HEADS OF STATE

Gary Bartz, Larry Willis, Buster Williams and Al Foster–four of today’s most important and influential jazz artists–have joined forces as a collaborative group for the first time in their storied careers and the result is a quartet for the ages. Somewhat surprisingly after a half-century of working together in various combinations, these four masters had never performed together as a quartet until last fall at Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in New York City. They electrified the packed house during that run and knew immediately that they had something special. As Williams remembers, “Larry called me the next week, and said, ‘What do you think about us keeping this band together?’ I said, ‘I like the idea; let me talk to Al and Gary.'” They agreed and the rest was history in the making. They were billed for those first performances as the Larry Willis All-Stars, and their purpose was to read more...