Warren Byrd | Byrdspeak Productions

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Truth Raised Twice

Warren Byrd

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Truth Raised Twice - CD

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This album--a straight-ahead jazz manifesto--cooks after 20 years on a back burner—a grand release of stellar pianist/composer Warren Byrd's self-produced late-20th Century testament of Greater-NYC jazz in Southern New Read more

This album--a straight-ahead jazz manifesto--cooks after 20 years on a back burner—a grand release of stellar pianist/composer Warren Byrd's self-produced late-20th Century testament of Greater-NYC jazz in Southern New England. A burnin' montage of esteemed standards and evocative originals from Byrd's pen gingered by Warren's Monk-kissed hard- swinging piano, a carousel of killin' cohorts--including bassist Stephen King Porter and sounds from celebrated saxophonists Kris Allen and Johnathan Ball—"Truth Raised Twice" buffets a post-modern bebop dish of diverse and sincere vibes to get us right.

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    Little Melonae 4:50
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    Evidence 4:16
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    To A Pair Of Morbid Pools 6:26
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    Where Is Spring? 3:18
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    Clear Sky 7:41
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    October Ballade 3:45
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    Armageddon 4:11
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    Wistful Street 5:33
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    You've Changed 8:04
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    Alternatives 5:06
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  11. 11
    What Is This Thing Called "Love"? 4:08
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    Smilin' in the Dark 5:29
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    Misterioso 3:19
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Friday May 15th, 2020 I re-released my first album 'Truth Raised Twice', a jazz CD with originals and standards. It was recorded in 1997 and 1999 and self-released on my label Byrdspeak. The first release party took place in the legendary Club 880 in Hartford April 22, 2000 but was limited to sales at gigs. Now I want to create the opportunity for more people to enjoy this CD with then young talent, representing an era in the American jazz development. I have made the album officially available for sale online as a physical album and via downloads, streaming channels like Spotify, Apple Music etc. See above the press release and further info. Sincerely jazzy yours, Warren Byrd

quote by Ken Laster for WWUH

(May 14, 2020) I really dig the album. Captures your playing back in the day. I’ve always said that your piano playing, always exudes a sense of joy and happiness. That comes through in this recording too

Album review

 When I put on "Truth Raised Twice", images immediately came to mind of the saxophonists Don Byas and Ben Webster. Both lived in the Netherlands for years, hardly anyone noticed them and they hardly played in our country. We regretted that a lot later. Pianist Warren Byrd has been living in Amsterdam just as unnoticed for years. Not that Byrd is just as important to jazz as Byas or Webster, certainly not, but this CD shows that we have a great jazz pianist in our country that we seldom or never hear, especially in the trio format in which his playing shines. The CD was already recorded in 1999 and has not had a chance to enter the market for over twenty years. Now it will be launched on May 15, 2020. Warren Byrd (1965) is from Hartford, Connecticut, took some piano lessons in church but is primarily self-taught. Byrd, who nowadays plays a lot with his partner trumpeter Saskia Laroo, will have developed further in those twenty years, but on this CD he is a rocking swinging bebop pianist. The CD contains two songs by Thelonious Monk, but it is also clear from the other songs that Monk has been his great inspiration. Byrd is less angular and romantic than Monk, and certainly not an epigone. More influences can be heard. Randy Weston, McCoy Tyner and in the song "Armageddon" Cecil Taylor are major sources from which he draws. The title of the CD is a philosophical reference based on a quote from Michel Foucault who says that the truth is not only found in your own roots, but also in the fact jazz in itself is always evolving. Or in ordinary people's language: “It is actually errors and misjudgments that give rise to new things that persist and have value.” It is to be hoped that a renewed estimate of the so far overlooked Warren Byrd will give rise to the the right value of an apparently new and special pianist. After all, there are not so many pianists who can play the ballad You've Changed as sensitively and romantically as Byrd.

Tom Beetz 


Line up: 

Warren Byrd (piano), Kris Allen (alto sax), Steve Porter (double bass), Tido Holtkamp (drums); 

Warren Byrd (piano), Johnathan Ball (tenor and soprano sax), Tom Pietrychia (double bass), Michael Scott, Tony Leone (drums).

Published in Dutch in Jazzflits nummer 337 18de JAARGANG, NR. 337 4 MEI 2020   
(Jazzflash issue 337 18th YEAR, NR. 337 May 4, 2020)

CD recensie  

Toen ik ‘Truth Raised Twice’ opzette kwamen er meteen beelden naar boven van de saxofonisten Don Byas en Ben Webster. Beiden woonden jaren in Nederland, vrijwel niemand merkte ze op en ze speelden nauwelijks in ons land. Daar hebben we later een boel spijt van gekregen. Pianist Warren Byrd leeft al jaren net zo onopgemerkt in Amsterdam. Niet dat Byrd voor de jazz net zo belangrijk is geweest als Byas of Webster, zeker niet, maar deze cd laat wel horen dat we een geweldige jazzpianist in ons land hebben die we zelden of nooit horen, zeker niet in het trioformaat waarin zijn spel schittert. De cd is al in 1999 opgenomen en heeft meer dan twintig jaar geen kans gekregen om op de markt te komen. Nu wordt hij op 15 mei 2020 gelanceerd. Warren Byrd (1965) komt uit Hartford, Connecticut, kreeg wat pianoles in de kerk maar is voornamelijk autodidact. Byrd, die tegenwoordig veel speelt met zijn partner-trom- pettist Saskia Laroo, zal zich in die twintig jaar verder ontwikkeld hebben, maar op deze cd is hij een keihard swingende bebop pianist. Op de cd staan twee nummers van Thelonious Monk, maar ook uit de andere nummers wordt duidelijk dat Monk zijn grote inspiratie is geweest. Byrd is min- der hoekig en romantischer dan Monk en bepaald geen epigoon. Er zijn meer invloeden te horen. Randy Weston, McCoy Tyner en in het nummer ‘Armageddon’ Cecil Taylor, zijn belangrijke bronnen waaruit hij put. De titel van de cd is een filosofische gebaseerd op een quote van Michel Foucault die zegt dat de waarheid niet alleen in je eigen wortels te vinden is, maar ook in jazz die zelf altijd veran- dert. Of in gewone-mensentaal: ‘juist fouten en verkeerde inschattingen geven aanleiding tot nieu- we dingen die blijven bestaan en waarde hebben.’ Het is te hopen dat een hernieuwde inschatting van de tot nu toe over het hoofd geziene Warren Byrd aanleiding geeft tot het op de juiste waarde schat- ten van een ogenschijnlijk nieuwe en bijzondere pianist. Zo veel pianisten die de ballad You’ve Changed zo gevoelig en zo romantisch kunnen spelen als Byrd zijn er immers niet.  

Tom Beetz 

Bezetting: 

Warren Byrd (piano), Kris Allen (altsax), Steve Porter (contrabas), Tido Holtkampt (drums);  

Warren Byrd (piano), Johnathan Ball (tenor- en sopraansax), Tom Pietrychia (contrabas), Michael Scott, Tony Leone (drums). 

Published in Dutch in Jazzflits nummer 337 18de JAARGANG, NR. 337 4 MEI 2020   
(Jazzflash issue 337 18th YEAR, NR. 337 May 4, 2020)

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