Rahsaan Barber & Everyday Magic
Rahsaan Barber - saxophones Thomas Heflin - trumpet Roland Barber - trombone Stephen Anderson - piano Kevin Beardsley - basses Stephen Gordon - drums
"Stephen Gordon is a visionary artist, endowed with extraordinary gifts of creativity, imagination, and wit. His music is always played with sincerity. In my view, he is among a select few contemporaries whose musical artistry embodies the sound of a jazz legacy coming into fruition."
- trumpeter/composer/educator Mondre Moffett (The Duke Ellington Orchestra/Ornette Coleman/Sir Roland Hanna/Jack McDuff)
I am delighted to share new and upcoming events, performances, tours, recording projects - my entire creative process with all of you. I want to extent the warmth of love and light to all of you, for as we all know and have experienced - this has truly been a trying time in our world, for all of us. We have lost some incredible masters of this music in the past couple of years, friends, family members - and yet we stay resilient and steadfast to the course, in faith and light.
With 2023 coming close to the halfway mark, I must admit that this year has been one of immense growth, in life and the music collectively. I have had the opportunities to play with some of my favorite musicians, one weekend of performances being a quartet with both legendary guitarist, Peter Bernstein, and powerful pianist Joey Calderazzo, both giants and long-haulers in their careers, teaching, and inspirations far beyond me. The ability to play in a quartet, rounded out by bassist Paul Creel, and play some of these gentleman’s own compositions (and for them to play each others in the process) was more than a joy; Music that I have known and internalized, one of those being Joey Calderazzo’s “Midnight Voyage”, in which I first heard it on legendary saxophonist Michael Brecker’s “Tales From The Hudson” recorded some years ago, with one of my heroes, drummer/pianist Jack DeJonette… It was great to capture those performances, and some of those compositions can be heard in full length on my YouTube channel - Check them out!
Another great situation that is coming up in mid-July, will be rounding out vibraphonist Joe Locke’s quartet for a short run and heavy playing - I’m definitely looking forward to those dates! Through local performances and quite a bit of teaching, both privately and masterclasses, and camps for the summer, I am working on some recording projects for a few clients and friends, most of that work on keyboards and synthesizers - Having a blast doing that! I think with the release of the new Headhunter’s record from earlier this year that I played on, I have enjoyed getting back to board/studio work of those capacities! I will say for now that there are some really great musical endeavors coming up in the fall of this year, so keep an eye out for those on here…
There will be far more opportunities to catch one of these great groups at a venue near you! I'm looking to venture into many of the songbooks of the musicians I have studied all of my life and loved their music. Sooner than later, I will be bringing forth many of my own compositions, many that I have had the pleasure to play over the years, and many new compositions that I will be presenting and composing for some pretty amazing groups I will be putting together in the coming year!
Until we meet again - May love always be with you to nurture you, light always behind you to show how far you have come, and light always within and in front of you, to guide you on your path home.
Stephen Gordon
Rahsaan Barber & Everyday Magic
Rahsaan Barber - saxophones Thomas Heflin - trumpet Roland Barber - trombone Stephen Anderson - piano Kevin Beardsley - basses Stephen Gordon - drums
Rahsaan Barber & Everyday Magic
Rahsaan Barber - saxophones Thomas Heflin - trumpet Roland Barber - trombone Stephen Anderson - piano Kevin Beardsley - basses Stephen Gordon - drums
Rahsaan Barber & Everyday Magic
Rahsaan Barber - saxophones Pharez Whitted - trumpet Roland Barber - trombone Matt Endahl - piano Kevin Beardsley - basses Stephen Gordon - drums