FOUR

Gordon Goodwin’s comments on the FOUR + Six Album

Nobody loves a big band sound more than me, that’s truth. But then again, the weight and volume of all those players, all that sound, can start to get a little bulky after a while. An ensemble like FOUR Plus Six strikes a perfect balance, allowing the music room to breathe and develop, while providing it with some essential structure. And in the hands of a composer/arranger like Mark Watkins, each track takes the listener on a journey that is both fresh and crisp but also satisfying and fulfilling.

Singling out highlights can be a fool’s errand, but I have proven to not be afraid of that representation, so here goes:

“On Any Given Day in Summer” grooves from note one, with its New Orleans second line feel and angular melody. Each solo is a highlight with statements from Jon Gudmundson on baritone sax, Derrick Gardner on trumpet, Ray Smith on alto sax, and Corey Christiansen on guitar.

Not to be missed is the modal swinging on “Don’t Care Who Knows It” where trombonist Vincent Gardner, soprano saxophonist Mark Watkins, and pianist Justin Nielsen wail their way through with gusto.

The pace and mood alter dramatically for “Against My Desire to Imagine” which features subtle and delicate interplay between Gardner on trumpet and Watkins on tenor, along with a lovely and creative guitar solo by Christiansen. Check out how the guitar and Nielsen’s piano work together, especially as the solo peaks in its second chorus after Gardner’s and Watkins’ melody interlude.

“The Executioner is Looking Away” grabs you out of the gate with a head that keeps the players and the listeners on their toes, but then the rhythm section drops out for the opening tenor solo by Mark Watkins. An unexpected and fresh choice by the arranger and producer (Watkins). This track builds and builds through Christiansen’s guitar solo and into the rousing trumpet solo by Derrick Gardner and drum solo by Kobie Watkins.

 “Shouldn’a Did That” shows how Mark Watkins combines contemporary grooves with a harmonically advanced approach, which gives the players a fresh and intriguing framework to improvise on. Sandon Mayhew plays his first solo on the album, adding a new timbre while skillfully navigating the colors of the progression. Christiansen, Nielsen, Mayhew, and Vincent Gardner pass the baton in turn, synergistically developing the composition, which climaxes during Gardner’s second chorus bridge.

“Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow and Forever” is composed as a sax soli that shows these musicians’ understanding of pitch and blend. The piece is a seven minute long crescendo, testing the player’s endurance, but also provides opportunities for improvisation. It requires experience in both jazz and quasi-classical music and Mark Watkins, Ray Smith, Sandon Mayhew, and Jon Gudmundson are more than up to the task.

“Without Another Word” is a tour de force for the ensemble, with complex writing for the saxes, then the entire band. Bassist Braun Kahn’s animated solo leads into Derrick Gardner killing it like he does, followed in kind by his brother Vincent. A sprightly soprano sax solo (too much alliteration?) by Watkins leads back to the head, and after all that activity we settle into the final chord.

The musicians in this band are in the upper level to be sure, but to top it off, they are in complete sync with each other and listening to one other is a clear priority. This gives the music spirit and unity, causing the perception to be one of hearing a band, and not merely a group of excellent musicians at a session. The combination of great charts, insightful and perceptive players, along with solid and skillful production makes this one for your collection.

–Gordon Goodwin, Leader of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band

Mark Watkins–comments from the composer and organizer of FOUR + Six

It’s wonderful when things come together at the right time and in the right way. Hard things come at you from whatever source, whether it’s adversity from a pandemic, physical limitations, or what have you, but sometimes the bits and pieces add up to ten. Let me tell you the story of FOUR + Six.

One of the elements that makes FOUR unique is that all our music comes from within the ensemble, meaning that I write or arrange it, except for the occasional commission. I love composing for a cappella saxophone quartet but have often been intrigued by the possibility of including a trumpet, a trombone, and a rhythm section in my compositions. These instruments add color and variety to the quartet without creating the weight of a big band.

