Serendipity John Stein

• 1 Alfie’s Theme 04:17
• 2 On Green Dolphin Street 05:03
• 3 Well, You Needn’t 03:59
• 4 Labor of Love 04:51
• 5 Insensatez (How Insensitive) 06:17
• 6 Bing Bang Boom! 06:24
• 7 Elvin! 00:26
• 8 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes 05:41
• 9 East of the Sun and West of the Moon 05:43
• 10 Happy Hour 05:33
• Total Runtime 48:14

Info for Serendipity

The only public concert I played the entire year of the covid pandemic lockdown was a virtual one for broadcast on the internet. Mike, Ed and I imagined being on stage together and presented a program just as if we were playing in front of an audience of real people. There were no second takes, no overdubs, no corrections; we simply played each tune and then moved on. The CD package you are holding in your hands and the sounds that are filling your ears are the document of the live concert we played in actual fact for an audience of one, our videographer John Farrell, who taped and edited the video. John is also a professional sound engineer, and he captured the sound of the trio during recording and skillfully mixed the audio. — John Stein

This is a John Stein session. Listen to John. Listen to what he plays. Listen to what he does not play. Listen to how he subtly and without pressure catalyzes collaboration. Yeah, you’ll hear astonishingly reimagined performances of Sonny Rollins’ “Alfie’s Theme,” B. Kaper and N. Washington’s “On Green Dolphin Street,” and Monk’s “Well, You Needn’t.” You’ll ask yourself, how could musicians in these isolated and challenging times create such art? Then listen to John’s compositions like “Labor of Love,” “Bing, Bang, Boom,” and “Elvin!” And finally, hunker down for John’s “Happy Hour,” which here and typically marks the end of one of his hour-long offerings of alchemy. Breathe in. Breathe out. This is beautiful and important stuff. — John Thomas, from the liner notes.

John Stein, guitar
Ed Lucie, bass
Mike Connors, drums

John Stein
Internationally renowned jazz guitarist John Stein was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri USA where he took up his instrument at an early age. His talent for and love of music ultimately earned him a faculty position at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he was a longtime Professor in the Harmony Department.

John Stein is an experienced teacher, clinician, recording artist, and author. John has performed as a leader or a sideman with some of the world’s finest jazz acts, and his compositions and performances cover the spectrum of jazz styles.

John is a prolific recording artist as a leader, in addition to the contributions he has made to other artists’ projects. His newest recording, Serendipity [WSC 129], will be released on June 18, 2021.

John published educational columns in Just Jazz Guitar Magazine for many years that focused on composition and arranging for jazz guitar. Berklee Press published John’s arranging materials in a book that is now available, entitled: Berklee Jazz Standards For Solo Guitar. John compiled the compositional materials into two books that are now available: Composing Blues For Jazz Performance, and Composing Tunes For Jazz Performance.

“My music is the result of a lifetime’s involvement with my instrument, the guitar, and many hours studying theory, composition, arranging, and musical history,” says John. His warm and deeply expressive creative jazz performances move and excite audiences wherever he appears.

This album contains no booklet.