John Esposito: Blues For Outlaw Hearts

  There is a 1905 ragtime piece titled Back To life Again by Charles Hunter: written after his apparent recovery from a life-threatening illness. He published the celebratory rag and promptly died. With that in mind, I’m hesitant to advertise July 2022 as the time that my music life returned to normal. So, while gigs have returned, I’ve been playing mostly outdoors. The rare indoor gig makes me feel like I’m about to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel: I will likely survive but it’s a calculated risk.

   This trio record comes after two and half years of crossing a performance desert with only an occasional oasis. It’s a long, refreshing drink of cool water.

   I met Peter O’Brien at a jam session he was running at the Cafe Espresso in 1990 in Woodstock, NY. We did a lot of duet playing for several years and then some festival concerts in NYC at the Knitting Factory, a few other city venues and also in the Hudson Valley. We did gigs and records with my octet A Book Of Five Rings, my trio, quintet and sextet, and also with Jayna Nelson, Mitch Kessler, Jeff Marx and Sangeeta Michael Berardi as well as some tours and records with Eric Person. Peter can play absolutely anything at the highest level and sound like himself.

   My first meeting with Ira Coleman was in 1985 when I was auditioning bassists for Second Sight. Freddie Hubbard and then Tony Williams stole him away before we could play our first gig together. Our next meeting was in 2003 and I didn’t let him get away again. Ira too has performed and recorded with my trio, quintet and sextet as well as with Mitch Kessler and Jeff Marx.

   These two masterful musicians have made it possible for me to realize my thoughts and intuitions. I guess they have played so many kinds of creative music with so many great musicians that they never come up short. Certainly, over twenty years together have created strong bonds of trust and I never feel stuck with the same old set of tricks.

  This recording of ten compositions was recorded in an evening and an afternoon after having recorded eight pieces for sextet during the previous evening.

  I rarely give directions to the musicians so that they feel free to arrive at their own solutions. We record one or two takes and it’s different every time. Life, like music, is best lived as if there will only be one take.

– John Esposito 2024