Personnel:
Charles Davis (ts), Sam Yahel (p), Ben Street (b), Kresten Osgood (d), Bent Jaedig (compositions)
Reference: FSRCD 5049
Bar code: 8427328650496
This is the first album on Fresh Sound Records by the Charles Davis Quartet. This All-Star group is lead by one of the greatest exponents of true Be Bop sax playing in the world. At 75 years of age Charles Davis continues to perform regularly with such great bands as the Barry Harris group, the Jimmy Heath big band and the Sun Ra Arkestra and leads his own bands. Davis lives and works out of New York as he has been since he left Chicago in 1957. he has performed with Billy Holliday, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Billy Higgins, Hank Mobley, Clifford Jordan among others. He is acknowledged by his peers as a very original lyrical improviser.
Like Bent, Charles is well known and highly respected by his peers, but not as known to the general public as he deserves to be. He also has remained open to all types of music in his long career and today he is still found in as different contexts as Barry Harris group and the Sun Ra Arkestra. He is completely committed to his musical message, a timeless yet constantly evolving message.
Charles Davis, has released only a handful of albums under his own name, but
they are of extremely high quality. Charles Davis is a master of the saxophone and I am truly honored that he has agreed to do this album.
Bent Jaedig's writing was sparse, but when he wrote something it was precise. I would guess that there are around 15 of his compositions that we know of. On this album we have recorded eight of them. I wanted people to hear this music interpreted by the best quartet I could imagine. I see Ben Street as the most important bassist of his generation, highly original and sophisticated, also Sam Yahel, to me, is playing the most exiting stuff on the scene today on piano and organ.
—Kresten Osgood (From the inside liner notes)
