Performing Smooth Jazz Saxophone: Grant Reeves
Before you read this entry, start this song:
I know this guy, a friend of mine, a sax player, lives in the Sacramento area. His name is Grant Reeves.
Grant is an amazing guy. In a number of ways, actually, but the way I’m thinking about at the moment is his arranging and recording ability.
Check this out: he and I were involved in the recent release of the Perry Mills Project CD. He was involved way more than I was – he wrote, arranged, and recorded all the sax section and solo parts on that CD (except for the one solo I played), and they are truly remarkable. The whole Perry Mills Project thing was and is remarkable, but Grant’s arrangements and performances stand out.
The song you’re listening to is a good example: ‘Just Tell Me The Truth’.
This is a tasty little funk tune with a lot of very hip twists and turns. But the horn lines rock, don’t they? And now about those great soli lines with the whole band? Amazing.
All the background horn parts are Grant’s, and he played all the horn lines. The horn section work throughout the whole song is so tight, beautiful, and hip – a joy to listen to. He write bari parts that kill! Sounds great, don’t it?
We played all these songs in concert last summer, up in Sacramento; Grant and I played the horn parts. Let me tell you, reading those charts was like deciphering calculus – very complex! But beautiful!
And to make the experience even more wonderful, the band featured the amazing bassist Michael Manring. What a treat! This guy is beyond description!
Someday I’m going to perform a version of this tune in concert. IT…WILL…ROCK!
