10/13/07

Bill McHenry- The Man.

I called Kenny Brooks a few days ago. He told me that he lives right around the corner from a club called Biscuit BBQ in Park Slope where Bill McHenry plays weekly. I checked out Bill's MySpace page as was mightily impressed. Bill plays the saxophone like a true master of the instrument. There's also a smoking live solo video posted.

I'm a sucker for a great sound and McHenry has one of the best sounds of anyone out there today. He plays with amazing sensitivity to subtle shadings of timbre and articulations.
The word that first comes to my mind when I think about how to describe his playing is Lyrical. He never sacrifices melody for technical prowess. His playing oozes emotion, and he sounds like himself.

Bill McHenry's MySpace page
Bill McHenry's home page
Bill playing Night and Day
Bill playing How High the Moon (more or less)
Roses
Live at Small's
Velvet Gentlemen

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to see a post on Bill. He has some albums out with Ben Monder on guitar, as well as an amazing live CD with Ethan Iverson.

David Carlos Valdez said...

He's really great, no doubt.

Unknown said...

you're right. i listened to him. great feeling.

Unknown said...

Bill plays on one of my favorite records of late, the Vastness of Space from Reid Anderson of the Bad Plus.

David, do you have a performance schedule up somewhere?

David Carlos Valdez said...

I did some playing with Reid Anderson in NYC, he's a great player. His group Bad Plus is really taking off.

My calendar is looking pretty bleak right now. I need to start hustling.

I'll make sure to update my MySpace calendar:
myspace.com/davidvaldez2

I'm at Split in the Bridgeport Plaza this Wednesday and Thursday (10/23 & 10/24).

Anonymous said...

Thanks David!