Ron Burris's Albums

This is Ron Burris’ third CD as an independent artist, and, as the title implies—he has never felt better. Ron has selected some excellent musicians to assist him in bringing out the different qualities of these eight standards and one original song on this CD.

To get things started, Ron and the guys offer a fresh rendition of Coltrane’s Impressions. The entire group plays with passion to the very last note. Additionally, Kendrick Freeman, drum solo and drumming throughout, adds to the beauty of this selection.

Next up is the beautiful Brazilian song, Black Orpheus. In this piece, Leo Cavangh is outstanding. He sets the stage with a beautiful intro and outro, after which Ron and John (piano) do an excellent job of keeping the mood of the song nice and mellow. One can easily get up and dance upon hearing this lovely song.

The next song, Yes & No by Wayne Shorter, is the longest song on the CD. Respecting the great legacy that Mr. Shorter has left music, we dedicated our performances in memory of this great man. In doing so, we allowed ourselves time to say thank you to this great artist. It felt so good playing and hearing Dave Macnab (guitar) and John Simon (piano) stretch out on this piece. I think Mr. Wayne Shorter would have been proud of our efforts.

Returning to the bossa nova -feel, our fourth song is the popular standard, Blue Bossa, by Kenny Dorham. Like Black Orpheus, one can easily get up and dance upon hearing the nice grove the guys set here. Certainly, one must move their feet to the beautiful rhythms of Kendrick on Drums and Stephen on Bass.

Never Felt So Good, the title of the CD, is a simple tune that is meant to express the wonderful feeling I have for this song and the entire CD. It is meant to be simple but expressive. At the end of the piece, John and I exchange simple phrases that match the title of the song- and at the very end, I can be heard stating, “It Never Felt So Good. The beauty of music in our lives allows us to be thankful for what we do have and rejoice. Life is not perfect, but music makes it feel so much better.

From here, we pick up the tempo again with John Coltrane’s classic tune, Moment’s Notice. This is a challenging yet beautiful piece by Coltrane. Again, it felt good playing and hearing Dave and John interpret this masterpiece. Taking on the challenge and hearing the results makes me proud of our efforts.

To change the pace again, we play Sugar by Stanley Turrentine. When Stanley wrote Sugar, he wrote a beautiful melody accompanied by some equally beautiful chords. Taken together, they offer a beautiful song that one never gets tired of hearing. We did our best to play it with the soulful, funky, and sweetness the master intended.

Switching to Alto sax on the last two songs. We end on two standards: one from the Bebop Song Book and one from the American Song Book. First, we played Ornithology by Charlie Parker. Leo Cavangh gives us a nice intro that sets the stage for a nice and easy swing to this bebop masterpiece. Also, adding more flavor to the song is Stephen’s nice bass solo, followed by another solo – but this time with Stephen and Kendrick exchanging ideas, through the form of the song. This allows for a nice restatement of the melody as we close out Parker’s classic.

The ninth and last offering of the CD is the beautiful and witty standard: Everything Happens to Me. John Simon plays some of the most beautiful chords throughout the song. I had a blast trying to play the melody and a solo in a way that could match the beauty of his chords. I hope you can enjoy our interpretation and effort.

In closing, I would like to say It Never Felt So Good to play these wonderful songs with these wonderful musicians.

Ron Burris, Saxophonist
(707) 712-8267