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SCCD 31867 Harold Danko & Kirk Knuffke “Play Date” Professor Emeritus of Jazz Studies (Eastman College of Music, Univ. of Rochester) Harold Danko pays homage to Be Bop’s song-smith Duke Jordan here in an inaugural meeting with New York’s rising star cornetist Kirk Knuffke. Duke Jordan’s distinctive melodies receive Danko/Knuffke duo’s refined and creative reading …
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SCCD 31839 Harold Danko “Triple Play” Harold Danko concludes his liner notes entitled “Arriving at The Unknown” on this “Triple Play” album, stating, “I hope … listeners of this CD are prepared to join us as we take off to undiscovered region.” Ever subtle and transcendent pianist/composer Danko and his congenial co-players Jay Anderson and …
SCCD 31830 Rich Perry “Mood” “Mood” deciphers “ballads” here in this Rich Perry new album, which is, to quote the liner notes author Neil Tesser, “.. all ballads, all handled with skill and taste, yet all pushing at the edges to find something else.” “The SteepleChase sessions… constitute a body of work equal to anyone …
SCCD 31812 Harold Danko Trio “Lost In The Breeze” A good part of pianist/composer/educator Harold Danko’s strength lies in his creative intelligence in composition of originals as well as in recasting or reinventing the existing melodies like in this new release. “Danko’s approach is one of subtlety and sophistication, not of pyrotechnics (though his technical …
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SCCD 31778 Dick Oatts/Harold Danko “Sweet Nowhere” The friedship and collaboration between Dick Oatts (born Iowa, 1953) and Harold Danko (born Pennsylvania, 1947) go way back into the late 1970s when the two young musicians cut their teeth in the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. Although they have performed together in all types of …
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SCCD 31761 Harold Danko Quintet “Oatts & Perry III” “ This album is a true sleeper. the date is beautifully planned and recorded …”, commented Thomas Conrad of JazzTimes on the first “Oatts & Perry” (SCCD 31588) released in 2006. Following the equally highly acclaimed sequel “Oatts & Perry II” (SCCD 31689) of 2010 this …
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SCCD 31748 Rich Perry “Time Was” Tenor saxophonist Rich Perry began his recording career for this label in 1998 with “To Start Again” (SCCD 31331). Since then his prolific outputs through the years have captured “ …… With his full but soft-edged tone, subtle articulation and impeccable use of dynamics, Perry imbues each of the …
Harold Danko’s trio is in fact Harold Danko Quartet without Rich Perry – thus the album title “Unriched”. This latest Harold Danko Trio was cut right after the Quartet session fully warmed up and is rich with intense creativity and sophistication. Harold Danko has been a mainstay of SteepleChase label since the early 80s producing …
The final set of the dazzling live recording of Rich Perry Quartet at New York’s famous jazz lounge at the Kitano Hotel puts slightly more weight on jazz originals. “…. a quartet of talented musicians playing well-worn standards can still come up with renditions startling in their freshness and artistic relevance.” ( Matthew Miller of …
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A sequel to the highly successful SCCD 31588 “Oatts & Perry I”, on which Thomas Conrad of JazzTimes commented, “… Harold Danko played with Oatts and Perry in the Thad Jones–Mel Lewis Orchestra and always wanted them in his own band. This album is a true sleeper, a blowing date on which the blowing is …
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