2019
Bill Cunliffe Trio

1. The Continental 5:16 by Con Conrad and Herb Magidson
2. H.C. Stone Cold Shuffle 5:11 by John Clayton
3. Here’s That Rainy Day 5:55 by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke
4. Kaua I Ka Huahua’i (We Two in the Spray) 3:52 by Prince Leleiohoku
5. God Only Knows 5:37 by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher
6. Down With It 3:12 by Bud Powell
7. Sunrise Over Molokai 3:40 by Bill Cunliffe and Wanda Lau
8. Little Grass Shack 4:04 by B. Cogswell, J. Noble and T. Harrison
9. Lucky to be Me 6:55 by L. Bernstein, B. Comden and A. Green
10. Tereza My Love 4:31 by Antonio Carlos Jobim
11. Aren’t You Kind Of Glad We Did? 4:54 by George and Ira Gershwin

Bill Cunliffe, piano, Bruce Hamada, bass, Darryl Pellegrini, drums. Recorded by Talley Sherwood, mixed by Ron Boustead, album design by Stacey Stanley. Don Thompson is the co-producer.

I’ve worked with these gentlemen a number of occasions, while on holiday trips to Hawaii with my wife. I used to hear Bruce play at the Hanekulani Hotel, which serves the best coconut cake we’ve ever tasted. There’s also a cute little club called “Jazz Minds” in Waikiki, where we perform as well. Bruce is a great bass player and singer who has recorded with Jeff Hamilton, and performed with Ronnie Cuber, Jon Faddis, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Russell Malone, Frank Morgan, Karrin Allyson, Bill Watrous and Ernie Watts. Darryl is an ex-New Yorker who played in Broadway pit orchestras for over ten years and toured as a member of Chuck Mangione's band.

One weekend, jazz producer and aficionado, Don Thomson heard us perform at Jazz Minds and approached us with the prospect of producing a record.

So we did!

I flew the guys to LA, and we recorded over two days at Paul Tavenner’s studio Big City Recording. The studio has a FANTASTIC Yamaha C7 (I have one too, and this one is even nicer than mine!) that I always enjoy recording on. Paul is a fantastic recording, mixing, AND mastering engineer as well as a real fan of the music.

The tunes on the album consist mostly of American standards with a couple notable new compositions. Just for fun, I learned a few Hawaiian standards and we had a great time arranging them within the jazz idiom. One morning, I heard my wife singing the lovely melody from “Sunrise over Molokai” in the shower and stole it for the tune you hear on the album. John Clayton penned a great new tune, “Stone Cold Shuffle” at one of our Vail Jazz outings and dedicated it to the Vail Jazz founder, Howard Stone. Howard likes it when it swings, and so do I!

I sincerely hope that you enjoy this new pan-pacific recording effort as much as I do. Mahalo 2019