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Wajdi Cherif Trio: Live at FTH Theatre, NYC.

Wajdi Cherif

Label: B. Chord Music
Released: 2025
Duration: 20:22
Views: 111

Tracks

Track List: 1. The Touch of Your Lips (Ray Noble) 2. Rio Reverie (Wajdi Cherif) 3. Lost in the Moment (Wajdi Cherif) 4. But Not Of Me (Georges Gershwin)

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

Wajdi Cherif: piano, composition, production (www.wcherif.com) Michael Topping: bass Holdon Carson: drums

Album Description

“A quiet, intimate live session captured in an empty theatre. A conversation between three musicians and the silence between them.”

“Live at Flushing Town Hall” is a photograph of a unique residency I completed a year ago; a full week of practice and rehearsals with the piano as the only companion at Flushing Town Hall theatre. On day 4, three musicians were on stage, exploring familiar and unfamiliar melodies and sculpting a new sound together. Captured in the moment, with practically one or two takes max for each tune, the album reflects the thrill of live improvisation: spontaneous, gloriously unpredictable, and vulnerable with its imperfections.

We open the set with The Touch of Your Lips, a romantic tune written by Ray Noble in 1936, and rendered with vibrant intimacy. Each phrase stretched and savored, like a whispered confession between lovers. The trio allows the melody to bloom organically, and settles into the swing in a delicate way.

Rio Reverie follows, an original inspired by the irresistible sway of Brazilian rhythms. It’s both a celebration and a dreamscape. A postcard from an imagined Rio De Janeiro beach scene at sunset, where joy and longing meet on the warm sand, and a nod to the great lineage of Brazilian music great A. Carlos Jobim, whose spirit is still lingering with every wave crushing on the beach.

With Lost in the Moment, we extend an invitation to savor the present moment and to let time loosen its grip. Built on a lyrical motif and a gentle pulse, this piece reminds me that music, like life, is best experienced one breath at a time!

The set closes with But Not for Me, reimagined through fresh harmonic colors and an unexpected key change. What begins as a standard, becomes a conversation between the instruments; delicate, tender, and expressive.

Throughout this recording, you’ll not only hear songs, but you will possibly experience the excitement of exploration and discovery. I hope that this album captures the essence of what jazz music is for me: roots and tradition, present moment explorations, and pushing the boundaries of interpretation and composition. After all, every moment in life is unique, and happens only once!

Credits

Recorded live at FTH theatre, NYC, April 2024.
Recording by Wajdi Cherif.
Mixing and mastering Wajdi Cherif/Peter Karl Studios/Soundworks Studio, NYC.

Record Label: B. Chord Music.