You Can't Take It with You Chet Doxas

• 1 You Can't Take It with You 08:45
• 2 Lodestar (For Lester Young) 04:28
• 3 Cheryl and George 06:27
• 4 Part of a Memory 02:25
• 5 Twelve Foot Blues 05:55
• 6 The Last Pier 07:26
• 7 Soapbox 03:27
• 8 Up There in the Woods 06:09
• 9 All the Roads 03:19
• 10 View from a Bird 04:59
• Total Runtime 53:20

Info for You Can't Take It with You

Juno-winning saxophonist Chet Doxas is a guiding voice in the world of creative improvised music. Doxas, co-leader of Riverside with trumpeter Dave Douglas and a respected collaborator of Carla Bley and Paul Bley, joins Whirlwind for ‘You Can’t Take It With You’, his ninth album as a leader and first at the head of a trio.

He’s joined by two stand-out collaborators - Ethan Iverson (piano) and Thomas Morgan (bass) - for a meticulously constructed album with playful positivity at its heart.

Both the inspiration and the encouragement to put this album together can be traced back to Carla Bley. Jimmy Giuffre’s trio was a big influence on Doxas - “the way he shapes and articulates is one of a kind - and the group regularly featured Bley’s music. An early-morning airport transfer saw Doxas discussing future plans with Bley and Steve Swallow, who advised Doxas to write “one song a month”, distraction-free for a year.

The ten tracks on the album represent a year spent writing and closely editing his compositions. That process gradually revealed his trio, selected for their personal sensibilities as much as their outstanding technical capabilities. “Ethan and Thomas’s tones are very inspiring. I wanted to let myself be guided by their sound palettes, and focus on phrasing in a way that's a little more multidimensional.”

"Throughout this repertoire, Mr Doxas continues to ring in the changes of mood, structure and tempo, making for a constantly interesting programme. The remarkable degree of integration of melody, harmony and rhythm, of composition and improvisation, of exploration, radical individuality and manipulation of tradition is impressively maintained. Mr Doxas is also superbly served by the artistic ingenuity of Mr Iverson and Mr Morgan, whose own views of both tradition and iconoclasm run like racing parallel lines that meet at the speed of light. And it is the fact that their artistry is completely attuned to the vision of Mr Doxas which makes this an album to die for." (Raul Da Gama, jazzdagama.com)

Here’s Chet on the inspiration for the album:

The idea for this trio came thanks to some very helpful advice, in a very unlikely place, very early in the morning. It was 5am in Hannover, Germany, in an airport shuttle and I was in the middle of European tour with a group called Riverside. The group featured Dave Douglas, my brother – Jim Doxas, Steve Swallow and Carla Bley. On this morning, I had the good fortune of being seated on the back bench of the van between Steve and Carla (where the cool kids sit). We were talking about their trio with Andy Sheppard and I was telling them how much that group’s music meant to me. That’s when Carla asked me “ well… why don’t you start your own trio?”

In the moment that it took my jet-lagged brain to process the idea, she then followed her question with something that was only whispered, as almost a secret: “one song a month…” Before I could turn to her to pry for further elaboration, the same secret was whispered in my left ear, only this time by Steve, “one song a month…” What were they talking about? How did this apply to starting my own group? What time is it, again? They were both kind enough to take the remainder of the van ride to explain. They meant that I should take an entire month to compose each piece for my new group and that after a year I would have the appropriate amount of music needed perform and ultimately record with my own trio. As I moved through the year, the sound of the trio and its members revealed themselves to me. As I wrote, the cast of players continued to narrow in my mind until only two names remained, Ethan Iverson on piano and Thomas Morgan on bass.

It is my hope that the listener will share in the excitement, introspection, and discovery that I felt while going on this journey and hopefully finding a bit of themselves in these pieces.

Chet Doxas, tenor saxophone
Ethan Iverson, piano
Thomas Morgan, double bass

Chet Doxas
Raised in Montreal in a musical family, Chet’s love of music was fostered by his father, a professional musician, teacher , recording engineer and producer; and is older brother and drummer, Jim, with whom he regularly performs.

Chet’s band, Rich in Symbols, is an ensemble whose repertoire is informed by his love of the visual arts. The music for this group is composed as Chet visits museums and stands in front of his favorite works with blank manuscript paper. Later, the music and a projection of the work are presented simultaneously with live musicians in a concert setting.

Since 2014, he has also co-led the group, Riverside, with trumpeter, Dave Douglas. Their first album is comprised of original music from Doxas and Douglas as well as Jimmy Giuffre, their inspiration for the creation of this quartet. The band also features, Steve Swallow on bass and Chet’s brother, Jim Doxas on drums. Their latest album, released in the spring of 2017, features original compositions from its members as well as Carla Bley, the focus of this second recording.

Chet is also part of the Brooklyn-based, group, LandLine, with pianist Jacob Sacks, bassist Zack Lober and drummer, Vinnie Sperrazza. This band regularly performs in many of New York City’s premier listening venues.

Chet Doxas is a Juno nominee and has appeared on over one hundred recordings. He has released eight albums as a leader and co-leader. He has worked with a wide range of artists including, Carla Bley, John Abercrombie, Rufus Wainwright, Maria Schneider, and Oliver Jones. Chet’s formal musical studies were completed at McGill University where he earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in music. When he is not touring he can be found in his Brooklyn recording studio working on his next projects or producing other artists.

This album contains no booklet.