NEW YORK (Top40-Charts/ Patois Records Label) - When it comes to truly capturing the essence of Latin and straight-ahead jazz in performance, composition and arranging, few are the equal of Wayne Wallace. Recent placements in the DownBeat magazine polls have spread word internationally on this rare talent whom San Francisco jazz fans have embraced the past few decades for his strong musicianship and involvement on the scene there. Word, too, continues to get out on Wallace's exemplary service as trombonist and/or arranger and producer to world-class musicians including Count Basie, Benny Carter, Ray Charles,
Celine Dion, Pete Escovedo, Earth, Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Hampton, Joe Henderson, Lena Horne,
Bobby Hutcherson, Tito Puente,
Sonny Rollins,
Carlos Santana, John Santos,
Sheila E., McCoy Tyner, and Stevie Wonder. In fact, his extensive resume covers his musical involvement with dozens of other jazz and pop luminaries, too. Since the 1980s, Wallace has been a key member of two internationally acclaimed groups based in the Bay Area: Pete Escovedo's Band and John
Santos & the Machete Ensemble, as well as leading his own groups from quartet to big-band.
While busy with a wide range of musical projects, from commissioned score writing for theatre and television to college teaching to producing other musicians' CDs, Wallace still manages to find time to record his own music. Two recordings, The Reckless Search for Beauty and Dedication, will be released nationally January 23 on the up-and-coming Patois Records label. The Reckless Beauty Search for Beauty follows an exciting Latin/Afro-Cuban jazz direction. Dedication satisfies as a masterful exposition of straightaway jazz.
The Reckless Search for Beauty comes packed with superlative Latin jazz. The 11-song program evidences Wallace's passion for the Afro-centric music of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Peru. In places integrating pop-r&b into the ensemble sound, Wallace utilizes the expert musicianship of John Santos, Michael Spiro, David Belove, Alexa Weber-Morales, Paul van Wageningen, and Jon Worley.
No one knows the music better than Wallace, of course. "The songs and arrangements on this album reflect my ongoing personal 'search' to fuse these varied influences [Tower of Power-like r&b and Afro-Latin jazz] into newer forms of musical expression," he says. "I love finding the intersections where different styles of music meet and blend; my compositions, playing, and arrangements are the result of these intersections. All of the songs on this project are derived from dance styles-mambo, cha-cha-cha, samba, danzon, bolero, and old-school r&b-funk. The touches of r&b in the guitar work, the jazz harmonies in the horns and the keyboards, the poly-rhythms of the drums, the voices 'bringing down all the spirit'-all work together in a variety of musical settings inspired by dance."
The Reckless Search for Beauty is split between captivating originals and reinventions of classic material, with Wallace's wonderfully inspired trombone playing and arranging skills on display all through the album. The Afro-Cuban cha-cha-cha rhythm sounds fresh as ever on the Wallace composition "La Encantadora." Latin funk in a big band format drives "Esta Noche" hard, and "El Duende Africano" sports an infectious montuno groove. With bata drums featured, Wallace's treatment of Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" celebrates the rhythms and melodies of the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria. He pays homage to the gold-standard of jazz arranging, Duke Ellington, molding Ellington's "Chromatic Love Affair" into a lushly harmonic bolero. Bill Withers's "Use Me" and Miles Davis's "Tune Up" also receive winning makeovers.
The Dedication album finds Wallace again shining as a trombonist, composer, arranger, and chooser of outside material to interpret. In all capacities, he transcends any and all faux barriers dividing Latin and Africa-based jazz. The Wallace original "Blues Image" is driven by tremendous spirit, all members of the ensemble alert and responsive to the demands of the composition. Wallace's bossa nova ballad "Nena," featuring his gorgeous trombone playing of the lead melody, contains music of such depth that a spiritual element is evoked. Andrea Brachfield's "Pat's Song," written by the flutist in memory of the wife of album executive producer Ray Lucas, makes for compulsory listening. John Coltrane's 12-bar blues, "Mr. Day," appears as an alluring multi-sectional groover with Latin tendencies, and Trane's "Spiritual" salves the soul as a sort of an otherworldly tone poem arranged ingeniously for two wooden flutes, piano, and the lushly melodious tones of bass clarinet. Not to mention the open-hearted title track and other delightful songs. Wallace sought out fourteen of the finest players in the Bay Area for the session including Mary Fettig on saxophones and bass clarinet, Babatunde Lea on trap drums and percussion, and Frank Martin on piano.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Wayne Wallace is a local jazz institution with world-class credentials who can match-up with any trombonist-arranger-composer in jazz today. His first exposure to jazz was listening to KJAZ radio and his parents' record collection, with included LPs by Charlie Parker and Nat "King" Cole. Taking up the trombone, he first played professionally in Top 40 and James Brown cover bands. Pursuing music studies in earnest, Wallace graduated from San Francisco State University, with a degree in Performance. From 1993 through 1998, he immersed himself in Afro-Cuban sounds and culture at the National School of the Arts in Havana, Cuba. Private studies with globally acclaimed jazz vibes player Bobby Hutcherson and trombonist Julian Priester (Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi Band) and Will Sudmeier deepened his understanding of jazz.
Over the years, Wallace has been a veritable Renaissance Man of Afro-Latin jazz - a master musician on trombone and keyboards; a superior arranger, composer, and record producer; and a noted educator and lecturer. He has enjoyed a long affiliation with the bands of Pete Escovedo and John Santos. Additional concert credits include work with Patti LaBelle, Tito Puente, Dr. John, the McCoy Tyner Big Band, and Stevie Wonder. His recording, production, and arranging credits include Celine Dion, John Lee Hooker, Chris Isaak, and, among others, Sister Sledge. As a sideman in the recording studio, he has played with the Asian American Jazz Orchestra, Con Funk Shun, Earth, Wind & Fire, Whitney Houston, Santana, and dozens more. Wallace has had his songs recorded by artists like Pete Escovedo and John Santos & the Machete Ensemble, and he has composed for television (Star Search, Guiding Light, The Amy Fischer Story) and award shows (The Latin Grammys, The Alma Awards).
Wallace is also a well-respected jazz educator who has taught at a number of colleges including San Jose University, San Francisco State University, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley. He has been awarded grants for composing from the N. E. A., the Zellerbach Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and others.
In addition to leading his own bands - "Wayne Wallace and Rhythm and Rhyme," the "Wayne Wallace Septet," "Wayne Wallace Quintet," and "Wayne Wallace Quartet" as well as a four-trombone group called "The 4th Dimension" - Wallace has been producing an album for singer Alexa Weber-Morales (who sings superbly on The Reckless Search for Beauty). He's also been engaged in preproduction work for an album featuring another talented San Francisco-based vocalist, Anna Estrada. Early 2007 finds the trombonist performing as a guest player with Gus Kambeitz and the West Valley College Jazz Ensemble and trumpeter-flugelhorn player John Worley's Worlview, respectively, as well as touring with his own groups.
