Why are these men smiling?
At the poker table a pair of eights is nothing to get excited about, but on the jazz calendar it’s a winning hand. And NEO is holding it this week thanks to a pair of concerts–both tied to upcoming recordings–featuring dynamic octets led by Stephen Philip Harvey and Bobby Selvaggio.
Stephen Philip Harvey Octet
At this point, it might be fair to ask how many Stephen Philip Harveys there are walking this earth. I mean, everywhere you look, there he is: fronting a big band and a trio, teaching students on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, writing and arranging music, running his Hidden Cinema Records label and as of last month as music director at Delmarva Public Media.
You have to wonder how he keeps it all straight. This weekend SPH—or one of them, at least—will land at BLU Jazz+ in Akron for a two-part evening that throws a spotlight on two of his most recent projects.
The first half celebrates the first release on vinyl of Elemental, the 2024 SPH8 recording that has only been available as a digital download or stream (I wrote about it here).
The second set will premiere Harvey’s latest extended composition, “The Pen is Mightier,” an eight-movement suite inspired by some of the giants of Black American literature, including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Amanda Gorman and Zora Neale Hurston.
“It’s almost like the transition period,” Harvey said by phone yesterday. “It’s like I’m switching over from octet to big band this August.” And then switching back, because the suite will also be recorded.
“I’ve thought about this suite for a very long time,” Harvey said. ”The pieces are abstract. I was writing and conceptualizing as I was reading through some of this literature over the past two years. So I’ve thought about this suite for a very long time, and I’m very excited to finally be able to share it with the public before we record it in October.”
Harvey will joined by alto saxophonist Christopher Coles, Pittsburgh trumpeter J.D. Chaisson, Chris Anderson on trombone and a rhythm section of John Karkosiak on guitar, pianist Jennifer James, Jordan McBride on bass and drummer Dustin May.
So that’s one vinyl release of a 2024 recording, a new work slated for the studio in autumn and because he’s Stephen Philip Harvey, The Man of Many Turns, there’s another recording in the pipeline, recorded live at BOP STOP that’s being readied for October release. But that’s a different story for a different day and you won’t have to wait long for me to tell you all about it
Stephen Philip Harvey Octet, Friday, August 1, 8 p.m., BLU Jazz+, 47 Market St., Akron, Tickets $20, available here.
Elemental is available from Bandcamp at this link.
Bobby Selvaggio & Red Rhinoceros Live Recording
I took the rather crude image above at the Erie Art Museum in November 2017. I hadn’t yet moved to Cleveland so I couldn’t have known that the many of the players who knocked me out that night would delight and astonish me on the regular someday. And I didn’t know that a band this good would disappear soon after.
Yet while the northern white rhinoceros is nearly extinct, Bobby Selvaggio’s Red Rhinoceros octet is very much alive and ready to make its debut recording at a pair of concerts Saturday night at BOP STOP.
You read that right. Even though the band traces its existence to a quarter-century ago, the book of compositions Selvaggio wrote for it have never been properly documented.
Around the turn of the century, the band had good run out of the gate, alternating Monday nights at the previous BOP STOP location on Sixth St. Then, after three or four years, Selvaggio told me by phone, “Some of the cats started moving away, like when Sean got done with Youngstown, he left town.” That would be Sean Jones, even then not a player who was easily replaced. Selvaggio moved on to other projects.
The octet reconvened for a Rubber City festival appearance in 2017 and the gig in Erie. “That’s about when I started thinking, You know, man? I think I want to ramp up Red Rhinoceros again,” he said. “And as I was getting that going [along] with other projects, then the pandemic hit and here we are.”
Fans of past editions of the Rhinos will recognize the music, almost all of which is drawn from the band’s expansive book. But none of the original members will take the stand at BOP STOP Saturday, and none of the players in the photo above, save the leader.
But it’s cool, Selvaggio says. He loves this band: AJ Kluth, tenor saxophone; Betty Jean Quimby, baritone saxophone and bass clarinet; Tommy Lehman, trumpet; Zach Warren, trombone; Zakk Jones, electric guitar; Kevin Robert Martinez, bass and Zaire Darden, drums.
“They’re great,” Selvaggio gushed. “Oh, it’s killing. I mean, it’s hard stuff, man. We’ve had some rehearsals, and man, the band sounds great.”
What Selvaggio knows the world will soon find out when the recording will be released on Stephen Philip Harvey’s Hidden Cinema label. “We have a release date of March 27, and a couple singles being released in the middle and end of February. Stephen likes to release singles to showcase the music before the release date.”
As always, the best showcase for the music is in a room with the musicians, creating in real time. And on Saturday at BOP STOP, you get two bites at the apple.
Bobby Selvaggio & Red Rhinoceros Live Recording Saturday, August 2, 7 and 9:30 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, Tickets $20 (single set) $30 (both sets), available here.
Chandler Carpenter Big Band Featuring Jeffrey Cruz
And just in case eight is not enough for you, a larger ensemble is also headed into BOP STOP to record live this week. It’s the Chandler Carpenter Big Band performing the music of vocalist Jeffrey Cruz. Check the band’s personnel and you have an almost complete roster of the region’s most exciting next-gen players; call it the NEO analogue of Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band in New York, I’d say more, but this post is long enough.
TLDR: They’re the future. Go hear them!
Chandler Carpenter Big Band with Jeffrey Cruz Live Recording Wednesday, July 30, 7 p.m., BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, Tickets $20, available here.
NOTE: This article was written by a real human being. No artificial intelligence or generative language models were used in its creation.
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