Question: What do Christmas, Bill Evans,
Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane, Ludwig
van Beethoven, Mr. McGoo, Paul Simon,
Ornette Coleman, Shakers, the Middle
East, award-winning American poetry,
and the art of international illustrator
Eric Hanson have in common?
Answer: The Larry McDonough Quartet
Holiday CD Shows
Thursday, December 17, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant
1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
612-332-1010
$5 cover
Tuesday, December 22, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Bedlam Lowertown
213 East Fourth St., St. Paul
651-209-0597
$5 cover
Larry McDonough Quartet (LMQ) is Larry McDonough, piano and vocals; Richard Terrill, saxes and poetry; Greg Stinson, bass; and Dean White, drums.
Families and students are welcome. LMQ will perform selections from the CD “Angels, Kings, My Favorite Things” along with seasonal poetry by award-winning poet and saxman Richard Terrill.
In honor of the people of Paris, where Larry McDonough has performed several times, LMQ will debut a new arrangement of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, as a jazz waltz with classic French minor harmonies, and a medley of La Même Histoire (We're All in the Dance) and Paris Je T'aime from the movie Paris Je T'aime.
LMQ also will perform a new arrangement of It’s Love, It’s Christmas, a rarely performed piece written by jazz pianist Bill Evans, based on a copy of the original Evans’ manuscript given to Larry McDonough by Evans’ widow, Nenette Zazzara.
Look for other LMQ favorites like Stonehenge by Spinal Tap, Kashmir by Led Zeppelin, Layla by Clapton, Brubeck’s Take 5 but done in 7 (Take 7), and a selection from the Chet Baker show that filled Jazz Central and the Dakota.
“Angels, Kings, My Favorite Things” was released in December 2013 with great reviews, radio airplay, and performances in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and even Paris, France. The CD release at the Artist’s Quarter (AQ) was one of the last CD releases held there before the AQ closed.
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Scott Yanow, Los Angeles Jazz Scene, 2015
“Pianist Larry McDonough’s Angels, Kings, My Favorite Things is a rather unusual Christmas jazz album. McDonough modernizes and reharmonizes the familiar songs, sometimes playing them in different time signatures (“Scarborough Fair” is in 7/4 while “My Favorite Things” becomes a romp in 5/4 time). The results are not as light and cheerful as heard on most other Xmas jazz sets. McDonough takes “Jingle Bells” as a brooding solo ballad, plays several duets with the Coltranish soprano and tenor-saxophonist Richard Terrill, and performs four songs with a quartet that includes Terrill. Three of the ten songs were previously released on McDonough’s 2005 album Simple Gifts. All in all, this is an intriguing set (available from www.larrymcdonough.jazz.homestead.com) that is in its own niche and will sound fresh even when it is not the Christmas season.”
Andrea Canter, Jazz Ink
CD Notes
“We've been enjoying the music of Larry McDonough for a number of years, so it's about time we spend the holidays with this creative pianist/vocalist/-
bandleader/composer. Here Larry has compiled favorites from his repertoire of traditional holiday fare as well as more modern works often associated with the season, presented in solo, duo and quartet contexts and all blessed with Larry's trademarks of odd time signatures and inventive harmonies. Not your mother's holiday album, McDonough leads off with a tribal groove on ‘My Favorite Things,’ enhanced by echoes of Coltrane from saxman Richard Terrill, then goes solo in transforming ‘Jingle Bells’ into an elegant jazz ballad.
Other popular seasonal songs are given unfamiliar treatments-- the dark shades of gray on ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Simple Gifts’; a delicate piano/sax duo reharmonizing ‘Little Drummer Boy’ (sans drums!); a reconsidered ‘Ode to Joy’ that sneaks in a snippet of Bill Evans' ‘Waltz for Debby’; a ‘We Three Kings’ that musically leans toward Bethlehem; and an ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’ with staggering rhythms. The pop inclusions are no less satisfying, from Richard Terrill's haunting sax on the minor waltz arrangement of ‘Alone in the World’ from Mr. McGoo’s Christmas Carol to the quartet's free-wheeling, ‘Paul Simon Meets Ornette Coleman’ rendition of ‘Scarborough Fair.’ Spending the holidays with Larry McDonough is like the best of family reunions--getting reacquainted with relatives who seem so different from how we remember them, and so much more interesting.”
