By Ourselves

The Stamm/Soph Project

Elegance

Fast Track

Alone Together

This two-disc set, including a DVD & a CD, is a recording and video taken from a live concert performed November 5, 2006, at Rising Jazz Stars in Beverly Hills, California. The Marvin Stamm Quartet features long-time band-mates Bill Mays on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Ed Soph on drums, playing a mixture of standards and originals. Because the group is captured playing in a concert setting, they are not restricted by any time limitations on either their development of each piece or upon their solos, that is, they are seen here really “stretching out.” I believe this DVD/CD set exhibits the group at its most free, displaying both visually and audibly the extreme sensitivity and marvelous communication that passes between the four of us.

Track List:

1.) Alone Together (opening and Marvin's solo) 
2.) Come Out and Play
3.) Invitation
4.) Baubles, Bangles, and Beads (opening and Stamm/Mays duo improv) 
5.) Lagrima Agradecida
6.) Fun House
7.) When She Looks At Me
8.) ’T’s Butter

FANTASY

A new endeavor by Bill Mays and Marvin Stamm which brings to the fore cellist Alisa Horn to join them in a trio setting of great classical themes interspersed with the musically moving improvisations for which Marvin Stamm and Bill Mays are known. Critics have been overwhelmingly accepting of this venture. In the words of Judith Schlesinger at AllAboutJazz.com, "It’s rare for classical music and jazz to nestle this comfortably together, but Fantasy is so tuneful and well-crafted that partisans of both sides will find much to enjoy—and those who already frolic in the third stream will be positively delighted."

Track List:

1.) Baubles, Bangles, and Beads - Borodin/Wright/Forrest
2.) Vocalise - Rachmaninoff
3.) Fantasy for Cello, Trumpet, and Piano - Movt. 1 - Mays 
4.) Fantasy for Cello, Trumpet, and Piano - Movt. 2 - Mays
5.) Fantasy for Cello, Trumpet, and Piano - Movt. 3 - Mays
6.) Prelude #2 - Gershwin
7.) Prelude Op. 11, #3/Sometime Ago - Scriabin/Mehonovich
8.) Girl with the Flaxen Hair - Debussy
9.) Invention #8/Ah-Leu-Cha - Bach/Parker

LIVE AT BIRDLAND

A second outing for The Stamm/Soph Project, Live at Birdland, produced with co-partner drummer Ed Soph, showcases Marvin Stamm's working quartet recorded "live" at the famous New York Jazz club, Birdlnd. This CD features long-time band mates pianist Bill Mays and bassist Rufus Reid with special guest guitarist John Abercrombie.

Track List:

1.) Svensson  (opening)  (Marvin's solo)
2.) Samba du Nancy
3.) In Her Arms
4.) Waltz for Mia   (opening)  (Marvin's solo)
5.) Two as One
6.) When She Smiles Upon Your Face
7.) Gemma's Eyes
8.) The Meddler

By Ourselves - The Marvin Stamm/Bill Mays Duo

BY OURSELVES

Marvin Stamm - Trumpet & flugelhorn. Bill Mays - piano. Jazz Trumpeter Marvin Stamm and pianist Bill Mays capture their years long collaboration in this extraordinary release. Eleven tracks including the "title" track By Myself, You and the Night and the Music, Con Alma, and Airegin.

Track List:

1.) By Myself
2.) You and the Night and the Music
3.) The Lamp is Low
4.) The Widow in the Window
5.) Judy
6.) Beautiful Love   (opening)  (Marvin's solo)
7.) Waltz for Mia
8.) You Must Believe in Spring
9.) Airegin
10.) Madrugada
11.) Con Alma

THE STAMM/SOPH PROJECT

Marvin Stamm and drummer Ed Soph lead an extraordinary small group in this new release. Bassist Rufus Reid and pianist Bill Mays complete the quartet. Saxophonist Dave Liebman is the special guest on three tracks.

Track List:

1.) Three and One   (opening)   (Marvin's solo)
2.) Nardis
3.) The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
4.) Lament
5.) Bick's Bag
6.) No Hurry
7.) Joy Spring   (opening)   (Stamm/Mays dueting)
8.) Hip Hop Blues
9.) Who's 'At Talkin'?   (Marvin's solo)
10.) Old Folks

ELEGANCE

This quartet CD was just released in November 2001 on the Troppe Note/Cambria label and features, along with Marvin Stamm, the marvelous young pianist from Sweden, Stefan Karlsson with Tom Warrington, bass and Eliot Zigmund, drums. This disk contains nine compositions, six originals – two each by Stamm and Karlsson and one each from Swedish composer Lars Jansson and trumpeter Dennis Dotson – and three standards, among which are Gershwin's But Not For Me, Ray Noble’s The Very Thought of You and Jimmy Van Heusen's But Beautiful.

Track List:

1.) Smilin' Eyes
2.) But Not For Me
3.) The Very Thought of You
4.) Illusions
5.) Close To Home
6.) A Lick or Two
7.) The Tree
8.) But Beautiful
9.) A Rosy Tone

FAST TRACK

           JACK CORTNER NEW YORK BIG BAND

Even though Jack Cortner has been one of the busiest arranger/composers on the NYC studio scene for forty years, Fast Track is the first CD Jack has produced under his own name, showcasing his Jazz talent. I am proud to be the prominent soloist on the this album along with pianist Bill Mays, saxophonist Dave Tofani, trombonist Jim Pugh, and drummer John Riley.

Track List:

1.) Who's 'at Talkin'?
2.) Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
3.) Ballad for Betsy
4.) Etude
5.) Secret Love
6.) On the Trail
7.) Limehouse Blues
8.) Slowdown
9.) Flimflam, Ma'am
10.) Fast Track
11.) Lover Man