This is where Jimmy Greene is now—he’s making room for everything: the questions and the convictions, the heartbreak and the uplift.
Greene Music Works
Jimmy Greene – saxophones, composition; Mike Moreno – guitar; Aaron Goldberg – piano; Dezron Douglas – bass; Jonathan Barber – drums; Javier Colón – vocals (on “Seventeen Days”); Rogerio Boccato – percussion; Shedrick Mitchell – Hammond B3 organ; Gabriel Globus‑Hoenich – congas (on “Speak Low”); Nelba & Isaiah Márquez‑Greene – spoken word (on the title track “As We Are Now”)
Jimmy Greene’s AS WE ARE NOW opens with a funky groove so warm and inviting, you know you’re in the right place. “Praises,” the first track, sets the tone: gospel-tinged, rich with soulful solos, and anchored by a band that moves as one. Each note from Greene’s tenor feels personal and deliberate, like a quiet truth passed from heart to horn. Shedrick Mitchell’s organ wraps around Aaron Goldberg’s swinging piano lines, all riding on Dezron Douglas’s steady, deep-pocket bass. It’s a joyful noise.
That feeling carries through the whole album. This is Greene’s core working band: Goldberg on piano, Mike Moreno on guitar, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Jonathan Barber on drums. He has been playing with most of them for two decades or more. Barber is his former student. You can hear that trust in the way the band listens, responds, pushes, and then gently locks in.
Guests like vocalist Javier Colon, percussionist Rogerio Boccato, and conguero Gabriel Globus-Hoenich add subtle texture and colorful support. Colon shines on the upbeat ‘Seventeen Days,’ singing Greene’s lyrics about the pull between the road and home life with just the right mix of joy and longing. Greene’s soprano sax dances around the vocal—bright and fluid, with the occasional vibrant flurry that only enhances the mood. The groove simmers at a perfect mid-tempo, and Barber’s drumming pops with sharp, tasteful stick work.
Twelve years ago, Greene’s six-year-old daughter Ana was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting. He’s addressed that grief directly in earlier works—especially BEAUTIFUL LIFE—but here, it’s more woven in. The music doesn’t dwell in sadness, but it doesn’t avoid it either. It acknowledges the full range of what it means to carry love and loss at the same time.
The centerpiece of the album is a suite funded by a 2023 grant from Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works. Greene describes the music as a response to life’s emotional messiness—grief, faith, love, and gratitude all tangled together.
‘Unburdened ’opens with a quiet piano introduction, and when Greene enters on tenor, his sound is full and open—not pushing, just speaking. The melody unfolds slowly, with a kind of melancholy calm, and Goldberg proves to be the perfect partner, his piano lines intertwining with Greene’s like two voices in harmony. Given all that Greene has lived through, it’s not surprising to learn he wept after recording it—his playing feels like a release: understated yet profound.
Around the halfway point, the album shifts a little. Not in tone exactly, but in intimacy. The title track, ‘As We Are Now,’ opens with Greene’s calm speaking voice, responding to a question he’s probably heard a thousand times: How are you doing now? We also hear his wife, Nelba Márquez-Greene, and their son Isaiah—woven in through audio samples. But this isn’t a somber interlude. Rhodes and drums create a soulful undercurrent, and Greene’s tenor threads in and around the voices—not mournful, maybe more hopeful, even joyful in places. Moreno plays a beautiful solo, his clean tone ringing out with clarity and warmth. Douglas plays with subtle authority—every note steady and full. And by the time the voices return at the end—“it’s an every day”—the piece feels like a kind of family testimony.
‘Anhelando’ is a standout—syncopated and meditative, built on a Brazilian samba rhythm. Greene doesn’t overplay; he lets the melody speak. The Spanish title, which translates to “longing,” fits perfectly. ‘Flood Stage’ takes a sharper turn—edgy and fast, with a current that pulls you along. Greene draws inspiration from Wayne Shorter’s ‘Pinocchio,’ as well as a storm that swept through his Connecticut neighborhood in 2024. You can hear the turbulence in the tune, but also the pushback—the resilience. Greene’s tenor is more intense than usual, but he stays in control even as the band surges around him. The walking bass line keeps things grounded while Goldberg’s piano solo dances through single-note runs, little flurries, and playful rhythmic shifts. The drumming is light, agile—cymbal flourishes and subtle accents that keep the tension alive.
‘Speak Low’ closes the album with Greene’s tenor floating above an Afro-Cuban pattern. He starts off laid-back and melodic, then gradually leans into the rhythm, his tone growing more assertive. Moreno’s darting single-note runs blur into smeared clusters, as if he’s stretching each phrase to its limit. Goldberg punctuates the beat with spare, sharp chords, then joins the percussionist in a kind of call-and-response, giving the track a communal, almost party-like energy.
And that’s really what AS WE ARE NOW offers: not resolution, but forward motion. The title could almost be the album’s thesis. This is where Jimmy Greene is now—he’s making room for everything: the questions and the convictions, the heartbreak and the uplift.
Even the cover art speaks to that idea—four bare trees standing together beneath a blue sky. No leaves. Just presence. Just strength.
