When people who love buying jazz music CDs listen to the music, many do not stop to think what was in the artist’s mind when creating it. In this first blog about the musical CDs of jazz pianist Jeffrey Scott Lawrence, you will learn about what was his thought process into the creation of his first band and subsequent first CD entitled, Introducing the jteam.

In the beginning

Jeffrey was always interested in some of the great jazz bands, particularly Miles Davis, who had great quintets, and it made him think that with the right mix of band members you could create chemistry, great sound, and ultimately great music. This had always been in the back of his mind when formulating the process of putting together a great group of musicians to perform with.

While in college, Lawrence had a senior recital where he got to hand-pick the members to play on his recital, which was his first experience with having “his own band” and there was great interaction within the group. Then around the time he graduated college Jeffrey played a gig down near Rutgers University and again picked musicians to perform with, giving him a taste of what was to come.

The creation of a jazz band

With that excitement of forming a group of guys that played well together still fresh in his mind, years later Lawrence wanted to create his own jazz band with certain members. He wanted to create the classic quintet of bass drums, piano, trumpet and saxophone, which was always his favorite instrument set up. So again he started to formulate creating a band.

Jeffrey started looking around for people he was familiar with that had talent in playing great music. He hand-picked a couple of guys he had already played with that he felt would mesh well together. In the case of his trumpet player, he found him through a recommendation from another musician friend of his. Once all of the pieces of the quintet were in place, the jteam was born.

Introducing the jteam

The jteam was started in 2001 and as mentioned on the About Jeffrey page of this website, the group performed for several years in the New York and New Jersey area. Lawrence wore all of the hats; promoter, leader, writer and performer as the piano player of the band. Then in 2003 the jteam released their CD album comprising of 9 jazz songs in their unique style.

Jeffrey wanted to record a couple of cover tunes but mostly create originals. When all of those were written he hooked up with a recording engineer that he knew through a friend who was a guitar player in a local rock band. It was the first time recording with this engineer but it blossomed into a great lasting working relationship going forward for all future projects.

Introducing the jteam has sold many CDs over the years and I (Robert), who has listened to this CD quite often, highly recommend it for anyone seeking to hear some great jazz music. Below is a list of all 9 of the songs on the album, along with the length of time for each.

COURAGEOUS = 6:14
ASHANTI = 11:22
EPISTROPHY = 12:04
AUNT TELL = 7:02
HEATHER’S EYES = 5:41
A CHILD IS BORN = 7:47
HALF BODY = 6:42
WHILE YOU WERE GONE = 5:44
OP’M IT UP = 14:13

You can listen to a snippet of the second featured song Ashanti go to the Listen to my Music page. If you wish to purchase the album click this link here. NOTE: Because this CD release was prior to Jeffrey becoming a solo artist, all of the other CDs by Jeffrey Scott Lawrence can be purchased at the below “Purchase my Music” link.