Heads of State – Four in One CD

8-panel Digipak Album

“The music on this disc could hardly be more vital…With his plaintive tone and persistent attack, the saxophonist Gary Bartz comes across as Charlie Parker by way of Sonny Rollins. If there is anything blue in a bebop tune he’ll find it. Moose the Mooche and Sippin’ at Bells are renewed by his sagacity. The pianist Larry Willis is by turns pensive and persuasive. Al Foster on drums and David Williams on bass keep it tight and driving.”
— Chris Pearson, The Times (UK)

“Deep into a ‘post-bop’ age now, some may wonder, ‘What was bop?” Heres an answer. Newcomers in the mid-60s, Bartz and company were a generation removed but cut from its matrix. Retuming to their roots here, it’s easy to see where their home Is.”
— John McDonough, Downbeat

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Heads of State made their debut in 2015 with SEARCH FOR PEACE, recorded just months after they played together for the first time as a quartet at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City. Now, with another year of playing together under their collective belts (on top of the nearly five decades of relationships shared by the various members), they return with a magnificent new album FOUR IN ONE.

The title comes from the lesser-known Thelonious Monk composition that opens the record, but it also succinctly captures the group’s growing spirit and identity that have been forged by an all-star band that was originally meant to be a one-time thing. “We’re trying as best as we know how to establish our own identity,” Willis explains, “and not sound like a jam session band.”

Given the impeccable taste and wealth of experience of all four members, there was very little chance of a “jam session” sensibility emerging in any case, but in the short time they’ve been working together the Heads of State have developed a lithe and lively group sound that’s equal parts burning and elegant, sharp-edged and gregarious.

While the bands’ first album was thrilling because it brought together four revered and masterful musicians in one place for the first time ever, Four in One may be even more exciting because it announces their intention to continue to collaborate and evolve together. Given what happens when these four join forces, that’s one enticing prospect.
credits
released March 24, 2017

Gary Bartz – alto & soprano saxophones
Larry Willis – piano
David Williams – bass
Al Foster – drums

Recorded Live at Sear Sound, Studio C,
New York City on November 1, 2016

Produced by Paul Stache
Associate Producer: Damon Smith
Recorded by Chris Allen
Studio Assistant: Owen Mulholland
Mixed by Chris Allen
Mastered by Sterling Sound
Photography by John Abbott
Liner Notes by Shaun Brady
Design by Damon Smith & Paul Stache

Larry Willis appears courtesy of High Note Records

Executive Producers: Frank Christopher & Paul Stache