Uncrowded Night (2006)

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Track Listings
1. Bodrum Blues
2. Naomi’s Waltz
3. The Woodcarver
4. Black Ball Blues
5. Friends
6. Bloodsuckers
7. I’m in Ruins
8. Naomi’s Mood
9. Always Getting Lost
10. Around Again

Nearly three years after his last choral klezmer extravaganza, composer and pianist José Bowen returns with an album of all original jazz compositions featuring his all-star band from Washington DC. Ken McNair is still blazing on the drums and Pepe Gonzalez is always a monster on bass. Greg Twombley is a new voice, both lyrical and driving, playing a variety of instruments.
Acoustic jazz goes both global and urban: the compositions and moods range widely from red hot Latin to an ECM-ballad and from a soulful shuffle to a waltz (Naomi’s Waltz) that tries to answer the question, “what if Chopin were Jewish and played jazz?” “Bodrum Blues” is a trio performance and it combines melodic and harmonic material from Bodrum, Turkey (where it was composed) with a the blues and a hip hop groove. Despite the diversity of styles and genres, all of the music is performed acoustically with the same standard set of jazz instruments.

The title and many of the tunes take inspiration from Rumi, the Sufi poet born in Afghanistan in 1207:

The night is not crowded like the day. The night is filled with eternal love. Take this night tight in your arms as you hold a sweetheart. Remember the water of life is in the dark caverns Don’t be like a big fish stopping the life’s flow by standing in the mouth of a creek” -Rumi

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