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There
is a distinguished lineage of post-bop pianists who collaborated
with the legendary Miles Davis: Bill Evans, Herbie
Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul. Add
to that list of superb artists Robert Irving III, who
served as Miles’ last pianist/keyboardist and who
proved to be his longest collaborator and musical director.
After nearly twenty years since his last outing as a leader,
Irving returns with his remarkable new recording, New
Momentum, a largely acoustic piano trio CD that
is the premiere album for the new label Sonic Portraits.
Irving’s career as a musician began as a brass player
at the age of 10. His first instrument was the bugle,
followed by a range of brass instruments including coronet,
French horn and valve and slide trombone. While he was
a brass player, Irving also studied piano to further his
knowledge of musical theory, mentored by his high school
jazz band teacher.
He came to the Miles Davis collaboration as a musical
storyteller. Through Miles’ mentoring—beginning
in 1979 and lasting until his death in 1991—Irving
became an accomplished acoustic jazz pianist through the
application and interpretation of conceptual lessons he
learned from the iconic jazz great. Eventually, Irving
incorporated it all into an evolved acoustic piano technique
that is on display on New Momentum, which features drummer
Yussef Ernie Adams and bassists Buster Williams (on five
of the eight tracks) and Marlene Rosenberg (on the three
other cuts).
The Miles Davis Collaboration
A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young
Chicago musicians who in the late ‘70s and
early ‘80s formed the nucleus of Miles’
recording and touring bands. It was Irving’s composition
“Space” (performed by him and his talented
Chicago-based group) that captured Davis' interest. That
led to Miles inviting him and the Chicago musicians to
New York in 1979 for his first recording sessions in several
years. As it turned out, Irving’s music served as
the impetus and motivation for the jazz great to resume
his largely dormant (1974 to 1979) musical journey.
Miles used the sound and direction as a catalyst to propel
himself into the last phase of his life and career (1979
to 1991).
The fruits of these sessions were included on the 1981
album, The Man With the Horn, the first recording Davis
had released in six years. The title track, “The
Man With the Horn,” was written and arranged by
Irving, who also co-wrote and arranged another track titled
“Shout.” In 1983 Davis invited Irving to work
as composer, keyboard player, arranger and co-producer
for the sessions that resulted in the album Decoy. He
also invited Irving to join his touring band, where he
remained for five years, holding the keyboard chair and
assuming the role of music director. In the latter role,
Irving was responsible for musical arrangements, rehearsals
(which Davis seldom attended) and musical liaison between
Davis and group members that included jazz lions such
as John Scofield, Bill Evans, Mike Stern, Kenny Garrett
and Darryl Jones. In the musical director role, Irving
listened to recordings of each night’s performance
with Davis to cull spontaneous creative ideas that then
became a permanent part of the group’s musical arrangements.
In addition to Decoy, Irving collaborated with Davis (as
composer, producer and arranger) on the 1985 recording,
You're Under Arrest. The album included Grammy-nominated
covers of “Time After Time” and “Human
Nature.” While working on the material for You're
Under Arrest, Irving added to his arranging credentials
by studying with Gil Evans, who decades earlier had arranged
some of Davis’ most celebrated recordings. Later,
Irving and Miles extended this musical direction on projects
such as Irving’s film score for Street Smart, which
starred Morgan Freeman in his first Oscar-nominated performance.
Those sessions featured Miles Davis on trumpet.
Post-Miles Career
After so many successes with Davis, Irving left his band
in 1988 and embarked on his solo musical journey. At the
time of the transition of his relationship with Miles,
Irving parted with this final gift from his mentor: “Music
is a painting you can hear, and a painting is music you
can see. It’s time for you to start working on your
own canvasses.”
In 1988, Irving recorded his debut album, Midnight Dream,
for Verve Forecast/Polygram Records. Since then
Irving, based in Chicago, has enjoyed a prolific career
as touring musician, composer, arranger, producer and
educator. In the Chicago jazz community alone, Irving
has taught at numerous schools, workshops and community
events, and he founded Chicago’s African Arts Ensemble.
Irving also composed the score for George Tillman Jr.'s
1995 feature film, Scenes for the Soul, as well as for
the Miami Chamber Symphony: Mademoiselle Mandarin, a concerto
for jazz harp and orchestra that featured Swiss harpist,
Markus Klinko. Throughout the years, in addition to leading
his own bands, Irving has worked with a number of jazz
notables, including Ramsey Lewis, Chick Corea, Pharaoh
Sanders, Terri Lyne Carrington, Wallace Roney, David Murray,
Gary Bartz, Buster Williams, Lenny White, Al Foster, Regina
Carter, Kirk Whalum, Donald Byrd and Eddie Henderson.
In addition, at Davis’ urging, Irving took up painting.
He began painting regularly in 1997 and has seen his work
exhibited in a number of galleries.
New Momentum
After 30 years of creating and performing music as an
artist who continues his journey of self-expression, Irving
indeed is making his mark with his first album in 19 years,
New Momentum. The recording truly documents, as the title
implies, Irving’s forward-seeking jazz sensibility,
placing on exhibit his prowess as a pianist and bandleader
exploring creative compositional concepts. |
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