Greg Hopkins Nonet Follows in Davis' Footsteps
APRIL 8, 1999 THE BOSTON GLOBE
Greg Hopkins, the inspired trumpeter/composer who is one of Boston’s unappreciated jazz treasures, was listed as the leader of the nonet that appeared at Scullers on Tuesday. On the band’s debut CD “Jazz!” (Summit), he shares billing with pianist Chuck Marohnic and tuba player Sam Pilaflan, Arizona-based musicians who (together with drummer Dom Moio) traveled to New England for the group’s East Coast debut.
Given the instrumentation (four brass, two saxes, and rhythm), the CD’s cover art by sometimes-painter Miles Davis and the inclusion of three original arrangements from the influential “Birth of the Cool” recordings, this band might appear to be a mere recreation of the Davis nonet. Yet that legendary unit of the late ‘40s is only one of the models that has inspired this new unit.
Hopkins also identified two Blue Note albums from the late ‘60s, McCoy Tyner’s “Tender Moments” and Herbie Hancock’s “The Prisoner,” as specific inspirations. The Tyner influence was clearest in the pedal-point driven “The Bishop,” an original by Boston composer Manuel Kauffman that used the ensemble to set up strong solos from Marohnic and Hopkins and a particularly charged duet by trombonist Jeff Galindo and tenor saxophonist Mark Phaneuf. Hancock’s more delicate modal washes crept through on “Cryogenic Suite,” an ambitious Hopkins opus that piled mood upon mood before settling into first a contemplative and then a more brisk Latin tempo. While initially overstuffed, “Cryogenic” ultimately provided a fertile setting for several soloists, with Galindo’s bold phrases once again outstanding.
Another Hopkins piece, “Mystic Valley,” illustrated the nonet’s ability to function in other jazz neighborhoods. Introduced as “a jazz waltz with rotaries,” the piece shifted between 3/4 and 414 time signatures in the manner of Bill Evans trio classics like “34 Skidoo.” By employing flugelhorn, flute, and soprano sax, Hopkins created an ensemble ambience that also echoed Evans’s delicacy, and which set up Marohnic’s most quietly propulsive solos.
The Davis nonet legacy was addressed with John Carisi’s “Israel” and Gil Evans’s arrangement of “Moondreams.” The former lost some of its impact by being turned into a lengthy vehicle for soloists, although it gave Pilafian the chance to display his surprisingly mellow tuba sound and flawless attack. Shannon Leclaire’s heated alto choruses, assertive in the Adderley/ Woods tradition, set up the climactic chorus most effectively. “Moondreams” retained its original ensemble focus, and remains a chillingly seductive example of how six horns can be transformed from a surface prettiness into a more menacing organism.
— Bob Blumenthal, The Boston Globe
Chuck Marohnic, Sam Pilafian, Greg Hopkins, Jazz Nonet: Jazz!
MARCH 30, 2000 SPOTLIGHT SEA COAST ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
In 1949, Miles Davis collaborated with composer/arranger Gil Evans, creating one of the most important and Lasting recordings in jazz, “Birth of The Cool.” It was a recording that ushered in a different approach to jazz from the fre netic sound of bebop, an approach that was more relaxed, melodic and Lightly swinging. Know as “Cool Jazz,” this style would be further advanced by musicians like Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker.
Fifty years later, Arizona-based musician Greg Hopkins has put together a nonet that retains the spirit of the Davis/Evans ensemble, while also adds a more contemporary take on the music. The result is this superb CD, which uses three tunes from the Davis/Evans session and surrounds them with five terrific original compositions or arrangements that display the fine abilities of this new ensemble to full advantage.
Opening with “Boplicity,” from the Davis/Evans session, this nonet gets into a relaxed, swinging groove, led by Hopkins’ full-toned trumpet on the melody which then gives way to a melodic, tasteful solo by ban sax man Steven Von Wold.
Up next is the driving Hopkins original “Hidden Agenda,” with the composer’s imaginative trumpet solo being the focal point. Pianist Marohnic also contributes a superb solo here.
John Carisi’s “Israel,” also from the Davis/Evans session, gets an extended reading, with Sam Pilafian’s excellent tuba solo being one of the CD’s highlights.
