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Randy Sandke Joins Evening Star

Evening Star is proud to announce the release of three new CDs by the versatile trumpeter, arranger and composer Randy Sandke. These three intriguing and very different projects present several varied facets of this talented artist. Based on Sandke’s “metatonal” theory of harmony, The Mystic Trumpeter (ES-108) represents a significant advance in the harmonic language of jazz. Featuring Sandke’s trumpet with Parthenia, a string quartet of viols, Trumpet After Dark (ES-109) breathes new life into the “jazz-with-strings” concept. Used here for the first time in a jazz context, these ancestors of modern strings have a unique timbre which imbues these performances with an effervescent quality. Outside In (ES-110) is the latest manifestation of Sandke’s adventurous and always surprising “Inside Out” band, whose first CD (on Nagel-Heyer) was named to the top ten of the year by JazzTimes.

All three projects feature the leader’s commanding trumpet and always trenchant writing, as well as a who’s who of leading jazz improvisers: Wycliffe Gordon and Ray Anderson (trombone), Scott Robinson, Ken Peplowski, and Marty Ehrlich (reeds); Bill Charlap, Uri Caine, and Ted Rosenthal (piano); Greg Cohen (bass); Howard Alden (guitar); and Dennis Mackrel (drums).

About Randy Sandke

Randy Sandke has performed at festivals, clubs, and concerts around the world. He has toured Europe over forty times and performed extensively throughout Japan, the U.S., Canada, and India. He has recorded over twenty albums as a leader, primarily on the Concord, Nagel-Heyer, and Evening Star labels. A recent discography, published by the Dutch jazz scholar Gerard Beilderman, runs to 53 pages. Among the artists with whom Sandke has recorded are the instrumentalists Michael Brecker, Benny Goodman, Kenny Barron, Dick Hyman, Mulgrew Miller, Bill Charlap, Eric Reed, Frank Wess, Ray Anderson, Chris Potter, Sweets Edison, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Wycliffe Gordon, Warren Vaché, and Mel Lewis. Singers include Mel Torme, Jon Hendricks, Rosemary Clooney, Cab Calloway, John Pizzarelli, Gregory Hines, Art Garfunkel, Barbara Carroll, Dr. John, Karrin Allyson, Susannah McCorkle, as well as appearances with Diane Reeves, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Chaka Khan, Ruth Brown, Billy Eckstine, and Joe Williams.

Sandke has played on the soundtracks of several films, including Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club, Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memories, American Splendor, and five Woody Allen motion pictures. On Broadway, he played in the production of Chicago with Beebe Neuwirth at the City Center, which launched the hugely successful revivals on stage and screen. Sandke also played the on-stage Harry James trumpet solo which climaxes the show Fosse. He recorded all trumpet solos for the recent production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Whoopee Goldberg. He has performed on television in Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, in the U.S. with Benny Goodman for a PBS special, and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

As a composer, Sandke has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has had pieces performed at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd St.Y, the Greenwich House in New York City, and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center. The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band has performed six of his suites. In 1998, the Concord Concerto label released an album featuring several Sandke’s orchestral compositions in performances by the Bulgarian National Orchestra. Over fifty of Sandke’s pieces have been recorded. In July of 2003, his Subway Ballet was performed at the 92nd St.Y in New York City. He has written arrangements for Sting, Elton John, and the King of Thailand, and transcriptions for Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Sandke’s book, Harmony for a New Millennium, was published by Hal Leonard, Inc. in 2002. It details a method of exploring non-tonal harmony in the context of both composition and improvisation. Artists who have endorsed the book include Jon Faddis, Joshua Redman, Maria Schneider, Dick Hyman, Nicholas Payton, and Michael Brecker. Randy has also written scholarly articles on jazz history for the Oxford Companion to Jazz and the Annual Review of Jazz Studies. He has been a guest lecturer at the Julliard School, Manhattan School of Music, the New School, Hofstra University, Rutgers University, Hampshire College, William Patterson College, and the University of Arizona.

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