In the past I’ve had unique challenges in composing and reading music because of my limited eyesight but had managed these challenges using low vision aids. In 2015, my vision began to decline even further. FOUR’s fifth album, There You Go Thinking Again (recorded in 2017) was especially difficult. We had another international tour, also our fifth, planned for the following summer, but my vision had declined more quickly than expected and I could no longer read music. At this point, there wasn’t enough time to memorize 2-3 hours of FOUR’s complex repertoire for longer gigs, so we reduced our 2018 tour to only one performance: a half hour engagement at a club in Zagreb, Croatia as part of the 2018 World Saxophone Congress. With the help of Ray Smith, I also presented a lecture on my book, From the Inside Out: An In-Depth Resource for the Development of Saxophone Sound.

After Zagreb, I learned to deal with total blindness. I found new ways to learn music, learned how to go about composing, and most importantly, learned how to teach lessons and university classes with no vision. As part of this process, I spent 12 weeks at a residency school for the blind, which taught me to read Braille and to use accessibility technology, a mobility cane, and other skills. When I returned to campus to resume teaching, the other faculty members were supportive and found ways to help me function fully as a music professor. I wanted to be independent, but there were parts of my job I just couldn’t do. One day a colleague said, “You have to let people help you,” which changed my outlook, and I moved forward.

Fast forward to Spring 2020 at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Tension was rising from rumors of the COVID-19 pandemic as it approached the western United States. Preparations had long been underway for our university’s annual jazz festival, where we invite students from southern Idaho and northern Utah to hear and be coached by professional musicians. This year, our special guest was trumpeter Derrick Gardner. I was excited that Derrick had agreed to come to our campus – he and I were in grad school together at Indiana University from 1988 to 1991, playing together in Dominic Spera’s and David Baker’s ensembles. I always thought Derrick to be an amazing musician and felt confident that he would make a positive impact on our festival. In hopes that the festival would carry on in spite of the approaching pandemic, we began rehearsals with our university big band. It was not to be. Derrick arrived in Idaho the day before the university shut down all face-to-face activities and our jazz festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 lock down.

Precautions continued in 2021, but by 2022 we were given permission to host another jazz festival. Since Derrick hadn’t been able to perform with us in 2020 or 2021, we invited him back and, with our desire to make up for lost ground, we decided to bring an additional guest. The next instrument in our festival rotation was the trombone, and we chose to invite Vincent Gardner to campus, since he had previously risen to the top of our trombone wish list. With both Gardner brothers on campus, I felt this was an opportune time to form the + Six part of FOUR + Six.

Combining our diverse backgrounds and shared experiences while working on this album together has been a rewarding experience. Prior to performing in FOUR + Six, each of us had a professional relationship with at least one other person in the group. Derrick Gardner was a member of both the Count Basie and Harry Connick, Jr bands. As previously mentioned, he and I played together at IU. Vincent Gardner is currently a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra as lead trombone and often fronts the band, announcing tunes and counting off tempos. Corey Christiansen was a senior editor and performer for Mel Bay and has had several albums at the top of the jazz charts, including number one. Many of us have played with Corey prior to this project. Braun Kahn, a winner of several Downbeat and other jazz performance awards, lives in the same community as Corey and they are frequent collaborators. Kobie Watkins spent eight years on the road with Sonny Rollins and now leads his own ensemble, the Kobie Watkins Grouptet. Justin Nielsen is the pianist in Kobie’s Grouptet and is heard on their 2018 album, which was recognized by the Chicago Tribune as one of the top ten jazz albums of the year. In addition, both Kobie and Justin served several years as adjunct faculty at BYUI, teaching applied lessons and playing with me in our faculty group.

I hoped the project would serve as a recovery impetus as we all ventured back into the possibility of performing again after COVID-19 and my adjustment to blindness. I still had the desire to compose music and was inspired to create a concert’s worth of repertoire for FOUR + Six. I was anxious because I could no longer write music by hand, and I couldn’t find any computer programs for music notation accessible to the blind. Two of my saxophone students volunteered to be my scribes and we got to work.

