EMBRACE
Roswell Rudd/Fay Victor/Lafayette Harris/Ken Filiano
November 2017
Rare Noise Records

Roswell Rudd – trombone
Fay Victor – voice
Lafayette Harris – piano
Ken Filiano – double bass

Track Listing:

1. Something To Live For
2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
3. Can’t We Be Friends
4. I Hadn’t Anyone Till You
5. Too Late Now
6. House Of The Rising Sun
7. I Look In The Mirror
8. Pannonica

The ever-adventurous trombonist-composer Roswell Rudd’s only RareNoise release as a leader is EMBRACE, embracing the jazz standards he has loved and played throughout his long and illustrious career. Accompanied by the brilliant pianist Lafayette Harris, upright bass virtuoso Ken Filiano and soulful vocal sensation Fay Victor, the 81-year-old jazz master delivered with rare potency and poignancy. This intimate, drum-less quartet session is brimming with conversational playing between all the participants, with Rudd and Victor partaking in some particularly interactive exchanges on jazz classics like Billy Strayhorn’s “Something to Live For,” Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” Thelonious Monk’s beautiful ballad “Pannonica,” the standard “Can’t We Be Friends” and the traditional “House of the Rising Sun.”
via Rare Noise’s website (edited)

NPR: Fresh Air Review by Terry Gross & Kevin Whitehead
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/22/572609610/trombonist-roswell-rudd-packs-a-lot-of-wisdom-into-every-note-of-embrace

DOWNBEAT Magazine – 4.5 STARS
The idea of a bunch of standards and jazz oldies played by a crusty veteran trombonist with gal singer and drum-less rhythm section may not strike you right off as hot stuff, but let me pull your coat.

Trombonist Roswell Rudd inhabits his noblest of axes like none other. He reigns over dead-slow tempos and excels at medium trots, summoning more dry wit and expressive breadth with plunger mute on “Can’t We Be Friends” than Charlie Chaplin. Vocalist Fay Victor evinces pain, joy and lust with exceptional candor and warmth. Bassist Ken Filiano and pianist Lafayette Harris find amiable affinity as backroom buddies of easy accord, imperfect straight men for free-form front-line antics. – Fred Bouchard, Downbeat Magazine
complete review here: http://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/embrace

The Huffington Post
In the vocalist Victor, Rudd has found his equal in terms of stylistic approach to a lyric, harmony and melody. The two have an affinity that makes for a palpable rapport that is seldom seen between an instrumentalist and a vocalist.
complete review here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-indefatigable-spirit-of-roswell-rudd-rings-through_us_5a208aa9e4b05072e8b5677a

POPMATTERS.COM
Embrace is one of the most delightful and fresh collections of “jazz” standard performances I have heard in recent years. Each voice is wisened and wry, constitutionally incapable of singing or playing a cliche. If a band is going to take on songs we have often heard before, this is the way to do it: with a few formal innovations and a slew of feeling—both light and heavy. Long live Roswell Rudd. And Fay Victor, Ken Filiano, and Lafayette Harris. – Will Layman, PopMatters. com
complete review here: https://www.popmatters.com/roswell-rudd-embrace-2518199726.html

Jazz Wise Magazine
Embrace, was an absolutely beautiful record on which Rudd took equal billing alongside vocalist Faye Victor, pianist Lafayette Harris and double-bassist Ken Filiano. The quartet breathed new life into the music of jazz legends Monk and Mingus, as well as ageless folk songs such as ‘House Of The Rising Sun’. Kevin Le Gendre – JazzWise Magazine
complete review here: http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/breaking-news/14819-roswell-rudd-17-11-35-21-12-17

https://www.rarenoiserecords.com/rudd-victor-harris-filiano

New York Times Obituary for Roswell Rudd who transitioned on December 21, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/obituaries/roswell-rudd-82-trombonist-with-a-wide-open-approach-is-dead.html