Gerald Veasley Your Move
HUCD-3130
UPC: 0-53361-31302-9
Release Date:
March 11th, 2008
GERALD VEASLEY MAKES HIS MOVE ON NEW
HEADS UP CD
Your Move set for worldwide release on March 11,
2008
Contemporary jazz bassist Gerald Veasley makes no claim to
be a master chess player, but there are certain unmistakable
parallels between his line of work and the small-scale war
game that has challenged great minds for centuries. Like chess,
Veasley sees music as a pursuit that involves a combination
of strategy, quick thinking and even a bit of blind faith.
“There’s a multiplicity of decision making in
the game of chess, and there are consequences to every action,”
says Veasley. “In a lot of ways, making music is like
that too. There are so many choices, especially in jazz, where
the situation is never the same twice. That’s always
exciting to me. You’re creating new scenarios at every
turn – every time you step in front of an audience,
or every time you step into the studio. That’s what
drew me to this kind of music in the first place – the
idea that it was always fresh, there was always an opportunity
and a new challenge. Unlike chess, though, winning in jazz
doesn’t mean someone else has to lose.”
Your Move set for worldwide release on March 11,
2008
Contemporary jazz bassist Gerald Veasley makes no claim to be
a master chess player, but there are certain unmistakable parallels
between his line of work and the small-scale war game that has
challenged great minds for centuries. Like chess, Veasley sees
music as a pursuit that involves a combination of strategy,
quick thinking and even a bit of blind faith.
“There’s a multiplicity of decision making in the
game of chess, and there are consequences to every action,”
says Veasley. “In a lot of ways, making music is like
that too. There are so many choices, especially in jazz, where
the situation is never the same twice. That’s always exciting
to me. You’re creating new scenarios at every turn –
every time you step in front of an audience, or every time you
step into the studio. That’s what drew me to this kind
of music in the first place – the idea that it was always
fresh, there was always an opportunity and a new challenge.
Unlike chess, though, winning in jazz doesn’t mean someone
else has to lose.”
That same combination of challenges, opportunities and win-win
is at the heart of Your Move (HUCD 3130), Veasley’s
new Heads Up International CD set for worldwide release on March
11, 2008. The album is the latest – and perhaps most innovative
and audacious – maneuver in the game that Veasley has
been playing since his early days as an up-and-coming musician
in his native Philadelphia.
“After all those years, after all the records I’ve
made, I’m really mindful of the fact that not just music
but life in general is a lot like that too,” says Veasley.
“There are so many decisions that you have to make. You
get the best information you can, and then you take the next
step. Sometimes you have to be willing to make a leap and take
a chance. There are always situations where you have to be flexible
and adjust, and you have to adjust quickly.”
Any good game involves more than one player, and Veasley has
a couple collaborators on hand that make Your Move
an intriguing gambit. Guitarist Chuck Loeb steps in as a formidable
session player/producer and author or co-author of several tracks.
Saxophonist and longtime Veasley band member Chris Farr also
shares a few song credits.
The album opens with the infectious riff of “Hear Now!”
a high-energy tune written and arranged by Loeb that serves
as a somewhat rare showcase for Veasley’s technical chops.
“When I’m the writer or the arranger, I usually
think about more than just the bass,” says Veasley. “I
tend to think about what’s best for the song in general,
and what all the instruments will sound like together. But Chuck
wanted me to have the chance to do one of those bass-in-your-face
songs. This was my opportunity to show off a little bit.”
The easygoing “Slip ‘n’ Slide” includes
some playful interplay between Veasley and Loeb, with a rock
solid backbeat crafted by drummer Josh Dion.
“So Close to the Sun” showcases guest trumpeter
John Swana and includes atmospheric layers from organist Peter
Kuzma and vocalist Mikki Kornegay. “This song has a range
of emotions,” says Veasley. “It’s actually
a little bit melancholy in the beginning, but it has a very
buoyant, triumphant flavor toward the end.”
The title track appears midway through the set, and the ease
with which it came together in the studio is evident in the
final playback. “’Your Move’ is one of those
songs that, from the instant it starts, puts you in that frame
of mind to just settle into your chair and enjoy the groove,”
says Veasley. “It just feels right and sounds right. It
was easy to work through when we were recording it. When a song
comes together that effortlessly, you almost second-guess yourself.
You find yourself asking, ‘Wow, could it really be that
easy?’ The truth is, there’s a complexity to it,
but it comes together so easily because of Chuck’s skills
as a producer.”
“Three Tears” is a tribute to Veasley’s longtime
friend Kip Boyer, who passed away earlier this year. Though
understated and respectful, the track maintains an optimistic
and even whimsical edge. “When I started writing it and
recording it, I thought it would be this sort of sad-sounding
song,” says Veasley. “I had intended to create this
kind of solemn tribute, and it ended up being very hopeful.
It had a beauty I didn’t expect. But then I realized,
that was Kip. That was the essence of him.” “Thank
You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” is a unique take on
the Sly & The Family Stone classic from 1970. “Being
a lover of soul music and growing up in that era, I just see
Sly Stone as the quintessential master of funk. I welcome any
opportunity to tip my hat to him, and I think I’ve managed
to capture some of the lighthearted spirit of the original tune.”
The set ends on a romantic note, with “Roxanne’s
Dance,” Veasley’s musical tribute to his wife –
the life partner with whom he makes every move. “My quest
with this record was to tap into an emotional core,” he
says. “I’m trying to make music about those aspects
of life that are common to all of us. There’s a certain
rhythm to life, regardless of what you do for a living. There
are experiences you have every day – certain moves that
you make – with your spouse, your kids, your colleagues,
whomever. A lot of those experiences are universal, and I’m
trying to bring some of them to light.”
