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New Page 3
New Orleans style trumpet playing at its best. Leroy Jones' brilliant playing, singing, arranging, and composing just keeps getting better.
"Soft Shoe" is more than the sharp upward turn of the trajectory of Leroy’s career. It's a defining moment in the history of New Orleans music, proving beyond doubt that jazz, the quintessential American music, long nourished in the Crescent City, is still rooted here, safe in the hands of her favorite sons.
Leroy Jones – trumpet, flugelhorn & vocals
Craig Klein – trombone
Alonzo Bowens – tenor & alto Saxophones
Paul Longstreth – piano (tracks 7, 8, 10 & 11)
Anders Aarum – piano (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 & 9)
Mitchell Player – bass (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, & 9)
Nobu Ozaki – bass (tracks 4, 7, 8, 10 & 11)
Gerald French – drums (tracks 1, 2, 5, 6 & 9)
Bunchy Johnson – drums & percussion (tracks 4, 7, 8, 10 & 11)
Matt Rhody – violins (track 7)
Helen Gillet – cellos (track 7)
Special Guests
Greg Stafford vocals on "Mack The Knife"
John Boutté vocals on "Just Thinking Of You"
Todd Duke guitar on "Shansky" and "Just Thinking Of You"
LINER NOTES FOR LEROY JONES – "Soft Shoe" (2007)
A mother blessed with many sons may truly love them all, but in the quiet of her heart, she still cherishes her favorites. So it is that New Orleans, the great mother of so many of America’s finest musicians, has a special place in her heart for Leroy Jones.
And, after all, who could blame her?
Born in 1958 and raised by sturdy, loving parents in a largely black middle-class neighborhood in the city’s 7th ward, Leroy picked up a trumpet for the first time at the age of 10 as a member of his parochial school band. Why the trumpet? The influence of Louis Armstrong! It was magic from the start. Wanting to extend his musical life beyond the limits of the school-day band room, he sought private lessons from his band director, Sister Mary Hilary, who was quick to recognize a prodigy when she heard one.
So was renowned string man Danny Barker, who, with his wife Blue Lu, lived just around the corner and heard Leroy practicing every day in the Jones family's garage as he rolled down the street in a snazzy, two-toned early model Pontiac. "It was pink and white," says Leroy, "Always clean and cool, just like Mr. Barker." The wishes of a number of boys to emulate "cool" more than matched Danny's deeply-held belief that musical elders were obliged to bring along the ones just coming up. Before long, Danny himself was in that garage, working on what would become the Fairview Baptist Church Christian Marching Band. Leroy credits the experience with shaping his musical orientation: "If it were not for Danny Barker, I might not have developed my passion for New Orleans jazz and brass band music, and for the musical culture that makes this city so unique." From the ranks of the Fairview Band, that most seminal of 'music schools' for young men, came many of today's most well-respected New Orleans jazzmen and Leroy was first among them. His talent was boundless – even Wynton Marsalis owns up to admiring, perhaps even envying, Leroy's power.
Wynton was not alone. As a teenager, Leroy befriended Harry Connick Jr. when the latter was still a boy, and the two have been fast friends and musical collaborators ever since. After eight recordings and countless tours together both here and abroad, Leroy is a mainstay with the Harry Connick J |
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