Roderick Paulin – Completely who he is

11th September 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Saxophonist Roderick Paulin just released his labor and love intensive album, Slow But Steady. Because the two-disc CD, which incredibly includes some 30 musicians, took him over a dozen years to produce, he laughingly says that the title is very appropriate. He also explains that the phrase is also his stock response to when his fellow musicians ask, “How you makin’ it?”

“I wanted to capture a little bit of everything that we’re capable of doing here in New Orleans,” Paulin offers. “I just wanted my sound to be completely who I am in different settings. We have all played together over the last 20 or 25 years in some form or fashion.”

Paulin, the son of the late great trumpeter Ernest “Doc” Paulin, the influential patriarch of the very musical Paulin family, celebrates the release of Slow But Steady at two settings this week. On Thursday, September 14, he fronts a band at the Prime Example with bassist Harry Anderson, who is also heard on the album, recent NOCCA graduate, pianist Kevin Gullage, drummer Willie Green and vocalist Jolynda Phillips, the daughter of vocalist Topsy Chapman.

Green, Anderson and Phillips will also be at Paulin’s Saturday night show, September 16, at Snug Harbor with Larry Sieberth at the piano and Jamil Sharif blowing trumpet. They also contribute to the release. The better question might be who isn’t on the album.

Paulin, a much called upon and recorded sideman, will also lead his own band on Sunday, October 15, at the popular Nickel-A-Dance series that kicks off its 24th season in October. At all three venues, the saxophonist, a soulful and naturally stylistically versatile musician, and crews will perform music from Slow But Steady though beyond that it’s all about going with the flow.

One of the many highlights of Slow But Steady is the great Horace Silver’s “Sister Sadie” on which Paulin’s influences from Callier and Sheppard along with other New Orleans saxophone wizards like Fred Kemp and Alvin “Red” Tyler shine through.

“We did that in David’s studio in two takes,” Paulin says, remembering the date with keyboardist David Torkanowsky on organ, bassist George French, and drummer Shannon Powell. “We’ve played a lot together over years and I thought it should be documented. David is a phenomenal piano player though he’s equally phenomenal on the Hammond B-3 organ. On that tune in particular, I was really able to go ahead and give that authentic R&B tenor sax sound. I tried to catch a little bit of that on every tune that I did whether I was playing tenor or soprano or whatever.”

Though Paulin had played soprano saxophone off and on, he admits it wasn’t really his thing though he got into it more in the last several years particularly since working with drummer Gerald French at the Royal Sonesta. “That gave me the opportunity to really go ahead and work on my sound on the soprano sax,” he says, adding that “New Orleans is clarinet town, a clarinet and trumpet town. The soprano has the range, so to speak, of the trumpet. I’d say it’s actually a cross between a clarinet and the trumpet so some would prefer me to play clarinet. I listen at my older brother Ricky, and, of course, Michael White and Alonzo Bowens and Clarence Johnson and I say, these guys can really, really play (clarinet).

On the album, Paulin pulls out the soprano primarily in a trio setting on chestnuts like “Marie” with pianist Lawrence Sieberth and bassist Richard Moten. He pays tribute to one of the most revered masters of the soprano, Sidney Bechet, by including a lovely version of his “Si Tu Vois Ma Mere” along with these two musically sympathetic sideman. Paulin, blowing soprano again, takes the double CD out with the trio on the classic “Bogalusa Strut.”

One of Paulin’s life-long wishes was to perform with a full orchestra complete with strings. He fulfills that desire on this recording on “That’s All” arranged and conducted by pianist Mike Esnault. The saxophonist certainly displays his romantic tendencies here as he does on the disc’s other warm ballads.

The most modern number is Paulin’s self-penned, “The Other Side” with trumpeter Andrew Baham, who co-produced the album with trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, rapidly leading the way with pianist Kyle Rousell in the path paved by drummer Jason Marsalis. “It’s called ‘The Other Side’ because I’m typically known as being a New Orleans, brass band and traditional-ish kinda cat,” Paulin explains. “So this is my other side of playing.”

Paulin also penned a hard core beauty, “Song for Paul G,” dedicated to Paul Gonsalves, who remains renowned as Duke Ellington’s longtime saxophonist and for his extraordinary 27-chorus solo at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Drum master Herlin Riley was the right man for the job on this big band go-getter. Paulin, blowin’ tenor, spiritually on this one.

Roderick Paulin, like, it’s safe to say, all of the (too many to name) New Orleans musicians on this album, plays the music intrinsic to life in this city. He and his fellow musicians’ mutual collaborations and shared experiences are the essence of Slow But Steady and makes it a truly New Orleans album.

“I feel really blessed to try to put out something that represents who we are not just as musicians but as people.”

This article originally published in the September 11, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.