The pieces are all in place on Gerald Veasley’s newest
CD. Listen to Your Move and follow his next step in
the game.
Bassist Gerald Veasley clearly remembers
the first record he ever bought with his own money. “It
was a Curtis Mayfield song called ‘We’re a Winner,’”
says Veasley. “He had this beautiful voice that was somewhat
fragile but yet there was power in it at the same time."
The impact of that soulful voice and powerful message still
resonates in Gerald's music today. "What I try to do is
make music that touches people in a voice that is authentically
my own."
Born in Philadelphia, Veasley started playing bass when he was
12. His father died in the late 1970s, while Gerald was in his
third year at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked through
the emotional loss by redoubling his musical efforts and adding
classical guitar to his studies. He immersed himself in music,
from Curtis Mayfield to Charles Mingus, Wes Montgomery, to Jimi
Hendrix and from Miles Davis to Marvin Gaye. In music, he found
solace.
“There were several factors which led me to choose music
as a profession,” he says. “Most importantly, it
always moved me emotionally and offered me a way to express
things I couldn't find words for. When my father died, I had
a hard time coming to grips with the loss, and the music proved
very therapeutic. I thought, 'if music can have that kind of
healing effect on me, maybe I can spend my life creating music
that can do the same for others."
While the ‘70s proved to be a decade of transition in
Veasley’s personal life, he also remembers the period
as “a golden era” in the evolution of urban music.
“That was a time when I was starting to really take music
seriously, and there were all these great sounds around,”
he recalls. “Music right about that time was starting
to get very, very funky and people were taking a lot of chances.
People came along like Sly & the Family Stone, Earth, Wind
& Fire, and George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic. There
were all these innovative groups who were making social and
artistic statements without losing their soulfulness. Meanwhile,
all these fusion groups like Weather Report were experimenting
with combining these funky sounds with jazz."
In the 1980s, Veasley had developed into a versatile and reputable
sideman and session player. He joined Grover Washington’s
band in 1986 and played on six of the sax players recordings.
Two years later, he moved on to the Zawinul Syndicate, led by
fusion pioneer Joe Zawinul, co-founder of Weather Report. He
would tour the world with his idol for the next seven years.
"That was a real education, on and off the bandstand,"
states Veasley.
Among the many other credits on Veasley's résumé
are studio sessions and/or tour gigs with artists representing
a range of genres, including Special EFX, Pieces of a Dream,
McCoy Tyner, Gerald Levert, Teddy Pendergrass, Nnenna Freelon,
Philip Bailey, the Dixie Hummingbirds, John Blake, Phil Perry
and Heads Up labelmate Joe McBride. He’s also played with
a few folks who might surprise the average fan, such as fellow
Philadelphians Odean Pope, Jimmy Bruno and Pat Martino. Whoever
the collaborative partner, Veasley has always come away with
valuable lessons.
"There's value in avant-garde music or free jazz in and
of itself," Gerald points out, "but then there's also
value in how the experience of playing music like that makes
you think about
music. For example, there was a project I was involved in where
the music director was none other than Ornette Coleman, and
that was a very cool experience. He would stop the band and
say, ‘The reason you played that was because you're playing
fret ideas instead of music ideas. You're playing things that
come under your fingertips instead of really trying to free
yourself to play pure musical ideas, pure musical thought that
is generated from within.' That kind of thinking is very liberating,
and it's taught me to create music from the inside out."
The ‘90s were the launch pad for Veasley’s solo
career. The first step on that journey came in 1992 with Look
Ahead, his solo debut on the Heads Up International label
that included guest appearances from Zawinul and Blake. He followed
up that auspicious debut with recordings that have featured
an "A" list of contemporary jazz artists. In 1994
he recorded Signs, which featured George Jinda and Chieli Minucci
of Special EFX and now labelmate and Yellowjackets mainstay
Russell Ferrante. Soul Control (1997) included guest
appearances by Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist Philip Bailey,
Dianne Reeves, Rick Braun, Geroge Howard and Dave Samuels. Eric
Marienthal and Minucci appeared on Love Letters (1999),
which was also Veasley’s last album to feature Grover
Washington Jr. before his death at the end of that same year.
Washington had appeared on all of Veasley’s solo albums,
and Veasley paid tribute to his friend and mentor with 'Goodnight
Moon,' a tune on his 2001 release, On the Fast Track.
"Grover was a gentle human being who I think about every
day. I feel like a steward of his legacy, a legacy of honest,
heartfelt music. It's better to play one note that sounds like
you, than a hundred that sound like someone else."
Veasley followed Fast Track with Velvet, a richly textured
recording that evokes the sound and spirit of his formative
years in the 1970s, combined with the edgy sensibilities of
contemporary urban music. Led by Veasley’s distinctive
instrumental prowess, the album offers a unique perspective
on the burgeoning movement known as neo-soul.
In response to the longtime clamor among his fans for a live
album, Veasley released Gerald Veasley At The Jazz Base!
in July 2005. Recorded at Veasley’s own club in Reading,
Pennsylvania, in November 2004, At the Jazz Base! is
a collection of songs culled from his previous recordings and
updated with new arrangements and a fresh perspective.
Veasley returned to the studio in the summer of 2007 to record
his newest release, Your Move. With assistance on both
sides of the mixing board from co-writer/producer/guitarist
Chuck Loeb, Veasley explores the various moments when jazz in
particular and life in general resemble a game of chess –
a series of defining moments when a player weighs the options
and takes the next step toward a new and exciting future. Your
Move is due at retail on March 11, 2008.
