My Horizon – Darren Litzie

Label: Summit Records

Release date: June '22

Catalog number: 795

Tracks:

	You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To comp: Cole Porter
	My Horizon comp: Darren Litzie
	Up, Up and Away comp: Jimmy Webb
	Faded Portrait comp: Darren Litzie
	Blues For 3 comp: Darren Litzie
	Question and Answer comp: Pat Metheny
	Lucky Guess comp: Darren Litzie
	Before Too Long comp: Darren Litzie
	I Have Dreamed comp: Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II
	Hackensack comp: Thelonious Monk

…singable melodies, strong, infectious grooves and a strong understated optimism connect this piece of art into a very well done jazz recording.

Darren Litzie – piano
Chris DeAngelis – bass
John Riley – drums

with

Nick Biello – flute, soprano saxophone

Andrew Beals – alto saxophone

This is catchy, infectious music…very well done! Play “Up, Up and Away” and you’ll GET IT!!!…Extremely ENJOYABLE listen!!…superb, fresh arrangements combine with passionate originals.

Pianist/Composer Darren Litzie has been performing in a wide variety of settings for over fifteen years. He holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies Degree from The Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford, and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance Degree from Western Connecticut State University. While completing his graduate studies, Darren was nominated by The Hartt School faculty for membership in the Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society for achieving musical and academic excellence.

Darren has studied with Javon Jackson, Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, Dr. Rex Cadwallader, Jimmy Greene, Peter Tomlinson, and Jamie Begian. He has performed and recorded with many world-renowned artists, including John Riley, Dave Santoro, Jeff Fuller, Marlene VerPlanck, Mike DiRubbo, Andrew Beals, Chris Morrison, Dave Livolsi, Nick Biello, Harvie S, Phil Palombi, Thierry Arpino, Tom Melito, and many others.

From 2009-2010, Darren was the touring keyboardist for singer Andrew Strong of the band/1991 film The Commitments. Stops on the tours included The Regatta Bar in Boston, B.B. King Blues Club in NYC, and Anthology in San Diego.

An avid composer and arranger, Darren completed a three-year stint as a member of New York’s prestigious BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, where he had several of his works premiered in concert by the BMI Jazz Orchestra.

REVIEW:

This is the kind of amiable jazz we’re always a sucker for. Litzie has advanced degrees and teaching jobs, but he doesn’t let all that academe go to his head. A solid swinging pianist, he can take originals and set them side by side with chestnuts and make it all his own. Leading a trio that plays with a passion for avoiding day jobs at all costs, this is a dose of high octane entertainment that leaves you smiling and feeling good. Well done.

-MIDWEST RECORD

REVIEW:

Opening with a trio session playing the great Cole Porter song, “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home to” Darren Litzie shines a spotlight on his tenacious rhythm section. Litzie sets the tone on piano, opening the piece with his talents sparkling across the eighty-eight keys. Track #2 introduces us to Darren Litzie, the composer. This is the title tune, “My Horizon.” The trio adds Nick Biello on flute, who plays atop a Latin groove and explores improvisations that fly like a startled sparrow. Darren has composed five of the ten songs he offers us. His sense of composition is solidified by strong repeatable melodies and infectious ‘grooves.’ I enjoyed his song, “Faded Portrait” and “Blues for 3” is another trio arrangement with Thelonious Monk influence. On this tune, Darren Litzie shows off his blues chops. John Riley is given several bars to showcase his mad drum skills.

Litzie holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the Hartt School, Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at University of Harford, Connecticut. This is an album that spotlights Litzie’s piano mastery and gives a platform for his compositions. His ‘cover’ of the Thelonious Monk tune “Hackensack”is a nice, straight-ahead way to close this album out.

-Musical Memoirs

REVIEW:

Pianist Darren Litzie mixes and matches his trio of bassist Chris Deangelis and drummer Jon Riley in various formats of 3 and 4s on this album of covers and originals. Nick Biello’s flute floats over Deangelis’ pulse on the gliding title piece, and his soprano bops to Riley’s crisp drums on the swinging and Latinized “Before Too Long”. Andrew Beals’s alto sizzles on the Brazilian read of Jimmy Webb’s “Up, Up and Away” and glides over Litzie’s gracious ivories on “Lucky Guess. A clever take of Pat Metheny’s “Question and Answer” and an mellow “I Have Dreamed” display the leader’s melodic ideas, while his joyful heart is exposed on a fun and playful read of Thelonious Monk’s “Hackensack”. Brilliant corners.

-Jazz Weekly

My Horizon – Darren Litzie

Tracks:

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