–Mark Watkins

Other Reviews

“Could this be ‘Supersax’ re-inventing themselves after entering the witness protection program?  These cats are dazzling in every way!…Beautiful, intelligent, soulful, swinging, and all done with the highest caliber of performance.” —Noah Peterson, KPSU Radio Portland

“…glorious, bright moments bursting and bouncing with fulness and joy. When is 2+2 more than the sum of it’s parts? Listen, and here you will hear FOUR sounding like [more].” —Jeff Coffin

For those of us who enjoy a lifelong love affair with the saxophone, any opportunity to indulge in the warmth, beauty, power, and agility produced by masterful saxophonists is most welcome. Throughout On A Warm Summer’s Evenin’, Mark Watkins, Brent Jensen, Sandon Mayhew, and Jon Gudmundson, seamlessly harness the musical energy of the saxophone in settings ranging from quartet to orchestra with comfort and elegance. On this CD, FOUR engages listeners via effortlessly skillful execution of concrete and improvised musical ideas that produce a diverse, vivid, and enjoyable performance.

Soprano saxophonist, composer, and arranger Mark Watkins creates frameworks that excite, indulge, and challenge the musicians and listeners alike. Exploring a wide scope of articulations, rhythms, and melodic and harmonic structures, Watkins’ establishes and develops a driving contrapuntal conversation between and within the quartet and jazz ensemble throughout With Friends Like These. Featuring the alto of Bret Jensen, Of Things Hoped For showcases the romantic nature of the saxophone as a solo and ensemble instrument in a traditional jazz setting. Illustrating their musical diversity, Watkins’ Felices Para Siempre takes us on a clave‐fueled ride while his arrangements of Moment’s Notice, Chim Chim Cheree, and his Sunset in Sperlonga showcase FOUR’s jazz roots.

Beyond their diversity and flawless ensemble work, two of the most appealing dimensions of FOUR’s offering are Watkins’ pen and the virtuosity of each individual. Watkins’ diversified, fresh, and engaging writing results in new discoveries with every listen. As individuals, all FOUR deliver stirring descargas on Felices, Watkins swings and weaves improvised tapestries in his On the Other Hand and on A Warm Summer’s Evenin’, Mayhew burns on Moment’s Notice and Jack the Giant Killer, Jensen charms on Of Things Hoped For and Sunset in Sperlonga, and Gudmundson excites with contagious and bluesy energy on Chim Chim Cheree and Peas in a Pod. Supported by rock‐solid jazz and orchestra ensembles, On a Warm Summer’s Evenin’ is a celebration of diverse musical styles by an inventive writer and FOUR outstanding saxophonists who are as equally at ease unselfishly serving the demands of an ensemble as they are navigating the rigors of solo duties. To all involved, thank you for the music and the artistry. Godspeed FOUR.    –Ed Calle

“Strong writing and solos, coupled with rhythmically solid ensemble playing and lots of energy to spare!” —Frank Bongiorno, Saxophone Journal

Recently returned from their performance at the World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia, FOUR now presents an epic double quartet recording with five other fantastic quartets from around the globe.  Has this ever happened before?  Not in recorded history! ENJOY!!

There You Go Thinking Again–release notes:

