Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra Release New CD, "Book One"

Book One will be available at the New Orleans Jazz Fest Music Tent, LA Music Factory and Peaches Records.


New Orleans -- Irvin Mayfield and The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) announced today that they are issuing a limited local release of their new CD, Book One during The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell April 24 - May 3, 2009. The CD, which is on World Village, a world music label from Harmonia Mundi, features NOJO’s critically-acclaimed big band led by Mayfield, a Grammy Award- nominated and Billboard Award-winning trumpeter and NOJO’s founder and artistic director, as well as soloists such as saxophonist Ed “Sweetbread” Peterson and vocalists Leon “Chocolate” Brown, Johnaye Kendrick and John Boutte. Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra will be performing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Saturday May 2 at 4:00 p.m.-5:10 p.m. A CD release party will follow the performance on May 2 at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street in the French Quarter at 8 p.m.


“We titled this CD Book One because it will be the first of many that tell the story of our beloved city, the birthplace of jazz,” said Mayfield, a versatile trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger and recording artist from New Orleans who also co-founded the Latin jazz group Los Hombres Calientes. “We hope that listeners enjoy the music and that it inspires them to assist in our recovery by visiting New Orleans soon.” All but one of the songs on the CD were composed and arranged by Mayfield, who was commissioned by the Episcopal Church to write a new piece for the fourth annual “All the Saints” jazz concert held on Nov. 21, 2008 at Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans. The songs address key issues of the day such as post-Katrina stagnation, the price of gas and the ongoing financial crisis. Many of the songs from the concert are included on the CD,


According to Mayfield, “Everything in Jazz goes back to New Orleans” and “Book One” is an exploration of the city’s history, influence and jazz culture.

Featured songs include “7th Ward Blues” pays homage to the Creole neighborhood that gave birth to Jelly Roll Morton and Sidney Bechet. “Sweet Bread on the Levee,” on which Petersen, an instructor at the University of New Orleans (UNO) really steps out with an unbridled, free-movement style that is filled with intrigue, soul and gospel; “In Love All Over Again,” a lush, sexy musical interlude features Kendrick, a graduate student in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in New Orleans at the time of the recording and a winner of a Down Beat Award as an Outstanding Jazz Vocalist, was written by Mayfield as a tribute to an experience he had in 2008 that made him fall in love with music – and New Orleans – all over again; “Creole Thang” features Clarinetist Evan Christopher while the big band layers the sound. “Somebody Forgot to Turn the Faucet Off (probably Steve)” features the slide Trombone of Ron Westray, whose urgent sounds are a metaphor on the failed levees in New Orleans. The band is playing so hard that it makes the levees overflow, yet the band continues to swing. “Mistress” is a gritty and emotional tune that explores “that woman” who understands sex and adventure. “Richie Can Count,” features Leon “Chocolate” Brown who sings and scats in an amusing exploration of numbers and bailouts. The tune takes its name from Mayfield’s 4-year-old son’s ability to string together numbers and is inspired by today’s financial turbulence; “Beat” is inspired by the Cuban big bands; in the song the joy of dancing, laughing and rhythms illustrates the connection between Havana and New Orleans. “Move On Ahead,” a rhythmic foray with echoes of 1960s New Orleans features singer John Boutte. Mayfield composed “Move On Ahead” as a message to the citizens of New Orleans to keep moving on.