David Zoffer - Courage in Closeness-Live in Boston

"There's great tenderness, sensitivity, and grace on this wonderful CD. Though it is all new music, and decidedly more modern, it's reminiscent of the masterful Bill Evans & Jim Hall duets in it's level of musicianship and interplay." - Bob Moses, jazz and world music legend and writer. 'Wow, what a sound, beautifull...exquisite texture...one of the best duos I've heard.' - Paul Bley, jazz piano legend, ECM recording artist. 'I've never seen anything like this before...' - Eddie Gomez, jazz master, bassist for Bill Evans, on Zoffer's compositions. 'This is a combination of just about all the different stuff I like.' - Don Alias, percussionist for Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell 'The thing that's important about this music is that it's new and accessible.' - Hankus Netsky, saxist for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Rounder Records producer, New England Conservatory jazz faculty. 'What we have here is a new vernacular.' - Wendell Logan, Guggenheim Award recipient for composition. 'It was such a pleasure ...I can't wait to get a CD.' - Elio DeLuca, Telepathy Records producer, critic, on a Boston Jazz Society Jazz Festival performance. 'I found myself in a wondrous zone...an amazed audience...unpredictable harmonic structures... genuinely witty (no empty flash here). The overall sound is a delirious mix of playful, deep, thoughtful and tasty...masterfully written and arranged with lots of variation. ...amazing Boston based maestros take you on a ride through musical netherworlds...pretty jazz...original tunes are striking, swinging with great interweaving melodies... melodic guitar to grand effect...stellar performances!...entrancing...colorful piano...musical surprises continue to reveal themselves to you.' - Phil McKenna, ProgressiveEars.com, reviewing a Boston City Hall performance. 'The finesse of Larrabee's fluid guitar lines mingled over Zoffer's delicate and enticing piano created a depth that kept my mind indulged in sweet harmonious satisfaction. To hear two musicians fill out the sound so much within a live performance, is a truly enjoyable listening experience.' - Robert Weston, Skope Magazine, on a Williams Hall performance. With ten years of international performing, this duo's concerts & masterclasses draw great acclaim everywhere from Boston's celebrated Jordan Hall & New England Conservatory to the Mulinn Jazz Club and the prestigious F.I.H. music school in Reykjavik, Iceland. Tapped for collaborations by jazz legends for their dynamic interplay, they have concertized with masters ranging from Bob Moses and Eddie Harris to the next generation of jazz composers including Luciana Souza and David Gilmore. In New England they have brought their accessible warm spirit to a variety of venues including the annual Boston Jazz Society Summer Concert at Stonehill College, The Center for Arts in Natick, Cambridge's Regattabar, Zietgiest Gallery, and Boston's Bill's Bar. As members of the Boston jazz scene they have added their trademark duet texture & compositions to the blues and funk of Stan Strickland, the gospel sounds of George W. Russell, Jr., the straight-ahead swing of Phillipe Crettien, and the lush ballad sounds of Kris Adams. Since his move to Boston in 1994, David Zoffer has recorded and performed his compositions and arrangements with jazz luminaries such as Eddie Gomez, Danilo Perez, Paul Bley, Don Alias, Luciana Souza, Bob Moses, Don Byron, George Garzone, Dave Liebman, Titilayo Ngwenya, Oscar Stegnaro, John Lockwood, Hankus Netsky, George W. Russell, Jr. (From the Top Radio Show Band), Satoko Fujii, Bhob Rainey and Darren Barrett. Zoffer has played at all of Boston's finest venues ranging from jazz clubs like Sculler's (after winning the 1995 Boston Jazz Society Award) and the Regattabar, to concert halls including Jordan Hall (at New England Conservatory-where Zoffer is faculty and a Dept. chair) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, to funk/rock clubs such as Johnny D's (with his band the Differential) and The Paradise. Making his first of several television appearances as a jazz musician at eleven years old, David Zoffer quickly became a part of the Pittsburgh jazz scene. Playing with local heroes such as Dave Budway, Joe Negri, Johnny Costa, Dwayne Dolphin, and Randy Purcell, Zoffer eventually began gigging with Horace Silver alumni Roger Humphries and Ramon Morris. Harry Connick, Jr., selected Zoffer as the 1987 Mellon Jazz Festival All-Star Pianist and brought him to New York at age fifteen to play with him at clubs like the Knickerbocker, which landed him performances with N.Y. players such as Wynton Marsalis and Jeremy Steig. Midwestern performances with pop fusion stars Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and jazz master Marcus Belgrave followed Zoffer's study at Oberlin Conservatory. Adam Larrabee has performed with many jazz greats including Dave Holland, Jimmy Heath, Larry Goldings, Barry Harris, and Hilton Ruiz. During his countless recordings as a sideman, Mr. Larrabee has recorded pop music with the likes of Bruce Hornsby on Hornsby's 1997 Spirit Trail record. Larrabee plays in a quartet with 2001 Massachusetts Arts Council Grant recipient Evan Harlan. In that ensemble, Larrabee shows his virtuosity and his versatility covering styles from tangos to Eastern European dances. Mr. Larrabee's enormous stylistic range extends to his composing career, which has included every different ensemble texture from classical chamber music to jazz big band. This gifted composer/arranger has had his music premiered at Julliard, Arizona State University, New England Conservatory (where he is faculty), Oberlin Conservatory, and the Notre Dame Jazz Festival. As a featured soloist with the Great American Music Ensemble, Larrabee has played at many prestigious halls, including the Kennedy Center. The original compositions on the CD of his fusion/bluegrass band, Bath Union Hope, display his mastery of guitar, as well as banjo and mandolin.

1) Talk to Me
2) Here Comes Spider
3) For JMZ
4) Need You So
5) Chopin Noc-Turned
6) Seasonal Beards
7) Escape Artist
8) Courage in Closeness
9) Phillipe's Vibe
10) Never Even
11) Solace