Another highlight is the highly charged arrangement of McCoy Tyner’s “Mode To John,” featuring excellent and intense solos from Hopkins, Marohnic, Von Wold and alto saxist Scott Zimmer, while tenor sax player Byron Ruth gets off a superb solo on the Hopkins’ original “Bas Relief.”
My only complaint with this recording has nothing to do with the music or the musicians. It has to do with the final mix of the recording itself. The mix has a dull, almost hollow sound which, in my opinion, robs the charts and especially the solos of vitality and liveliness. A more focused mix would provide a more natural sound.
Still, this is a superb session by a group of musicians whose dedication to the music is evident from beginning to end. Give them a listen.
The Hopkins, Marohnic, Pilafian Jazz Nonet will be in residence at the University of New Hampshire music department Monday, April 3. The group will also perform at The Restaurant Casa Vecchia in Salem on Sunday afternoon, April 2, and at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Tuesday, April 4.
Chuck Marohnic, Sam Pilafian, Greg Hopkins, Jazz Nonet: Jazz!
MARCH 2000 ITG JOURNAL
Greg Hopkins is known in the jazz community as an imaginative writer and a tremendous jazz trumpet player. In this latest release from the Summit Records Jazz Series, Hopkins teams up with an impressive group of musicians to explore the “tuba band” of nine instruments pioneered by Miles Davis and Gil Evans during the period in jazz history known as cool jazz, from about 1948 until the late ‘50s. Three of the standard works to come out of the cool jazz period are represented on this recording. The rest of the works are originals from composers writing in the style. The album cover deserves mention, for it is an original painting by Miles Davis, who simply called the painting Jazz! The album features the artistry of Greg Hopkins on trumpet and flugelhorn. Hopkins uses a wide range of tone colors and shadings in his playing, which are perfectly complemented by the rhythm section. The whole recording has a polished, professional feet, and the result is en album that is a joy to listen to. One track that deserves special recognition is the solo blues piece Just Blues featuring Chuck Marohnic. The style and technique Marohnic displays are worth the price of the album alone. Additional praise should go to recording engineer Clarke Rigsby for producing en intimate sounding jazz combo CD. The recording quality of this work is second to none. The only drawback to this tremendous album is the length. At a shade under fifty-three minutes, the listener is left wanting a few more tunes. Exploring a rather important period in jazz history, the Jazz Nonet has produced a recording that should be added to the collections of jazz buffs and brass players alike.
— Joseph Bowman, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Living the Life of a Jazz Man
THE FREE PRESS
A psychedelically painted oval of wood sits in Greg Hopkins’ living room high above Nowell Street. Greens and blues swirl along undulating lines and fade into a textured background.
“You see the octopus and the crab in there?” Hopkins asks hopefully, gleefully. “You see the tentacle and the carapace? He’s having him for lunch.”
To the casual observer the painting looks like colorful confusion, but Hopkins’ passion for the abstract is his stock in trade. He is one of the foremost jazz musicians, composers and arrangers in New England and has played with a who’s who of musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Marvin Gaye and Ella Fitzgerald.
If you walk along Nowell Street before breakfast on just about any morning of the week you’ll hear the abstract become musical reality. Hopkins practices trumpet two hours every morning, as he has for several decades. He currently owns ten of the instruments.
“Got to keep your (mouth) muscles in shape,” Hopkins says with the grin that punctuates most of his pronouncements.
A gold front tooth jumps out from his smile, and the goatee that has adorned his chin for half of his 48 years is reminiscent of beatnik jazz musicians of the 1950s.
Hopkins is also hyperkinetic. In an hour in his living room he never stopped rocking in his chair, tapping his leg and bobbing his head. In his mind the abstract connects with the pragmatic, and he makes music, a high-voltage occupation.
“I hear the song before I write it,” Hopkins said. ‘Sometimes it all comes out in one sitting, sometimes it takes months to get it right, but I usually get it.”
Since he was 8 years old, a good chunk of his energy has been channeled through the three valves a trumpet.
In the beginning it was an accident that got him hooked on the instrument. Hopkins was growing up in Detroit, surrounded by the then-burgeoning Motown sound, when he started playing the clarinet. One day, when he was running with a glass milk bottle filled with soapy water to wash his bike, the 8-year-old Hopkins fell onto the pavement and cut his hand. Glass sliced the tendons in his pinkie, rendering it forever crooked, useless for the far-flung valves of the clarinet and sax.
