Beautiful Life Jimmy Greene

• 1 Saludos / Come Thou Almighty King 05:09
• 2 Last Summer 06:35
• 3 When I Come Home 03:18
• 4 Ana's Way 07:11
• 5 Your Great Name 05:18
• 6 Where is Love? 04:32
• 7 Seventh Candle 06:13
• 8 Maybe 03:03
• 9 Prayer 04:00
• 10 Little Voices 03:23
• Total Runtime 48:42

Info for Beautiful Life

Jimmy Greene’s new release, Beautiful Life on Mack Avenue Records, is a celebration of the life of his 6-year-old daughter, Ana Márquez-Greene, whose life was tragically taken, along with 19 other children and 6 educators, on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

“I want the music to reflect the way that Ana lived,” Greene says. He fulfills that mandate with an intense, cohesive, genre-spanning program—juxtaposing the hardcore instrumental jazz for which he is best known with traditional spirituals, contemporary Christian music, standard ballads and three original songs framing his own lyrics. Animating the repertoire is a gold-standard rhythm section (Renee Rosnes, piano; Christian McBride, bass; Lewis Nash, drums), augmented at various points by guitarists Pat Metheny and Jonathan DuBose, Jr.; pianists Kenny Barron and Cyrus Chestnut; vocalists Kurt Elling, Javier Colon and Latanya Farrell; spoken word from Tony Award®-winning actress Anika Noni Rose; a 13-piece string ensemble from the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; as well as an accomplished children’s choir.

Greene himself is one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation since graduating from Hartt School of Music in 1997. He composed or arranged every selection and plays tenor and soprano saxophones as well as flute with customary authority, melodic focus and abiding soulfulness.

“In the days after my daughter was killed, playing and writing music wasn’t even a thought,” the 39-year-old saxophonist says. “I was very much in shock, grieving deeply and trying to just function coherently. Family and friends surrounded us and held us up, and we received 10,000 communications—emails, texts, Facebook messages, voice calls, letters—from people around the world. The community of musicians was front and center for that support. When I called, they responded, ‘Whatever you need, just say the word, and I’ll be there.’”

In late January 2013, Greene, feeling that “I needed to get back to some sense of routine,” resumed a regimen of practice and composition. Soon thereafter, Norman Chesky, the co-owner of Chesky Records and HDtracks, reached out with an extraordinary offer.

“An intense amount of media attention was focused on my family and all of us in Newtown, so I was fairly guarded whenever communicating with someone for the first time,” Greene relates. “But Norman offered to donate the production of a recording that I could do whenever I was ready, and to give me complete ownership. I was humbled and honored by his generosity, and began to devote my energies to the project.”

Greene decided to weave lyrics and singers into the flow for the first time on one of his recordings. “Ana loved to sing and listen to singers, and had a wonderful singing voice,” he explains. “So an album dedicated to her memory needed to have singers and songs that were important to her and me and my family.”

Beautiful Life opens with a recording of Ana singing the traditional “Saludos” (“Greetings”) at a Christmas celebration (parranda) in Puerto Rico with her mother Nelba Márquez-Greene’s family—and her father playing in the background—a year before her death. Greene segues to a section in which he and guitarist Pat Metheny perform “Come Thou Almighty King” before concluding with another family recording of Ana singing the hymn to her brother Isaiah’s piano accompaniment. The wistful “Last Summer,” a quartet feature, evokes Greene’s impressions of the photograph of his children—captured from the rear with their arms around each other’s shoulders in the family’s backyard in Winnipeg, Canada, where Greene taught at the University of Manitoba between 2009 and 2012—that appears on the cover of Beautiful Life.

The mellow tenor voice of Javier Colon, Greene’s one-time classmate at Hartt who won the 2011 edition of NBC’s The Voice, delivers Greene’s lyric for “When I Come Home” supported by the quartet, Greene’s signifying tenor saxophone and the strings.

Greene initially recorded “Ana’s Way” instrumentally as “Ana Grace” on the 2009 recording Mission Statement. Complementing Grammy® Award-winner Kurt Elling’s characteristically penetrating, graceful interpretation is the Linden Christian School Early Years Choir, comprising classmates of Ana and Isaiah in Winnipeg; solos by Greene and Rosnes distill the oceanic emotions of the lyric. “It was brutal seeing Ana’s friends again, without Ana there amongst them,” Greene says. “But we got through it somehow, and I think the results are very touching.”

Iconic pianist Kenny Barron joins Greene for conversational readings of the Broadway songs “Where Is Love?” from Oliver and “Maybe” from Annie, the latter featuring Greene’s pure-toned soprano saxophone. “Kenny, Christian and Lewis were the rhythm section for the 1996 Thelonious Monk Competition, where I was named first runner-up,” Greene recalls. “They made me feel welcomed and comfortable, that I could do this for my life, and so I wanted them involved.”

