Rick Germanson - You tell me (2004)

You Tell Me is Rick Germanson's second leader album on Fresh Sound New Talent. Pianist Rick Germanson has been in demand as a sideman in NYC for a few years now. Here he makes his exciting new recording as a leader with trio. He says, "For my sophomore release I decided to go with the standard piano trio format. There is three way connection with this particular trio. Gerald Cannon and I have been playing together for a decade and Ralph Peterson and I four years. Gerald and I have worked together in various contexts, most notably in groups led by such jazz heroes as Slide Hampton, Louis Hayes, and the late Elvin Jones. I play piano on Gerald's self-titled debut CD. Ralph and I appear on trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's CD "Insight" (FSNT 127) and have also worked in saxophonist Craig Andy's Quintet. I have performed several gigs as a member of Ralph's Quintet as well. All three members of the trio provide the rhythm section work on saxophonist Wayne Escoffrey's CD "Intuition". Fittingly, there was no rehearsal and the recording was done in a mere four hours. As Ralph said at the conclusion of the date: "We did it the way you're supposed to do it!".

Rick Germanson is a highly in-demand jazz pianist throughout the New York City area and beyond. His talents as a sideman have been on the rise since he moved there in 1998, on the heels of winning the Grand Prize in the American Pianist Association Jazz Piano Competition in 1996. He has performed and/or recorded with the following artists: Louis Hayes, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Ralph Peterson, Mickey Roker; Frank Morgan, Vincent Herring, Donald Harrison, Gary Bartz; Wynton Marsalis, Eddie Henderson, Tom Harrell, Brian Lynch, Jeremy Pelt, Jim Rotondi, Marlena Shaw, Carla Cook, Carolyn Leonhart, Kevin Mahogany, Jimmy Heath, Charles Davis, Eric Alexander, Craig Handy, Joe Locke; Slide Hampton, Frank Lacy, Steve Davis, The Mingus Big Band. He has toured throughout the United States, United Kindom, Central America, Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil and Spain.

Rick Germanson (p), Gerald Cannon (b), Ralph Peterson (d)