The seed for this project was a performance with Saxitude at the Luxembourg Blues ‘n Jazz Rallye in 2012. FOUR joined Saxitude on a few standards like “Au Privave” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” and on my arrangement of “Hot House.”  It made me think, “What if Robi and I each wrote a double quartet for the next time FOUR traveled to Europe?”  Robi (Robi Arend of Saxitude) wrote “Newstime” and I arranged Jon Gudmundson’s (of FOUR) “There You Go Thinking Again,” which we subsequently played at the Strasbourg France World Saxophone Congress and at Luxembourg’s Blues Express Festival in 2015.  These wonderful experiences with Saxitude made me consider a double quartet album for our new compositions.  So I thought about who I knew that might want to join the project.  I thought it best to keep the pairing of my writing a piece and another quartet contributing a work, like with Robi and Saxitude.  Ed Calle came to mind.  I first met Ed at the BYU-Idaho Jazz Festival in 2000, then worked with him twice where I conducted his Christmas show with jazz band, orchestra, and choir.  He even wrote the liner notes for On a Warm Summer’s Evenin’, FOUR’s second album. Since Ed plays in the Miami Saxophone Quartet, I thought I’d propose the idea to him.  Miami joined and Gary Lindsay wrote “To Be in Love,” a beautiful piece.  Next in the chain of events was an idea from Jon.  He thought, “Hey, since the next World Saxophone Congress is in Zagreb, Croatia, let’s do something with the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet.”  I went to grad school with Dragan Sremec where we played in a quartet together, and Ray Smith (of FOUR) had hosted the Zagreb Quartet at BYU a couple of times and had a good relationship with them; so we sent an invitation.  “Kilter” is especially designed to combine Zagreb’s classical style with FOUR’s jazz.  I hope you think it worked.  As the project started to fill out, I wondered how many groups we should include.  Ten tracks with two collaborations per group seemed reasonable.  Who to invite next?  In St. Andrews, Scotland at the World Saxophone Congress of 2012, FOUR was invited by Richard Ingham to play on the closing concert.  We had to leave St. Andrews before the concert for a gig in Germany, but we had a pleasant conversation with Richard.  Sandon Mayhew (of FOUR) and I met Richard again in Strasbourg; we spoke of our various endeavors, and I mentioned that I felt the WSC in St. Andrews was beautifully run with such a great spirit about it.  Richard was the president of this event—what a great man!  Later, he agreed to provide critical review and a foreword for a book of mine, From the Inside Out.  These experiences, plus my respect for The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone, edited by Richard, and his 30 years with the Northern Saxophone Quartet made me think that it would be nice to perform or record with him; he agreed and provided “Fenella’s Jig.” We needed one more quartet to fill out the project.  Ray brought up the Utah Saxophone Quartet, yes—now here’s some people I know and know play well.  I took saxophone lessons from Daron Bradford in 1979 when I was an athletics major at BYU; I studied clarinet with Dave Feller in 1985; and Gaylen Smith and I overlapped undergraduate degrees at the same school.  Interestingly, the Utah Quartet started as the BYU Faculty Saxophone Quartet in the mid 1980’s when I played with them along with Daron, Ray, and fellow student, Mark Sheldon.  The group was eventually taken off-campus and Dave Feller and Gaylen Smith joined.  So now you can enjoy the finished product, There You Go Thinking Again, with Saxitude, Miami, Richard Ingham, Zagreb, and Utah Saxophone Quartets joined by FOUR.  This has been a very challenging project considering enlisting quartets, recording from around the world, composing, money, etc.  Ray has on several occasions called it “epic.”  I don’t know if it is, but it sure feels like it.

–Mark Watkins

Reviews for the There You Go Thinking Again Double Quartet Album

By Leonid Auskern (Google Translate)

Saxophone quartets in jazz is not a massive phenomenon, but not uncommon. The American Quartet Four, an ensemble of a classic saxophone quartet: soprano (Mark Watkins) – alto (Ray Smith) – tenor (Sandon Mayhew) – baritone (Jon Gudmundson), in this respect it stands out for the “professorial” level of its participants: they all teach art playing saxophone in various educational institutions, and Mark Watkins is also actively involved in the work of the World Saxophone Congresses. Four is a frequent guest at prestigious festivals around the world, and the quartet released its first album back in 2006. Today You are presenting Thinking Again is already the fifth in the group’s discography, and here the concept of this work is really very unusual.

According to Watkins album liner notes, her idea originated during a joint performance with a similar Luxembourg team Saxitude in 2012: this is the idea of ​​a “double quartet”. The album There You Go Thinking Again has ten tracks. In addition to Four, five quartets participated in the recording of the album: two American, from Miami and from Utah, the Scottish quartet of Richard Ingram, the same Saxitude and the Croatian Zagreb Quartet, whose main specialty is academic music. Four of them are also of classical composition, but in Saxitude there are two violists, a tenorist and a baritoneist. With each of these bands Four performs two compositions. The lion’s share of the plays was composed by Mark Watkins, but in alliances with quartets from Miami, Scotland and Luxembourg, one of the recorded compositions is represented by the authors of the respective groups.

