No one records a finer tribute album than Mark Masters. Not only does Mark have enormous arranging skill, superb taste and deep knowledge, but he's hip to the nuances that make a tribute album truly special. It's all in the details and shadings.
I've posted on Mark in the past on his tribute records honoring Clark Terry and Alec Wilder (here and here). He's also taken on Jimmy Knepper, Clifford Brown, Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster, Duke Ellington and even Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.
Now Mark pays homage to Sam Rivers and his Blue Note years on his new album Sam Rivers 100 (Capri), featuring a big band and Billy Harper on tenor saxophone. [Photo above of Mark Masters by Shawna Sarnowski]
Rivers is largely known for his free-jazz compositions and work on the tenor saxophone in the 1960s and '70s. He also played soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola. Mark's album was recorded in 2023, the centenary of Rivers's birth in 1923. Hence the title. Rivers died in 2011.
Rather than craft this project by writing tumultuous charts to mirror Rivers spirit and approach on songs, Mark wisely chose to interpret Rivers's free-jazz expressions and build on the lyrical quality of his compositions. Mark has drizzled the free-jazz feel into the arrangements with care, leaving the full Rivers saxophone expression to the exceptional Billy Harper.
The tracks (all compositions by Sam Rivers):
- Fuchsia Swing Song
- Cyclic Episode
- Helix
- Parts of Speech
- Point of Many Returns
- Beatrice
- Downstairs Blues Upstairs
- Calls of the Wild
- Paean
- Ellipsis
- Luminous Monolith
Tomorrow, I'll post on Mark's second new album—Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! (Capri)—featuring his big band arrangements of Billy Harper's compositions, with Billy on tenor saxophone. It, too, is spectacular.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) on major streaming platforms and here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Beatrice...
Here's Downstairs Blues Upstairs...
Bonus: Here's the Sam Rivers Quartet performing Beatrice in 1989...
