• Renee Rosnes Quartet on JazzSet

    March 23, 2012. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: JazzSet, Renee Rosnes, Rhonda Hamilton
    Steve Nelson's mallets, Renee Rosnes at the piano .. Photo by John Rogers for NPR
    Steve Nelson's mallets, Renee Rosnes at the piano .. Unseen are Peter Washington, bass, and Lewis Nash, drums .. Photo by John Rogers

    RED is the color of the Village Vanguard from the awning and the door to the velvet drapes. ". . . [T]he red curtains and red carpet, there's a warmth," says pianist Renee Rosnes. And she opens her set with "Rouge" by John Lewis.

    Vibraphonist Steve Nelson can throw the blues into anything, says Renee, from "Rouge" to Milton Nascimento's "Travessia;" Walt Weiskopf's "Intuition;" "Up With the Lark" by Jerome Kern, played for Bill Evans who was at home at the Vanguard; and Renee's own "Manhattan Rain."

    She reminisces about working here with two great bandleaders. Saxophonist Joe Henderson used to say "Heaven is on the bandstand," and one night during a set, vibraphonist Hutcherson felt the ghost of Dexter Gordon so strongly, he had to sit down on the red leather side bench.

    Listen for the set on Sunday, March 25, at 6pm and Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 .. or at your convenience at wbgo.org/jazzset.

    Rhonda Hamilton is our guest host.

    © 2012 WBGO

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