Rob Garcia 4 - The Passion of Color (2014)

"Garcia is a drummer of invention, grace and considerable fire . . . an engrossing listen that seers the senses"

- Ken Micallef, DownBeat Magazine.

Garcia has released four critically acclaimed albums as a bandleader, including Perennial (BJUR 012), voted one of the “10 Best Jazz Albums of 2009” by The New York Observer, and the critically acclaimed The Drop And The Ocean (BJUR 028). His group has performed at venues such as The Ottawa Jazz Festival, Iridium, Kitano, Smalls, The Rex, Cornelia Street Cafe and Firehouse 12. Garcia has also been the recipient of grants from Meet The Composer, DCA and NYSCA to support his performances. Now, on his brilliant fifth album, The Passion of Color, Garcia offers listeners yet another gem from his working group, The Rob Garcia 4 (formed in 2009), featuring Noah Preminger (tenor saxophone), Dan Tepfer (piano) and Joe Martin (bass).

The Passion Of Color features music inspired by impressionist paintings & music (such as Van Gogh and Debussy), and the passion that is evoked from the vast variety of colors and flavors of life found in works such as Lines In Impressions, Purple Brush and the title track. The Garden's Poet was born out of a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago where, "I saw and fell in love with the Van Gogh painting 'The Poet's Garden', explained Garcia. The Painter is a drum solo piece dedicated to Max Roach. Garcia elaborates, "Max has always been a strong influence and a huge inspiration, and I once heard Dizzy Gillespie refer to Max as 'The Painter'". Also on the album is Roach's composition, It's Time. The album concludes with the band's take on the Jimi Hendrix's classic, Little Wing. The music on The Passion of Color is characterized by rhythms that create the illusion of a fluctuating tempo or no tempo, while tightly orchestrated musical events happen in tandem. Strong melodies supported by pastoral harmonies and flowing rhythm lead the listener through the music.

Called “a prime mover in the current Brooklyn jazz scene”, by Time Out New York, and "an adventurous drummer/composer with an elastic, resilient sense of time" by The Hartford Courant, drummer/composer Rob Garcia, who grew up in Pelham, NY, continues to be a strong presence on the NYC and international jazz scenes as an in-demand sideman and bandleader. Garcia is a musician who successfully straddles the trad-jazz and modern jazz camps, having performed/recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Woody Allen (playing in Allen's band for eight years), regular engagements with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks (Garcia can be heard on much of the music for the hit HBO show, "Boardwalk Empire", including the Grammy winning CD, "Boardwalk Empire , Vol. 1"), and recorded "Bye Bye Blackbird" with Diana Krall for the film, "Public Enemies." Garcia is also an integral part of the modern jazz scene, working with creative stalwarts such as Joseph Jarman, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano and many others. Garcia has played on over forty albums, and is a leading force in the successful "artist-run" movement as the founder and executive director of Connection Works, as a member of the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, and as a founding member of the Douglass Street Music Collective.