NOO YOIK jazz trumpet legend Charles Tolliver is poised to release his first studio material in more than decade at the end of this month.
The Gearbox imprint will be releasing Connect, on July 31st – the first time we will have heard Charles since his ensemble appearance on Keyon Harrold’s Introducing … in 2009.
Connect will comprise four tracks, and he’s let us hear Blue Soul as a taster. It’s a glorious nugget of cool bop with classic-era Blue Note written through it, and a real “Maiden Voyage” piano performance from Keith Brown.
Other members of the Charles Tolliver All-Stars on this recording are some of the most seasoned players in the Big Apple: Jesse Davis on alto saxophone, Buster Williams on double bass and Lenny White on drums. British saxophonist Binker Golding guests on two tracks.
Connect is Charles’s first release for London’s Gearbox Records, which can also number Abdullah Ibrahim amongst its repertoire.
Charles said “With our collective recording label expertise, a recording of my touring band could and would be done.”
Tolliver has had a remarkable recording career: his first appearance on wax was on Jackie McLean’s 1965 set for Blue Note, Making Time, since when he has collaborated with a dizzying array of the biggest names in the jazz sphere, including Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and Roy Ayers.
You can pre-order Charles Tolliver’s Connect at https://charlestolliver.bandcamp.com/
