George Cables Gig in NYC

[Valerie]

Jill Newman Productions presents the George Cables Project at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola thru Sun, Oct 23, two sets at 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m., with an additional 11:30 p.m. set on Friday and Saturday. The George Cables Project features George Cables (piano), Gary Bartz (alto saxophone), Eric Revis (bass) and Idris Muhammed (drums). Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 50th St, 5th Fl - 212-258-9595 or www.jalc.org.

George Cables, a native New Yorker, was classically trained as a youth and when he started at the High School for Performing Arts, he admittedly "didn't know anything about jazz," but was soon smitten withthe potential for freedom of expression he heard. Cables attended Mannes College of Music for two years and by 1964 he was playing in a band called The Jazz Samaritans, which included such rising stars as Billy Cobham, Lenny White, and Clint Houston. Gigs around New York at the Top of the Gate, Slugs, and other clubs attracted attention to Cables' versatility and before long he had recorded with tenor saxophonist Paul Jeffrey, played on Max Roach's "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and earned a brief 1969 tenure at the piano bench with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. A 1969 tour with tenor titan Sonny Rollins took Cables to the west coast.

By 1971 he became a significant figure in the jazz scenes of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Collaborations and recordings with tenor saxophonists Joe Henderson and Sonny Rollins, trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw, and vibist Bobby Hutcberson made Cables' wide-ranging keyboard skills, often on electric piano, amply evident. Demand for his sensitive accompaniment increased and by the end of the 1970s, Cables was garnering a reputation as everyone's favorite sideman. Perhaps the most pivotal turn came when hard-bop legend Dexter Gordon invited Cables into his quartet in 1977. The two years he spent with the tenor giant ignited Cables's passion for the acoustic piano and the bebop vocabulary. "don't feel that one should be stuck in the mud playing the same old stuff all the time, trying to prove that this music is valid," Cables says. "We don't need to prove anything. But I think you really have to be responsive to your heritage and then go on and find your own voice."

The longest standing relationship Cables developed in the late seventies was with alto saxophonist Art Pepper. Cables, who Pepper called "Mr Beautiful," became Art's favorite pianist, appearing on many quartet dates for Contemporary and Galaxy, and joining Art for the extraordinary duet album, Goin' Home, that would be Pepper's final recording session.

Cables has performed and recorded with some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time, including Joe Henderson, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson and Dizzy Gillespie.

[Paul B]

I saw the band last night. A very good set, and Dizzy's Club is one of the city's best rooms.

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by Paul B

I saw the band last night. A very good set, and Dizzy's Club is one of the city's best rooms.

i'm SO jealous, paul!