Album Notes

This is the debut recording of the FivePlay Jazz Quintet. We started this group with the idea of playing original music that nourishes both mind and heart; melodic modern jazz to be enjoyed by everyone, whether you’re an experienced jazz listener, or you're hearing jazz for the first time.

About The Music

Off the Ground takes us off with a modal up-tempo tune that starts airily, then gathers momentum through a ski run of jumps, breaks, and turns. Flight of the Gazorple is a plaintive jazz waltz that evokes the stately flight of an enormous mythical bird. "He’e" means octopus in Hawaiian and, in He’e’s Boogie, all eight tentacles are fully deployed; modern boogie-woogie meets the Jazz Messengers. Once Upon A Time tells a story, a ¾-time fairy tale with a nod to Brazil. Indigone (past tense of the verb “indigo”) starts with angular melodies and rhythms, then segues into Latin jazz and builds to an over-the-top finish. In Amor Fati (the philosophical notion that you should not merely accept your fate, but embrace it) a gentle melody unfolds over rich harmonies. Fever Dream is a safari to a mysterious and sensual jungle, where unseen dangers lurk. What are these dangers? "Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, and find out." (Kipling.) Our son, Evan, came up with the title Bright Golden Sunshine for this joyful multi-metric romp, and it expresses the mood perfectly. In a Grain of Sand is an unusual, impressionistic piece after the poem of William Blake. (Laura previously recorded it with vibraphonist Ted Wolff.) We wrap it up with Sidesteppin’ Blues, a soulful after-hours tune with some hip variations on the classic blues form.