David "Fathead" Newman - Hartford International Jazz Festival

[relyles]

Sunday night I had the pleasure of hearing David “Fathead” Newman live at the Hartford International Jazz Festival. In Mr. Newman’s group were vibraphonist Monte Croft, pianist Laszlo Gardony, bassist John Menegon and drummer Yoron Israel. Unlike most of the music I have heard recently, this show was in a small venue. I was seated no more than 15 feet from the musicians and the intimacy of the venue no doubt enhanced my appreciation of the performance. Nothing revolutionary about the music, just strong straight ahead playing. Over two sets, in addition to a few Newman originals, the group played familiar tunes such as “A Night In Tunisia”, “Hard Times”, Killer Joe”, “Bag’s Groove”, “Christo Redentor”, and “This I Dig of You”. Newman was in good form on tenor, alto and flute and Croft was particularly impressive. I enjoyed myself enough that I actually paid the $20 price to purchase one of Newman’s CDs so that I could have it autographed.

Glad I made it out to this one.

[Richardo Caerleoni]

Hey..I would have given you my kidneys just to have been there!

DAVID IS ...just amazing...OK, not Coltrane...but never pretended to be...

Just a wonderful Sax player ... and I saw him with Ray's band at Antibes in 1961 (ish)?
When you gonna wake up to that band!!!

[Ron Thorne]

I also would have dug that show in Hartford.

Richardo, I also first saw David "Fathead" Newman with Ray Charles' big band, led by Hank Crawford in Boston in 1962 while in music school. Incredible blowing for almost two hours! Brother Ray and The Raelettes weren't bad either.

[kh1958]

He's been releasing an excellent series of recordings on High Note over the last several years. All are recommended.

Sunday night I had the pleasure of hearing David “Fathead” Newman live at the Hartford International Jazz Festival. In Mr. Newman’s group were vibraphonist Monte Croft, pianist Laszlo Gardony, bassist John Menegon and drummer Yoron Israel. Unlike most of the music I have heard recently, this show was in a small venue. I was seated no more than 15 feet from the musicians and the intimacy of the venue no doubt enhanced my appreciation of the performance. Nothing revolutionary about the music, just strong straight ahead playing. Over two sets, in addition to a few Newman originals, the group played familiar tunes such as “A Night In Tunisia”, “Hard Times”, Killer Joe”, “Bag’s Groove”, “Christo Redentor”, and “This I Dig of You”. Newman was in good form on tenor, alto and flute and Croft was particularly impressive. I enjoyed myself enough that I actually paid the $20 price to purchase one of Newman’s CDs so that I could have it autographed.

Glad I made it out to this one.