Rodney Whitaker
Common Ground: The Music of Gregg Hill
- Type CD
- Label Origin Records
- UPC 0805558278020
- Catalog number ORIGIN 82780
- Release date 02 August 2019
About the album
Famed bassist Rodney Whitaker brings together an all-star unit of generational contemporaries, each a modern master and colleague of long standing, to interpret a sampling of tunes from composer Gregg Hill's pen, compositions that Whitaker found particularly inspiring. With trumpeter Terrell Stafford, saxophonist Tim Warfield, pianist Bruce Barth, and drummer Dana Hall, Whitaker guides the flow with a mammoth sound and harmonic acumen, as his partners apply their individualistic voices to eight tunes that Whitaker describes as “modern bebop and 21st century soul jazz,” emphasizing melodic development and the will to swing. For 4 of his pieces, Hill partnered with vocalist Rockelle Fortin, Whitaker's daughter, to write lyrics and add her voice to the ensemble.