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Mar 28, 2013, 01:11 ET
BOSTON, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Reality Check on Un-Gyve Records features ten original tracks by superlative composer, arranger, and trumpeter Greg Hopkins plus a new take on the Rodgers and Hart "Spring is Here". Hear the humility and generosity of these master musicians performing these brilliant compositions, a musical dialogue born of a long-working band that has paid its dues, Reality Check is the real deal.
REALITY CHECK - THE GREG HOPKINS QUINTET + ONE (UN-GYVE RECORDS). Cover Photograph: Mark Chester, "Painters" (California, 1983) from Twosomes (Un-Gyve Press). Six of the country's premiere jazz players offer up a Reality Check with the unparalleled compositions and arrangements of the great Greg Hopkins "the sound and spirit of a real working band." (PRNewsFoto/Un-Gyve Limited) (PRNewsFoto/UN-GYVE LIMITED)
Six of our premiere jazz players offer up a Reality Check with the unparalleled compositions and arrangements of the great Greg Hopkins "the sound and spirit of a real working band."
An ensemble of the highest order — musicians' musicians — led by trumpeter Greg Hopkins, featuring tenor man Billy Pierce, veteran of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Tony Williams Quintet; guitar guru Mick Goodrick, acclaimed for his harmonically intricate accompaniments; drum icon Gary Chaffee whose influence on the contemporary drum scene is told with an excerpt of his student roster, from Vinnie Colaiuta to Joey Kramer; Lyle Lovett's long-time pianist Tim Ray; and the powerful bassist Dave Zinno.
GREG HOPKINS started in Detroit, making his way around the globe, arranging and performing for our most celebrated musicians from Gillespie and Sinatra to the Supremes; Motown to Symphony Hall. On composing and performing Hopkins says, "After years of doing this, I know what works and what doesn't, but I still experiment. Every piece is a nail biter."
He was writer and arranger for Buddy Rich and Herb Pomeroy, and more recently for Grammy® winner Esperanza Spalding, and her "Radio Music Society" tour.
The track list for REALITY CHECK:
1) 6 on 6 5:20
2) The Lost Bagatelles Part I 3:12
3) The Lost Bagatelles Part II. 5:50
4) First Impressions 5:35
5) Spring Is Here (Comp: Rodgers/Hart) 5:53
6) Rioja 6:52
7) Affogato 6:17
8) You Too!! 5:33
9) Olive's Branch 7:05
10) Tigress 7:18
11) Reality Check 9:07
REALITY CHECK is available from Amazon, CD BABY, iTunes, Un-Gyve, and record shops.
http://www.un-gyverecords.com
http://www.un-gyve.com
http://www.greghopkins.net
SOURCE Un-Gyve Limited
The Roger Lonsdale archive, at Balliol College, Oxford, includes his reflections, in 2005, on his poetry, with lists of his ninety poems—alphabetically by first lines, and chronologically—as well as his notebooks as a poet; and, at that time, he noted, in reference to these sixteen poems from Un-Gyve Press in a numbered, limited edition of seventy-five: “At present the following seem worth preserving for one reason or another.”