“My daughter loved Annie, and would sing ‘Maybe’ a cappella with great pitch and rhythm in the back of the car when we were driving around,” Greene recalls. He includes “Where Is Love” in homage to Jackie McLean, his primary musical mentor, who showed Greene, then 15, the melody at their first meeting at Hartford’s Artists Collective.

The penultimate track of Beautiful Life, titled “Prayer,” is Greene’s musical setting of the text of the “Lord’s Prayer.” Cyrus Chestnut accompanies Greene’s devotional tenor saxophone; illuminating the message is Latanya Farrell (who Greene met while attending Hartt), whose powerful contralto enchanted Ana as a toddler.

Ana became a fan of Anika Noni Rose—a high school classmate of Greene’s in Bloomfield, Connecticut—after hearing her inhabit the role of Princess Tiana in the animated film The Princess and the Frog. Rose’s recitation of Greene’s optimistic soliloquy “Little Voices” precedes another appearance by the Linden Children’s Choir.

“Many people have asked what they can do to help, and this is my answer,” Greene says. “Let’s remember what happened at Sandy Hook. We can each hold up our end of the bargain, which is to somehow learn to love ourselves, and then see past ourselves and love our neighbor. That’s pretty simple, but if we all did it, I think our existence would be different.”

"Two years after the death of his six-year-old daughter, Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, saxophonist Jimmy Greene returns with 2014's Beautiful Life. Both a direct response to Ana's death and a celebration of her life, Beautiful Life is a gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting album. Backed by a stellar rhythm section featuring pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Lewis Nash, as well as a handful of guests and many close friends, including NBC's The Voice season one winner (and fellow Hartt School graduate) Javier Colon, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, and singer Kurt Elling, Greene has crafted an album of deep spiritual grace, imbued throughout with Ana's exuberant personality and wide-eyed joy in life. With his warm, burnished saxophone tone and swinging improvisational lines, one might expect Greene to stick to a straight-ahead jazz approach here. Certainly, while his concept is grounded in soulful post-bop jazz, he displays an open-hearted, cross-genre love of music, reworking a contemporary Christian worship song into a small-group jazz number, as he does on "Your Great Name," and setting "The Lord's Prayer" to music, as he does on the orchestral "Prayer" with vocalist Latanya Farrell. Whether it's his lyrical duet with pianist Kenny Barron on "Where Is Love?" from the musical Annie or the spoken word soliloquy set against a children's choir in "Little Voices," delivered here by The Princess and the Frog actress Anika Noni Rose, Greene incorporates songs and artists Ana loved. And it's not just Ana's spirit that's present on all of Beautiful Life; working with guitarist Pat Metheny, Greene begins the album in poignant fashion, weaving together recordings he made of Ana singing both the traditional Puerto Rican holiday song "Saludos" and the hymn "Come Thou Almighty King." Although born out of tragedy, Beautiful Life is surprisingly never sad or, as one might understand, angry. On the contrary, by celebrating his daughter's unconditional love for her family, music, and life, Greene transforms his personal anguish into something that's as inspirational to the soul as it is beautiful to the ears." (Matt Collar, AMG)

Jimmy Greene, tenor and soprano saxophone, flute
Javier Colon, vocals (track 3)
Kurt Elling, vocals (track 4)
Latanya Farrell, vocals (track 9)
Ana Márquez-Greene, vocals (track 1)
Anika Noni Rose, spoken word (track 10)
Lewis Nash, drums
Renee Rosnes, piano (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10)
Isaiah Márquez-Greene, piano (track 1)
Kenny Barron, piano (tracks 6 and 8)
Cyrus Chestnut, piano (track 9)
Pat Metheny, acoustic guitar (track 1)
Jonathan DuBose, guitar (track 10)
Christian McBride, bass
Jeffrey Krieger, cello (tracks 3, 9)
Peter Zay, cello (tracks 3, 9)
Michael Wheeler, viola (tracks 3, 9)
Sharon Dennison, viola (tracks 3, 9)
Leonid Sigal, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Cyrus Stevens, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Karin Fagerburg, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Millie Piekos, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Yuri Kharenko-Golduber, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Candace Lammers, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Krzysztof Gadawski, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Lu Sun Friedman, violin (tracks 3, 9)
Michael Pollard, violin (tracks 3, 9)

Jimmy Greene
A native of Connecticut, Jimmy Greene is one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation. His most recent recording, As We Are Now, will be released on July 25, 2025. His 2014 release, Beautiful Life (Mack Avenue), garnered two Grammy® Award nominations: one for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and one for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for Greene’s song “When I Come Home.” Greene has performed selections from the album on CBS This Morning, NBC’s The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and the nationally syndicated Meredith Vieira Show. His other releases as a leader, While Looking Up (Mack Avenue), Flowers: Beautiful Life, Vol. 2 (Mack Avenue), Live at Smalls (SmallsLive), Mission Statement (RazDaz/Sunnyside), The Overcomers Suite (NuJazz), Gifts and Givers (Criss Cross), True Life Stories (Criss Cross), Forever (Criss Cross), Brand New World (RCA Victor), Live at Birdland (RCA Victor) and Introducing Jimmy Greene (Criss Cross) were also met with much critical acclaim. In fact, Tony Hall of Jazzwise Magazine (UK) calls Greene “ . . .without doubt one of the most striking young tenors of recent years.”

