As with most of us, my life has followed an arc very different than any that I envisioned. Along this path and its many side trips and detours, amazing people and experiences have filled my life with more living, music, and love than I could have ever imagined; and certainly more than I was prepared for! I am honored and delighted to be a musician. The joys of music-making and of performing lift me up again and again as do the musicians I collaborate with and the wonderful audiences we play for. People have been very kind to me and I’ve been encouraged, coached, supported and critiqued by some of the finest. On top of all this, I have a remarkable wife whose love and faith have transformed me and whose brilliant photography and design grace this album. Eric Gunnison, Jeff Jenkins, Ken Walker, Todd Reid and Mark Derryberry have each made stellar contributions to my life, my music, and this project. I’m grateful for all of this and to the people listed following. Thank you all for being brilliant and funny and generous; every day you make me laugh, every day you show me what love is. The Kolacny Music Co. and the Kolacny family - KUVO Jazz Radio: Carlos, Arturo, Tina, Eric, Rodney, Victor, Susan and the entire KUVO family - Howard Stone and the Vail Jazz Festival - Donald Rossa and Kevin Lee at DazzleJazz - Rob and Julie Pieper - Frank Nichols - Tony Gulizia - Micael Klahr - Stan Schaefer - Tom Hollar - Purnell Steen Tom Burns - Howard Treppeda - Brad and Georgie Pelsue - Diane Skufka- Charles Carroll, and to many others too numerous to list (you know who you are), and to everyone who loves Jazz! BeBop-A-Riffically yours, Max In writing “That’s What Jazz Is” I set out to express my love of the music and respect for its creators. I also hoped to come up with a song that would tell a little of the history of Jazz while being really fun to play and sing. Here’s how “That’s What Jazz Is” tells about some of the people who made Jazz and made it great. Each verse opens with a line telling a bit of Jazz history followed by a scat sung line of music relating to that history and then closes with the phrase “...that’s what Jazz is”. First we hear of the cradle of Jazz, New Orleans, and the relationship between Louis Armstrong and his mentor, teacher and employer, coronet legend, Joe Oliver, known as “Papa Joe” and as “King Oliver”. King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band helped introduce Jazz and Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong to the world. So...”way down in New Orleans where Jazz was born, Papa Joe taught Louis how to blow that horn”. The scat line is from the ground breaking “West End Blues” recorded by Louis and his Savoy Ball Room Five in 1928. Next we go to Kansas City where the Benny Moten and Count Basie bands were part of the development of large ensemble Jazz and the birth of the big swing bands. Lester “Prez” Young whose signature song was “Lester Leaps In” was a featured soloist with Basie and had a profound influence on another great Jazz genius, Charles Christopher “Yardbird” Parker. “Bird” memorized countless “Prez” solos before moving on to develop his own astounding and starkly original approach to the music. Therefore, “Moten and Basie were swingin’ K.C., Lester leapt in and the Bird was freed.” The scat line is from Parker’s vocabulary. The bridge of the song is about Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk who both advanced Jazz greatly. Duke did so through his compositions and concepts and through his great Jazz orchestra and its influential soloists. He preferred to compose late at night and in the wee hours of the morning, hence “Duke was workin’ overtime to open up some musical doors.” Monk was responsible for great deal of innovation but he always made the feeling of the music his first priority, so, “Monk put a lot of rhythmic and melodic intensity in his music but the soul still mattered more”. The great Jazz musicians are often influenced by their heroes as they develop their own sounds. On some of his first recordings tenor saxophone giant, John Coltrane, was accused of sounding too much like one of the icons of the tenor sax, Dexter Gordon. “Trane” was even playing on a mouthpiece Dexter had given him. The young Miles Davis seemed to be doing his best to sound like Dizzy Gillespie, who, early in his career played very much like Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge who, as a young trumpeter approximated the style of Louis Armstrong. All these artists went on to forge their own distinctive and richly divergent sounds and concepts. Thus, “Dexter and ‘Trane ‘n’ Dizzy and Miles, they blew their horns in their own styles”. The scat line is from Miles Davis’ set closer “The Theme”. Amazing Artists, Amazing History, Amazing Music; as modern as Tomorrow....”That’s What Jazz Is”! - Max Wagner A Max Wagner Jazz Production for Max Wagner Jazz LLC Produced By Max & Karen Wagner and Mark Derryberry Recorded by Mark Derryberry at Derryberry’s Recording Studio and Jeff Jenkins at Mile High Music Mixed and Mastered by Mark Derryberry at Derryberry’s Recording Studio Photography and Album Design by Karen Parry-Wagner Layout and Graphic Design by Andrew Thorne at CODA