You Are My Dream Jerry Jumonville About The Recording “You Are My Dream,” the latest release by saxophonist Jerry Jumonville, showcases his talent as a jazz player and composer. Jerry is known to many as a studio musician and arranger who was prominent in the Los Angeles recording scene of the 1970s and 1980s. For those who don’t know, Jerry played the saxophone solo on Rod Stewart’s 1976 hit, “Tonight’s The Night,” and has arranging, performance and acting credits for Bette Midler’s 1979 film, “The Rose.” Other on-screen appearences include the TV shows “Laverne and Shirley, “Happy Days,” and the rock documentary “Festival Express.” He has recorded or performed with artists including Stevie Wonder, the Doobie Brothers, Dr. John, Big Joe Turner, Ricky Lee Jones, Ry Cooder, and many others. Back home in New Orleans since the early 1990s, Jerry has not only found steady work on the bandstand and in the studio, but also a ready audience for his original jazz tunes, and younger proteges eager to learn from his experience. Like many New Orleans teenagers in the late 1950s, Jerry was captivated by local R&B artists like Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis, who became hometown heros when they scored national hits. The sophisticated arrangements of Ray Charles, and his two great, bop-informed saxophone soloists, Hank Crawford and David “Fathead” Newman, pointed the young Jerry Jumonville toward modern jazz. Some will note the influence of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Gene Ammons in Jerry’s playing—tenor players who were masters of bop harmony, but had a big, bluesy sound. But Jerry also holds swing players like Illinois Jaquet and Ben Webster in high esteem, and in some ways, his music has a swing era feel, despite the harmonic modernisms. Sessions for “You Are My Dream” were done in the Spring and Summer of 2004. These recordings were literally snatched from the jaws of Hurricane Katrina, as the ADAT tapes on which they were stored survived only because they were on a high shelf in a flooded recording studio. Fortunately, they proved viable despite exposure to weeks of moisture, heat and mold. On the CD, Jerry is joined by Steve Armstrong, a brilliant young guitarist now making a name for himself in New York, New Orleans stalwart Spike Perkins on bass, and his old friend and fellow Dr. John associate Freddy Staehle on drums. The tracks were recorded with the quartet playing live in the studio, and Jerry arranged and overdubbed the additional sax parts.