The Manhattan Transfer went decidedly contemporary with The Offbeat of Avenues at #3. Jeff Lorber co-wrote and produced “10 Minutes Till the Savages Come,” David Pack and Michael McDonald helped write “A World Apart,” and Donald Fagen wrote “Confide in Me.” The album’s “Sassy” would go on to win the Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance. And check out the debuts: Fourplay’s self-titled first album was already at #6 on its way to #1. At #7 was Candy Dulfer’s debut, Saxuality. Dulfer had already scored an international crossover hit alongside Eurythmics’ David A, Stewart with the instrumental “Lily Was Here,” which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Saxuality would reach #22 on the Billboard 200 and earn Dulfer a Grammy nomination. And at #11, saxophonist Warren Hill was beginning his career with his debut, Kiss Under the Moon.

Top Contemporary Jazz Albums

Week of October 12, 1991

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The original press release and album credits spell keyboardist Mark Portmann’s surname “Portman.” The correct spelling is Portmann.

For his fifth Rippingtons project, Russ Freeman decided to dispense with drum machines entirely and return to a more organic approach to the music. . “I wanted to have some of the excitement of the live band on this album,” says Russ. “I really tried to stay away from the technology thing and let the players stretch just a little bit more.”

So what you get on Curves Ahead is basically what you see when you catch the band on tour. Tony Morales slamming the backbeats, Jeff Kashiwa adding urgent sax lines, Mark Portman filling out the form on keyboards, Kim Stone laying down solid electric bass lines, Steve Reid coloring the groove with exotic percussion and Freeman leading the way on acoustic and electric guitars. And on two tracks, the buoyant title cut and the Latin romp, “Santa Fe Trail,” Freeman augments the core group with a four-piece horn section for a fuller, livelier sound.

“Arranging live horns was something new,” says the Rippingtons head man, “although in the past I have approximated horn arrangements on the synthesizer. And sometimes the synth horns will suffice. But I really felt on those tunes, particularly ‘Santa Fe Trail, we really needed some live guys playing horns. You get a whole different vibe in the studio that way and I think it comes across to the listener.”

That’s real acoustic piano you hear Mark Portman playing on his solos on “Aspen,” “Take Me With You” and “Morning Song.” And Dave Grusin‘s solo on “North Star” is performed on a beautiful Steinway Grand. No digital keyboards on these warm tracks. Says Freeman of Grusin’s guest appearance, “He’s a fabulous player. Not only is he a prolific composer, but when he sits down at the piano to play, it’s an absolutely killer performance.”

Stretching is the key to Curves Ahead. Guest Kirk Whalum gets to stretch on tenor sax alongside Grusin on “North Star” and on the upbeat vehicle “Miles Away.” And GRP artist Nelson Rangell is highlighted on three cuts, adding a touch of alto madness to the funky “Nature of The Beast,” serving up spicy flute licks on the salsafied “Santa Fe Trail,” and pulling out all the stops on piccolo on the album’s rousing closer, “Morning Song.” Says Freeman, “With each album I strive to write better music that’s more challenging. I try to develop harmonically as well as give the players a little more space on each album. And at this point, I’m feeling pretty confident about my composing. I work very hard at it. I try to think conceptually and thematically about each project.”

For Curves Ahead, Freeman was thinking specifically about Colorado. Because Russ fell in love with the place after several performances in the area, he has decided to make it his second home and is currently building a residence and recording studio there. As he says, “A lot of the songs on this album were inspired by the beauty of Colorado, particularly the title cut, ‘Snowbound’ and, obviously, ‘Aspen.’ There’s a definite vibe to Colorado, which is one thing those songs really evoke.” Also, Rippingtons bassist Kim Stone and guest artist reedman Nelson Rangell are both residents of the Rocky Mountain state.

The Rippingtons also venture beyond Colorado on Curves Ahead. “Santa Fe Trail” is a festive detour with a south of the border rhythm, and “Nature of The Beast” is a safari to Africa. “Miles Away” is a trip Eastward, influenced by the Philly soul sound. “That’s just another one of those groove tunes,” Russ says. “At least it started out that way, but it ended up being one of my favorite pieces on the record, maybe because of the great tenor solo that Kirk Whalum plays here.”

