Personnel:
Leo Finn piano, keyboards & vocal
Joe Finn guitar
Jim Ferguson upright bass
Chris Brown drums
Dwight McConnell electric bass
Bryan Owings drums
Jeffrey Scot Wills saxophones
Jeff Jordan guitar
Ben Weaver percussion
All music & lyrics composed by Leo Finn © Third Leg 2010
Produced by Leo Finn
Co-produced by Dwight McConnell & Brian Harrison
Technical and pre-production assistance: Dwight McConnell
Recorded by Brian Harrison at The Rendering Plant Nashville
Mastered by Jim DeMain at Yes Master Nashville
A little about the musicians:
Leo Finn plays Yamaha pianos & keyboards, Roland keyboards & modules, uses Native Instruments B4ll, DP5 & Cubase software, Prosonus & Macbook Pro hardware.
Joe Finn plays Greenfield guitars. Visit Joe at: joefinn.net
Jim Ferguson is a national treasure. Please go to: jimfergusonmusic.com
Jeffrey Scot Wills can be found at: jeffreyscotwills.net
Chris Brown: BM North Texas State (jazz), Chris has extensive touring and recording credits with people like: Maynard Ferguson, Nashville Symphony, Terry Gibbs, Mundell Lowe, on and on. Endorsements: Remo, Zildian, Vic Firth.
Jeff Jordan: GIT alumni, recording/touring with T. Graham Brown, Billy Dean and plays Fender and Gretch guitars.
Dwight McConnell is a UT grad. (music), tour vet, music staff writer and plays Fender & Tobias basses.
Bryan Owings: recording/touring with Emmylou Harris, Shelby Lynne, Ray LaMontagne, Delbert McClinton. Endorsements: Bosphorus, Pearl, Evans, Innovative Percussion, Rhythm Tech.
Ben Weaver teaches and freelances in Nashville
Brian Harrison records extensively at his "Rendering Plant" Nashville, produced two Shelby Lynne projects and one grammy nominated record with Lucinda Williams. His studio features a Neve VRP 48 console, Studer A827 tape, B&W 805 & 801 speakers, and a wide array of outboard gear, keyboards, guitars & amps.
Thanks:
The late greats Bill Evans & Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Jan Hammer and the many other wonderful pianists/synthesists for their continuous inspiration; my sons Michael and Leo Finn, My parents Katherine & Leo Finn, Joe Finn, my sisters Loretta & Marianne, Father Joe Madden, Dan Block, Stephen Gitto, Jamey Aebersold, Mrs. Neilson, Dave Miller, Edgar Raspovich, Carl Erwin, Vance Smith, Sam Powell, Nick Brignola, George Leary, Joe Colelo, Penny Knight, Fred Gray, Lisa Robilotto, Ralph Garaphalo, Bill Rezzi, Aejal Raynes, Gary Smith, Alan Saunders, Kevin & Chuck McNeil, Myron Thomas, Gabe Garland, Jonas Vece, Angelo Yanuzzi, Gary Anderson, Roger Vantry, Gary VanZeeland, Lee Hager, Mike Marino, Mickey Maloney, Steve Forrest, Angelo Mastrio, Mary Petrowitz, Gary Goetz, Steve Cantor, Tommy Cooper, Darren Conden, Scotty, Bruce Zarka, Mike Dibari, Jeff Davis, Chris Farina, Luciano Gherardi, John Salzano, Rusty Rustad, Joey Campese, Dave Po, Ronnie Fabre, Gene Sironen, Randy Anderson, Tammy Pemberton, Gary Olds, Tim Fahey, Pete Sevino, Mike Davoult, Doug Keller, Sherri Gordon, Mark Allen, Jeff Johnson, Dana Berry, Karen Nelson Bell, Bobby Gill, Mary Lytell, Banny, Kenny Trantham, Harvey Sharp, Danny Demoralis, Roby Turner, Jet Loring, Carlo Marino, Bobby Rich, Biaggio & Joseppi Sasta, Vern Gosdin, Wayne Bridge, Buck Jarrell, Pat Lassiter, Mike Durham, Rob Smith, Keith Gaddis, Judi Martin, Dana Heideman, Donnie Delozier, Wayne Dahl, Donna Hammit, Tim Atwood, Steve Kennedy, Dave Dunseath, Dale Johnson, Richard "Sticks" Stickley, Dan Shaffer, Reggie Wooten, Terry Ballard, Carolyn & Dave Martin, Brian Fullen, Tim Watson, Roy Voght, Robin Ruddy, Jeff & Kim Carson, Van Abbott, Randy Hess, Mike Calley, Bruce Phillips, Bobby Roberts, Paul Easter, Mark Savage, Steve Mullins, Brian Steele, "Muskrat" Reams, Drake Leonard, Tom Theilen, Luther Lewis, David Adcock, George Lawrence, Dwight McConnell, Jeff Jordan, T. Graham Brown, Jody Jackson, Al Klingan, Doug Bernstein, Mike Maki, Mike Caputy, Bryan Owings, Joe Mcglohon, Ian Wallace, Jeffrey