“But my dad, he looked at me, and he said, ‘It’s perfect for the hook on the trumpet,” Hopkins said. That was 40 years, thousands of concerts, songs, and tours ago.
In the busy season Hopkins plays eight to 10 shows a week with theater groups, jazz sessions and anything that feels good. He also teaches courses at Berklee like “Post Bebop Harmonic Innovations” and plays, composes and arranges for the Greg Hopkins Big Band, a 16-piece big band that plays at the Averof on Sunday afternoons from 1-4 p.m. The sound is powerful, crisp and luxurious.
“Big band is magnetic. It has really faded, but it will never die,” Hopkins says with the zeal of the converted. “The sound is way too magnetic.”
Hopkins got magnetized early. Growing up in Detroit in the ‘60s was all the head start he needed to get him on his way. By the time he was in high school he was playing in the horn section for some of Motown’s rising stars. He went on to study jazz at Michigan State and veered away from a more conservative career as a classical musician because “I kept playing jazz all the time.”
His career has been remarkably successful, and his litany of musical achievements is impressive even to the uninitiated. Beginning with a two-and-half-year tour with the Buddy Rich Orchestra, Hopkins has seemingly played everywhere and with everyone including the Temptations, Lena Home, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, The Supremes, The Boston Symphony and a long list of others. But at this juncture in his career Hopkins considers his versatility as a composer and arranger his greatest strength.
“You have either one of two things in this business, incredible talent or versatility. I have versatility.”
This year Hopkins has been to Spain and will be going to Belgium and Alaska this spring and summer. He typically travels three months a year.
But he has lived in Melrose since 1974, two years after he came through Boston for the first time on a tour.
How did Hopkins decide he wanted to live near Boston?
“I like the vibe of this town,” he said.
The Cryogenic Renaissance Orchestra
JAZZ! March 1999
Boston trumpeter-composer-arranger-big band leader Greg Hopkins will showcase his new jazz nonet at Scullers jazz club, at the doubletree hotel on Storrow drive on Tuesday, April 6th at 8 and 10 pm
This innovative ensemble , which sometimes goes by the name “the Cryogenic Renaissance Orchestra”, is inspired by the famous Miles Davis birth of the cool band. The repertoire features a few of the original gems, including “Moondreams”, “Israel”, and “Boplicity” from the 1949-1950 sessions. In addition, many new compositions by Greg Hopkins, inspired by, but not necessarily in the style of the original miles group will be performed.
One of the pieces written especially for this ensemble is “the cryogenic renaissance suite” by Greg Hopkins. The extended composition explores the textural and technical parameters of the ensemble. The seven-part thirty minute suite develops into one of the most ambitious forays in this genre. Other titles include “Mystic Valley”, “Okalvongo”, Duke Ellington’s “such sweet thunder”, and McCoy Tyner’s “Mode for John”.
Featured in the band are special west coast guests Sam Pilafian on tuba; Chuck Marohnic on piano; Dominic Moio on drums. Also featured are Boston’s own Jeff Galindo, trombone; Shannon Leclaire, alto sax; Marc Phaneuf, baritone sax; Ken Pope, french horn; Jim Stinnett, bass; and Greg Hopkins, trumpet and flugelhorn.
The group’s new CD entitled “Jazz”, after the Miles Davis painting of the same name which dons the cover, will be released in early may by summit records. Come and join us for the CD release party at Scullers Jazz Club on Tuesday night, April 6th, with sets at 8 and 10pm.
Greg Hopkins Swings Around the Globe
AUGUST 15, 1997 THE BOSTON GLOBE
Its summertime, and Greg Hopkins might be found anywhere on the globe. He brings his big band to the Regattabar on Tuesday, though that’s a mere local stopover for the transcontinental composer-arranger-educator.
As usual, Hopkins was in Perugia, Italy, in July, where he and fellow Berklee professors taught at the UmbriaJazz school and played at a club called Sullivan’s. (Leave it to Bostonians to land a gig at the city’s only Irish pub.) More recently, Hopkins was in Fairbanks, Alaska, for the 18th straight summer, directing the jazz program of 60-100 players at the town’s arts festival. “It’s a great getaway,” he said via an erratic phone connection, and the big Army base up here guarantees us a lot of very good semi-professionals.”
