Bob Reynolds Group Live in Munich Bob Reynolds

• 1 Closer (Live in Munich) 08:33
• 2 Chrysalis (Live in Munich) 11:24
• 3 Crush (Live in Munich) 09:28
• 4 Hush (Live in Munich) 13:56
• 5 Unlucky (Live in Munich) 05:37
• 6 Feedback (Live in Munich) 08:17
• 7 Outro (Live in Munich) 04:01
• Total Runtime 01:01:16

Info for Bob Reynolds Group Live in Munich

Los Angeles-based saxophonist Bob Reynolds is a Grammy-winning member of the instrumental group Snarky Puppy, an award-winning composer, and a prolific recording artist with ten top-selling solo albums to his credit. Widely known for his work with both Snarky and John Mayer, he has been a featured soloist with instrumentalists like Larry Carlton, Chris Botti, and Jeff Lorber and worked with a host of pop artists including Michael Bublé, Idina Menzel, Josh Groban, The 1975, and USHER.

On October 8, 2022 Bob Reynolds together with Ruslan Sirota on piano, Janek Gwizdala on bass and Gene Coye on drums gave an outstanding concert at jazz club Unterfahrt in Munich. A beautiful and energetic musical journey, which allows you to discover some already known compositions from a new perspective. The album contains a selection of the most exciting tracks from that night. The show was completely sold out but it was recorded in immersive formats, making it possible to relive the concert as if you had been there live. “During the mixing process for this album I had the opportunity to sit and listen to the whole thing as if I was in the audience that night – and what a fantastic audience it was” says Bob.

Immersive formats such as Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D allow for a more natural reproduction of instrument timbres and lead to an acoustic and atmospheric envelopment that involves the listener more emotionally into the musical performance. The concert video extends this album and literally opens the door to one of the leading performance venues for jazz in Europe. The reference quality product is manufactured in a sustainable process on demand and therefore issued in a hand selected edition to the customer.

“How much of what you guys do is written and how much is improvised?” I’m often asked that question after this band performs. I love it because it illustrates something we thrive on: shaping moments of collective spontaneity in ways that sound predetermined. This recording captured a lot of those moments and I’ll try to highlight a few from my perspective.

On the night of this concert we were only a few shows into a two-and-half-week tour through Europe. It was our first tour post-Covid. Our previous European tour ended abruptly in the middle of March, 2020 and subsequent attempts had been booked and canceled twice.

Days before this show, between trains three and four of a long travel day, my bag of valuables had been stolen right out from under me while I ordered a falafel in the Rotterdam train station. Fortunately, I was wearing my saxophone, passport, wallet, and phone. But my computer, cameras, microphones, musical effects pedals, the band’s book of music, our CDs and merchandise, and thousands of dollars of cash were gone in an instant.

A few stressful days and a dozen extremely helpful Dutch people later I had managed to replace the equipment I needed to perform live. I say "needed" because there’s an element to the sound of this group that feels sorely missing when it's not there, and that's the delay pedal I sometimes employ on my saxophone. Can we perform the music without it? Absolutely. Does it produce the same emotional result? Absolutely not. The beginning of “Hush” and my solo on “Unlucky” are good examples.

There’s another challenge that a band like this encounters during a tour: playing the same material night after night but trying to approach it as if playing it for the first time. The surprises are the magic that spark inspiration. But you can’t repeat a “surprise” that happened the night before. So what do you do? Our approach was to shake up the repertoire as much as possible each night so we didn’t play the same songs, or at least not in the same order, as the previous concert. This led us more and more toward abandoning setlists and relying instead on the group’s collective instinct for what song should come next. We’d choose something to start with and then it was anyone’s prerogative to steer us into the next song. This could be a piano outro that becomes an intro, a bass solo that foreshadows the next song, a saxophone or drum cadenza that sets up a tempo or vibe. All are fair game and most are represented within this set.

Closer. The adjective, not the noun, as in “come closer.” (Though sometimes it does close our set.) It’s an AABA form leading to an extended vamp. Once we hit the vamp we never return to the initial melody. Ruslan always surprises us with new harmonies underneath the second verse. Janek joins me on the bridge melody sounding more like a baritone guitar than a bass. Gene seasons with some cymbal accents but ducks out for the last verse, creating that “wait for it” moment before his big drum fill leads us into the vamp. We push and pull and stretch before Ruslan reharmonizes it into new territory. Dig how Gene and Janek brilliantly step aside for some of Rus’s lines.

Chrysalis. This is the first recorded version of this song by our group. I wrote it for Snarky Puppy when we recorded the Immigrance album. It was released as an extended album track, but I’d always wanted to explore it with this group. We’d only played it a few times prior to this and you can hear us starting to discover its shape. It isn’t programmatic music, per se, but there is something about the song’s spiraling harmony that reminds me of the metamorphosis from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly I witnessed when my young kids had butterfly kits in springtime.

