Front, from left: Lucien Dobat, Plas Johnson, Rhoda Scott, Red Holloway, Carl Lockett. Behind the board: producer Pete Falico (left) and Annex engineer Russell Bond.
American-born jazz keyboardist Rhoda Scott has lived in France for 30 years, but her recent tour took her through Northern California, and included time out for a recording session in Studio A at The Annex (Menlo Park, Calif.; www.theannex.us). Producer Pete Falico arranged for Scott to play her B3 with an impressive “pickup band” that included saxophone players Red Holloway (Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie) and Plas Johnson (Henry Mancini, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand). Each of these stellar horn players contributed an original composition to the project. Holloway’s “Waitin’ for the Plane” was written en route to the gig; Johnson’s “Reveries” emerged during a lunch break. Also sitting in were Scott’s longtime drummer, Lucien Dobat, and Bay Area jazz guitarist Carl Lockett (Chuck Mangione, Jimmy Smith). The CD, From C to Shining C, is available from CDBaby.
