CHRIS ROTTMAYER BEING

March 4, 2024

CHRIS ROTTMAYER

BEING

Shifting Paradigm Records

Chris Rottmayer, piano; Rufus Reid, acoustic bass; Matt Endres, drums; Russ Johnson, trumpet/flugelhorn.

This is pianist Chris Rottmayer’s fourth album release. He calls Madison, Wisconsin his home and Chris is a prolific composer, a jazz artist, and a jazz educator. This current album is the result of studying the work of jazz pianist, Mulgrew Miller.

“The music on this album is a mix of compositions from my doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and my master’s degree work at the University of South Florida. They are creative works born from examining Mulgrew Miller’s Playing with the Woody Shaw Quintet. I spent time transcribing Miller and trying to digest his and Woody’s harmonic language,” Rottmayer explains.

I am intrigued from the very first tune titled, “On the Street Where Woody Lives.” I am hooked on the energy and the compositional creativity of Rottmayer. This is my kind of jazz. It swings and breathes straight-ahead beauty with the contributions of the iconic Rufus Reid on acoustic bass and the sweet power of Russ Johnson on trumpet and flugelhorn. “Re-United” is another great tune that brightly features the horn of Russ Johnson. When Chris Rottmayer enters, he lifts the tune with his own improvisational piano solo. Then comes Rufus Reid stepping into the spotlight and glowing. He’s an obvious master of his bass instrument, followed by a solo from Matt Endres on trap drums. On this arrangement we meet the whole gang.

“Pigalle” is an area in Paris not far from a place I used to live called the Hotel Ventamille. Years ago, it was a red-light district and featured an assortment of interesting characters strolling the narrow streets. Rottmayer plays this one as a ballad and it’s quite beautiful, with a sexy, emotional bass solo that tears at the heartstrings. There is a tenderness to this project that drips from this recording like molasses from a tree trunk.

“I was able to connect with Rufus Reid. Reid collaborated often with Mulgrew Miller, and recording with Reid has helped me to connect with Miller on a level deeper than I could through listening to recordings or through personal study,” Rottmayer praises his legendary bass player and former colleague of Mulgrew Miller.

Rottmayer includes a tribute to Paris, France with five songs named after famous places in that European city, including “Rue des Lombards” that is one of the most famous streets for jazz music in Paris and a tribute to the chaotic nature of one of Paris’s busiest train stations titled “Chatelet.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXxMuRYAagY

Many of Rottmayer’s tunes are inspired by Miller’s musical language while he was working with Woody Shaw. For example, the tune “Re-United” takes the Wayne Shorter tune “United” that was famously arranged by Shaw and Miller, then changes it to 4/4 time and adds a new melody with a few formal elements borrowed from the Shaw arrangement. “Autumn Evening” is another lovely ballad that explores more of Miller and Shaw’s modal and harmonic concepts, perhaps pulling from the Miller composition, “Song of Modes.”

This is a tribute to the brilliance of Mulgrew Miller and Woody Shaw that spotlights both the piano and composer talents of artist, Chris Rottmayer. This album will be released to the public on March 8, 2024.

Review by Dee Dee McNeil

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