Craig Handy & Transition Quartet at The Falcon

"Transition Quartet is a straight-ahead, burning, energetic, swinging aggregation. Reminiscent of the 60's and 70's when the organ bands of Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, John Patton, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, and Shirley Scott held sway over the anointed, jazz intelligencia"

Featuring Craig Handy/Reeds, Matt Chertkoff/Guitar, Kyle Koehler/B3 Organ
and Steve Williams/Drums

From the time he arrived in New York in 1986, saxophonist Craig Handy was acknowledged as a musician with a big, burly tenor sound, sharp wit, and above all, individuality. Over the next few years he would breathe life into those accolades through a number of important associations: from Betty Carter to Herbie Hancock. ...

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"Transition Quartet is a straight-ahead, burning, energetic, swinging aggregation. Reminiscent of the 60's and 70's when the organ bands of Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, John Patton, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, and Shirley Scott held sway over the anointed, jazz intelligencia"

Featuring Craig Handy/Reeds, Matt Chertkoff/Guitar, Kyle Koehler/B3 Organ
and Steve Williams/Drums

From the time he arrived in New York in 1986, saxophonist Craig Handy was acknowledged as a musician with a big, burly tenor sound, sharp wit, and above all, individuality. Over the next few years he would breathe life into those accolades through a number of important associations: from Betty Carter to Herbie Hancock.

His new album, Craig Handy & 2nd Line Smith, is a collaboration with the band, 2nd Line Smith, interpreting the work of late organist Jimmy Smith, with the New Orleans traditions of a second-line brass band. The CD features guests Wynton Marsalis and Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Handy has played with such jazz luminaries as Wynton Marsalis and Elvin Jones, and was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, but never with Jimmy Smith. While investigating Smith's music, Handy realized how the Hammond B-3 icon utilized a modified New Orleans second-line rhythm in his songs - the inspiration for Handy's cross-pollinations. Handy has found the perfect balance of foot-tapping New Orleans parade rhythms, exploratory jazz improvisations, and blues-inflected, organ-soaked grooves.

"I think Craig has one of those wonderful.. tenor sax sounds... he's a lyricist, he can play pretty, but he can also fire it up." -Betty Carter

"Craig Handy is a star" - Robert Altman, from the movie "Kansas City"

"He can be funny, he can be profound, and it comes across in his playing"-Dee Dee Bridgewater

http://craighandy.com/

http://youtu.be/PRJVW44GHdQ

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