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Kevin Goss: Gratitude

By Kevin Goss
July 4, 2025
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As I approached the "big five-oh," I started doing some thinking about how much I have to be grateful for: a supportive family, meaningful friendships, and music. I wasn't supposed to make it to the "big oh-five," but I beat the odds and, in the years since, it is my family, friends, and music that have made my life better, along with a couple of goofy dogs.

"Ted's Kick" is a boogaloo blues with a bridge. I wrote it with baritone saxophonist

Ronnie Cuber

saxophone
1941 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Ronnie Cuber in mind. Ronnie seamlessly weaves jazz and soul in his playing, and I wanted to capture that. The title is my tribute to this album's drummer,

Ted Warren

drums
b.1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Ted Warren, who vehemently dislikes the term "kick drum." "IT'S A BASS DRUM!!."

Dave Restivo

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Restivo's Fender Rhodes and

Nathan Hiltz

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Nathan Hiltz's Benson-esque guitar transport you back to the '60s.

Birdshit (or Bird droppings) if I ever hope to get radio play) is a contrafact I wrote on Charlie "Bird" Parker's "Confirmation." It's also a tribute to all the bird puns used in his song titles.

"Mists of Fundy" was my biggest challenge to write. I wasn't even sure if I liked it until I heard Dave, Jim, and Ted playing it in the studio. Then I knew it worked. It's a ballad, played on alto, and is a bit of a tribute to Phil Woods and to my home town of Saint John, NB, where you often saw a thick layer of mist rising from the Bay of Fundy.

"Cayenne" is a tribute to the father of modern baritone playing, Pepper Adams. I incorporated some of his improvised vocabulary into a contrafact based on "But Not For Me."

I've long enjoyed playing

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins's "Airegin," so I decided to write a waltz with those changes for soprano sax and

Brian O'Kane

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian O'Kane's beautiful Flugelhorn playing. "Airegin" is "Nigeria" spelled backwards, so I called this "Adanac."

"By George," based on "Sweet Georgia Brown" was written after I drove to Montreal to hear Ronnie Cuber and Vanessa Rodrigues playing music from the

George Benson

guitar
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">George Benson "Cookbook" quartet. I went back to my hotel and wrote this song with guitar and B3 in mind.

"Hipititus C" is a blues with a hip hop drum feel. It's in C, thus the name. This is a tune I really enjoy playing on alto. The rhythm section is nothing short of amazing on this one.

Adams Park is the only tune I didn't write. I first heard baritone player Glenn Wilson on an album I picked up in San Francisco for a buck. I became an instant fan and we have become friends. He graciously allowed me to record his tribute to Park Adams III, aka Pepper. This is a duet between myself on baritone and Jim Vivian on bass. I wanted it to be musically intimate and approach it differently from how Glenn has performed it.

"Jeruvian" pays homage to the

Gerry Mulligan

saxophone, baritone
1927 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Gerry Mulligan piano-less quartets of the 1950s with

Chet Baker

trumpet and vocals
1929 - 1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Chet Baker and, later,

Art Farmer

flugelhorn
1928 - 1999

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Farmer. Nicknamed "Jeru" by

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis, Mulligan's approach was the polar opposite of Adams. He described his '50s music as "pipe and slipper jazz." I wanted to capture that feeling with a quartet featuring Brian's flugel and a bass / brushes trade-off between Jim and Ted.

"The R.C. Cooler" is a Latin tune written while I was in my car waiting to cross the US border. I had to keep singing it in my head until I could safely take out my phone and record myself singing it. It's based on one motif that I had heard Ronnie Cuber playing on "My Little Suede Shoes."

"Hipititus C Reprise" is a response to those who didn't like the ending of Hipititus C. You're welcome.

Liner Notes copyright ? 2025 Kevin Goss.

Gratitude can be purchased here.

Contact Kevin Goss at All About Jazz.
Music is all

Track Listing

Ted's Kick; Birdshit (aka Bird Droppings); Mists of Fundy; Cayenne; Adanac; By George; Hipititus C; Adams Park; Jeruvian; The R.C. Cooler.

Personnel

Kevin Goss

saxophone

Dave Restivo

piano

Nathan Hiltz

guitar

Jim Vivian

bass, acoustic

Ted Warren

drums

Brian O'Kane

trumpet

Additional Instrumentation

Kevin Goss: Baritone, Alto, Soprano, and Tenor Saxophones; Brian O'Kane: Trumpet and Flugelhorn; Dave Restivo: Piano, Rhodes, and B3.

Album information

Title: Gratitude | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Self Produced

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