Scot Wills, James Pinnebaker, Rick Kurtz, Jimmy Hall, Jimmy Buster, Jim Kirby, Geneva Keene, Bob Doerschuk, Jody Faison, Ben Weaver, Mitch Ballard, Sandy Smolen, Chuck Mandt, Charles Dungey, Romy Smith, Billy Sans, Joe Locasto, Jackie Woodar, Dean Madonia, Jimmy Maddox, Deirdre Reilly, Mike Behymer, BJ & Gloria Thomas, John Francis, Tom Wild, Larry Chavis, Billy Joe Royal, Bobby Emmons, Bobby Wood, Gene Chrisman, Mike Leech, Reggie Young, Bobby King, Weston Mays, Tim Bowers, Brian Harrison, Jim Ferguson, Chris Brown, Willie Cantu, Jim DeMain and everyone else who ever got into the proverbial "mud room" with me. |
THE NASHVILLE
SCENE
September 29, 2005 Volume 22, Issue 35
JAZZ Leo John Finn. On his debut CD, Cocktail Jazz, Finn tickles the ivories
on standards present and past, nostalgically evoking the stately,
deliberate qualities of Erroll Garner.
Robert L. Doerschuk
Author, 88: The Giants of Jazz Piano
Leo Finn was a revelation the first time I heard him: big technique, deep knowledge
of jazz harmony and phrasing, and above all a real feel for
the American Songbook repertoire. That’s how I felt that first night at Café 123 here in Nashville and I feel that way today as well – only more so. What I didn’t grasp at the time is precisely what every track on his Cocktail Jazz album makes clear: Leo also knows how to play the room.
Let me explain. It was a quiet night at 123 when Leo, who I didn’t know at the time, sat in for a few tunes – a pianist myself, I always enjoy hearing a fellow tickler show his stuff. What he played was perfect for that moment: intimate, a little bluesy, elegant without being stuffy. To be honest, he sounds completely different on Cocktail
Jazz, but what he’s playing is entirely right for this disc. His sound is big but never insensitive, his chords are full and expressive, his rhythm swings in an understated way, all of which serves to discover and showcase what makes each of these songs a classic.
Most impressive is Leo’s fidelity to the melody. Too many pianists – I’m guilty of this myself – stray too far from the tune as they stretch through their improvisations. Leo takes a more compositional approach: He plays the way the great writers write, with insight into how to shade the rise and fall of each passage. Maybe that comes from knowing his way around the real classics, as his rendition of Barber’s “Dreamboat” suggests. More likely it’s just something he was born with and has had the good judgment to nurture.
I’ve heard Leo in other settings since that night at Café 123, from elegant and intimate to boisterous, even rowdy. No matter where he plays, he sounds right at home. And on Cocktail Jazz he plays for your home too, wherever that may be. From ragtime to the contemporary romanticism of Cats, he handles it all throughout this disc with class and style.
He plays the room, in other words. And no matter the time, place, or occasion, there’s room for Cocktail Jazz.
|
T. Graham Brown Lives!
Relentless/Nashville M2N2 3738
On his first release since 1998, "T. Graham Brown Lives!," Brown is backed up
by an expert six-piece roadhouse ensemble called The Mighty Rack of Spam (the
very name alone could cause severe psychological trauma to any mainstream Nashvegas
executive) that can hang with anything the mainstream has to offer. Spam features
two guitarists, Jeff Jordan and Rick Kurtz, Leo John Finn on keys, Ian Wallace
on drums, co-producer Dwight McConnell on bass and a monster soul sax player
named Jeffrey Scot Wills. Bekka Bramlett (daughter of Delaney and Bonnie) handles
the back up singing as this band takes no prisoners as it ranges from smoldering
ballads to the sounds of big time blues orchestras like B.B. King's or Bobby
Bland's. They handle the ballads like a seasoned soul band and completely without
saccharine, and on the roadhouse rockers they just simply torch the building
and burn it to the ground.
William Michael Smith
(wms@rockzilla.net) |
