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Fred Hess

”Hess has an obvious affinity for a wide range of jazz-related idioms; he melds them into a cool, brainy, and utterly natural composite. On tenor, Hess has a mellow, Lester-ish tone and what seems to be an encyclopedic knowledge of the tenor giant’s style. Still, his melodic sense also draws from the best of the modern idioms. His articulation is smooth and light; harmonically, he’s not adverse to going “out,” though he never discards the changes of a tune for the sake of expedience.” - All Music Guide

Born in Abington, Pennsylvania, Hess grew up in New Jersey, attending Trenton State College, before moving to Colorado in 1981. He graduated with a doctorate in music composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1991. His early experiences include studies with saxophonist Phil Woods, a stint with bandleader Fred Waring, and composing music for the world premiere of a Sam Shepard play. As a composer, his influences encompass the contributions of the great figures in jazz history, avant-garde classical sources, as well as Anthony Braxton and the members of the AACM. He is currently Director of Composition at The Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Committed to exploring the boundaries of both notated and improvised music, Hess attended the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, NY, in 1979. Moving to Colorado, he began the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble in 1982. In addition to his own projects as a leader (BCME and The Fred Hess Group), he was the founding director of Denver’s Creative Music Works Orchestra and has been a member of drummer Ginger Baker’s Denver Jazz Quintet, as well as ensembles led by trumpeter Ron Miles. His current performing groups are the Fred Hess Band and the Fred Hess/Marc Sabatella Duo.

Along with recording CDs under his own name, Hess has twice received the Colorado Council on the Arts Composition Fellowship (1986 and 1994), captured first place in the inaugural Hennessey Jazz Search in Denver (1991), in 2000, received the Julius Hemphill Award for Jazz Composition awarded by the Jazz Composers Alliance, and won first prize in the 2006 International Jazz Composers Symposium. Favorable articles and CD reviews have appeared in such periodicals as DownBeat, Jazziz, JazzTimes, Coda, The Wire, JazzWise, Cadence, and Spin, as well as online jazz websites

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5
Album Review

Fred Hess Big Band: Speak

Read "Speak" reviewed by Florence Wetzel


In the liner notes to Speak, saxophonist/band leader Fred Hess makes an important point: although the golden era of traveling big bands is long past, the big band format lives on in school ensembles, as well as through individuals such as himself, whose love for this format plows right through all the logistical difficulties. Anyone seeking proof that big bands are flourishing need only listen to this third CD by the Fred Hess Big Band: all six songs are multifaceted ...

154
Album Review

Fred Hess Big Band: Into the Open

Read "Into the Open" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Denver, Colorado-based tenor saxophonist/bandleader Fred Hess isn't one to sit around and wait for the muse to pay a visit. He boasts fifteen CDs as a leader, cranking one out every year now for better than a decade. His profile rose on the surge of a set of small group outings, beginning with Crossed Paths (Tapestry, 2005), and culminating--small group-wise--with Single Moment (Alison, 2008), on which he experimented by expanding, very successfully, his free jazz quartet to a sextet.

216
Album Review

Fred Hess Big Band: Hold On

Read "Hold On" reviewed by Troy Collins


Originally from Abington, Pennsylvania, tenor saxophonist Fred Hess has resided in Denver, Colorado since 1981. Though Denver is not often considered a hotbed of progressive jazz, Hess, as founder of the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble and Denver's Creative Music Works Orchestra, has fashioned an alternative to the East Coast/West Coast paradigm. With 14 albums as a leader to his credit, Hess and his regular collaborators have documented a fertile body of work, with many tunes from his burgeoning songbook featured ...

311
Album Review

Fred Hess Big Band: Hold On

Read "Hold On" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Fred Hess has been prolific this millennium. For those familiar with the Denver-based saxophonist's last six discs, however, Hold On may come as a surprise. Since 2004, Hess has immersed himself in the art of the piano-less quartet, before augmenting his group--first, with a second saxophonist, and then a guitarist, moving from quintet to sextet and offering up a fresh and energetic take on free jazz.With Hold On, Hess jumps into the big band arena for the first ...

