The Songs We Used to Sing

Tracklist

1. Change7:02
2. And Then We Were Three12:21
3. Black Mountain9:42
4. The Songs We Used To Sing20:38
5. La Fille Qui Sommeille8:01
6. Tell Them I Love You8:41
7. Mood Ring11:01

Personnel & credits

• Michael GassmannTrumpet
• Russ LossingPiano
• John HébertDouble Bass
• Tony MorenoDrums

About this record

Michael

Trumpet

Genre

Jazz

Press

“The emotions and warmth of this afternoon brought back memories of my childhood.”ParmaFrontiere (label page) ↗

Reception

No critical reviews of this album were found in any major or specialist jazz outlet. Targeted searches across All About Jazz (and its Italian sister), JazzTimes, DownBeat, Jazzwise, AllMusic, JazzConvention, and Swiss/German/Italian jazz press (jazz'n'more, jazzthing, Concerto, Musica Jazz) returned no dedicated coverage of "The Songs We Used to Sing." The musicians involved (especially Russ Lossing and John Hébert) are individually well reviewed at All About Jazz and JazzTimes, but those reviews are for their other records (e.g. Metamorphism, Motian Music, Drum Music, Proximity Alert) and must not be attributed to this date. The only substantive descriptive text found is the label's own page, which is promotional rather than critical. Note also a likely confusion risk: the trumpeter's namesake (a German classical musicologist named Michael Gassmann) appears in unrelated search results and should not be conflated with this jazz trumpeter. Net assessment: a small-label release that has effectively flown under the critical radar, which is a common and honest outcome for a niche 2019 Italian-label date documenting a one-off New York session.

Background

Recording/concept context (from the ParmaFrontiere label page, stated as fact): the music was recorded in a single afternoon session in August 2010 at Westbeth, a combined rehearsal/recording facility in Manhattan, New York -- reportedly the quartet's first and only meeting. Personnel: Michael Gassmann (trumpet), Russ Lossing (piano), John Hébert (double bass), Tony Moreno (drums). The session was organized by Moreno mainly to document the players; the program mixes compositions played prima vista with free improvisations. The track "Change" was reportedly performed for the first time at this session. Although recorded in 2010, the album was not released until 2019 (October 23, 2019 release date per retail listings) on the Parmafrontiere label, with physical distribution by IRD Distribuzione (Italy). Some retail metadata (Amazon) also lists "JazzIsNow Ltd" in association with the release. Gassmann dedicated the album to his late mother. Seven tracks, roughly 77 minutes total: "Change," "And Then We Were Three," "Black Mountain," "The Songs We Used to Sing," "La fille qui sommeille," "Tell Them I Love You," "Mood Ring."