The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill

A model of consistency, style and grace, Michael Dease stays at the head of the class among jazz trombonists.
Something Else!

Perennial DownBeat Critics Poll winner, trombonist Michael Dease has embraced his role as a torchbearer for his mentors and the great jazz ancestors over his 15 deeply-swinging, state-of-the-art mainstream recordings. For The Other Shoe, Dease teams with the formidable composer Gregg Hill, expanding his rhythmic & harmonic palette with a flexible, in-the-moment perspective while remaining true to the sensibilities at his musical core. With the prodigiously talented pianist Geoffrey Keezer as a central foil, Dease brings along a wide-ranging collection of musicians, each specifically brought in for their unique outlooks and talents, including clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, Liany Mateo on bass, and drummer Colleen Clark, among others. 

Production Info:

Produced by Gregg Hill & Michael Dease
Recorded & Mixed by Corey De Rushia
at Troubadour Recording Studios, Lansing, MI
on September 5-6, 2022
Mastered by Josh Connolly
at Studio A, Las Vegas, NV
Photography by Lynne Brown, Williamston, MI
Liner notes by Ted Panken
Cover design & layout by John Bishop

Reviews of The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Co-producer Gregg Hill has his compositions interpreted by the bold trombonist Michael Dease and the team of Virginal MacDonald/cl, Geoffrey Keezer-Luther Alison/p, Liany Mateo/b Colleen Clark/dr and a handful of guests. The addition of MacDonald's clarinet makes for rich ideas, as she's featured on the quirky "Wake Up Call" and her vibrato seduces ...

All About Jazz (Ted Panken)
ALBUM LINER NOTES by Ted Panken: "Think of any big city," Greg Hill says, introducing the narrative armature of his composition, "The Other Shoe," the denouement and title track of this stimulating collaboration with Michael Dease, who arranged each of Hill's 10 compositions contained herein. "It's 2 in the morning, you're still awake, and your ne ...

The New York City Jazz Record (Scott Yanow)
Michael Dease is joined by an entirely new cast on The Other Side, performing ten selections composed by Gregg Hill. The musicians are excellent with veteran pianist Geoff Keezer sharing the keyboard duties with Luther Allison and three up-and-coming players being heard from: clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, bassist Liany Mateo, and drummer Colleen ...

DownBeat (John McDonough)
Michael Dease drops The Other Shoe only eight months after his last, Next Best Thing, which was a neat and literate little small-band bouquet. This time, the front line is smaller with Dease on trombone (and occasionally baritone sax) and newcomer Virginia MacDonald on clarinet, an unlikely but compatible twosome. Focusing on the compositions of ...

DownBeat Hot Box (Various)
4-Stars - Dease proves yet again that straightahead post-bop can prove to be fertile ground for musical ingenuity and emotional heft as he tips, grandly, to composer Gregg Hill.  —John Murph 3 1/2-Stars - Bustling like a mashup of Ray Anderson and Charles Mingus, Dease's band carves a broad swath through territory that seems somewhat familiar ...

Take Effect (Tom Haugen)
The trombone and baritone sax player Michael Dease knows his way around a swingin' tune you won't soon forget, and here he delivers 10 of Gregg Hill's compositions that welcome Virginia MacDonald, Liany Mateo, Colleen Clark, Geoffrey Keezer and Luther Allison, plus others. "Wake Up Call" gets the listen off to a bright start, where Keezer's jum ...

Jazz'n'More (Switzerland) (Michael van Gee)
5/5 - "UNMISTAKABLY GREAT" The trombonist Michael Dease (*1982) is one of today's best jazz trombonists who has recorded numerous first-class albums, especially in the mainstream. What was new for me was that he is also a very good baritone sax player, which he shows on the slow, very groovy "The Goodbye Blues," "Rio Mio" with a Caribbean touch, an ...

Making a Scene (Jim Hynes)
You may well recognize that trombonist and composer Michael Dease is the second major artist to cover the music of Gregg Hill, who co-produces. Bassist Rodney Whitaker, who is a guest of Dease's ensemble here for The Other Shoe – The Music of Gregg Hill, delivered his own Oasis in late 2022 honoring the composer. We covered that on these pages a ...