Jonathan Jazz Russell - Puttin' On The Ritz CD

Available at live events or click here to order on-line!
	Jonathan Russell has been performing jazz since the age of six. Now at the age of twelve he is a seasoned jazz musician with performance experiences in more than nine states, three coasts and a dozen jazz festivals, jazz parties or clubs. In his second CD he shows the growth and maturity that he has gained. He has gathered half a dozen of the musicians that he has been working with to create new interpretations of jazz classics grounded in the styles and sound he has absorbed from the finest jazz musicians from around the world.
Jonathan On Why He Chose These Tunes... Ritz: The first time that I heard it was in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. It took a long time before I could play it without laughing. Caravan: My favorite Duke Ellington tune. Darn That Dream: I heard it on one of Ed’s CDs and thought it was beautiful. The Way You Look Tonight: I first heard legendary Nashville swing violinist Buddy Spicher playing a version of this with violinist Billy Contreras. Body and Soul: One of my favorite ballads and probably the most recorded jazz standard. Limehouse Blues: The arrangement was developed from a suggestion by jazz pianist/arranger Ron Drotos. I thought it was a cool idea. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore: My favorite version is “Stuff” Smith’s. This is my homage to him. (“Homage” is a vocabulary word for me this year and my English teacher might give me extra credit for using it in these notes...) Someday My Prince Will Come: Mom wanted me to learn it. Runnin’ Wild: From one of my favorite comedies “Some Like It Hot”- though I play it differently than Marilyn Monroe sang it! Besame Mucho: Nicki asked me to play it with her in North Carolina last year. I loved it and decided to record it with her. Nuages: Bucky taught me this after I played with him for the first time at the North Carolina Jazz Festival in Wilmington. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho: Ron Drotos asked me to play this arrangement for a church service. I wrote the cadenza myself.

CD Available at live events and will soon be available on-line.
Track	Composers	Year	Key	Time	Top 1000 jazz tune rank in December 2007 at jazzstandards.com
Puttin' On the Ritz<	Irving Berlin	1930	c min	4:21	not ranked
Caravan	Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol	1936	A flat	5:14	17th
Darn That Dream	Jimmy Van Heusen	1939	G	4:29	70th
The Way You Look Tonight	Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields	1936	F	5:36	27th
Body and Soul	Johnny Green	1930	D flat	6:36	1st
Limehouse Blues	Philip Braham arr. Ron Drotos, Jonathan Russell	1922	G	2:41	174th
Dont Get Around Much Anymore	Duke Ellington arr. Jonathan Russell	1942	C/D-flat	4:48	104th
Someday My Prince Will Come	Frank E Churchill	1937	B flat	5:31	240th
Runnin' Wild	Arthur H Gibbs	1922	B flat	4:46	482nd
Besame Mucho	Consuelo Velazquez, Sunny Skylar arr. Nicki Parrott	1941	g min	4:03	294th
Nuages	Django Reinhardt	1920	G	4:09	504th
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho	Traditional Arr. Ron Drotos		d min	5:22	not ranked
			Total:	57:36
Available at live events or click here to order on-line!