RETRO FOCUS

For four decades, Jay Hoggard has been highly regarded as a master of the vibraphone and marimba, a supportive and engaging bandleader, a comprehensive and compelling composer immersed in the infinite musicalvarieties of the African Diaspora, a dedicated educator and a respected recording artist.

Jay’s new recording, RETRO FOCUS,  is a diverse and dynamic compilation featuring 13 of his compositions previously released on five albums from his JHVM Label: The Right Place (2003), Swing ‘Em Gates (2007), Soular Power (2008), Solo from Two Sides (2009) and Harlem Hieroglyphs (2016).

“Retro Focus is a digitally remastered, curated playlist focused upon some of my uptempo, straight ahead compositions,” Hoggard says. “These compositions are core elements of my live performance repertoire, and always receive positive audience response. I am blessed to be able to offer them in this reissue format.”

Retro Focus offers a presentation of Jay Hoggard’s solid musical foundation. “On this release, I was able to focus on compositions which have stayed with me over the past thirty years” Hoggard relates. “They’ve grown and developed in performance and creativity, and are my signature of where I go when I'm working in a mainstream jazz setting.”

Released seven months after his chart-topping, well-received CD, Raise Your Spirit Consciousness, Retro Focus boasts an impressive assemblage of musicians who have collaborated with Jay for years, with their beyond category artistry. They include: alto saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, pianist/organist James Weidman, bass clarinetist/soprano saxophonist Dwight Andrews, bassists Leon Lee Dorsey and Belden Bullock, drummers Winard Harper, Pheeroan AkLaff and Yoron Israel and percussionistsWillie Martinez, Kwaaku Kwaache Obeng and Asher Delerme.

“Well, I'm fortunate and blessed,” Hoggard affirms. “All of these cats are my friends. I know them, they know me, and we know our styles. There's a great feeling of ensemble cohesion. ”

With such solid support, Hoggard delivers a moving and melodious masterclass of modern music , buoyed by the influences of Bobby Hutcherson and McCoy Tyner. “I used a range of musical vocabulary in conceptualizing these compositions,” Hoggard notes. “Soular Power,” “Overview,” “Ring Shout,” and “Sonic Hieroglyphics” offer an organic whole of my composing and performance approach in a post-bop, straight ahead context. They are the equivalent of a suite of compositions, focused upon macro and micro visions of mundane and mystical sound imagery. ”

Likewise, “Inner Rhythm”, “Marimba Gylie,” “Convergence of the Niles,” “Crossing Point” and the propulsive solo selections, “Ujamaa,” and “The Golden Ashanti”, dance with African marimba/ Motherland cadences, as part of this conceptual suite continuum.

On “Swing ‘Em Gates” and “Blues Bags,” Hoggard pays tribute to his vibraphone elders Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson. “Hamp is the prototype as an improviser on the vibraphone,” Hoggard states. “He had an incredible feel, and he personified the musical language of what was called the Swing Era, which really was a summary of everything in the African-American music vocabulary preceding the 1940s. I originally composed and recorded “Blues Bags” in 1989. It was inspired by a specific piece, “Blues in H,” composed by Milt Jackson, from the Modern Jazz Quartet album, Blues on Bach. “Blues Bags” is my take on how Milt Jackson was such a major innovator, in terms of the vocabulary of the blues, and in the context of modern jazz.”

“The Little Tiger,” a happy, mid-tempo number is one of Hoggard’s most popular compositions, and has been a crowd-pleaser with audiences for years. “I wrote it for my son, when he was a baby” Hoggard remembers. “I first recorded it in 1992, and rerecorded this version when we did Soular Power in 2008. There has been growth and evolution of the tune, over the years, from live performances. Yoron Israel played drums on both versions… It has a bluesy, straight ahead feel to it, and I've always appreciated that people liked it.”

Born in 1954 in Washington, DC, and raised in Mount Vernon, NY, Hoggard was turned on to jazz after seeing Duke Ellington's Second Sacred Concert in 1967 at Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem at the age of 12. He started playing the vibraphone when he was a sophomore in high school. Hoggard majored in the renowned World Music program at Wesleyan University, toured Europe and performed at Carnegie Hall when he was a freshman. He traveled to Tanzania in his junior year to study East African marimba music, graduated from Wesleyan in 1976 and relocated to New York City in 1977 to pursue his jazz career.

In 1979, Hoggard released his major label debut, Days Like These on the Arista/GRP label. He subsequently recorded albums on an assortment of labels including India Navigation, Muse, Contemporary and Gramavison. In 2003, Hoggard created his own JHVM label. “I was inspired by Lionel Hampton, Betty Carter, Charles Mingus, the Grateful Dead, and many other artists who had their own labels, and who had control of their recordings,” Hoggard relates.

Jay Hoggard is also a tenured professor at his alma mater Wesleyan University. For the past 32 years, he has directed the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra and has mentored and educated hundreds of young musicians.

For more information about Jay Hoggard and his music, please visithttp://www.jayhoggard.com.