Fred Wackenhut Quartet featuring Larry McKenna:
“This I Dig of You”

(Art of Life AL1040-2)

MP3 Digital Downloads | About the Music | Liner Notes

Fred Wackenhut: piano Larry McKenna: tenor saxophone Darryl Hall: acoustic bass Nick Ciminale: drums CD $14.99 Limited Edition of 300 copies. To purchase this CD using any major credit card, please click the "Add to cart" button below. To purchase this CD using PayPal, please click the "PayPal - Add To Cart" button below.

This I Dig of You (Listen to MP3 sample) Too Young to Go Steady (Listen to MP3 sample) Clayton Road (Listen to MP3 sample) Freddy's Bounce (Listen to MP3 sample) Manege (Listen to MP3 sample)

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About the Music {top}

Art of Life Records is pleased to present Jazz pianist and composer Fred Wackenhut's recording debut. Joining Fred on "This I Dig of You" are Larry McKenna on tenor saxophone, Darryl Hall on acoustic bass and Nick Ciminale on drums. The recording features three standards, This I Dig of You by Hank Mobley, Too Young to Go Steady by Adamson & McHugh and Manege by Bernard Peiffer in addition to two original compositions by Fred Wackenhut, Clayton Road and Freddy's Bounce. All songs arranged by Fred Wackenhut. Recorded and engineered by Don Antonelli on April 21, 1996 at Alameda Studio in Broomall, Pennsylvania with 24-bit digital mastering by Paul G. Kohler at Art of Life Studios in Ridgeland, South Carolina in January 2010.

Liner Notes {top}

"No Categories" by Ron Thomas

Jazz remains one of the most pioneering forms of serious new music in the world. It is American of course, but I do not call it "America's Classical Music" as many do. America has classical music of its own and innovative too, Charles Ives being its most notable representative. Among its many unique particulars, Jazz has no fixed form and is often renewed by the vitality and force of natural pacesetters as different as Sydney Bechet and Ornette Coleman. It can absorb many things and in the process transform those things and itself as well. Once asked to define "Jazz" Wayne Shorter said simply, "no categories". Bud Powell thought the term "Bebop" insultingly frivolous to describe the discoveries and innovations of Parker, Gillespie, Monk (and even Bud's). Fred and his colleagues here exemplify these lofty descriptions.

Fred was a precocious talent whose extraordinary gift in youth did not diminish or become stale but rather steadily matured and ripened over time. The consistent elegant profundity of his musical nature is revealed in every aspect of this production. I met Fred in 1977 when his gift for music was already quite advanced. Fred transcended this early manifestation of his talent through self reflection and much study and experience. His standards for himself as a practicing artist were and remain high because of his great respect for the art form itself and its practitioners.

This classic performance by Fred and his distinguished colleagues puts clearly on display the stunning originality of the art form of Jazz itself. This band's chemistry is as good as anything on record anywhere and the unity and diversity in the music is as perfect as a Renaissance choral masterwork. Here there is an effortless clarity, a transparency of texture and a wonderful dramatic balance of conflict and repose - all in the context of a delightful and inviting intellectual entertainment.

Welcome to the elegant musical world of Jazz Musician, Pianist, Composer, Educator, and my very good friend, Mr. Fred Wackenhut.

Fred Wackenhut Quartet featuring Larry McKenna — "This I Dig of You"

CD $14.99
Limited Edition of 300 copies.

To purchase this CD using any major credit card, please click the "Add to cart" button below.

To purchase this CD using PayPal, please click the "PayPal - Add To Cart" button below.