I've been asked here (the forum) and also many times over the years about the genesis of my group, "The Cello Quartet", an instrumentation rather rare in jazz history and, with regard to this particular group, indeed unique.

It all started with my years of touring in Japan- twice every year for more than 30 years. The producer of many of those tours was a bassist who also ran a club in Osaka, The Sub Club- a great place and still there. His name was Nishiyama Mitsuru and we played together for many years. Nishiyama brought great musicians over to Japan every month to tour in Japan. After having played with Nishiyama on bass for so many years, Nishiyama contacted me about doing a tour but, complaining about getting older and having to drag a bass along on trains, on subways and in cabs, proposed the idea that he play cello on the tour (along with bass and drums and guitar), to which I said, sure- why not!

I'd never played with a group like that and my idea of playing with cello was that it would be much the same as playing with a trumpet, or saxophone. It was midway into the 2nd night of that tour, I think it was in the town of Wakayama, that the way I was hearing this instrumentation changed- what I began hearing was the strings of the cello, the strings of the bass, the strings of the guitar accompanied by drums...and it was at that moment that I fell in love with the sound and potential of such a group.

About a year later I was approached about doing a recording and knew I'd have to record with a cello group, but it wasn't easy to find a cellist who could play jazz. Many years back it was the rage among bassists to record on cello (instead of supplying the groove, bassists could then play over a groove) and there are numerous recordings by the likes of Oscar Pettiford, Sam Jones, Rufus Reid, Ray Brown, Ron Carter and others. I began asking around NY but the answer I received over and over from bassists was that they had their cellos but hadn't played them in decades!

Finally, I was playing duo with the great bassist Mike Richmond (recordings w/ Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Jack DeJohnette, Mingus Dynasty Band, Lee Konitz, Tom Harrell, Gil Evans, etc) and, on a break, when I asked Mike if he knew any cellists, he smiled and said, "Me". That was it, I had my group! I had to have Lisle Atkinson on bass (I became the leader of a group with two of the most amazing bassists- ok, one was playing cello- in jazz)! On our initial recording it was drummer Eliot Zigmund (known primarily for his years with Bill Evans) and on the the next two, with the wonderful Andy Watson (Jim Hall, Benny Golson, Wynton Marsalis, The Vanguard Orchestra, etc)

I hope you'll research our recordings, they're some of my own favorites among the many I've done.

In the meantime, here's a link to a video of the group: