Bill Warfield - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

Chesapeake
Release date: August 2, 2024
Label: Planet Arts

There’s a nostalgic photo from his own youth that trumpeter-composer-arranger-bandleader and Baltimore native Bill Warfield cherishes to this day. It’s a picture of his father and his uncle John in a fishing boat, tonging for oysters on Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. “My father’s family came from Delmarva Peninsula there and they were fishermen on the Chesapeake Bay,” he recalled. “He and all his brothers grew up fishing the brackish water on the Bay. Those guys would get up at like four in the morning to go out crabbing and oystering and all that. By the time this photo was taken, my father had moved away from the Bay. He became a cash register mechanic for NCR but all of his brothers stayed there. So in the photo, uncle John is standing there in his work clothes with the tongs and my father is standing next to him, watching him work. It’s a really cool photo, man. And when I look at it, I think about my Dad all the time. He was a really unique individual.” Lost in reverie, Warfield continued. “It was really a trip to grow up on Chesapeake Bay. Hell, I basically was down there a third of my life. The lifestyle was incredibly laid back and they were always really very sweet people around there. I just have so many great memories of that place.”

Chesapeake Bay serves as the prime inspiration for the aptly titled Chesapeake – the new album by Warfield and his hard-hitting Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra. For his most autobiographical work to date, Warfield taps fellow Baltimorean Gary Bartz, as well as special guests Conrad Herwig, Lou Marini, Paul Shaffer, and conductor/pianist Eugene Albulescu to augment his Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra.

“It turns out he used to go down and hang out there during the summer, so we both had this feeling for the Bay,” said Warfield on the great Gary Bartz. “It’s got a vibe when you go down there and that’s what I’m trying to sort of grab with this project. And Gary personifies the vibe of the Bay. If anybody’s got it down, he’s got it down.” The addition of Bartz is a great boon to Chesapeake, and is a full circle moment for Warfield who has long considered Bartz a bit of a “boyhood hero”. Notably, Bartz played on Shaw’s great 1971 Contemporary album, Blackstone Legacy, which was Warfield’s first Woody Shaw album. Warfield had seen Woody perform at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom when he was still attending Towson University under the tutelage of Hank Levy (saxophonist-composer for Stan Kenton and Don Ellis orchestras), and the show had a profound effect on him.

Bartz’s presence is felt profoundly throughout Chesapeake, particularly on Tom Harrell’s “Terrestris,” Cecilia Coleman’s affecting title track and the alto saxophonist’s own evocative, calming ballad “Nusia’s Poem,” with its allusions to Coltrane’s “Naima.” Bartz also delivers a closing a cappella version of the stirring “Beneath the Stacks” theme that bookends Chesapeake.

Other guests on Chesapeake include longtime Mingus Big Band trombonist Conrad Herwig, who solos with typical virtuosity on “Nusia’s Poem” and Warfield’s “Light,” and former musical director, band leader and sidekick to David Letterman for 33 years, Paul Shaffer, who supplies fundamental Hammond B-3 organ work throughout. This is Shaffer’s third appearance with the Hells Kitchen Funk Orchestra. “ I always get a big kick out of working with Paul in the studio. It’s like watching a little kid again. And you have to admire after all those years of doing that job how he still loves making music and still gets excited by it,” Warfield reflects.

Shaffer’s presence is most prominently felt on the organ-fueled crescendo to “Currents,” the subtle cushion he provides beneath the mournful minor key Hoagy Carmichael standard “Baltimore Oriole” (a tune famously covered by the likes of Sheila Jordan, Carmen McRae and Bob Dorough and sung here by Jasia Ries), on Cecila Coleman’s swaggering, blues-tinged shuffle-swing number “Messenger” and The Meters’ funk anthem, “Cissy Strut,” which carries a potent horn arrangement by Warfield reminiscent of Tower of Power. “The thing I did most in Baltimore when I was growing up was playing with R&B bands,” said Warfield. “And of course, at the time when I was there, Tower of Power was big. And I played a lot of that music in Baltimore. Gary did too.

A Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra alumni, Warfield adeptly integrates a motif from Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder” into the fabric of Harrell’s Latin flavored “Terrestris” in his clever arrangement, then drops in a quote from Sonny Rollins’ “Pent-Up House” in the intricate horn lines near the end of the piece (the title of which roughly translates to “of the Earth”).

Cecil McBee’s “Wilpan’s Walk” is a burner highlighted by bold, incandescent solos from Marini, Warfield and Riekenberg. “That was my favorite tune when I was in college,” said Warfield. Warfield’s “Light,” a kind of funky montuno extrapolation on the traditional gospel tune “This Little Light of Mine,” features stellar soloing from trombonist Herwig, tenorist Dave Riekenberg and guitarist Bruce Arnold, who digs in with distortion-laced fury. Cecilia Coleman’s “Messenger,” which carries a touch of swagger reminiscent of Neal Hefti’s “The Odd Couple,” features irrepressible solos from Warfield, Bartz and guitarist Mark Chertkoff. And her luminous title track features her own lush horn arrangements providing a cushion for the gently introspective number while featuring Bartz’s brilliant soloing. “That’s my favorite cut on the record,” said Warfield. “She really knocked it out of the park with that one. I’ve not ever used other people’s compositions on my records, but in Cecilia’s case I made an exception.”

One of the more flexible large ensembles on the New York scene, capable of swinging fervently, playing a persuasive mambo or laying down the funk in no uncertain terms, the Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra covers a lot of bases on Chesapeake. Said Warfield, “I want to thank all the people that came together for this project — and there’s got to be 25 of them in all. It’s a very important part of my musical history now, and I’m grateful for it.”