It turned out interesting! The double sounding of instruments, the most complex, lacy interlacing of voices of “high” and “low” saxophones, beautiful themes, cool arrangements and, of course, bright soloists. Already in the starting I Got Nothin ’But Nothin’ Watkins, Mike Brignoles solo from Miami on a baritone saxophone and his partners, alto saxophone Smith (Four) and tenor saxophone player Ed Kalle (Miami), remembered. Immediately in several plays on the stage came the musicians of Four – Watkins on soprano saxophone and Mayhew on tenor saxophone. And the most beautiful composition of the album seemed to me the Newstime play Roby Rent from Saxitude, performed along with Four by his team. But this is a matter of individual perception. But in general, the album simply cannot fail to please the numerous fans of the instrument, which for many is a symbol of jazz.

Rotcod Zzaj Review

Dazzling brilliant multisaxophone gems Four – THERE YOU GO THINKING AGAIN:  This is actually my first listen to the dazzling brilliance from “Four”… I couldn’t find a specific channel for them on YouTube, but here’s a clip of them (different players than on the album, I believe) performing “Lucy The Dog” (about 6 months ago) that will give you clear insight into their unique playing style…

The fantastic opener, “I Got Nothin’ but Nothin‘ featured the Miami Saxophone Quartet – definitely hits the spot for those totally into reeds, and makes the album worth the purchase for sax lovers everywhere!

The album features (get this) FIVE saxophone quartets, so you’ll hear some very unique twists & turns as the reedists rock it on home… that’s especially true on pieces like “Fenella’s Jig“, with the Richard Ingham Quartet from Scotland… lively AND full of life… I loved this tune.

For something a little more mellow in style, you’ll love the Miami Saxophone Quartets’ performance on “To Be In Love“… just the kind of laid-back jazz you could dance your Maidenform night away with!

Of the ten sparkling performances offered up for your listening (and learning), I found the closer, “Kilter“, featuring saxophone wizards The Zagreb Saxophone Quartet was my personal favorite… intricate yet accessible playing all the way through its’ 5:49 length.

I give Four a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) score of 4.97… unique, but highly enjoyable.  Get more information on the Jazz Hang Records label site for the album.         

Art Music Lounge Review

THERE YOU GO THINKING AGAIN / M. WATKINS: I Got Nothin’ But Nothin’.1 The Wrong Tree.2Ballad.4 Cuidado.4 Lucy the Dog.5 Kilter.5 LINDSAY: To Be in Love.1 INGHAM: Fenella’s Jig.2GUDMUNDSON: There You Go Thinking Again.3 AREND: Newstime3 / FOUR: Mark Watkins, s-sax; Ray Smith, a-sax; Sandon Mayhew, t-sax; Jon Gudmundson, bar-sax with: 1Miami Saxophone Quartet: Gary Keller, s-sax; Gary Lindsay, a-sax; Ed Calle, t-sax; Mike Brignola, bar-sax. 2Richard Ingraham Saxophone Quartet: Oliver Eve, s-sax; Sam Neal, a-sax; Matthew Kilner, t-sax; Richard Ingham, bar-sax. 3Saxitude: Dominique Gatto, s-sax; Pierre Cocq-Amann, a-sax; Robi Arend, t-sax; Thomas Diemert, bar-sax. 4Utah Saxophone Quartet: Charles Smith, s-sax; Daron Bradford, a-sax; David Feller, t-sax; Gaylen Smith, bar-sax. 5Zagreb Saxophone Quartet: Dragan Sremec, s-sax; Goran Merčep, a-sax; Saša Nestorović, t-sax; Matjaž Drevenšek, bar-sax / Jazz Hang Records JHR701F

This is the kind of CD that, were the participants not as talented as they are, could easily have been a gimmick. FOUR, the rhythm-section-less saxophone quartet, performs here on these 10 tracks with five other sax quartets. As FOUR’s leader and soprano saxist Mark Watkins put it in the liner notes:

The seed for this project was a performance with Saxitude at the Luxembourg Blues ‘n; Jazz Rallye in 2012…It made me think, “What if Robi [Arend, Saxitude’s tenor player] and I each wrote a double quartet for the next time FOUR traveled to Europe?” Robi wrote Newstime and I arranged Jon’s There You Go Thinking Again which we subsequently played at the Strasbourg World Saxophone Congress and Luxembourg Blues Express Festival in 2015.

