That Night in Jazz: The Carl Saunders Quartet plays Autumn Sojourn

Carl Saunders was a phenomenal musician so it was always great to be on a gig with him. He
was a prolific composer and a fun guy to hang out with. So I'm happy we had this night on tape. As always, I love playing with Kevin Axt and Ray Brinker.

A bit about the video and Carl
June 6th 2012 Jazz trumpeter Carl Saunders performs live with his Quartet at Vitellos. One of the hipper Los Angeles venues for jazz. The band performs one of Carl's original jazz standards, Autumn Sojourn. He performed with such luminaries as Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Bill Holman, Clare Fischer, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Paul Anka and Maynard Ferguson.
Saunders settled in Las Vegas where, over the next twenty years, he played lead trumpet while performing with Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra.

From Carl's mouth:
"My thing is to back off, to play the trumpet more delicately, including when I’m playing lead. Of course there are situations where you’ll be playing at a big outside venue and the amps and monitors are too loud, it’s hard to hear and the least amount of air to get the job done to its fullest is everything you have. I tell my students the trumpet is not a weapon of mass intonation. It is a warm, sensitive, beautiful, musical instrument on which wonderful things can be played."

Asked for the definition of jazz
"My definition of jazz, which is, “intellectual funk with a hypnotic beat.” I told them if they came up with a better one to let me know." ~ Carl Saunders

This quartet features Carl Saunders on trumpet, Christian Jacob on piano, Kevin Axt on bass and Ray Brinker on drums. Carl was one cool cat and a phenomenal musician. Enjoy!

Carl Saunders https://carlsaunders.com/
Christian Jacob http://christianjacob.com/
Kevin Axt https://www.bigphatband.com/members/r...
Ray Brinker https://www.raybrinker.com/bio
Video by Wilderjazz (June 6th 2012)

We eventually recorded this tune for Summit Records in 2014
https://www.summitrecords.com/product...

#livejazzquartet #losangelesvenuesforjazz #trumpetercarlsaunders #Jazztrumpetsolo