on the bench in the zone
Bob Szajner - piano Ed Pickens - bass Allan Colding - drums Catalog Number: QUIXOTIC 5010 Consider this recording a mate to Bob Szajner’s (b.Sept 12, 1938, Detroit, MI) Live at Detroit Montreux Jazz Festival 1981 (Cadence Jazz Records 1215). Then, as now, Ed Pickens was the bassist. But this time around Allan Colding replaces the late Frank Isola on drums. The program is different but similar in that all the selections reflect the jaunty compositional qualities of their composer, Bob Szajner. Bob (a bit of a protege who was playing professionally by age 11), disillusioned by the music business and unable to reach the level of perfection he envisioned for himself, pretty much dropped out of the active scene from the mid ‘60s on, interrupted only by brief emergences and a series of small label recordings. And then a public silence while the music played only in Bob’s head. Around 2005, he started looking over archival material and tapes and, to quote Bob, “After a musical performance absence of many years, the only event left for the improvisational mind is the re-discovery of the former muse.” And so he rented a studio room and woodshedded, working on his chops. Satisfied with his progress and instincts, he looked for a trio. Bob contacted Ed Pickens, who also had been off the scene forover 20 years, and Allan Colding, who had only recently returned to active performing. More woodshedding and a gig in 2008 at the Detroit Music Hall/Jazz Cafe' and now, almost 30 years to the day since his first recording in 1978, Bob and what he refers to as Triad IV (Triad I - 1978; Triad II - 1980; Triad III - 1981; Triad IV - 2008) offer up these inspired sounds from Detroit’s Jazz Café. Thirty years later, many things have changed in the world, in the USA, in Detroit, in the lives of these musicians. But as the evidence shows, Bob Szajner’s musical touch, spirit, and instincts have been a constant—identifiably so.
Bob Szajner   Format: Audio CD
{"Package Dimensions": "5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4 inches; 0.35 Ounces", "Date First Available": "February 20, 2011", "Number of discs": "1"}