Freeman gets to stretch himself on acoustic guitar on “Snowbound,” which was a first-take solo. On the other end of the dynamic spectrum, he cranks out an aggressive electric guitar solo on the energetic “Nature Of The Beast,” which also showcases Steve Reid’s vast array of Afro-Cuban percussion instruments. Both tunes capture the spirit of a Rippingtons live gig. As Russ mentioned, “People seem to like the fact that we really dig in a little more on our instruments in concert, and I wanted that side of the band represented on this record.”

Curves Ahead is a long way away from the early days of The Rippingtons, when Freeman programmed the drum machine, played keyboard bass, put together synth sequences and basically ran a one-man MIDI operation. This latest project is the sound of a real band interacting in real time. As the multi-talented Rippingtons ringleader put it, “I find that at this point in my career I’m moving away from the high-tech machine-oriented sound. technology increases, I find myself going back to time-proven instruments like acoustic guitar and acoustic piano. And maybe that’s in retaliation for having used so many machines in the past. But there really is no sampler or digital keyboard that can truly capture the purity of those acoustic instruments. Because you can’t really get nuance out of a machine.” 

Freeman continues to compose on keyboard but seems to be phasing the guitar synthesizer out of his act. “I’m moving away from guitar synth, especially for the live show,” he says. “It’s a complex instrument to play. It’s so technical that it really demands your attention just to play it properly. But I want to concentrate more on my performance as a musician without having to worry about the technological side of things. So now I’m limiting the guitar synth to maybe two or three songs per set and focusing more on playing electric and acoustic guitar, which is really my forte.” 

Born on February 11, 1960, Russ Freeman grew up in Nashville, where he was exposed to the studio scene of Music City at an early age. “My Dad was good friends with John Pell, an excellent studio guitarist in Nashville. I remember John would come over to the house and bring other prominent studio musicians along, and they would set up and play right there in the house while my Dad would make recordings in a little studio he had set up.”

Russ took lessons with Pell and began playing in cover bands as a teenager. In 1978, at age 18, he left Nashville and relocated to Valencia, California, where he studied music at the California Institute of the Arts. He later studied film scoring at L.A. Valley College and at U.C.L.A. document his compositional ideas at the time. In 1985, he went into the studio to Nocturnal Playground, a virtual one-man band which had Freeman delving deeply into the MIDI process. under his name on the small, independent label, Brainchild. 

The following year Russ was approached by a Japanese label, Alfa, to cut a record, which became the Rippingtons’ debut effort. Moonlighting featured Freeman colleagues like David Benoit on keyboards and Kenny G and Brandon Fields on saxes. that project was just an exercise in production skills and writing “Basically, for me,” says Russ. “It was really a collection of songs I had written very quickly.”

Nevertheless, it was the birth of a band. Moonlighting was licensed in the States by Passport Jazz and rocketed to the top of Billboard’s jazz charts in the summer of 1987. Suddenly there was a big demand for this new fusion act, whose visual motif was a grinning “jazz cat” pictured on every album cover. (Artist Bill Mayer’s funky jazz cat is back on Curves Ahead, this time on skis.) 

The Rippingtons saw further success with 1988’s Kilimanjaro, 1989’s Tourist In Paradise and last year’s Welcome To The St. James’ Club. Their audience has been growing steadily since Moonlighting and now fans of the Ripps can savor the group’s most satisfying album yet, the live-sounding Curves Ahead. “This album definitely marks a new direction for the band,” says Freeman, “and right now it feels real good.” 

The post Rippingtons featuring Russ Freeman – Curves Ahead Press Release appeared first on ContemporaryJazz.com.

He was my favorite percussionist. I’ve loved The Rippingtons for many years, and so much of that love came from Steve’s percussion and the soundscapes he created. His playing had this magic that was a huge part of what made those first Rippingtons recordings so special to me.

There was this one instrument he used — I never even knew what it was called — it became his signature to me. When I heard it, I always smiled, knowing who it was. Whether it was on a Rippingtons track, his Bamboo Forest project, a solo release, whatever, Steve always brought extra color and life.

I know what I’ll be listening to tonight.

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