"Steppin' Back,"
New CD Due October 23,
Introduces Bay Area Trumpeter/Composer
Joel Behrman
In a Striking Debut
His All-Star Bay Area Band Includes
Dayna Stephens, Matt Clark, Marcus Shelby,
Howard Wiley, & Danny Armstrong
New CD Due October 23,
Introduces Bay Area Trumpeter/Composer
Joel Behrman
In a Striking Debut
His All-Star Bay Area Band Includes
Dayna Stephens, Matt Clark, Marcus Shelby,
Howard Wiley, & Danny Armstrong
October 12, 2012
When Joel Behrman
relocated to the Bay Area in 2000, the trumpeter/composer was intent on
renewing his commitment to jazz. He'd completed his music degree at the
University of Miami and worked a series of non-jazz gigs, in clubs and
on the road, and as he continued his years of dues-paying in California
he realized that, in jazz, the fundamental things apply: swing, the
blues, connecting with the audience.
On his superb new debut recording, Steppin' Back,
Behrman and his band express those essential jazz values in a program
of elegant originals interspersed with compositions by Ellington,
Armstrong, and Joe Henderson. His collaborators represent the top tier
of local players: bassist Marcus Shelby, one of San Francisco's most illustrious bandleaders and composers; in-demand pianist Matt Clark; drummer Howard Wiley (better known as a saxophonist); tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens, a Berkeley High grad who lives in New York but maintains close ties to home; and veteran trombonist Danny Armstrong, a founding member of Lavay Smith's Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
"I wanted it to be a
Bay Area project exclusively," says Behrman, a San Jose resident.
"There is a lot of talent here that's underexposed."
The album's centerpiece is the leader's compelling three-movement "Justice Suite"
(Sin / Righteous Indignation / Evolution), written for the sextet.
While conceived as a response to the current political climate, the
suite is also very much an interior drama, "related to a personal
struggle of someone trying to change, working through the anger,"
Behrman says. "That could be a metaphor for all kinds of things where it
doesn't feel like justice is around."
Steppin' Back closes with "something lighthearted": "The Faithful Hussar," which Behrman learned from Louis Armstrong's Ambassador Satch.
While listening to it recently with his wife, "we just started dancing
to the song. Anything with that bounce needs to be heard."
Joel Behrman,
37, grew up in a St. Louis suburb and, at age 9, started on his first
instrument, trombone, a horn he still plays frequently today. He went on
to earn his music degree at the University of Miami, studying with
world-class improvisers like Ira Sullivan (another two-horn master) and playing countless salsa gigs on the local scene. He went on the road with KC and the Sunshine Band and eventually moved to the Bay Area, where several UM friends were already living.
Behrman started playing with the New Orleans-inspired Brass the Monkey Brass Band on trumpet and trombone. He played funk with Lenny Williams, the former lead vocalist with Tower of Power; East Bay grease with Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, another vintage soul/R&B combo; and New Jack Swing with Tony! Toni! Toné!
-- all gigs that required him to hone his trumpet chops and really
develop his technique. But the most important gig was joining
swing/blues vocalist Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
"That was a
life-changing experience, getting introduced to genuine swing," Behrman
says. "There was a standard you had to live up to, being able to swing
and play the blues. It really shaped certain opinions and philosophies
in my mind."
These days Behrman is touring internationally with percussion star Sheila E., and also performing widely with her father, the Latin jazz great Pete Escovedo.
He still gets gigs as a trombonist, but the trumpet has increasingly
become his primary creative vehicle, to the point where he didn't think
twice about playing the horn exclusively on Steppin' Back.Photography: Maurice Ramirez
www.joelbehrman.com
Media Contact:Terri Hinte
510-234-8781
hudba@sbcglobal.net
www.terrihinte.com
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