Each of the ten tracks on Jazz trumpeter/singer Augie Haas’ new album, Augie Haas +8 Live At The Speakeasy, was recorded in one take before a live audience on a single night in May 2024. Set for release on August 16, 2024, the record has the goal of making listeners feel transported to a basement speakeasy in NYC and experiencing the moment.
Augie Haas says:
What you hear is what actually happened that night, in real time. We did one take and recorded it live in front of an audience at The Speakeasy on the Upper West Side. Our goal with this album is to immerse the listener in the highest quality music, set within an ambience of authentic sounds of people enjoying themselves. We wanted this record to be fun, real, and raw, and I think we’ve achieved that.
I honestly describe my music as diet jazz. Some people seem to take this as an insult to the music, but I say it’s jazz without all the calories! I love playing music, but if no one is having fun, what’s the point? I’m not a fan of the 20-minutes solos, chorus after chorus. I think people, now more than ever, just want to hear good music and have a good time, and that’s what we’re all about.
Augie Haas +8 Live At The Speakeasy features Haas on lead trumpet and a band that includes Rick Germanson on piano, Gary Kerkezou on drums, Dick Sarpola on bass, Todd Groves on alto sax, Troy Roberts on tenor sax, Alden Banta on bari sax, Andrew Neesley on trumpet, and trombonist/vocalist Hailey Brinnel, with special guests Major Attaway and Kacie Sky on vocals, and Mike Gorham and Andrew Carson on trumpet.
Haas adds:
Simply put, this album is a real document of live music and jazz. The live aspect is important because technology permeates today’s music to the extent that it can be hard to be sure what is actually performed and what is produced. I truly can’t think of another recording like this in recent years, not just live, but really living.
Augie Haas +8 will give an album release party on August 12, 2024 at The Speakeasy at The Gin Mill, 442 Amsterdam Ave, NYC.