FOUR then did something similar with the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet and “the project started to fill out.” This CD is the result of that brainstorming.

Listening to I Got Nothin’ But Nothin’, the opening track here, one is indeed reminded a bit of the World Saxophone Quartet, but FOUR’s music is less harmonically dissonant than that once-famous group. Nonetheless, like the WSQ, they create and propel a strong rhythm without the use of guitar, piano, bass and/or drums. The thing that I found most interesting is that the arrangement is so lean-sounding. Watkins’ piece and arrangement does not indulge, as one would assume it would, in rich reed textures. Rather, it almost sounds (pardon the simile) like two very bright classical string quartets playing opposite each other. The first solo, by Ray Smith on alto, is pretty out-there yet still adheres to the general form of the piece, which is a medium-fast blues, and the ensuing solos and written ensemble passages—in the style of Supersax, sounding like scored improvisations—all contribute to the building of the whole tune. This is what I liked most about this set: everyone listens to one another, and models their solos on what has come before. The lone exception here is Ed Calle’s tenor sax solo, which is real “outside” jazz, but a little stretching is not the same as consistently incoherent rambling.

This is followed by To Be in Love, a ballad, with the same partners. Watkins’ arrangement avoids the kind of cheap sentimentality that one often hears in ballad playing nowadays my means of his rhythmic and consistently moving inner voices. That being said, I did feel that a little more harmonic diversity would have helped it a bit more. It also went on a bit too long.

In the next two tracks, Fenella’s Jig and The Wrong Tree, FOUR is joined by the Richard Ingraham Saxophone Quartet. The former piece, written by Ingraham, does indeed start out in jig tempo but later morphs into a somewhat hectic, fast-paced jazz number in which the harmony shifts around a bit. Tenor player Sandon Mayhew has a really good solo here, but this is largely a showcase for the clever and intricate arrangement. The Wrong Tree is kind of a funky uptempo blues piece in the old Blue Note style though Watkins’ bouncing arrangement takes it on a different track. There’s a nice ensemble passage behind part of Mayhew’s tenor solo using the whole-tone scale, too.

Saxitude joins FOUR on There You Go Thinking Again, a cute medium-tempo swing tune made a bit more modern via some of the inner harmonies and the quasi-Latin beat. This is one of the best compositions on the album, written by baritone saxist Jon Gudmundson. Arend’s Newstime is unabashedly Latin-sounding in its rhythm, with a simpler but effective structure, allowing Watkins to play an excellent soprano solo.

Watkins’ Ballad, featuring the Utah Saxophone Quartet, is a more interesting and slightly more intricate piece than To Be in Love, and the arrangement makes the most here of the timbral blends of the reeds, while Cuidado opens with some polyphonic counterpoint that continues as the theme is introduced—not nearly as Latin-sounding as its title would suggest, but rather with some interesting backbeat passages played against Mayhew’s tenor solo. In fact, the intricacies of the interior rhythm (meaning the playing of the “background” saxes) continues to morph and shift as the piece progresses. This, too, is one of the stronger compositions on this disc. Charles Smith of the Utah Quartet also contributes a good soprano solo.

By contrast, Watkins’ Lucky the Dog, played with the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, bears a strange resemblance to the old Village Stompers’ hit tune Washington Square, only more intricately arranged, including a fairly complex polyphonic passage in the middle. Our little excursion ends with Kilter, an extremely odd piece to say the least, in which a descending chromatic licks played by the two alto saxes and one baritone is played against an eerie but lyrical melodic line. Despite a solo on soprano by Watkins, this one is mostly remarkable for the ensemble conception and execution. I’m not sure that a medium slow piece like this makes an effective ending to the CD (I would, personally, have chosen There You Go Thinking Again), but it’s clearly an inventive piece, sounding much like some of the experimental jazz of the 1950s (think of Allyn Ferguson, Tony Scott, Chico Hamilton etc.).  I particularly liked the double-time passage for the two sopranos played against a chromatically-moving baritone sax line.

All in all, an interesting and inventive album what will surely have you go thinking again.

—© 2019 Lynn René Bayley