For those who love modern and avant-garde jazz, this album is truly a winner.
In winning the 2008 Origin Records / Gene Harris Jazz Festival Competition, Diverse proved to be a creative and dynamic musical powerhouse. Beating out 10 other very original groups from across the country, the quintet opened for Roy Haynes' "Birds of a Feather" band at the Gene Harris Jazz Festival and were awarded a deal to record this album of original music. Mentored by the great Bobby Watson at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, trumpeter Hermon Mehari, saxophonist William Sanders, pianist John Brewer, bassist Ben Leifer, and drummer Ryan Lee possess a fearless approach to creating and performing and aspire to expand the jazz demographic, garnering increased appreciation from younger audiences for the music.
Track Listing:
1 BUSY SUNDAY 5:43
2 SOJOURNER 4:32
3 TIME WELL SPENT 6:44
4 EVERY NOW AND THEN 5:13
5 BED WRITING 5:03
6 B-DAY SONG 6:15
7 WHERE IT LIVES 5:40
8 FOR KIM 1:30
9 UNTITLED HIT TUNE 5:55
10 VITALITY 5:18
11 LOST IN DARKNESS 5:40
12 BOISE 5:35
Performers:
Diverse is:
HERMON MEHARI - trumpet
WILLIAM SANDERS - tenor saxophone
JOHN BREWER - piano and rhodes
BEN LEIFER - bass
RYAN LEE - drums
BOBBY WATSON - saxophone (7)
Production Info:
Produced by Bobby Watson
Bill Crain - Assistant Producer
Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered at:
BRC Audio Productions, Kansas City, USA
www.brcaudio.com (913) 621-2300
on January 2 & 3, 2009
Bill Crain - head engineer
Josh Williams - assistant engineer
Photography by Philip Koenig
Cover design by John Bishop
Reviews of Diverse
Muszer Oldal - Budapest (Rudolf Radnai)
Translated from Hungarian
Six young musicians: HERMON MEHARI (trumpet), William Sanderson (tenor sax), John Brewer (piano, Rhodes), Ben Leifer (bass), Ryan LEE (drums), Bobby Watson (sax) This consists of the band in 2008 with another 10 before winning the Origin Records / Gene Harris Jazz Festival Competition-T. The disc is played in your compo ...
All Music Guide (Ken Dryden)
Diverse were formed while the bandmembers were studying in saxophonist Bobby Watson's jazz program at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. Four of the students formed a band while in school, wrote originals, sought gigs, and subsequently entered the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Festival/Origin Records Jazz Competition, which they won, with this reco ...
examiner.com (examiner.com)
Diverse, the eponymous album by Kansas City Jazz group Diverse, is a true success story, the rarest kind of success story, the kind that almost never develops to such a fruitful outcome. Most of the elements of it are fairly commonplace?all of the right pieces come together, a group of talented musicians meet at college, they begin working on their ...
International Trumpet Guild (Brian Shaw)
The core of Diverse was initially composed of four young musicians who were enrolled at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. After winning the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Competition in Boise, Idaho, the quartet became a quintet with the addition of pianist John Brewer. This, their debut recording, documents a collabora ...
