JAZZ TONIGHT
With sidemen Brian Lynch and Chip McNeill

This well-schooled and innovative jazz trio joins up with two very well established sidemen, Brian Lynch (trumpet) of the Phil Woods Quintet, and Chip McNeill (sax) of the Arturo Sandoval Band.

Bassist John Brown provides much of the bass work, and bassist Ed Mikenas comes in on a tune, and then doubles on percussion on several cuts on the CD.

Peter Ingram is the group's versatile drummer, and Marcus is on piano/vocals, leading the quintet on a very bluesy, jazz journey into a fresh take on some well-known jazz standards and some superb originals that sound like classics the first time you hear them!

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TRACK LIST:
(click on a link below to hear a mp3 sample)

• 1. Supper • 2. Castor & Pollux • 3. Sun Ray • 4. New Clothes Old Shoes • 5. Willow Weep For Me

• 6. Mad With You • 7. Different Groove • 8. Sweet Memories • 9. JoJo's Blues • 10. 2nd Day In The Woods

There is something very special about this collaboration of jazz musicians, and you can hear it from the very first take "Supper".  The New Orleans feel of this very hip tune sets the tone of the whole disc.....basically, in a nutshell, what we have here is a strong blues foundation with an infectious jazz feel and an original sound all their own. Castor and Pollux is perhaps Marcus' best composition thus far...

THE INSPIRATION:
In a recent interview, Lenny shared his thoughts about the songs on "Jazz Tonight"

SUPPER is a song I learned and send out to Dr. Valerian Smith, a dentist I had the good fortune of meeting down in Baton Rouge , Louisiana, and who took me on as one of 14 musicians he put together and took on the road to be in his play "Supper".  Although we only lasted 5 weeks or so at a theater in Los Angeles, the play and especially the music gave me so much, that this is my way of giving back to him.  Thank you, Valerian!

CASTOR AND POLLUX came easily. Some songs take me quite awhile to compose...arrange.....etc.. But, the really good ones just seem to "flow out of you", and that's what happened when writing Castor and Pollux.  It practically wrote itself!  I like to think I just "got it out of the way" when it came out .  The title, "Castor and Pollux" are the twins of Gemini (you guessed it...my sign), and if you listen closely to the song, you might hear them both having a "conversation" with each other.  I think of Castor as the mischievous, playful one.  Pollux is the more sensible, pragmatic, serious one.  I think everyone has a little of both Castor and Pollux in them.

SUN RAY is a tribute to Ray Bryant, a jazz pianist legend who also happens to be my Dad's best friend!  As a little kid growing up, I had the amazing fortune of having Ray in the house alot.....he'd call me his "nephew", and show me this and that on the piano, but mostly, I'd spend hours and hours listening to his solo and trio albums, his strong gospel and blues influences, and his powerful left hand.  I trace most of my roots back to Ray, which isn't a bad place to be!

NEW CLOTHES OLD SHOES came about when Peter Ingram said "Hey Lenny, you sing like Mose Allison sometimes...how 'bout writing a song like him? " Well, Mose's shoes are too hard to fill!  But, I pulled out some of my own old shoes (and some new clothes) and tried to write a fast bluesy-jazz song with an interesting time (7 bar verses) that swings.....you be the judge!

The idea to do a different take on WILLOW WEEP FOR ME came about around the same time we had the idea to join up with Brian Lynch.  Two years earlier, the trio was playing an "open jam session" at a North Carolina Jazz Fest in Raleigh, and along came Brian (off of Eddie Palmiere's main stage) to play "Willow" and the whole session just gelled, as if we'd all been playing for years together.  As luck would have it, we played a concert together two years later and marked the occasion with a recording session, and the rest is history!

MAD WITH YOU is our rendition of an old blues tune.....we alternate 10 bar verses and 12 bar straight ahead blues for a different feel.

A DIFFERENT GROOVE is really the "MO" of our band, trying to find, make, and "hear" different grooves, times, innovative arrangements, creative new ideas on everything we do.  This original is particularly interesting in the interactions between Chip and Brian on the two horns while the trio sets a 'different groove' .

SWEET MEMORIES is unlike the rest of the songs on "Jazz Tonight", probably because it was written for the most unique person I've ever met, my dearest friend, Stephie.  The tune is played as a duo, with just sax and piano, and is for Stephie and her truest love, and for everyone's Sweet Memories!

As for JOJO'S BLUES, Jojo is the youngest of my two daughters, and she is EXACTLY like the song "Jojo's Blues", swinging her way through life in her own unique style.  We kept the tune as an instrumental on the CD, but put the lyrics in the insert as a dedication to her (and for anyone who wants to sing along!).

With 2ND DAY IN THE WOODS, on an earlier LP, I played a solo piano piece called "One Day in the Woods" (the first LMT album, called "BAT IN THE HAT", made in New Orleans).  This "2nd Day in the Woods" is a sequel to that ballad, building on the earlier tune and adding a new melody line and an interlude in 10/4 ......This one took the longest to write...ten years!  So, don't look for the Third Day in the Woods for a while....

I can't help but be proud of the hard work and great results that came out of the collaboration of a great group of musicians who not only know how to play their respective instruments, but also know how to "listen" as they play, which I think is what really makes "Jazz Tonight" special.  The "listening" part, maybe even more than the playing of tunes and soloing, makes the music flow , and in my humble opinion, is the true essence of jazz.