The Needless Kiss (Koch Jazz KOC-CD-7898)

  1. Pipeline - (3:00)  (Johnston)
  2. Memory - (11:05)  (Johnston)
  3. Planatella Rock - (4:23)  (Johnston)
  4. The Heyday - (5:15)  (Ruddick)
  5. All I Do Is Dream Of You - (3:21) (Johnston)
  6. Hofstra's Dilemma - (8:56) (Johnston)
  7. Mazurka Op.17, no. 4 - (6:47)  (Chopin)  (arr. Johnston)
  8. The Sleepwalker - (3:07)  (Scott)  (arr. Johnston)
  9. The Needless Kiss - (6:01)  (Johnston)
  10. The Club - (4:14)  (Ruddick)
  11. Regrets #17 - (5:50)  (Johnston)

Phillip Johnston - soprano, alto saxophones.
Joe Ruddick - piano, baritone saxophone.
Mark Josefsberg - vibraphone.
David Hofstra - bass.

Recorded April 1998 at Tedesco Studios, NJ.
Record & mix engineer: Jon Rosenberg.
Digital Editing: Tommy Tedesco.
Produced by Phillip Johnston.
Executive Producer: Donald Elfman.
Cover Art: Josh Dorman.
Inside drawings: Hilary Bell.


“Phillip Johnston is one of the most original and witty composers and bandleaders in jazz¬—as likely to give a sweet and heartfelt chamber jazz rendition of a Chopin mazurka as to one of Raymond Scott’s cartoon ditties.”
—The Boston Phoenix.

“The quartet members blend their disparate influences skillfully and their work, like Raymond Scott’s, abounds with eccentric humor and lyricism.”
—Harvey Pekar, Boston Herald.

“This odd, engaging, drummerless band mixes braininess with mirth—the longtime hallmarks of their leader, saxophonist Phillip Johnston.”
—Steve Futterman, Entertainment Weekly.

“The Needless Kiss, the latest recording by Johnston’s Transparent Quartet, is full of nineteen-fifties formalism (West Coast cool, Modern Jazz Quartet subtlety), which Johnston gleefully personalizes with sharp phrasings and free jazz tangents. It’s all held together by Johnston’s fine alto-saxophone work and superb soprano-saxophone playing, and by a drummerless unti that makes imaginative use of vibes, piano, baritone saxophone, and bass.”
—Steve Futterman, The New Yorker.



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