The Jimmy Greene Quartet/Quintet performs in concert venues, festivals and clubs worldwide, including the Village Vanguard, Smoke and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in New York, the Alexanderplatz Jazz Club (Rome, Italy), Sunside Jazz Club (Paris, France), Newport Jazz Festival (USA), Detroit International Jazz Festival (USA), Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival (USA), Red Sea Jazz Festival (Israel), Lapataia Jazz Festival (Uruguay) and Amazonas Jazz Festival (Brazil). In one such appearance, Jim Macnie of the Village Voice said, “[Greene] is good for a couple of body chills every time you see him. He’s got a big barrelhouse sound, and a way of negotiating changes that make academic moves seem natural.”

In addition to his recordings and appearances as a leader, Greene appears on over 100 albums as a sideman and is a member of legendary bassist Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet. He has also toured and/or recorded in the bands of Horace Silver, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Harry Connick, Jr., Avishai Cohen, Kenny Barron, Lewis Nash, Steve Turre, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, among many others. As a member of Harrell’s quintet, Greene was featured on CBS’s benchmark news magazine, 60 Minutes. As a member of Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band, Greene is a featured soloist on 2 DVD releases, Harry for the Holidays, and Only You. He was featured as a soloist on Connick’s 2003 holiday special aired on NBC, in addition to NBC’s Today Show, and BBC’s Parkinson Show.

As a composer, Greene was awarded the prestigious 2005 ASCAP / IAJE Commission in honor of Ornette Coleman. Greene is the 2013 recipient of the State of Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award in Music as well as the 2012 recipient of the City of Hartford’s Innovator Award in Music. Greene was twice named a winner of Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation grant for jazz composition - in 2004 and again in 2023, awarded a 2005 Artist Fellowship in Music Composition by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and awarded a 2009 Individual Artist Grant by the Greater Hartford Arts Council. Seventy of Greene’s original compositions and arrangements have been recorded on the Mack Avenue, RCA Victor, SmallsLive, Criss Cross, NuJazz and RazDaz / Sunnyside labels. In addition, Greene’s performance of his composition “Mr. McLean” was aired throughout the US and Canada on ABC-TV during a NASCAR pre-race broadcast in September 2007.

Greene was the winner of the 66th annual DownBeat Magazine International Critics Poll in the “Rising Star – Soprano Saxophone” category. As a youngster, he was named First Runner-Up in the 1996 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Jazz Saxophone Competition.

A dedicated educator, Jimmy Greene is Professor of Music and Co-Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Western Connecticut State University and was awarded a 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award for his efforts. Prior to his WCSU appointment, Greene taught at the University of Manitoba, SUNY Purchase and the Hartt School. Dr. Greene has given clinics and master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil, Israel and Russia. Three of his former students have been named semi-finalists in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition and 18 student musicians and small ensembles under Greene’s direction have won DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards.

Also a passionate arts advocate, Greene has partnered with the Arts Consulting Group on several projects nationwide, served on the Connecticut Arts Council and on the board of the Connecticut Arts Council Foundation. Prior to those appointments, Greene served on the Hartt School Board of Regents. To honor his late daughter Ana Grace Márquez-Greene and support the work of his wife Nelba, Greene serves on the board member of the 501(c)3 charitable foundation, in his daughter’s name, The Ana Grace Project. The Greene family also established the Ana Márquez-Greene Music Scholarship at Western Connecticut State University. Each year, deserving young musicians are offered the award in Ana’s name to help offset the cost of college tuition.

Greene is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music’s Doctor of Musical Arts program in Jazz Arts and received the Helen Cohn Award for outstanding D.M.A. graduate. During his time at MSM, he was named a Jazz Arts Fellow and was awarded the Clement Meadmore Scholarship. Greene earned a Master of Music degree in music education from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music degree in African-American Music Studies from The Hartt School. Greene’s primary mentors have included Jackie McLean, Jim McNeely, Garry Dial, Justin DiCioccio, David Liebman, Phil Markowitz, Dave Santoro, Kris Jensen, Steve Davis, Ken Radnofsky and Janet Arms.

This album contains no booklet.