NEW YORK (www.cdbaby.com/cd/anestofeggs2) - Guthrie's instructions to the band were simple: To give the set some intense color and an authentic, emotive reading; solo within the scale; let things stretch out a bit; and give the listener a chance to experience the different sonics of that moment if it were to happen today. "It became evident very early on that if I consciously made room for serendipity, there would be more of a chance to take advantage of it. Just like Miles' approach, the first ideas were usually the best ideas."
Part of Guthrie's approach was to go before Kind of Blue and see what Miles' inspiration was for creative material. One of the elements that showed up was the role of guitar in Fifties jazz and how Miles was picking up on Ahmad Jamal's experiments including the instrument in his combo. Davis even asked Philly Joe Jones to replicate guitar licks as drum hits to give passages some exclamation marks.
Guthrie thought, 'Can you imagine what a guitarist would've brought to the original 'Blue'?' And, with that, he brought in one of the Smooth Jazz format's aces, Chuck Loeb. 'With Chuck, I not only got a fellow Baby Boomer who cut his teeth on 'Blue' but one who learned his Wes-like licks as a student of Jim Hall and Pat Metheny.'
Loeb, in turn, became the session leader and lined up the other players to form Guthrie's newest version of his g.org. The collective experiences of the lineup range from Stan Getz to Portishead to the Rolling Stones to winning three Jazz Grammys.
The CD features the original sequence of 'Blue' tracks, plus Evans' 'Peace Piece' – the Evans' tune used as a basis for 'Flamenco Sketches' – reverently included as the prelude to 'Sketches' in a close-your-eyes moment from Mike Ricchiuti. Three other elements that make this project interesting are:
-Loeb quoting the original arrangement for Chet Baker's 'Alone Together' that Evans used for the structure of 'Blue in Green'
-An extended, jam-like version (22 minutes) of 'All Blues'
-Mastering by Mark Wilder, the man who has worked with the original'Kind of Blue' more than any man on the planet through his remastering role at Sony
Gary Guthrie – the person who had the idea to update Miles' classic – is the same person whose pioneering creativity led to radio's highly-successful Classic Hits and Light Jazz formats, as well as being the answer to one of radio's great trivia questions – the guy who fused together the solo versions of Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond's 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' into a number one hit in 1978.
After "graduating" from radio in 1996, Guthrie sold off his stock in Clear Channel and started reclaiming his old creative ways, leading to this and other releases for his co-owned "A Nest of Eggs" label.
The initial release of the CD is a limited, signed and numbered edition that contains an alternate version of "All Blues" that will not be available on future releases. A portion of each copy sold will be donated to art and music education programs in rural communities.
The CD is available exclusively at CDBaby.com - https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/anestofeggs2
This is the one of two jazz-oriented releases Guthrie will release under the "g.org" moniker, this summer. The other is called "re:generation" featuring different jazz approaches to left-of-center classic rock songs (ie. a Chick Corea-like version of the Allman Bros. "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and a Creed Taylor/CTI-style rendition of Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan").
