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Blue World

Dale Fielder

Label: Clarion Jazz
Released: 2025
Duration: 39:50:00
Views: 1,358

Tracks

It's A Blue World; If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You; How Insensitive; I'll Never Smile Again; Stardust; If I Loved You.

Personnel

Album Description

“Blue World”, Saxophone Standards Vol. 4, is the fourth entry in Dale Fielder’s Saxophone Standards series, where the focal point is on the exploration of the American jazz standards tradition. It follows “Mood!” Saxophone Standards Vol.3 (2024), “Nocturne Serenity” Vol.2 (2023), and the eponymously titled first volume, “Saxophone Standards Vol. 1,” which was released in 2013. On January 8, 2025, Dale Fielder lost his home and possessions in the Eaton wildfire that devastated the foothill community of Altadena, CA. Fielder was returning home after performing to a sellout audience with jazz great Marvin “Smitty” Smith to an emergency evacuation order once returning home and only had time to grab his saxophones and a bag of clothes. In addition, Fielder’s studio/office housed his independent jazz label Clarion Jazz whose entire physical inventory was lost in the wildfire. “Blue World” is a direct response to Fielder’s devastating loss. “We lost everything, our house, all our worldly possessions. We were in the midst of a 2 week stay in the shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center when I got a call from trumpeter Nolan Shaheed who owns NoSound Studios where many of us like to record. He said he felt so bad about what happened to Clarion Jazz that he wanted to donate some studio time. That’s how this whole thing happened. Everybody agreed to do it, so I booked three hours, and we were done in 2 hours. All first takes! For me, it was the first major step towards healing personally from such a devastating loss. The great Nolan Shaheed was the catalyst that made “Blue World” happen.“ The release of “Blue World” also coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Dale Fielder Quartet’s first gig on New Year’s Day 1995. The benefit of this long-time alliance is obvious in the relaxed, telepathic-like interaction they maintain which is one of the factors that allows the group to rise a notch above in a field that abounds in great jazz groups. The DFQ is led by Fielder and ex-Charles Mingus Workshop pianist Jane Getz. It is obvious that Fielder and Getz are both dedicated children of the bebop era. They sound and play with a love, reverence, and authenticity that is striking. The entire band including bassist Bill Markus and drummer Thomas White play with an easy swing and a full, “classic” sound that draws the listener in. The DFQ is a band that is perfectly balanced; where everyone listens, and supports each other, while also getting the chance to step out individually. When asked why the concentration on standards here in the 21st century, Fielder says, “Because of the melody. Melody is my current focal point in music at this time and is the reason why I chose these particular tunes. They each possess strong positive, uplifting melodic lines. Considering what I was personally going through at this time, this was especially important and attractive. I want the listener to be able to relax and enjoy the music and be lifted up and taken away from all the negativity, and deterrent forces, and energies present in early 2025. A respite to be able to forget that stuff for a moment and connect with what’s good about the world, which is Love with a capital “L.” Love is the common theme of all six tunes. They each have lyrics. Two of the tunes have actual verses that sets up the tune. Each tune was part of either a Broadway musical or a musical film and written by the great composers and lyricists; Rogers and Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, and who wrote more melodically than the great Antonio Carlos Jobim? I don’t know how I’ve come to be focused on standards recently, but I think this band are perfect interpreters for this type of medium. We concentrated on standards for our last two recordings, as well as our weekly rehearsals which you can follow on my YouTube channel from March 2024 to January 2025 where we did not repeat a single tune! There’s just a wealth of material out there with standards, and I take great pleasure in discovering the most obscure ones and bringing them back to life. Bird also loved standards in this way.” “Blue World” opens up with the standard, “It’s A Blue World,” written in 1939 by Bob Wright and Chet Forrest, for the 1940 romantic musical film, “Music In My Heart.” Here you can hear the melodic content Fielder speaks of. As the melancholy lyrics speak of a beautiful love lost, Fielder says it adequately expresses his love for his beautiful home that he planned “to spend the rest of my days on earth,” and it is now being lost. John Coltrane recorded probably the best-known version of “If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You,” in 1958. Written in 1932 by Harold Arlen with lyrics from Howard Dietz for the 1934 Broadway show, “Revenge With Music.” Here, Fielder and Getz as a duo play the verse introduction to the song as on Hoagy Carmicheal’s classic ballad, “Stardust.” The 1940 Billboard hit standard, “I’ll Never Smile Again,” written in 1939 for Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra by Ruth Lowe, was also featured in the 1941 musical “Las Vegas Nights.” Before the final melody at the end, Fielder and Getz get the only chance to perform their standard practice of trading “fours” with each other, beautifully finishing each other’s phrases, in a true musical conversation. “If I Loved You” by Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein III from the 1945 musical “Carousel,” and the popular bossa nova, “How Insensitive” by Antonio Carlos Jobim, round out another fine album by Dale Fielder’s wonderful quartet. -Reid Schultz

Album uploaded by Dale Fielder