The non-students among us are more familiar with Hopkins the big band leader. “The nucleus has been together for over 20 years,” he said. “Wayne Naus and I started the band, with me as music director; then Wayne left and I took over about 12 years ago. We had a disagreement about playing Buddy Rich charts. I had been on the road with Buddy and didn’t want to do them without him.”
The Rich gig was only a part of Hopkins’s preparation. “I’ve always loved ensemble music and played in everything from big bands to rhythm and blues groups. In Detroit during the ‘60s, I was one of the younger players at Motown, so I got the dog work, going out on the bus for the tours while the veterans stayed in the studio. It was a great experience for horn players, with 10 or 15 of us blowing over that strong rhythmic groove, and I got to write section parts as well as doing a lot of writing for other bands in the Detroit area.”
After six years on the road, including his time with Rich, Hopkins opted for a rest. “I got off in Boston, purportedly for a year or two to save some money,” he recalled. “Then I started working at Berklee and in the theaters, and it was too good to leave.” The big band gave him an outlet for his writing and for his preferred approach of “stretching out, but still respecting my roots.”
For Hopkins, the band’s character is defined by its rhythm section. Guitarist “Mick Goodrick, [drummer] Joe Hunt and [bassist] Bruce Gertz, or John Lockwood, who will sub for Gertz at the Regattabar, are a totally jazz rhythm section, which is not what you typically get in big bands. They play with such empathy. I like space, which is an integral part of any art form, so we often don’t use piano, although Chris Neville will be with us Tuesday.
“I write with the rhythm section in mind, and for the great soloists like Bill Pierce, Paul Fontaine, Jeff Gallindo, Tony Lada, Jeff Stout, Greg Badolato. I rarely feature myself. It’s enough fun for me to direct traffic.”
Between Fairbanks and the Regattabar, Hopkins is spending a week in Arizona, celebrating his mother’s birthday. After Tuesday’s sets, he is off to the Czech Republic. “I’m taking some of my charts, and I’ll direct the Prague Radio Big Band. You never know where this music will take you.”
Berklee Jazz Makes Statement IAJE
FEBRUARY 22, 2000 THE GROOVE - BERKLEE'S STUDENT VOICE
The Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra was invited to perform at the IAJE Convention, held in New Orleans January 12-l6, 2000. The invitation itself is quite an honor, and gives Berklee the opportunity to show off the unique international talent of the writers and players, under the enthusiastic leadership of director Greg Hopkins.
In preparation for this performance, Greg started intense rehearsals with the band on Monday and Tuesday, January 11-12. These culminated in performances at Boston Latin High School on Tuesday night, sharing the program with the Boston Latin High School Jazz Band, directed by Massachusetts IAJE Chairman, Paul Pitts. On Wednesday evening, the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra traveled by bus to Natick High School, sharing the program with Natick High’s Concert Jazz Orchestra, directed by Jerry Ash. The Natick High Concert was attended by many local luminaries, such as Berklee’s own Ted Pease, as well as Paul Broadnax, Natick Arts Center Director Mike Moran, and jazz fans from as far away as Manchester, NH. At both of these concerts, the audiences and students alike were duly impressed by the diversity of the program and the range of talent represented by Berklee.
On Thursday morning, the band assembled at the pre-dawn hour of 4:30am to head out to Logan Airport, catching the 6:00am flight to New Orleans via Baltimore. Due to the first snow of the season, we had a two hour delay in Baltimore, but everyone was easily pre-boarded on the next flight to New Orleans, landing by 12 noon. Chaperone Barbara LaFitte arranged for two airport shuttles to transport the group to the Holiday Inn Superdome, where we bad arranged a group check-in to accommodate the students. At that point, we walked en masse to the LAJE convention, and registered the entire band, at which time they were free to take in the seminars, concerts, and exhibits.
