The concept of Fresh Squeezed was to take a number of chord changes to existing tunes and create new melodies and treatments. Almost all of the selections on this recording were created using this formula. All of the tunes are original compositions except for Horace Silver’s “Split Kick.” An additional goal was to create memorable melodies that employed “meaningful simplicity,” a philosophy referred to by Silver in the liner notes to one of his albums as his own compositional approach.

This CD is also a collaborative effort of musical brotherhood in multiple configurations with the regular members of my quartet, David Clark, Dwight Dozier, and Doug Elmore being joined or replaced by an all-star list of jazz musicians including saxophonists, Antonio Hart and Mark Gross; trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis; trumpeter Ansyn Banks; bassists Rufus Reid, Tyrone Wheeler, and David Pulphus; drummers Winard Harper and Robert Griffin; and guitarist Jeff Sherman.

The CD opens with Horace Silver’s take on the chord change