Artist description Throughout its dozen tracks, “The Persuader” clearly demonstrates Rolfe’s alluring piano work and his enthusiasm for composing and arranging. Take the opener, “A Batch For Bo Noody,” for example. A simple two note chord ignites this infectious romp, played by the entireensemble, including the front line of Don Braden’s tenor, BruceWilliams’s alto and Steve Turre’s trombone. Turre contributes a mighty solo, followed by the pianist, whose solo makes some unexpected turns of Latin origin. Rolfe has assembled a nice mix of material, mixing several originals with standards from Duke Ellington, Benny Golson and others. “I feel that as a new leader, I need to pay tribute to certain people who came before,” says Rolfe, commenting on his choice of Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol’s classic “Caravan.” In addition, Nick says, his rendition was influenced by Art Blakey’s arrangement - another legendary leader to whom homage is due from any young jazz musician.The other Ellington composition Rolfe chose to include, “In A Sentimental Mood,” is for him, “the most beautiful ballad ever.” Infact, its inclusion on this recording was completely unplanned, and cameabout during the session at the urging of producer and drummer CecilBrooks III. “Cecil suggested that I do a duet with Richie (Goods, thegroup's bassist). So we just started playing the ballad, and everything fell into place. What you hear on the CD was our first take.”As revealing and wonderful as the playing throughout this disc is, its heart belongs to the two part suite Nick wrote in memory of his late mother, “Maryann.” The first part, “Requiem,” features Nick alone at the piano, pouring out his feelings for his mother through his emotive keyboard work. “My mother was sick for quite a while leading up to herdeath,” says Nick, “and I wanted ‘Requiem’ to be as expressive as Icould make it. It's me saying everything I ever wanted to tell my mother.”The concluding part, “Celebration,” is played by a quartet of piano, drums, bass and saxophone. Again, the pianist strove to have the music reflect its subject: “My mother was a little woman, but a very strong,very active woman in the community,” explains Nick. “She helped South African artists show their work in the US. She was very active with the homeless and on ‘Celebration’ I needed to be as powerful as she was. I didn't want it to be hard hitting, but I did want to depict her heart, her drive, her willingness to give her all.” “Celebration” accomplishes its composer's goal through a series of builds and releases, led by Don Braden’s affecting soprano playing.

Music Style Jazz, Bebop, Latin, Swing

Musical Influences Thelonius Monk, Mordern Jazz Quartet, Benny Golson, Duke Ellington

Artist History So often it happens that a new leader puts together a band for a debutrecording, then proceeds to use the band mainly as a backdrop for theartist's string of virtuosic solos. Not so with Nick Rolfe’s debut as aleader. Here the ensemble's tight knit work plays as important a role inthe success of the recording as the pianist's accomplished playing. Thisremarkable sense of restraint is a tribute to Rolfe’s confidence as aleader, confidence that comes from years of listening, study and justplain hard work.Born in Philadelphia, Nick Rolfe grew up mostly in Washington State. Hebegan studying piano at age six, playing mostly classical and pop music.But as is often the case with musicians who grew up after the 50s,Nick's parents’ record collection also played a part in his musicaldevelopment. In addition to listening to records by the Modern JazzQuartet and Thelonious Monk,Nick can also remember pretending to play the piano along with thefamily's boogie woogie records.Piano, however, was not so much a love as a commitment and, as Nickentered his high school years, his attention turned away from music andtoward sports and socializing. Says Rolfe: “My parents always made mepractice before I was allowed to do anything else. So as soon as thechoice to practice piano was left up to me, I left it.”Fortunately, as Rolfe describes it, “The music called me back,” and at22 he enrolled in Washington's leading music school, Cornish College ofthe Arts. There the young pianist promptly met two musicians who were tobecome major influences in his life: trombonist Julian Priester andsaxophonist Hadley Caliman. “They really opened my eyes to how deep amusic jazz is,” Nick explains. “They also convinced me I had a talentthat I should pursue seriously.” But taking these master musicians’advice was a humbling experience as well, says Nick: “I thought I hadmy thing together, but they let me know in no uncertain terms that Ididn't have anything together.”After two years at Cornish, Rolfe headed for New York, finished hisdegree in jazz performance at the New School and began the climb towardlife as a full time jazz musician. After spending most of the 1990's,touring and recording with such jazz icons as Reggie Workman, BennyGolson and Buster Williams, we are treated to the 30-year-old’s debut asa leader, “The Persuader.”

Group Members Nick Rolfe-Piano, Steve Turre-Trombone, Don Braden-Tenor & Sop Sax, Bruce Williams-Alto Sax, Richie Goods-Bass, Cecil Brooks III-Drums

Instruments piano, saxophone, trombone, bass, drums

Albums The Persuader

Press Reviews With the arrival of "The Persuader," we can add pianist Nick Rolfe’s name to the list of talented young players in whose hands rests the fate of jazz in its second century. However, “The Persuader” also places Nick Rolfe’s name on another, much shorter list - that of young musicians who display leadership abilities far beyond their years."--From album notes by Bill McDonough - writer of the monthly “Radioactive” column for Jazziz and jazz reviewer for National Public Radio's nprjazz.org.

Location New York, NY - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).