On Friday morning, everyone was well rested and psyched to play. The IAJE sound crew was diligent about perfecting the mic setup, and Greg took the band through a thorough warm-up and sound check. The program order and the group energy level had been carefully calculated to present the group at their very peak. Beginning with ‘The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said,” by Mike Gibbs, guitar soloist Lage Lund burned through his choruses and set the tone for the rest of the concert. Kari Harris and Mike Shobe followed up with their own creative statements and the audience was enraptured with the spirit coming from the stage. Tenor soloist Jesus Santandreu and pianist Sasha Sanisonova shone brightly on the Spanish phrygian “Mauetica,” by Berklee’s own Abe Rabase. This continued the rising energy, while exploring the international expressions of Berklee’s Jazz Composition program. Along these lines, the tantalizing tango, “Clarascuro,” by Pablo Ablanado came next, with its romantic nods to Piazzola evoking sighs of ecstasy from the audience, and a mesmerizing trombone statement by Kari Hams.
Another Berklee composer, Cirillo Fernandez, provided the next selection, “Fugal Animation,” with its advances contrapuntal swing. Opening with the smooth super fast brush work of Ferenc Nemeth, and wonderful solo contributions by Jesus and Sasha, the music boasted to the audience that “jazz orchestra” can exhibit compositionally complex sophistication and not sound square! The impressionistic “Mineur,” by Berklee Alumni Michelle Barbeau provided another adventurous exploration into the possibilities of the resources of the concert jazz orchestra. Baritonist Mark Tragesser and bassist Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee wove interesting lines while maintaining the bluesy groove. By this time, the audience was completely blown away by all the flavors of the musical travelogue.
After introducing the Jazz Composition Department Chairman Ken Pullig to the audience of an estimated 2000 listeners, Greg finished the program with his arrangement of James Williams’ “Stretchin’,” acknowledging James’ presence as well. The entire band burns on this chart, especially Mike Shobe and Sam Thomas’ solo spots, and the stupendous trombone solo. Lage Lund and Ferenc Nemeth’s solos brought the chart to a frenetic climax, causing an immediate standing ovation at the end of the program. The educators and students quickly rushing the stage to congratulate the band and Greg Hopkins. Remarks were heard throughout the ballroom, wondering how to get the charts, how to recruit these players into graduate programs, and general comments of amazement at the comprehensiveness of the Berklee program. There could be no better way to show off the college than to have this ensemble, with its hand tailored compositions, perform at these festivals.
In conclusion; the trip was an incredible success. Greg and the band members could not walk through the crowd without being congratulated at every step. Many people asking for the charts, suggesting a potential project for the future. The students were all responsible, and thrived on hearing all the music at the convention. Berklee’s presence at these festivals is a wonderful vehicle for promoting the strengths and diversity of the truly unique Berklee experience.
From Motown to Berklee, He's Mastered It All
MARCH 31, 2001 THE BOSTON GLOBE
The new CD, Okavongo, and a pair of upcoming concerts by Greg Hopkins and his 16-Piece Jazz Orchestra should confirm that Hopkins is one of Boston’s greatest jazz resources. Over lunch Monday, the trumpeter-composer discussed his journey from Motown session man and self-taught orchestrator to Berklee writing guru with the same enthusiasm, wide-ranging curiosity, and personal style that stamps his music.
“Writing went along with playing,” said Hopkins, who brings his band to Casa Vecchia in Salem, N.H., tomorrow afternoon and the Regattabar in Cambridge on Tuesday night. “My first trumpet idol was Jonah Jones, with that sweet sounds and happy kind of swing. My father was a violinist, and we’d play the tunes together off Jonah’s records.”
“I had a good lip and started playing with a lot of older and much better players, dance jobs every Friday and Saturday night during high school. Then I just started writing, sitting at the piano and letting ideas take over.”
As a Detroit native, Hopkins had two of the city’s signature gigs as a teenager - on the Ford assembly line and in the horn section for Motown Records. “I started on the fringes of Motown, as a substitute trumpeter. All of the players were jazz players, great ones like Marcus Belgrave and Louis Smith.”
He organized the Brookside jazz Ensemble rehearsal band in 1968, which still exists in Detroit, and formed a group with two trumpets, two tenors, organ, and drums during the heyday of Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Hopkins, 54, says he really learned to write after head Motown trumpeter Johnny Trudell lined up work for him in touring bands. “New music is the lifeblood of a road band, and Johnny recommended me when pianist Billy Maxted called and said he needed a trumpeter. That band had two trumpets, trombone, and clarinet, but with everybody doubling, I got to write for all kinds of combinations, like three trombones and bass clarinet. Then after two years, I got a call [to join] Buddy Rich’s big band. I was fortunate t always work with very good players, and just tried to write for their sounds.”