Time Capsule
Release date: February 3, 2023
Label: Planet Arts

Trumpeter and composer Bill Warfield has entered a period of tempoed reflection, taking his critically acclaimed ensemble, The Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra, along with him for their latest output – Time Capsule. The 12-track recording finds the trumpeter amidst a rhythmic awakening and reflective endorsement of some of his greatest musical influences. Time Capsule presents like an orchestral memoir, deviating from categorization and cultivating a comprehensive overview of Warfield’s stylistically vast but sonically familiar repertoire. Bonding with intention and response, Warfield orchestrates the impact each selected tune has had on the direction of his artistry while sharing a record that is above all else, autobiographical.

Over the past decade, Warfield has issued three records alongside his Hell’s Kitchen Funk Orchestra. On Time Capsule, he assembles a new iteration of the orchestra, placing, as he describes, a fervent emphasis on “the power of the horns.” Warfield’s arrangements explore their shapeshifting quality as they form and reform around each selection, becoming a gospel choir, a syncopated pulse, lush Broadway overtures, harmonic pads for solo gestures, shouts and melodic leads.

“My interests are so varied,” Warfield explains. “I love classical music, I love commercial music. With this band and these horns, I can do anything I want. I have the tools to do everything.” Listening to someone’s life requires vintage, track-by-track attention. Warfield invites listeners to play the entire album sequentially and appreciate each song’s enduring virtue and their collective imprint on his music.

Warfield commences Time Capsule with an arrangement of Billy Taylor’s “I Wish I Knew.” After arranging the track for Nicole Henry in 2014, Warfield noted his focus on Nina Simone’s treatment of the song as an anthemic, vulnerable Civil Rights lament in response to anti-Black racism. What he learned from Henry would change his own connection to the song; she found a secondary meaning in the lyrics, depicting the narrator as someone who has bipolar disorder. Here, Chrissi Poland provides an arresting delivery of these nuanced interpretations on “I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free.”

Warfield pays tribute to Chick Corea’s Return To Forever on his second track, “Light as a Feather.” As a college student, he learned to play flute for a small band that frequently played music by Return To Forever, with the exception of the inaugural record’s title track. Warfield’s arrangement on Time Capsule captures a live performance at the Zoellner Arts Center of Lehigh University, where he currently directs the jazz studies program.

An homage to his early childhood, “Alfie,” is a sentimental inclusion of Warfield’s musical origin story. When he was 12, his mother brought home a fake book titled 20 Blockbuster Hits for Piano so he could learn the melodies on trumpet; the first tune in the book was “Alfie.” With this new arrangement, he seeks to capture his own abiding impression of Dionne Warwick performing live alongside Burt Bacharach, the two artists reconnecting after their decades-long musical partnership.

Pedaling back to when he picked up R&B in high school, Warfield reimagines James Brown’s “Cold Sweat,” offering room to feature nearly every soloist. “When ‘Cold Sweat’ hit the scene, every drummer in Baltimore was killing themselves trying to play what Clyde Stubblefield was doing. We thought it was the coolest thing we’d ever heard,” Warfield adds.

The Temptations remain sanctified in Warfield’s musical canon. He reflects his steadfast reverence for the group, with whom he’s performed countless times over the course of his career, through his orchestration on the lyrically-amended “It Was Just My Imagination.” “They were special. A once in a lifetime occurrence, the original band.” His intention for Time Capsule was to record an arrangement that might provoke the Motown sound. “I wanted to make it sound as if it were recorded in Detroit at Motown, with the live horns and that kind of vibe.”

Over the course of finding his voice as an artist and arranger, Warfield cites Weather Report as a rippling influence on his musical perspective. His connection to “Man in the Green Shirt” comes from both the music and its surrounding story. “The title references the cover of Milestones that came out in the late ‘50s,” he says. “The image shows Miles Davis sitting on a stool wearing a casual green shirt. This was a big todo in the industry because, in their eyes, everybody was supposed to have a tux on or wear some kind of show clothes.”

Warfield casts a sentimental mood on “Please Send Me Someone to Love” another song he arranged for Nicole Henry, while on “Zoe’s Dance” he jumps into the blues, reconfiguring and re-titling Mike Sweetman’s 1995 track “Angela’s Strut.” “It’s always reminded me of those ‘60s boogaloo tunes, which I love,” he says.

Time Capsule becomes whimsical on “Let It Go” from Frozen, inspired by Poland’s YouTube performance of the Disney track. Experimenting with the song as a cliff dive into what would become a strong musical partnership with the Broadway singer, Warfield asked Poland to approach each tune on the record with the same abandon she uses on the Disney hit.

Composed in 13/8, Hank Levy’s arrangement of “Chain Reaction” became a favorite tune for Warfield to play while at Towson University. On Time Capsule, he adds his own overdubs to provide the feeling of a big band sound. With reverence and appreciation, this selection holds a deeper meaning for the bandleader, too, as he remembers Paul Cridler — the first trumpet player ever to solo on Levy’s arrangement — who passed away in spring 2022. Several weeks earlier, Warfield’s brother John also passed away. Whenever it was within arm’s reach, Warfield recalls how John would pick up his flugelhorn and flawlessly play the song’s intro line. Warfield dedicates this album to his brother’s memory.

In his present observations, Bill Warfield remains connected to his past. How he views his instrument today, what he brings to new arrangements — these refinements honed over time not arbitrarily but in relation to where he started. “Your first effort, and I think this is pretty much across the board from Charlier Parke to Charlie Watts, is the purest one,” he says. “It may not be the ‘best’ one, but it’s the one that has the core of what your idea was. And that would be the very first album that I did a long time ago.” Time Capsule may, at times, depart from that core concept, but never unbinds from it. “These tunes are a part of me. They’re a part of my experiences and they are my expression. I hope listeners hear the thread of their meaning and appreciate them as I do.”