Every death is a tragedy, but the unexpected loss of a young person is even more shocking. Saxophonist Keith Oxman is a well-known musician and has been teaching at the East High School’s music department in Denver for over 25 years. He finds the opportunity to share his experiences with young musicians, whose names we will hear in the future, among the students he teaches. By the way, if I remind you that there are names like Ron Miles, Bill Frisell and Dianne Reeves among the East High School graduates, you can more easily understand that this school is a gold mine.
This One’s for Joey is a tribute album to the young musician, released after one of Oxman’s former students, bassist Joey Pearlman, passed away at the age of 24 on February 7, 2021. On the album, Jean Paul Jones, a composition by Coltrane, accompanies Oxman by Joey Pearlman on bass and his twin Steve on drums where Joey plays a wonderful solo. Despite their young age, twins Joey and Steve Pearlman find a very harmonious union with Oxman.
On other tracks Jeff Jenkins is on the piano, Mark Simon is on the bass and Todd Reid is on the drums.
Composed by Joey Pearlman while he was still in high school, Garden Song is an enormous composition that deeply impresses the audience with its catchy form and depth, and deserves all the praise.
Delightful mainstream album that was recorded in a very fluid form starting from an extremely sensitive idea.
Keith Oxman penned the title track of the album as well as six songs. Another teacher of the twins, Jeff Jenkins from Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts contributes with the composition Waltz for Joey and Kahlid, a tribute to Larry Young. Other tracks on the album are Blame it on My Youth by Oscar Levant and Edward Heyman and In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning by David Mann.
Thomas Burns of Capri Records well summarizes the album: “Denver has a close-knit jazz scene, and this record was made because of that camaraderie. Most involved contributed their time and some their money to make this a reality.”
While Oxman talks about the great loss of Joey Perlman’s death, he hopes this album will contribute to the memory of the late young musician.
Delightful mainstream album that was recorded in a very fluid form starting from an extremely sensitive idea.
