Jerome Sabbagh - Stand Up! / 45RPM Analog Tone Factory

French saxophonist and composer Jerome Sabbagh has always been proud to be a musician who is committed to the values and principles he believes in: artistic integrity, courageous individuality, social awareness and

a distinctive personal vision. His new album, “Stand Up!”, reaffirms these values in many ways, combining outstanding compositions with the passionate playing of his quartet, which features guitarist Ben Monder (The Bad Plus),

bassist Joe Martin (Mingus Big Band, Kurt Rosenwinkel) and the great drummer Nasheet Waits, who is making his debut with the band. Although Sabbagh has focused in recent years on collaborations with jazz greats such as

pianist Kenny Barron (Vintage) and the late drummer Al Foster (Heart), the quartet formation has never lost its priority. The pieces Sabbagh wrote for “Stand Up!” are intimate and deeply personal, each one dedicated to a person

(or several people) who has influenced his musical journey – some of them friends and colleagues, most of them role models and sources of inspiration.

The exuberant country blues feel of the opener “Lone Jack,” for example, is a tribute to R&B icon Ray Charles. While the ballad “Michelle's Song” and the Brazilian-inspired “High Falls” were written for personal acquaintances of

Sabbagh, “Lunar Cycle” is an allusion to Sam Rivers' “Cyclic Episode” from “Fuchsia Swing Song,” the saxophonist's 1965 debut album. The line between daring boldness and unforgettable melody is also crossed in “The Break Song,

” a piece dedicated to Stevie Wonder. Waits' talent for rhythmic explosiveness and Monders' mastery of noise metal guitar come to the fore in the fast-paced “Mosh Pit,” dedicated to Trent Reznor—now a celebrated, Oscar-winning soundtrack

composer—of the pioneering industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. “Downward Spiral and The Fragile were both important albums for me,” says Sabbagh. "I listened to them a lot and found their energy, creativity, and unique blend of rawness

and sophistication really appealing. Many of my favorite pieces in jazz were created by functioning bands,“ explains the saxophonist. ”The first and second quintets of Miles Davis, the John Coltrane Quartet, the Bill Evans Trio, Lovano/Frisell/Motian

– these are real bands. One of the things that made them so great is the fact that they played together regularly, even if they didn't stay together for that many years." Another formative experience for Sabbagh was seeing the great drummer Paul Motian

play at the Village Vanguard. Even more significant was when Sabbagh and Monder were asked to form a new trio with Motian, which played for a week on that venerable stage shortly before the drummer's death in 2011. These experiences and the unique

feeling of floating yet grounded that Motian's airy, sculptural approach to the drums evokes are captured on “Vanguard.” The album ends with “Unbowed,” a tribute to the tireless Kenny Barron.

For the ultimate sound experience, the numbered LP (45 RPM), strictly limited to 1,000 copies and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at GottaGroove, using the superior One-Step process, was recorded live to 1/2-inch tape at 30 ips (inch per second) on a custom-built

Ampex 351 tube tape recorder by famed engineer James Farber. The mastering was done in the analog domain by the legendary Bernie Grundman. Analog Tone Factory is a young label that records exclusively on analog tape. It was founded by saxophonist

Jerome Sabbagh and pianist and sound engineer Pete Rende. All ATF releases are available on vinyl, tape, CD and in digital formats. The vinyl release includes a download card for an uncompressed high-resolution download (192 kHz/24 bit).

Title

Side A

1. Lone Jack (For Ray Charles And Pete Rende)

2. Michelle’s Song (For Michelle Egan)

3. Lunar Cycle (For Sam Rivers)

4. The Break Song (For Stevie Wonder)

Side B

5. High Falls (For Meaghan Glennan)

6. Mosh Pit (For Trent Reznor)

7. Vanguard (For Paul Motian)

8. Unbowed (For Kenny Barron)