Isn't it nice to hear a truly individual sound in the sea of music that often sounds much the same? I stumbled across one of those sounds in Stephen Riley's music only a few months ago. (I believe it was a Facebook post from another great saxophone player, Joel Frahm, which initiated my hyperlink paved path to Stephen's work.)
It only took one recording I found on YouTube to grab my attention. Stephen's tenor sound is dark, breathy, and subtly expressive -- distinctly unlike most approaches that I hear on tenor today. (That's a good thing in my book.) He consistently exercises the sensitive and expressive quiet range of the dynamic spectrum. I love the flexibility of playing quietly in my individual practice time, but I always find it difficult to employ this softer range large group setting. Stephen expertly applies both the pianos and fortes in any setting. This is definitely worth checking out, even if his tone and style isn't what you're aiming for as a player.
Here's a live take of Stephen Riley playing with Martin Maretti Andersen (Drums) and Kaspar Vadsholt (Bass) in Madrid... All The Things You Are
It only took one recording I found on YouTube to grab my attention. Stephen's tenor sound is dark, breathy, and subtly expressive -- distinctly unlike most approaches that I hear on tenor today. (That's a good thing in my book.) He consistently exercises the sensitive and expressive quiet range of the dynamic spectrum. I love the flexibility of playing quietly in my individual practice time, but I always find it difficult to employ this softer range large group setting. Stephen expertly applies both the pianos and fortes in any setting. This is definitely worth checking out, even if his tone and style isn't what you're aiming for as a player.
Here's a live take of Stephen Riley playing with Martin Maretti Andersen (Drums) and Kaspar Vadsholt (Bass) in Madrid... All The Things You Are
I find myself queuing up his albums rather often at home, in the car, and at work. One album I've grown particularly fond of is "Once Upon A Dream." All eleven tracks on this album are framed as a basic duo with bassist John Brown. I suppose I'm presently biased to simple duo formats like this. It is something I've been exploring in my own playing lately. Stephen's playing in this context is something for me to aspire to. There's a great selection of standards on this album. Go have a listen. You can hear selected on his tracks on his myspace page. Most his sessions as a leader are on SteepleChase Records label, so you can hunt down full albums in the usual places.
I just have to point out that Stephen Riley gets extra brownie points for not choosing the "industry standard" Selmer Mark VI as his primary horn. It looks like he is playing on a Buescher Aristocrat Series VI from what I can discern in the images I've seen online and on his album covers. (Not officially confirmed by any means...) Since I simply can't find a tenor that I like better than my vintage Buescher 400 TH&C, it warms my heart to find a fellow Buescher player. Let's start a club. :-)
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