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Category: Music
Soko feat. LeRoi Moore "In November Sunlight"(previously unreleased version)
Sokolowski ©1991, 2008
LeRoi Moore, tenor sax
Michael Sokolowski, piano
Houston Ross, bass, nylon string guitar
Nir Zidkyahu, drums
Mike Sokolowski (of Soko) shared this unreleased version of "In November Sunlight" featuring a never-before-heard sax recording by LeRoi Moore with me the day after LeRoi passed. Alot of you may be familiar with Soko's CD of the same name from '96 which features this title track but is a completely different recording than the version presented here. Soko has been working on a completely new recording of the entire INS CD and as Mike went back thru all the '95 takes listening to what they had recorded he discovered this beautiful LeRoi sax take recorded for original INS release but Soko ended up going with a slightly slower take for the final version of the track. He decided to build the new version around this original, slightly faster, '95 sax part as he thought it was wonderful & felt it should see the light of day. Everything else you hear on this track has been recorded over the last year as they have been working on the new version of the INS CD.
I was talking with Mike the day that LeRoi passed and the next morning I found this gem in my inbox from Mike and it literally brought tears to my eyes. I called Mike and asked him if he would mind if I shared it with others and he said he would be "honored". Mike also suggests pulling out your copy of "Code Magenta" featuring LeRoi Moore, Greg Howard & Dawn Thompson if you haven't played it in a while as he says it features some of LeRoi's best work and has been quite uplifting in this time of pain & loss.
So, thank you Mike for sharing this recording of LeRoi with the rest of us and special thanx to LeRoi Moore for all the music he has given us, his fans & the world. Your contribution to our lives can never be measured and will of course be sorely missed.
Rest In PEACE LeRoi, your light will shine on thru the music!
Please remember this is only a rough mix & not the final mix that will appear on the forthcoming, re-recorded "In November Sunlight"
NOTE FROM MIKE SOKOLOWSKI:
You gotta listen past the raw, bass-heavy nature of this mix. This is not even a mix, per se, just some tracks quickly exported out of my computer program for us to listen to as we work on the record. In fact, Houston and I had been talking about sending a clip to Roi, but kept holding back, wanting to wait for a nice mix. Big regret, as I think he would have been surprised to know that there was a take that good in the can from those sessions. But I believe that in some way, he's hearing it now.
The thing about LeRoi -- and the reason so many millions of people feel a sense of personal loss -- is that his music was completely devoid of bullshit. Like any musician, he had musical peaks and valleys, but he never played an inauthentic note. No musical exhibitionism from LeRoi Moore; it was always pure communication. That's why, even though he lurked in the shadows of the bandstand, didn't sing the songs, or rap to the audience, people felt they knew him. And they DID know him -- they knew the essence of who he was, because he made the choice to speak honestly through his horn. To use his horn to actually reach people, and not simply (or simplemindedly) to try to impress them. He could start anywhere in the measure, end anywhere in the measure, and it always flowed. It was an effortlessly beautiful floating and weaving of melody, phrasing and dynamics expertly controlled -- like a captivating storyteller. Never forced. Never clever for cleverness' sake. It wasn't jazz, it wasn't folk, it wasn't rock, it wasn't classical. And it wasn't about eclectically mashing those together in a conscious way. LeRoi's music was the result of a brilliant and open-minded student of music taking it all in and speaking back to us, naturally.
Houston used to tell him that he was in his "top five," and LeRoi would scoff at that notion, modest and obviously made uncomfortable by the suggestion. But damn it, it's true for me, too. Sure, you've got your Coltrane and you've got your Wayne Shorter and maybe a couple of others -- absolute unequivocal masters of the instrument -- but if I could have called any living saxophonist to play my music and serve it the way I envision it to be and without having to explain it, it would have always been him. A kindred spirit, a master musician whose level I won't attain in a couple of lifetimes, and a beautiful person who simply breathed when he played. God Bless you, LeRoi. I miss you and I think you'll dig this take.
-- Michael Sokolowski, Thursday, August 21, 2008
1:48 AM
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