A need for a break from the road in 1974 led Hopkins to Boston and Berklee. “Buddy played here a lot, and Boston had appealed to me as the most international city in the US,” he said. “My original plan was to take just one year off, but between the teaching job I got at Berklee and playing the theaters, Boston became a seductive place to live.”
His education continued once he established his roots here. “I learned to teach by the seat of my pants, the way I learned to play jazz,” he said with a laugh, “and over the years I wrote when the opportunity arose. It has built up to 50 or 60 big band charts, with a focus on my own originals, which are a little more complex. My intent is to recreate the electrifying energy I experienced with different road bands - and to experiment further, because you don’t have to fit a certain mold.”
Some of his band members have been with him for 25 years. The new CD on the Summit label is roughly half of the music the band recorded before taking a break more than a year ago. “It is a record in the true sense, because the pieces document our entire history,” he said.
The lessons Hopkins has learned about bandleading should whip his al-star troops (including Jeff Stout, Tony Lada, Rick Stepton, Bill Pierce, and Mick Goodrick) into instant shape. “I cut to the chase in rehearsals, by pointing out the hard parts on each composition,” he said. “Then, with judicious coaching, everyone can grasp the musical shapes quickly.
“And I never tell people who is going to solo in advance, even when I’m conducting high school bands. That keeps everybody listening.”
DAVID R. ADLER ON REALITY CHECK
JUNE 2004 JAZZTIMES
Greg Hopkins, out of Boston, taps two vastly underrated players on Quintology (Summit): tenor saxophonist Bill Pierce and guitarist Mick Goodrick. (Bassist Jim Stinnett and drummer Gary Chaffee complete the lineup.) Except for a midtempo arrangement of “Here’s to My Lady,” all the tunes are by Hopkins, a gifted writer whose difficult lines and insightful harmonizations seem tailor-made for this instrumentation. The vibe is cool restraint and fairly dark hues, even when the music cooks. Goodrick’s round, semiacoustic tone and Pierce’s burly tenor voice make for an arresting combination. Hopkins is solid and inspired on trumpet and fluegelhorn, but he contributes texture more than virtuosity. Of the 10 pieces, the most original and moving is “The Pignoli Letters”: just a notch above a ballad, it ripples with graceful three-part harmonies and features Goodrick at his best. The upbeat swingers “Hidden Agenda,” “Scooter” and “Crackdown” belong largely to Bill Pierce, the former Messenger and present woodwind chairman at Berklee. Hopkins digs in on the medium minor blues “Double Talk,” and pulls back on the softer straight-eighth numbers “Boon Moon” and “Bas Relief.” His jazz is cerebral, unmistakable in its Boston-ness, but with a distinct edge and a steady fire.
Eric Harabadian on REALITY CHECK
December 2013 Jazz Inside
“Masters of musical dialogue”; that’s how leader Greg Hopkins describes his creative cohorts on this album. And who could dispute him? It’s evident from the first note that there is a rich connection that’s taken place throughout these recording sessions and between the participants involved. This record, essentially, is about seasoned vets that have nurtured their sound for a significant amount of time. And here are the results of their diligent road work and artistic commitment....
Dave Fries' Top 10 Albums Of 2013
DECEMBER 2013
Greg Hopkins Quintet + One's Reality Check
Trumpeter Greg Hopkins teams up with an ensemble of the highest order. I’m talking about musicians’ musicians – featuring tenor man Billy Pierce, veteran of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Tony Williams Quintet.
Jon Garelick: “… Greg Hopkins put it over the top”
DECEMBER 31, 2014 Boston Globe
“The crystalline glow of Kris Adams’s singing, along with her technical assurance and emotional commitment, make this a standout vocal album, but the arrangements by her Berklee colleague Greg Hopkins put it over the top. Hopkins worked with Adams on seven of the 11 tracks, sometimes with as many as 10 pieces, including cello. The varied material ranges from Joni Mitchell’s “The Dawntreader” and Michel Legrand’s “Once Upon a Summertime” to Mary Lou Williams’s “What’s Your Story Morning Glory?,” a couple of pieces by the British singer Norma Winstone (including the title track), and Adams’s own lyric setting of Steve Swallow’s “Wrong Together.””
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