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Angels, Kings, My Favorite Things
Larry McDonough Jazz
ITunes
CD Baby
1. My Favorite Things
2. Jingle Bells 
3. Silent Night
4. Scarborough Fair
5. Alone in the World
6. Simple Gifts
7. Little Drummer Boy
8. Ode to Joy
9. We Three Kings
10. Angels We Have Heard on High
Mixed and mastered by Matthew Zimmerman and Steve Kaul, Wild Sound http://wild-sound.com/
Art by international illustrator Eric Hanson http://er-h.com
Photographs by Andrea Canter http://jazzink.blogspot.com
CD design by Larry McDonough http://palaceart.homestead.com/
Larry McDonough is a St. Paul jazz pianist and singer, performing around the world and recording with his group the Larry McDonough Quartet as well as solo, and in duos and trios. He has performed with legendary saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, Trombonist Fred Wesley, and trumpeter Duane Eubanks, as well as a who’s who of local jazz artists, and was inducted into the Minnesota Rock Country Hall of Fame for his work in the group Danny’s Reasons. He also is a lawyer and law professor selected by William Mitchell College of Law as one of "100 Who Made a Difference" over the 100 year history of the school. He directs pro bono legal services for the poor at Dorsey & Whitney.
Sax player and Minnesota State University Mankato English Professor Richard Terrill received the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, for his poetry compilation “Coming Late to Rachmaninoff” (University of Tampa Press, 2003). Terrill has been performing with Larry McDonough since December 2001. He also has performed with guitarist Jim McGuire and with Chaz Draper's Uptown Jazz Quartet. As a college student, Terrill was a member of the award winning University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Jazz Ensemble, and performed with later-to-be Pat Metheny keyboardist Lyle Mays in the Lyle Mays Quartet, winner of small group honors at the Midwest College Jazz Festival. He has also worked with pianist Geoff Keezer. He teaches creative writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Bassist Greg Stinson plays in a number of bands around the Twin Cities. He has been the bass player in the Century College Jazz Ensemble for over 25 years. He also plays in the CC Septet, Shorn Hortz Quintet, Paul Berger Trio, the St. Croix Jazz Ensemble, and regularly subs with the Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Classic Big Band, and Cedar Avenue Big Band. Stinson also spent many years playing saxophones, guitar, bass, and vocals in jazz/rock and variety bands in the area. Stinson is an active composer/arranger, with jazz charts in the books of the Century Band, Nova, CC Septet, and others. He has also written a number of choral arrangements and compositions for school and church groups. Stinson was a band and choir director in public and private schools before changing to his current career in telecommunications technology. LMQ performs Stinson compositions from the Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra recording ADance to Be-bop. http://larrymcdonoughjazz.homestead.com/Greg.html
Dean White grew up in Superior WI and played in various working bands while attending the Univ. of WI, Superior. After graduating with a bachelors degree in percussion performance, he moved to Hollywood CA to attend Musicians Institute. Half way through the first year he was offered a main showroom gig at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. He was the first drummer in the Legends In Concert Show that still performs in various incarnations across the country today. He left Las Vegas to join Tony Axtell and Toshi Hinata in Tokyo to write and play original music. Since settling back in the Twin Cities Dean has performed with many groups. These include Good, the Bad and the Funky, the Autobody Experience, Century Big Band, Nova Jazz, Big Time Jazz Orchestra, the Shorn Hortz jazz quintet, Power of 10, Jack Knife and the Sharps, Tubby Esquire, Hennessy Brothers jazz, and many others. He has also studied privately with Gordy Knudtson and his Open/Close hand technique. Dean feels blessed to be part of a rich music scene that exist in the Twin Cities.
Contact Larry McDonough at 651-398-8053 mcdon056@umn.edu
