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GENRE: Jazz/Small Ensemble/Trombone
COMPOSERS: Matt Hall, DeLange/Van Heusen, Charlie Arbelaez

A Musical Journey of Matt Hall's Life!...from the Great Smokey Mountains through the Marines into New York...enjoy the trip!

For Matt Hall, Jazz is a journey--a lifelong endeavor spearheaded by the trombone. A cool trip that began in Kingsport, in his home state of Tennessee. A student of Rick Simerly, Matt studied the Masters: Urbie Green, Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana, JJ Johnson and of course Bill Watrous. At age 21 he joined the United State Marine Corps where he would move to Southern California. It's where he met Charlie Arbalaez whose alto sax chops were are already gaining great momentum. During his time in the service, Hall would gain a chair in the highly prestigious USMC Jazz Orchestra, touring the country. After an enlistment with the Corps, Matt and Charlie tackled SUNY Purchase Conservatory in New York, studying with John Faddis before earning Masters degrees on their instruments under the direction of Bill Yeager at San Diego State University.

This debut album, pays tribute to Matt's Great Aunt Joan and her exasperation over Matt's constant practicing during his childhood always exclaiming: "I hope to my never"! From the blues-driven opener, Biscuits and Gravy, to the completely burnin' Cherokee contrafact closer that embodies moving to New York City, Charlie's Harley, this album swings on many levels from start to finish, offering many twists and turns throughout. Fellow trombonists and brass players alike will particularly love and appreciate Matt's tip of the cap to Bill Watrous and Rick Simerly with a breath-taking cadenza titled 3G--Matt and Charlie's NYC apartment number overlooking the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan.

MATT HALL - TROMBONE, COMPOSER, ARRANGER, PRODUCER CHARLIE ARBELAEZ - ALTO SAXOPHONE, COMPOSER LOUIS VALENZUELA - GUITAR JASON SHATTIL - PIANO MACKENZIE LEIGHTON - UPRIGHT BASS KEVIN KANNER - DRUMS

Track Listing

Sales Points

• For fans of Red Hot Swingin' Jazz - from Blues to Scorchers, this is a memorable jazz-journey!!

Press Quotes

Trombonist and composer Matt Hall's debut as a leader is a tremendously satisfying program of originals, plus one standard. Hall leads a dynamite quintet that shows itself adept at grooving in a variety of styles: 'Biscuits & Gravy' is a refined blues that never quite tips over into funk, but consistently nods at it; the title track is loping, midtempo hard bop; 'Charlie's Harley' is a Charlie Parker tribute written on the 'Cherokee' changes; 'Spearhead' has a slightly greasy, second-line feel to it in the head, but then settles into a relaxed swing for the solos. Hall has that most enviable skill in trombonists: the ability to play bop at tempo and without any loss of clarity or note separation. And his sidemen are all absolutely killing it here as well. This album would find a welcome home in any library's jazz collection.

     —Rick Anderson, CD HotList April 2022