Native Speaker Mark Saltman & William Knowles

• 1 Dororo 05:44
• 2 Nate’s Advice 06:43
• 3 Space Oddity (Major Tom) 04:57
• 4 Native Speaker 06:26
• 5 Everybody Wants to Rule the World 04:18
• 6 Lotus and Frog 05:51
• 7 Sweet Dreams 04:19
• 8 Ruben 07:07
• 9 The Gentle Art of Compassion 05:14
• Total Runtime 50:39

Info for Native Speaker

Native Speaker' is the eighth album by bassist Mark Saltman and pianist William Knowles, who together compose and arrange new music for their jazz quintet SaltmanKnowles.

The concept of 'Native Speaker' is to celebrate the African American artform of jazz and to present a manifesto of inclusion that is needed more urgently than ever. As the duo puts it in the album booklet: "whether you are a 'Native Speaker' of my language or not, you're welcome here. You're welcome in my country, my land, my music, my clothes, my home, our dreams and in our art. We wouldn't want it any other way."

Based in Washington, DC, the SaltmanKnowles ensemble plays a combination of primarily original music and standards, as well as original arrangements of a few pop tunes. On 'Native Speaker' we hear their interpretations of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', 'Sweet Dreams' by Eurythmics and 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' by Tears for Fears. These are heard alongside original numbers by Saltman and Knowles. From Saltman we hear 'Dororo', inspired by Japanese animé; 'Lotus' and 'Frog' based on the lotus, the Chinese symbol for renewal, and the observant frog that sits nearby; and 'The Gentle Art of Compassion', a call for sensitivity to others. Knowles offers tributes to two of his favourite people: 'Nate's Advice' was given over leisurely drinks at a cabaret bar, and 'Ruben' is about one of Knowles's most admired Black heroes, his brother. The album's eponymous track is also by Knowles and is a blues number that presents a philosophical pathway through life's many ups and downs.

Saltman and Knowles have recorded and released seven original jazz albums together over the past 20 years. Originally known as Soulservice, they now record as SaltmanKnowles. Their most recent release 'Almost' peaked at No. 23 on the jazz charts. Together they have spent time as Artists-in-Residence for the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, received two grants from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, and won the Best International Jazz Song Award in 2007 from Toronto Exclusive Magazine. Their fifth release, 'Return of the Composer', was in the top ten on the Jazz World Week Radio Chart. Knowles and Saltman met while attending the composition programme at the University of Massachusetts, and their shared affection for the music of Billy Strayhorn, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton and Charles Mingus led to their musical relationship.

Mark Saltman, double bass
William Knowles, piano
Keith Butler Jr., drums
Additional musicians:
Michael Fitzhugh, trumpet, flugelhorn
Deandre Schaifer, trumpet, flugelhorn​
Lori Williams, vocals
Yvette Spears, vocals
Leonard Brown, violin, guitar

Mark Saltman & William Knowles
Together Mark Saltman and William Knowles have recorded and released seven original jazz cds. Originally known as Soulservice, they now record as SaltmanKnowles. Together they have spent time as Artists in Residence for the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, received two grants from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, and won the Best International Jazz Song Award in 2007 from Toronto Exclusive Magazine. Their fifth release, Return of the Composer, was in the top ten on the Jazz World Week Radio Chart. Mr. Knowles and Mr. Saltman met while attending the composition program at the University of Massachusetts, and their similar affection for the music of Billy Strayhorn, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton and Charles Mingus led to their musical relationship.

Mark Saltman
born in Bridgeport Connecticut now residing in Washington, DC holds a BA in music from Western Connecticut State University and an MA in composition from UMASS, Amherst, where he studied with musical pioneer and mentor Dr. Yusef Lateef. Over the past couple of decades, he has scored independent films, played numerous jobs on the double bass and also taught music in the public and charter school systems.

Mr. Saltman has done scores for the award winning feature length film Dante, a remake of the original inferno as well as for short films including The Hard Sale, Perchance To Dream, Bells For Her, Jedis From Dallas and currently is working on Sci-Fi trilogy episodes of Paradox.

In addition, Mr. Saltman has also written articles for the online site No Treble in a column named ‘Bottoms up’, as well as a few semi-scholarly thoughts about the relationship between music and color, more commonly known as Synaesthesia. He is interested in Oliver Sacks, martial arts, yoga and all things creative, including Mr. Robot.

William Knowles
is originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He received a BA from Howard University (emphasis Jazz Studies) and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts. During the past twenty years Mr. Knowles has amassed credits as a Composer, Arranger, Musical Director and Pianist for many shows at regional theaters around the country, including Dallas Theater Center, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Northlight (Chicago), CenterStage (Baltimore), Indiana Repertory Theater, and the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where he has performed in eight different productions.

Other notable productions include Tambourines to Glory, directed by Kenny Leon at the True Colors Theatre Company, and the 2001 regional theater tour of Dinah Was. Mr. Knowles has collaborated with playwright, lyricist, and director Thomas W. Jones II on a number of projects. Their original works include: Slam, Pearl Bailey...By Request, Cool Papa’s Party, Fool In Love, Ladies Swing The Blues, Billie’s Song, Blackberry Daze, and Shake Loose. “At this point we’ve created a number of worlds together. We can think and solve problems in the language of our own body of work. We understand each other’s rhythms,” Mr. Knowles recently commented in an interview. The Knowles/Jones collaboration has yielded a Helen Hayes Award for musical direction 2010 for Knowles (MetroStage), and Helen Hayes musical direction nominations for Gee’s Bend (MetroStage, 2014) and for Slam (Studio Theatre, 2000).

When not traveling the country, Mr. Knowles can be seen at one of the many jazz clubs in Washington, DC, where he is a sought-after musician and has played hundreds, if not thousands, of one-nighters. Russ Bickerstaff of Milwaukee’s Shepherd Express described him as “that quiet, charismatic guy at the piano....there’s a subtle flourish to Knowles’ technique that’s a lot of fun to watch.”

This album contains no booklet.