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​Sleight of Hand


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Personnel | Album Credits

Tim Armacost – tenor, soprano saxophones
David Berkman – piano
Daiki Yasukagawa – double bass
Gene Jackson – drums

Catalog Number – WR4704
Barcode – 4055388386266

Recorded July 27, 2015 at Music Inn, Yamanakako, Japan
Engineer – Toshihiro Shimizu
Mixed and Mastered by Katsuhiko Naito at Avatar Studios, NYC
Produced by NYSQ
Executive Producer – Michael Janisch

About: ​Sleight of Hand

Official worldwide release date – April 28, 2017

It’s now approaching twelve years since the New York Standards Quartet (NYSQ) came into being, its core personnel taking time out from their multifarious individual projects to revel in the shared brief of refashioning familiar and lesser-known jazz standards. Their new release Sleight of Hand builds on their catalog of five previous album recordings (most recently, The New Straight Ahead and Power of 10, on Whirlwind) as saxophonist Tim Armacost, pianist David Berkman and drummer Gene Jackson welcome double bassist Daiki Yasukagawa back into the fold.

Describing the NYSQ’s beginnings, David Berkman recalls: “We were at the period where we’d all done a lot of original recordings of our own music, as composers and leaders; and then, through a series of circumstances, we came together as a quartet with the particular mission of taking on standards, but arranging them to create a feeling that was similar to the original albums we recorded. It soon became apparent that audiences really got into the idea and the fun of seeing how we would expand the harmonic, tonal and rhythmic aspects into a more modern frame while always referencing the music’s origins.”

This is a band that regularly plays and performs together, so there’s a common bond which brings out the best in the arrangements they conjure. Recorded at the end of an international tour – in the beautiful, mountainous location of Lake Yamanaka, close to Mount Fuji (the quartet enjoys a special affinity with Japan) – Sleight of Hand’s eight numbers reflect the band’s spontaneous, transformational approach, with the title track (based on Gershwin’s ‘But Not For Me’) irresistibly playful.

Mal Waldron’s ‘Soul Eyes’ and Thelonious Monk’s ‘Ask Me Now’ swing with respective vibrancy and jauntiness, while the metrical changes and perky rhythms of ‘This I Dig of You’ pick up on Hank Mobley’s classic Blue Note album origins; and the various key modulations in ‘Lover Man’ are a world away from Billie Holiday’s lingering vocal lines as Armacost’s spritely soprano responds swiftly to Jackson’s syncopated drum accents.

1940s song ‘Detour Ahead’ – perhaps mostly familiar in composer Herb Ellis’s guitar setting – translates into a luscious alto and piano-led ballad, sensitively buoyed by Yasukagawa’s bass shaping; Jules Styne/Sammy Cahn favorite ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’ is treated to sparkling, percussion-led animation; and Armacost’s rich tenor lyricism in Duke Ellington’s ‘In a Sentimental Mood’ is ravishingly restrained.

David Berkman relates that the NYSQ’s journey continues to energize them: “Going into the recording studio is still as challenging as it is enjoyable, though I guess we feel like we don’t need to prove anything anymore! And though we like to pull out obscure tunes, it’s also important to include touchstones for our listeners, as everyone relates to them emotionally – there’s still a lot of awareness there. These are such great melodies, you can do almost anything with them – and, as always with improvisation, that sense of ‘What’s happening today?’ remains exciting. It’s all about a moment.”

Preview Tracks

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1. Soul Eyes
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2. Ask Me Now
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3. In A Sentimental Mood
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4. Sleight Of Hand
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5. I Fall In Love Too Easily
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6. This I Dig Of You
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7. Detour Ahead
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8. Lover Man

Press Highlights

“NYSQ approach these timeless classics plus the one original, with flair and vigour, breathing new life into them.”
★★★★ All About Jazz

“Deft, satisfyingly open, at times telepathic exchanges prove joyously and conclusively that there is life in the old standards yet.​”​
★★★★ Irish Times

“A 9 carat gem… Armacost plays with a fluency that matches any of his historically better known predecessors… Can’t recommend this too highly!”
Bebop Spoken Here

“This record delivers exactly what you’d expect from a band titled ‘The New York Standards Quartet’, fully living up to the weighty expectations implicit in the title.”
Jazz Views

“NYSQ has worked together for over a decade and the communication and empathy honed over such a long period is on full display with this perceptive recording.”‘
New York City Jazz Record

“A masterful and eclectic album from the dream team that is NYSQ.”
Radio REC

“NYSQ creates a dialogue with tradition through their inquisitive and inventive interpretations of standard tunes.”
Era Jazzu

​”​These guys mix tradition with some moxie!​”
Jazz Weekly​

“Familiar tunes sparkle with surprises.”
Schweiz am Sonntag

“Inspired interpretations of familiar material.”
Dr Jazz Magazine (NL)

“Captivating, creative interpretations.”
Radio REC

“A new way to understand the magical characteristics of these songs.”
Concerto Magazine

“Reharmonizations and rhythmic reimaginings while simultaneously observing tradition… They definitely cook.”
Modern Drummer Magazine