Swingdrive (USB port) includes all text, artwork, and photos from CD! Music is in both MP3 and WAV file (like the CD) formats.
I Remember Connie
NA1080
Richard Tabnik Quartet
Richard Tabnik, alto saxophone
Harvey Diamond, piano
Hill Greene, bass
Lou Grassi, drums
1. Angel Glow
2. Wo Ai Ni
3. Still Smiling, Baby
4. My Wishing Star
5. I Remember Connie
All Music © ℗ 2026 Richard Tabnik
(Tabnikmusic ASCAP)
BIO: RICHARD TABNIK
REVIEWS
Shortly after the death of his teacher, collaborator and friend Connie Crothers in 2016, alto saxophonist Richard Tabnik took his quartet into the studio to record I Remember Connie. So devastated by the loss of such an important figure in his life, Tabnik did not listen to the recording until recently. “Learning from and working with Crothers for 36 years was literally a dream come true for me,” Tabnik explains. “I felt that dream died when she passed.” I Remember Connie is a deeply personal tribute to Crothers, who has often been described as one of Lennie Tristano’s most devoted students. Like Tristano and Crothers, Tabnik’s playing is organic, genuine, intuitive and consistently lyrical. Crothers taught him to move beyond licks, scales and formulas and instead discover what he hears and feels in the moment. That philosophy is evident throughout the recording. Tabnik is joined by pianist Harvey Diamond, bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Lou Grassi. Five of the selections are Tabnik originals, including three lines based on familiar jazz standards. “Angel Glow,” based on Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are”; “Still Smiling, Baby,” based on Ernie Burnett’s “My Melancholy Baby”; and “My Wishing Star,” based on Gene DePaul’s “Star Eyes,” bring a contemporary sensibility to the Tristano tradition. Tabnik’s serpentine lines explore the melodic and harmonic possibilities of each tune without sacrificing their underlying character. Diamond’s use of block chords, cascading single notes and percussive propulsion reinforces the melodic contours, while Greene and Grassi provide the firm rhythmic foundation and contrapuntal interplay essential to this style. The upbeat “Wo Ai Ni” features precise, lyrical solos from each member of the quartet, as well as a particularly effective alto saxophone/piano unison passage near the conclusion. The centerpiece of the recording is Tabnik’s “I Remember Connie.” You can feel the pain, joy and admiration Tabnik has for Crothers in every note of this heartfelt ballad. Tabnik met Crothers in 1980, when she was performing with Warne Marsh at the Village Vanguard. Not long afterward, he became her student. “Connie’s lines were the hardest things I ever played, but she believed in me, encouraged me and changed the trajectory of my musical path,” Based on I Remember Connie, that path will move forward as Tabnik continues his journey of keeping true to Crother’s main message — trust in what you hear.
BOTTOM LINE: As a young saxophonist in the early 1960s, Tabnik took the road less traveled. Drawn to the sense of adventure and lyricism he heard in Lennie Tristano’s music, he sought out players such as Lee Konitz and Connie Crothers as he developed his own genuine and intuitive approach to jazz. Those qualities are in full display on I Remember Connie a heartfelt and long overdue tribute to his 36 year musical relationship with Crothers .
wow~!
—Abe Goldstien
(“I do a three hour jazz show every Sunday night on KFMG-FM in Des Moines, Iowa which is also streamed.”)
just wrote:
re: I Remember Connie
"I played the title track and mentioned the release will go on my top ten for the year that runs in Cadence Magazine."
congratulations to all :
Richard Tabnik, alto saxophone
Harvey Diamond , piano
Hilliard Greene, bass
Lou Grassi, drums
Mike Marciano, sound engineer
Scott Friedlander, photographer + graphic design
For those unaware, Richard Tabnik has been living in New York City since 1979. Between 1975-79, he lived in Buffalo, N.Y. He appeared on radio, television, and in concert with his own groups. He played lead alto in Frank Fosters Big Band at The State University of New York at Buffalo and was a featured soloist at the historic Colored Musicians Club.
The apex of his time there was 2-1/2 years with the Federally-funded [CETA] Buffalo Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Allen Tinney, with whom Charlie Parker played early in his career at Monroes Uptown House.
Prior to this, Richard wrote for and performed in various contexts in Houston, TX., Atlanta, GA., and Providence, R.I., where he had his first jazz gigs under the tutelage of guitarist Tom Brown, who also gave Roy Haynes, the great jazz drummer, his first gig. Richard Tabnik studied with jazz alto saxophonist Lee Konitz from 1970 to 1972.
He had been studying with Connie Crothers since January 1980 up until her death in 2016 and was even presented in concert in her studio soon after that in duos with Peter Scattaretico on drums and Ms. Crothers herself on piano.
His latest album is entitled I Remember Connie and is a tribute to the late Connie Crothers, a performer and recording artist, who always released her deepest feeling — her source — into her music, creating a wide range of expression and a virtuosity; which was based on her desire to discover everything she could hear and imagine through spontaneous improvisation.
1. Angel Glow
2. Wo Ai Ni
3. Still Smiling, Baby
4. My Wishing Star
5. I Remember Connie
Recorded in February of 2017, Tabnik opens his new recording on the impassioned Angel Glow and the elegantly sculpted Wo Ai Ni and then we are gifted the emotively dutiful Still Smiling, Baby, the EP rounding out on the resplendent My Wishing Star, coming to an all-too-soon close on the decadently rousing title cut I Remember Connie.
“I first heard about Connie Crothers while I was still living in Buffalo, NY, Richard explains. “It was November, 1978. The great Jazz Radio Innovator John Hunt invited me to do a memorial radio show for Lennie Tristano, who had just recently passed. Previously, in 1970, I’d had an interview with him but felt that I wasn’t ready and literally spent most of the entire decade preparing to return to study with him. So, when he passed, it hit me very hard.”
“In preparation for the show, I interviewed Lee Konitz by phone and asked if there was any music that might be released in the near future. He mentioned some possibilities; then he directed me to John Snyder, who produced Artists House Records. When I called him, he told me about Connie Crothers, and said that she was an amazing pianist whose record had just been released!”
“So, on the way to WBFO-FM, I stopped into the largest local record store and found “Perception” by Connie Crothers. I will never forget the moment when I first saw that beautiful album cover photo of Connie: I was overcome with the feeling that I wish that I could play with this person someday…”
“I moved to NYC during September, 1979. Fate soon stepped in: all the NYC jazz papers reported that, on January 1, 1980, Connie would be playing at the legendary Village Vanguard with Warne Marsh, Eddie Gomez and Peter Scattaretico! When I walked into the Vanguard, I felt like I had finally come home.”
“As far as this recording goes, I want to thank the band for playing so great! We actually recorded shortly after Connie’s passing, but i couldn’t listen to it until recently; I was just too emotionally devastated by her demise.”
“Playing in The Connie Crothers Quartet was literally a dream come true: we worked weekly for decades on those lines! In every rehearsal, her solos were incredible; it took me a long time to begin to play anywhere near that level.”