Phil Haynes & NO FAST FOOD
Phil Haynes, drums
Drew Gress, bass
Tim Warfield, tenor & soprano saxophones
February 7, 2007
8:30 p.m.
Bucknell Hall - Free
No Fast Food is Phil Haynes’ music for jazz saxophone, bass, and drums, in the tradition of master drummer Elvin Jones’ legendary post-Coltrane trio with Joe Farrell and bassist Jimmy Garrison. Along with Sonny Rollins’ earlier Way Out West, (with drummer Shelly Manne and bassist Ray Brown), Jones’ recordings Puttin’ It Together and The Ultimate, with their hard swinging simplicity, African muscularity, and contrapuntal interplay have fueled Haynes’ imagination.
Much of Haynes’ writing for trumpeter Paul Smoker’s famed trio sprang from this tradition. After composing for international quartets, quintets, and big bands, over the past few years Haynes has returned to this elemental format. Needing harmonically and rhythmically gifted soloists, he turned to long-time friend and bass virtuoso Drew Gress. Their combined 15 CDs of recording experience, including Haynes’ other ensembles Continuum and Free Country – along with the collective Joint Venture, Ellery Eskelin’s mid-80s trio, Andy Laster’s first New York recordings, and Gebhard Ullmann’s Basement Research among others – provides this new trio a foundation unlike any other.
Previous incarnations of Haynes’ trio have featured modern masters Don Byron, Vinny Golia, and Greg Tardy in the horn chair. Haynes first performed with Tim Warfield in 2006 as members of pianist Steve Rudolph’s quintet, and the prospect of combining forces in this classic, intimate trio context became irresistible. This Jazz at Bucknell performance highlights the rebirth of No Fast Food and the return of guest artist Tim Warfield to the University.
TIM WARFIELD, “is perhaps the most powerful tenor saxophonist of his generation” according to Peter Watrous of The New York Times.Warfield joined Marlon Jordan’s Quintet in 1990. In 1991 he was selected to record Tough Young Tenors, listed as one of the top ten recordings of the year by The NY Times. He was named to the Jazz Futures, a world touring group assembled by George Wein to showcase some of the world’s brightest young stars in jazz. By 1994, he joined bassist and Verve recording artist Christian McBride’s group, where he remained a member until 1999. In addition to multiple recordings as a leader,Warfield has made numerous stage appearances with Donald Byrd,Michelle Rosewoman,Marcus Miller, James Williams, The Harper Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie, Isaac Hayes, Shirley Scott, Jimmy Smith, Nicholas Payton, Charles Fambrough, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Terell Stafford, Stefon Harris, Orrin Evans, The Newport Millennium All Stars, “Papa” John Defrancesco, Joey Defrancesco, Claudio Raggazzi, and Danilo Perez, among many others. A native of York, Pennsylvania, he currently serves as a board member for the Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz and artist-in-residence at Messiah College in Grantham.
DREW GRESS, a veteran of over 100 recordings, has been “first-call bassist” for international artists on the cutting edge of contemporary improvised music ranging from the pianists Uri Caine, Bill Carrothers, Fred Hersch, and Simon Nabatov, to woodwind specialists Tim Berne, Don Byron, Ellery Eskelin, and Ravi Coltrane, to name but a few. In a previous musical life, he grounded performances of Buddy Hackett, Phyllis Diller, Zoot Sims, Cab Calloway, and, yes, even Pia Zadora. His harmonically gifted compositions are featured on a 2005 release, 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition Records), 2001’s Spin & Drift (which includes his performing on pedal-steel guitar), and the quartet Jagged Sky’s 1998 underground classic Heyday (Soul Note). The Guardian selected a concert given by his Spin& Drift quartet as London’s Best Jazz Concert for 2002, and in the same year he received a SESAC Composer’s Award. He has been the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer. He has served as artist-in-residence at St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
