Pure and Simple

"The seed for this recording was planted a few years back. In 1966 I was asked to participate in a recording with The Maritime Jazz Orchestra and the trio Azimuth (John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler and Norma Winstone) as featured guests. It was during that time period that I first met and had the pleasure of playing with John Taylor. I was immediately taken by the depth of his musicality. His prescence, both at the piano and away from it, was uplifting and inspirational to all involved in the project. I recall thinking at the time that I would love to explore playing with John in a smaller group context.

Another tour and CD with the MJO and Azimuth came together in 1998, followed by an invitation to perform a new suite by Kenny Wheeler at the Atlantic Jazz Festival, in the summer of 1999. I invited John to stay on to perform together as well as record a duo CD (as of yet unreleased).

In March 2001 John and I undertook a Canadian tour (duo and quartet). For the quartet dates and this recording, I asked Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke to join us. I had done a number of things in Toronto with Terry and Neil together and thought that they would be ideal for this recording project. Without having played together as a group, we did a week long engagement at the Top O' The Senator in Toronto and went in to record the CD. The chemistry of the group was fantastic and I believe we managed to capture some of that feeling on this recording.

The music I had written in preparation of these sessions was conceived with this combination of musicians in mind. I invited both John and Neil to bring in some music to play as well. John brought in a waltz by jazz great Kenny Wheeler, "3/4 PM", as well as a piece of his that I wanted to include on the recording called "Pure and Simple". Neil brought in a very beautiful ballad "Scene in Passing".

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