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By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-4314
Click on the album cover to see and hear a clip of the Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb.
Posted 4-14-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Steve Haines was on the phone with a legend – drummer Jimmy Cobb, who played percussion on Miles Davis’ legendary album “Kind of Blue.”
But between the words of their conversation, Haines heard something that made him marvel even more. In the background, Cobb was listening to “Beginner’s Mind,” a record put out by Haines’ quintet.
“I was flabbergasted,” said Haines, director of UNCG's Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program.
Cobb said he loved the CD and that maybe they should make a record together.
With that, “Stickadiboom” was born.
Stickadiboom is a term used by musicians describing the sound that jazz drummers make. Armed with original music composed by Haines (with the exception of one selection from Cobb), the group recorded the CD in Clinton Studios in New York in late 2007. In addition to having Cobb on the drums, the group had another link to music history – the piano used had been played by Thelonious Monk, Glen Gould and Bill Evans.
Working with Cobb was extraordinary, Haines said. “He doesn’t imitate the jazz masters. He is a jazz master.”
Early reviews for the disc, which was released worldwide March 10, have been enthusiastic. “‘Stickadiboom’ is strongly evocative of the days when creative jazz artists were jammin’ in dark clubs everywhere,” wrote one reviewer in Blogcritics Magazine. Jazz drummer Joe Chambers says of Haines: “Behind that retiring attitude is a fiery, imaginative bassist and composer.”
Haines holds a B.M. in Jazz Performance from St. Francis Xavier University in Canada and a M.M. in Music (Jazz Studies) from the University of North Texas. He has performed with a number of notable musicians, including Dick Oatts, Adam Nussbaum, Bob Berg, Joe Williams, Mark Levine, Richard Stolzman, Bruce Forman, Ellis Marsalis, Jim Snidero and Marcus Roberts. Most recently, Haines orchestrated and arranged the musical “Ella: The Life and Music of Ella Fitzgerald.”