(Straight-ahead jazz / Post-Bop) Paul Gormley Jazz Trio (Llew Matthews, Jake Reed) - I'm walkin' - 2012, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

A native of Southern California, Bassist Paul Gormley has performed with many jazz greats, from swing to bebop including Woody Herman, Vido Musso, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Dick Cary, Jimmy Rowles, Dick Hyman, Ross Tompkins, Tommy Newsom, Betty O’Hara, Mundell Lowe, Lou Levy, Blue Mitchell, Terry Gibbs, Alan Broadbent, Warne Marsh, Teddy Edwards, Jack Wilson, Bobby Sherwood, Eddie Cano, Jack Sheldon, Abe and Sam Most, Pete and Conti Candoli. He has also worked with singers Joe Williams, Anita O’Day, Herb Jeffries, The Hi-Lo’s, Ernie Andrews, Barbara Morrison, and Stephanie Haynes. He has performed at the Pacific International Jazz Festival four times. Paul has been a Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festival All Star five times, a Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival All Star nine times and performed with the KLON Jazz Club Caravan three times. Paul was invited to perform with an all star band for the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday celebration. He’s also been heard with the Bill
Berry LA Band and the Capp-Pierce Juggernaut big bands.
More recently, Paul has added producer and recording engineer to his creative achievements. He has been producer or associate producer on 10 CD’s. His latest release is “I’m Walkin” featuring his new trio. Paul has three other releases with a quartet “Our Delight”, “I’m Just a Lucky So and So”, and “Drop Me Off in Harlem. The last two interpreting the music of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
See the Talking Dog Studio Catalogue page for all the album details and how to purchase.
All of his recordings have had national radio airplay and distribution, and were recorded in his “TalkingDogMusic” studio. Paul produced and performed on vocalist/pianist/composer Howlett Smith’s CD “Let’s Go Where the Grass is Greener”. He can also be heard on “On the Edge” with vibraphonist Gene Estes and “The Road Home” and “Reset” with guitarist Pat Kelley.
Along with his jazz credits, Paul has been heard with Les Brown and His Band of Renown, toured Japan with the orchestras of Percy Faith, Billy Vaughn, and the Peanuts Hucko Benny Goodman Tribute Big Band. He also performed in South America with Ray Conniff. In addition, Paul has backed up Vic Damone, Bobby Darin, and Broadway great Barbara Cook. He was a member of the house orchestras at both the Desert Inn and Thunderbird Hotels on the Las Vegas strip playing for performers Dick Haymes, Frankie Laine, Juliet Prowse, Edie Adams, Jim Nabors, Red Buttons and the Mickie Finn Show. His bass work can be heard on many film, television, and commercial recordings. Paul’s live event producer credits include tributes to Andy Simpkins, Barry Zweig, and Gene Estes.

I'm Walkin' is my contribution to the rich legacy of jazz trios....piano, bass, and drums. We're 3 twenty- first century musicians offering our interpretation of this classic format. We're steeped in the heritage of the great trios. Swinging trios: Oscar Peterson, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, The Three Sounds, Les McCann, Victor Feldman. Introspective trios. Bill Evans, Chick Corea, and Ahmad Jamal. Trio's can be led by bassists or drummers: Shelly Mann, Ray Brown, Roy Haynes. The list could go for pages. These trios helped form my fundamental concepts of jazz. These concepts are alive in this CD.
We're 3 musicians interacting together in one room. These are complete takes. There's no layering-overdubbing, punch-in corrections, drum machines, pitch correction, or editing several takes together to make one complete song. Eight swingin' tunes, that don't require listeners to have a textbook to understand what's being played. Some might call this way of making music old school. I say good school!
Much credit for this project must go to Llew Matthews and Jake Reed. Their inspiration is everywhere, but here is some special credit. The arrangement of "Road Song" is all Llew. I suggested a little gospel feel for "Gravy Waltz". Llew's creativity gave us the cool intro that we also used as an interlude. Note Jake's cool brush work on that interlude. Cubano Chant features some call- piano- and response-bass and drums. Jake came up with the melody drums that worked perfectly with my bass part. He plays a terrific solo on this too. I love playing with these guys. A few words about the song "I'm Walkin'". In this case walkin' refers to the type of bass line (quarter notes) that I'm playing. My solo is a walking bass solo with some Ray Brown "Bucket-a-Dung" riffs added for extra color. You'll hear it.
As producer I pick the tunes, call the keys and tempos, and set a general direction for feel and solo order. Maybe most important is finding players who think and feel the music the same way. I think that is evident here. I want these artists to have the freedom to play what they feel which allows for some inspired playing. This magical interaction is a major reason we become musicians. We live for these moments. I like to say when these moments happen that "I'm sure glad I became a musician". Recording I'm Walkin' was wonderful fun for us as players. I think you'll hear that and we hope as listeners you'll share in the fun.

Paul Gormley - bass
Llew Matthews - piano
Jake Reed - drums