Crush. Ruslan seamlessly leads us into this song from the last. His ethereal, almost spooky ornamentations set an evocative tone for the melancholy melody. Later in his solo the mood becomes almost triumphant before settling back down for mine. A highlight for me is the transition out of my solo, where Rus joins my ascending line before we return to the melody. Janek’s impromptu ending culminates in a singular moment of tension inside release.

Hush. A good example of the question I began with, the song lies in the middle but the beginning duet is almost its own thing—conceived on the spot—as is the arc of Gene’s epic drum solo to end it. My favorite moment besides those is one particular audience member’s enthusiastic response when the saxophone solo concludes (you’ll hear him). Love that energy!

Unlucky. Janek sets this one up beautifully, managing to record a loop of the bass part so he can simultaneously play the melody with me. Gene creates a great “train” vibe with brushes and Ruslan, who doesn’t always have a gorgeous piano at his disposal on our concerts, makes luxurious use of it. I accidentally step on the wrong button on my new delay pedal when I come back in. It’s longer than I’d anticipated but that’s part of the fun!

Feedback. We’ve played this song a lot over the years so the challenge is always finding new doors to open. This time it was guided by the riff Janek set up coming out of his solo. It was new to all of us and you can hear us finding it, kind of holding it and figuring where to go next. It led to a dialogue between Rus and I which had also not happened before. We didn’t know we were going to do it until we were doing it.

Outro. This is just a slice from the first set that I had to include because the vibe was too delicious. It's a perfect example of the trio’s chemistry. I dare you not to smile while you’re listening.

During the mixing process for this album I had the opportunity to sit and listen to the whole thing as if I was in the audience that night—and what a fantastic audience it was. We owe Kseniya Kawko a huge “Thank you” for her extraordinary work recording and mixing this concert. I hope we’ve managed to capture the feeling in that room in such a way that you can enjoy it as if you were there with us. Perhaps next time you will be.

Bob Reynolds, saxophone
Ruslan Sirota, piano
Janek Gwizdala, bass
Gene Coye, drums

Recorded on October 8 2022 at jazz club Unterfahrt Munich, Germany

Bob Reynolds
It's a rare saxophonist who's as comfortable in an arena full of rock fans as in an intimate jazz club. Bob Reynolds is a rare saxophonist.

Reynolds spent years touring the world in John Mayer's band, winning new fans with his solos on crowd favorites like “Vultures,” “Wheel,” “Gravity” and “Covered in Rain.” Watch his performances on YouTube and you'll see hundreds of accolades from admiring fans—not a normal occurrence for a saxophonist in a rock band. Reynolds' partnership with Mayer reminds many of Sting's collaborations with Branford Marsalis in the 1980s. Both he and Mayer are big fans of that band.

Reynolds has recorded and performed with everyone from Usher, Josh Groban and the Jonas Brothers to Amos Lee, Willie Nelson and Nellie McKay. He calls himself a "melody architect" and refuses to be boxed in by conventional genre labels. A child of the 80s, Reynolds' music is a blend of his early influences (Sting, Bruce Hornsby, Tears for Fears), R&B and soul (Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder), and jazz (Stan Getz, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter).

At the same time as he's been touring the world to packed stadiums and playing with A-list superstars, Reynolds has stayed true to his jazz roots with performances in clubs across the U.S. Three of his five albums were recorded live with a who's who of the jazz and rock worlds, including keyboardist Aaron Goldberg, guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Keith Carlock, who's toured with both Sting and Mayer. Reynolds' records reflect his affinity for the jazz tradition at the same time as they display his skill with pop music. He makes the music he wants without compromise.

For Reynolds, music is about communication with the listeners. One of his album titles, Somewhere in Between, suggests his ability to cross genres. The album features jazz heavyweights Eric Harland on drums and Aaron Parks on piano, along with keyboardist Oli Rockberger of Mister Barrington and, on two tracks, John Mayer. It's a seamless and fearless blend of jazz, blues, rock and pop.

Inventive. Unconventional. An instantly recognizable player with his own musical vision who still finds a way to fit in no matter what the situation. As a leader or a band member, Reynolds is focused on melody, connection, and emotion. Say it again: Bob Reynolds is a rare saxophonist.

“Bob is one hell of a saxophonist! His sound is rich and his execution is effortless.” – Michael Brecker, Grammy-winning saxophonist

“Irresistible...leaves one wanting more.” – JAZZTIMES MAGAZINE

“...A perfect foil for [John Mayer's playing]” – ROLLING STONE

"Reynolds accomplishes the difficult task of incorporating funk, rock and soul touches without losing the essential swing and driving intensity of jazz...Bob Reynolds is someone to watch." – ALL ABOUT JAZZ

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