247
Album Review

The Fred Hess Band: Single Moment

Read "Single Moment" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Tenor saxophonist Fred Hess has been something of an adventurer with his music. He has not only gone past the obvious in his interpretation of tunes, he has also been unafraid to get into different genres. That he has been successful tells his tale.

Hess adds guitarist Dale Bruning to his tried and true quintet of Ron Miles (trumpet), John Gunther (flute, alto saxophone), Ken Filiano (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums). Bruning infuses a different character to the ...

273
Album Review

The Fred Hess Band: Single Moment

Read "Single Moment" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Tenor saxophonist Fred Hess blew off on a free tangent in 2002 with Exposed (CIMP Records), employing an Ornette Coleman style quartet containing two horns, bass and drums. He followed up on that approach with three excellent Tapestry Records discs, Extended Family (2003), The Long and Short of It (2004), and Crossed Paths (2005), with the latter pair cementing the Ken Filiano (bass), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Matt Wilson (drums) line-up that has carried over to Hess' more recent quintet ...

235
Album Review

The Fred Hess Band: Single Moment

Read "Single Moment" reviewed by Troy Collins


Denver-based tenor saxophonist Fred Hess is an under-sung yet vital presence in the Mid-Western jazz scene. His current quartet with Ron Miles (trumpet), Ken Filiano (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums) first recorded together on The Long and Short of It (Tapestry, 2004). A prolific post-bop ensemble, they have issued three follow-up albums in as many years, and while they have often been joined by another horn player, the core line-up has not changed.

Dominated by standards and classic ...

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Recording

"Speak" - New Fred Hess Big Band Album

"Speak" - New Fred Hess Big Band Album

Source: Fred Hess

SAXOPHONIST/COMPOSER FRED HESS RELEASES 3rd BIG BAND CD AS A LEADER: “SPEAK” (ALISON RECORDS 117), ON AUGUST 6th Big Band features John Fedchock, Ron Miles, John Gunther, Marc Sabatella, Peter Sommer, and Matt Wilson. “Highly original! Jazz entertainment at its best! This is an excellent CD collection of what contemporary big band music is doing, and its incredibly imaginative —Lee Prosser, JazzReview.com “All too often, we get so hung up on labels that we forget to listen to the music. ...

39

Recording

Saxophonist/Composer Fred Hess Releases New Big Band CD As A Leader: "Into The Open" (Alison Records 116), On February 21

Saxophonist/Composer Fred Hess Releases New Big Band CD As A Leader: "Into The Open" (Alison Records 116), On February 21

Source: Fred Hess

The Fred Hess Big Band is back. After releasing more than a dozen discs as the leader of small groups, Hess jumped into the big-band groove for the first time with his 2009 CD Hold On. That disc played to positive reviews and provided the music on the trailer for the highly- regarded Broadway play “God Of Carnage." As an award-winning composer, the big-band context proved to be a natural for the talented, Denver-based tenor saxophonist who also holds a ...

128

Recording

Saxophonist/Composer Fred Hess Releases New Big Band CD as a Leader: “Hold On” (Dazzle Records 202), on August 17

Saxophonist/Composer Fred Hess Releases New Big Band CD as a Leader: “Hold On” (Dazzle Records 202), on August 17

Source: Michael Ricci

SAXOPHONIST/COMPOSER FRED HESS RELEASES NEW BIG BAND CD AS A LEADER: “HOLD ON” (DAZZLE RECORDS 202), ON AUGUST 17 Big Band features Ron Miles, John Gunther, Marc Sabatella, Ken Filiano, and Matt Wilson When you take this disc for a spin, you just might want to Hold On tight during its exciting 78-minute ride through the modern, big-band tradition. As a leader, tenor saxophonist/composer Fred Hess is best known for his smaller-ensemble CDs. But the Pennsylvania native, who grew in ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Speak

Alison Records
2012

buy

Into the Open

Alison Records
2011

buy

Hold On

Dazzle Recordings
2009

buy

Single Moment

Alison Records
2008

buy

In The Grotto

Alison Records
2007

buy

How 'Bout Now

Tapestry
2006

buy

Blues For Bonnie Belle

From: Speak
By Fred Hess

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