Jerome Sabbagh - Stand Up! / 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 LP (33 RPM), pressed on 180-gram vinyl at GottaGroove, 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).

We recommend the use of "L'Art du Son" LP cleaner to wet wash your vinyl. Even new records of high quality production will benefit from this.

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)