Tell the Birds I Said Hello is the fourth album by guitarist Steve Cardenas, saxophonist Ted Nash, and Ben Allison. It features eight tunes that Herbie never recorded, six of which had been sitting in storage since the 1950s, until a few years ago when they were discovered by a relative. These "new" Nichols masterpieces contain all of the elements of his music that we love — the humor and beauty of his melodies, the great titles, and the surprising twists and turns of harmony and form that make them truly unique.

One of the steps to becoming a band leader is to drop your inhibitions and find collaborators who play the music that you want to make. Though he has music in his blood carrying from two generations of bandleaders before him, drummer Greg Joseph initially found it difficult to grab the reigns of his own ensemble. It took finding the right voices in Larry Goldings’s Hammond organ and Steve Cardenas’s guitar to express his joyful music, which Joseph presents for the first time on Drop The Rock.