NEWS Hello- thanks for stopping by Bennett Paster.com. Summer 2006 was an exciting time of travel, creativity and music. I got to perform in New Mexico, Italy and California as well as continue my work in Brooklyn. Below I recount a few highlights past and some news about upcoming recordings and projects. Two New CDs! Paster, Ryan and Hall: Invisible Horizon and Organic! Sweets I’ve been hard at work on three new recordings. In May, Gregory Ryan and Keith Hall and I returned to the studio, building on the success of our February ’06 Grupo Yanqui tour. In four busy days, we recorded two different projects: a Paster, Ryan & Hall trio album  and the long-awaited second recording by Grupo Yanqui.  The trio CD, Invisible Horizon, available now, features more of our insightful original compositions and thoughtful arrangements of several standards- the “Good Feeling” is definitely still in! The new Grupo project features original members Chris Cheek on saxophones and Gilad on percussion and also features Alex Norris, an amazing trumpet player and arranger. This recording will be released in Winter of 2006. Organic! spent a week just before Thanksgiving 2005 tracking some new funky psychedelic-soul improvisations and compositions. Guitarist and co-leader John Cabán and I subsequently “massaged” the tracks and, adding only minimal overdubs, molded them into new sound sculptures. Several of the long improvisations naturally flow from idea to idea, resulting in a connected suite of musical ideas, thus inspiring the name of the CD: Sweets. The recording captures the spirit of our live performances. This is our first release with our new drummer, Israeli sensation Yuval Lion.  The disc will be available in November. Summer Touring In June, my piano trio performed my original music for more than 500 people as part of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop’s Summer Jazz Under the Stars series at the Albuquerque Museum and we played a swinging gig at a club in Santa Fe. This is the second straight year that I’ve been able to play in my home state; our following is growing and CD sales were brisk. Sheryl Bailey, Sue Hadjopolous, KJ Denhert, Ray Levier, Mamadou Ba and me Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist KJ Denhert and I have been acquainted for almost ten years. Though we share mutual friends and even appear on the BAG1 Compilation CD together, until July we had never gotten to perform together. KJ invited me to join her band for a residency in Perugia, Italy at the Umbria Jazz Festival. For 10 straight days we performed two sets at the festival’s outdoor stage, often for crowds exceeding 500 people. The setting, Perugia, is an ancient town, perched atop a hill overlooking the scenic Umbrian countryside. The festival was among the most amazing scenes I’ve ever been privileged to be a part of: non-stop music all day and night, thousands of people wandering the historic, medieval streets and, of course, incredible eating and drinking. Ah, Italy! KJ and I are co-producing several tracks on her forthcoming CD, which should be available by the 2006 Winter holidays. Hammond organ royalty Dr. Lonnie Smith and I enjoying some tasty Italian watermelon! In August, I returned for my 21st summer of teaching and performing at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Highlights of this summer included a Paster, Ryan and Hall trio perfomance as part of the Stanford Jazz Festival, teaching and playing with jazz royalty, brothers Jimmy and Tootie Heath and rne leading a casual lunchtime concert that featured drummer Bill Stewart, bassist Rodney Whittaker, guitarist Peter Bernstein and trumpeter Brian Lynch. Plus, working with the up-and-coming jazz students at the workshop always inspires and refreshes my creativity. Albert "Tootie" Heath, me and Jimmy Heath Me, Peter Bernstein, Rodney Whittaker, Bill Stewart, Brian Lynch In the Studio I continue to be busy in the studio recording keyboard tracks for projects by artists including: John Cruz, Chico Hamilton (produced by Brian Bacchus and Joe Clausell), KJ Denhert, Craig Benelli, Amy Lennard, Teddy Goldstein and Marko Pankovich among others. Fall Preview Gregory Ryan and I will return to Belgrade Serbia for two weeks in October as an extension to the tour we did in February, part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center / U.S. State Dept. The Rhythm Road program. We will spend most of our time teaching workshops for high school and college students from Belgrade. Greg and I will also get back to work mixing and mastering the new Grupo Yanqui CD we recorded in May. Hopefully, it’ll be out by December. In late ’05 and early ’06 Gregory Ryan and I are recorded a set of original music with long-time Spyro Gyra drummer Joel Rosenblatt, guitarist Vinny Valentino and percussionist Gilad. Greg is playing electric bass and I'm rocking the Fender Rhodes and Minimoog. This "dream rhythm section" explores original funk, jazz and Latin compositions in a setting that blends trusted musical connections with the freshness of new relationships. Saxophonist Chris Cheek also appears on a few tracks and contributes a composition to the date. As of this writing, the project is being mixed by engineer Larry Phillabaum, who worked on both PR&H trio CDs. Perhaps it will be released eventually... Your continued interest in and support for me and my music is invaluable. Thanks! Click here for Winter 2006 News page archive.