J. CHARLES - alto sax
CLIFF COLON - tenor sax
FRANK SEEBERGER - guitar
ERIC VERLINDE - rhodes & hammond organ
CHUCK KISTLER - bass
D'VONNE LEWIS - drums
Since the beginning of jazz, musicians have reworked songs familiar to non jazz listeners and made them their own. Music from pop tunes, movie soundtracks and Broadway shows have been arranged and performed in a jazz format. In honor of this tradition, this CD contains jazz arrangements of the popular music of my youth - "video games". In this case, the music is from the 1980's side-scrolling, run & gun, 8-bit video game called Contra. Each track on this recording is an arrangement of the music of Contra, originally composed by Kyouhei Sada and Hidenori Maezawa from Konami Corporation. The songs chronicle each level (or stage) of the game, in sequential order. For the most part, I have tried to keep the melody, harmony lines, and feel of the compositions true to their original form, while still opening up the songs with jazz chord changes to allow for improvised solos. I hope that you enjoy listening to this recording of "Contraband". ~Cliff
Hey we are playing live at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard this Saturday! Also with the Jake Shaw Trio and the Panda Conspiracy! Three great bands! Hope you can make it!!
