Featuring my friend and sparring partner Frank Basile on bari sax, this is a...WELL, I'll let pianist Pete Malinverni tell you!

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What sets this album apart is that all the compositions, save one, are Richie’s. In the various tunes, we hear what we’ve always heard in his soloing: an assured, ordered and lyrical melodic approach. His familiar attention to detail is evident in the forms, harmonies and counter-lines he employs, each in service to the inspiration of the composition. 

 

We should have expected it – his soloing has always been so uniquely ‘him’, that his tunes would surely likewise be. Richie describes his inspiration for composition this way: “To me, much of the blossoming of a jazz musician was when he composed his OWN songs. Don’t get me wrong, I love a standard as much as the next person, but their own personal writing brought a new dimension to the music. Coming to NYC has allowed me the privilege of studying arranging with Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Album and given me the opportunity to write and compose for my own group and others, from jazz to salsa, from trio to big band”.

- Pete Malinverni - NYC

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