Atlanta's own Joe Alterman has a new record out that is a love letter to one of his Jazz mentors, Soul-Jazz Pioneering Pianist and Vocalist Les McCann. Alterman has spoken with the 88 year old McCann nearly every day since they met at The Blue Note in NYC some ten years ago. The record is called Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe and features a range of songs written and recorded by McCann, who became noticed during his heyday recording for Pacific Jazz Records in the early 1960s, collaborating with a number of artists including Lou Rawls and Eddie Harris. Alterman's comfort with Blues oriented Jazz piano makes for some tasty licks, with Kevin Smith(bass) and Justin Chesarek(drums) keeping it in the pocket and focused on the song. I've been playing cuts from Big Mo and Little Joe on Mainstream and Modern on Sunday nights(8pm-11pm). This Sunday night I'll play Doreen Don't Cry. If you like a good acoustic trio and blues-based Jazz you can't go wrong by listening to Big Mo and Little Joe.
You can see Joe Alterman perform songs from the album live on Friday night December 1 at 7:30pm at Spivey Hall at Clayton State University. Ticket information is available at spiveyhall.org
