Giant Step Arts, helmed by photographer/engineer Jimmy Katz, releases two new live albums captured at the historic Seneca Village site in Central Park. The albums will be released on Juneteenth – June 19, 2022.
1st – Jason Palmer – Live from Summit Rock in Seneca Village featuring trumpeter Palmer with saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Edward Perez, drummer Johnathan Blake
Trumpeter Jason Palmer leads his third recording for Giant Step helming a fantastic quartet featuring saxophonist Mark Turner along with bassist Edward Perez and drummer Johnathan Blake. The album features the stellar band stretching out on tunes culled from the trumpeter’s prior pair of releases along with a blistering new composition. Within seconds of Palmer’s solo intro a plane can be heard roaring by, one of many pulse-quickening reminders (sirens, car horns, birdsong) of the environment in which this incredible music was captured
The fact that Jimmy Katz feels a strong sense of mission towards the modern jazz music he loves is evident in the passionate work he’s done as a photographer and recording engineer for many years, and especially in his recent work leading the innovative non-profit Giant Step Arts. But that organization, and its accompanying imprint, is rooted in promoting live music. So when the pandemic silenced concerts and shuttered jazz clubs across the country, Katz found himself seeking a new approach.
Throughout the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, Katz invited some of New York City’s finest and most acclaimed jazz musicians to perform safe outdoor performances in Central Park. The “Walk With the Wind” concert series, founded in honor of the late congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis, took place on a site significant for its role in African- American history. In addition to providing a lifeline for audiences clamoring for live music, Giant Step did the same for artists, providing them much-needed economic and musical opportunities during an unprecedented time.
“When people ask, ‘What did you do for the jazz community?’ at the end of the pandemic, I don’t want to be the guy saying, ‘I waited for it to be over,’” Katz explains. So when he and his wife were strolling through Central Park one afternoon and happened on an impromptu performance by the great saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, inspiration struck. He cautiously booked a pair of all-star concerts in the park, unsure about how they would be received at this early stage of the lockdown.
“I wish I could say that I was a visionary and I knew this was going to be great from the start,” Katz admits. “I had no idea. But I had all these jazz fans coming up to me saying, ‘I haven’t heard any live music in all this time.’ And the musicians were excited to play in front of people again. We created a safe, socially distanced environment for everyone to come together.”
Founded by renowned photographers Jimmy and Dena Katz in January 2018, Giant Step Arts is an innovative, artist- focused non-profit organization dedicated to commissioning and showcasing the work of some of modern jazz’s most innovative artists. In an era where it is increasingly difficult for musicians to earn a living, Giant Step Arts offers the artistic and financial resources to create bold, adventurous new music free of commercial pressure. Musicians have total control of their artistic projects. Giant Step Arts is also committed to fostering the careers of their artists by providing them with promotional photo and video material and publicity.
For the musicians it chooses to work with, by invitation only, Giant Step Arts:
• presents premiere performances and compensates the artists well
• records these performances for independent release
• provides the artists with 300-800 CDs and digital downloads to sell directly • provides artists with complete ownership of their masters
• provides the artists with photos and videos for promotional use
• provides PR support for the recordings
“Giant Step Arts will not be selling any music and we are not a record label,” Katz says. “We have two goals: help the musicians and raise more money so we can help more musicians.”
Jimmy Katz
Through his award-winning photography with wife Dena Katz, and his esteemed work as a recording engineer, Katz has spent nearly 30 years helping to shape the way that audiences see and hear jazz musicians. Katz has been hired to be part of more than 570 recording projects, many historic, and has photographed more than 200 magazine covers. Whether taken in the studio, in the clubs, on the streets or in the musicians’ homes, his photographs offer intimate portraits of the artists at work and in repose and capture the collaborative and improvisatory process of jazz itself. Recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association award for jazz photography in both 2006 and 2011, Katz’s work has been exhibited in Germany, Italy and Japan. Among the world-renowned artists he’s photographed are Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, John Zorn, Pat Metheny, and Dizzy Gillespie. In addition to his well-known visual art, Katz is an esteemed recording engineer who has worked with artists including David S. Ware, Joe Lovano, Harold Mabern, William Parker, Benny Golson, and Chris Potter, among others.