill's music several years ago, and soon after they teamed up for the 2018 release, "Common Ground." Warmth and humanity resonate throughout the recording, grown out of their friendship, two men of disparate generations and backgrounds who found each other through the music. "We both know how to listen," Whitaker reflects. "Our common ground is the music. It's really the great neutralizer." The exceptional improvisors joining Whitaker are drawn primarily from the jazz faculty at Michigan State University, the program he has helmed for two decades. Forming quartets and quintets with the rest of the rhythm section, Xavier Davis on piano and drummer Dana Hall, are Etienne Charles on trumpet, trombonist Michael Dease, and saxophonists Diego Rivera and Marcus Elliott. Rockelle Whitaker contributes lyrics and vocals to four of Hill's compositions.

Since their first meeting in Glasgow in the early 1990s, singer Claire Martin and composer/pianist Richard Rodney Bennett have been what Martin calls 'firm friends', their relationship cemented by a common interest in the subtleties of songwriting and jazz singing. Witchcraft is the result of their dynamic collaboration. On this album, they perform as a (delightfully informal but consistently musicianly) duo, her intimate, deceptively unfussy vocal style perfectly complemented by his flawlessly eloquent piano. Their material is all mined from the Cy Coleman songbook.