Embrace Me by Gidon Nunes Vaz with Denise Jannah

Jazz is fun but serious fun.
Peter Guidi

‘’This album is dedicated to my mentor Peter Guidi, who passed away in 2018..
There is no playing it safe in jazz.
You could say that the safety in jazz is that there is no safety.
I prefer a recording session to be as live as possible;
everybody in the same room,
catching the moment where creativity happens,
old school,
no headphones,
no overdubs….no safety.

But…. OK...to be honest for this recording I did have a number of safety factors;
Studio ll in the MCO building is a fantastic hall to play in.
With Frans De Rond engineering you know that the sound is going to be right.
With Timothy, Thomas and Yoran as rhythm section I know that the music will be free to flow wherever it wants to go.
And Denise is such an enormous source of inspiration. Her mastery inspires you to give it all you got. It is impossible not to play well with her present.

I believe I and my band members all have our own voice within the tradition.
We have learned to “speak” by the musicians who came before us and we are very proud to be a part of that tradition, however, I do strive to crystallize my own voice and thereby contribute.

I play the music I like to play. I don’t sit trying to work out some scheme that I think promoters or critics might like. I play this music because I have to.
I can’t play it any other way.’’
Gidon Nunez Vaz


“There’s a lot of quality musicianship on this recording; it’s very clear. So very rare to hear a group of young people pick up on the vibes (of these standards) and be true to the music. God bless you…...Keep doin what you’re doin.” Don Sebesky

“A standard-bearer for a new generation of jazz trumpeters in Holland and a band leader of exquisite taste, Gidon is a wonderful example of the great times we live in.” Benjamin Herman


Jazz is a living tradition. This recording shows yet again how the younger generation gets inspired by what came before them and the older generation gets revitalized by the energy and fire of the younger generation.
Gidon has handpicked a band of seasoned young musicians. These young men are among the top talents of the european scene. In Spite of their relative young age they already have an impressive track record: Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Phillip Harper, Frank McComb, Cory Henry, Ignacio Berroa, Jesse van Ruller, Ellis Marsalis, Herlin Riley, Ack van Rooyen, Randy Brecker, Steve Masakowski, Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Gregory Porter, Johnny Vidacovich, Nicholas Payton, Peter Bernstein …… are a few of the masters where they have done their apprenticeship.
And talking about masters, Gidon hit the jackpot when he found Blue Note recording star Denise Jannah willing to add her magic to the date. Denise is in top form here, clearly inspired by her young colleagues, she delivers a pointed yet relaxed rendition of these classic songs.
This recording of Don Sebesky’s “Yesterday’s Dreams” is in a sense a premiere. It is the first time the composition is being heard with lyrics. Joan Gannij wrote the lyrics and mr. Sebesky gave her his blessing for telling a good story.

The musicians were placed in front of a stereo pair of microphones with additional spot microphones on each instrument. The musicians were playing without headphones, the reason being that we believe that when we get the musicians to play together in the same room, without headphones, it creates a number of musical and technical benefits:
As they are not ''separated'' by the headphones, the musicians, in order to hear each other are forced to create a natural and musical balance, a balance which is then easily captured by the main stereo pair of microphones. Because of this natural and musical balance the need for compression to control levels is no longer necessary, and since everybody is in the same room, the boxed sound which is so common in many modern recordings is absent.
This all sounds very straight forward but for this approach to work, certain criteria has to be fulfilled;
The studio has to have a good sound.
The musicians have to be very good and well prepared as it is very difficult to repair mistakes because of the ''cross talk'' between the instruments.
We have to be very precise placing the microphones and the musicians at the right distance to the main stereo microphones and the right distance to each other.
We recorded in multitrack DXD 352.8khz and created the master mixing direct to a Studer Reel to Reel tape machine. In so doing merging the best of analog and digital technology.

DXD and DSD at
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"The entire Sound Liaison catalogue, features excellent sound."
Stereophile

"This recording doesn’t take you to the recording studio. Even better, it brings the recording studio to your listening room".
Audiophile Style
"the result is spectacular, with a warm, generous ambience you can almost reach out and touch each instrument."HIFI NEWS AND RECORD

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