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John McLaughlin: Are You the One? Are You the One?

Only the absent Larry Young (who would tragically die that March at the age of 37) prevented this from being a full reunion of the second version of Tony Williams Lifetime. John McLaughlin was coming off a couple of years of playing acoustic music with Shakti. Record label Columbia was anxious for McLaughlin to plug in again so they could start drinking anew from the money stream that John once kept flowing with his electric fusion work. Despite the all-star cast and some great music, the album failed to sell the numbers Columbia wanted. Over the years the album's importance has grown as a greater appreciation has developed for its wildly diverse material. For this reason, the criticism that the album lacked focus has faded away.

"Are You The One? Are You the One?" refers to a vocal pleading the original Lifetime would offer up during its performances. On this cut each player screams the phrase out in exultation and/or exasperation. Or they whisper it in desperation. This is a hard-driving, in-your-face jazz-funk assault. McLaughlin's electronically processed guitar sounds like a damn tuba coming down after a speedball. Williams has a different musical relationship with McLaughlin than Billy Cobham did. Cobham and McLaughlin almost fuse into one performer. It is a phenomenon that is remarkable to hear. Williams and McLaughlin, on the other hand, complement each other in the way two spatial bodies orbit each other. There is a constant pushing and pulling as John fills spaces Williams vacates and vice versa. The end result is perfect equilibrium. Bruce is a very good if not flashy technician. He simplifies things a bit for his solo turn. But in its way his solo includes every bit as much funk – even if is European funk – as the other two. What a treat it is to hear this trio in a fantastic rave-up!

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion · guitar

Roberto Magris Europlane: I Concentrate on You

Italian pianist Roberto Magris is consistently good. Here he leads an aggregation augmented by guest star saxophonist Tony Lakatos on a take of the Cole Porter classic "I Concentrate on You." The performance really speaks for itself. It is presented in a straightforward way. If anything distinguishes it from other fine attempts, it is a bit higher tempo and brighter than most efforts. It is beautifully interpreted by everyone involved.

When I hear Europeans or other international musicians play American jazz with this type of feeling, I have conflicting emotions. I am proud that the music is honored in this way and that others around the world treat it with such an obvious reverence. Listening to great musicians is about listening to great music wherever it comes from. At the same time, I wonder why so many Americans can't seem to find the same enjoyment for music that came from their own American culture. Ah well, that is their loss. I can't change the world with a comment in a review. I'll just enjoy listening to anyone who can play.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · cole porter covers · i concentrate on you · italy

John Ellis and & Double-Wide: All Up in the Aisles

The various New Orleans jazz sounds are not usually my cup of tea. I appreciate the tradition and all, but for some reason the music rarely moves me. At the Newport Jazz Festival, I saw the Dirty Dozen Brass Band do its thing by coming out into the audience to stir things up. It worked for most in the crowd. Sorry to say, I stayed seated in my lounge chair. There have been exceptions to my attitude caused by a brilliant performance here or there by, say, the likes of Pete Fountain. But these have been very few and very far between.

My non-interest in New Orleans styles may be my big blind jazz spot. But traditionalists can sue me. That is just the way it is. For any music to break through my apathy in this matter, it has to be damned good. "All Up in the Aisles" meets that criterion. It is soulful and celebratory at the same time. Saxophonist Ellis, who almost moans through his instrument, made it a point to record music that featured the sousaphone, a more portable, rewound tuba best known for being carried around by marching bands. The sousaphone holds down the bottom end of the tune. In ways, it is more expressive than a string bass. Matt Perrine makes it speak in tongues in both a melodic and rhythmic sense. Sousaphone aside, the band comes across as a standard sax and organ jazz quartet playing some feel-good New Orleans gumbo. Organist Gary Versace and drummer Jason Marsalis find a rut big enough for a groove and jump in it. Even if you don't get up in the aisles and dance yourself, this music can make you visualize other less-inhibited people doing so.

Reviewer's Note: I should be fair to Dirty Dozen. It was an awfully hot day and I may have had a few too many beers. Maybe I should have mentioned that before.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz

Pat Martino: Exit

"Exit" is an interesting, almost free-form performance. Bassist Davis starts things off with a textured solo. Pianist Goldstein offers some reserved noodling. He is followed, in fits and starts, by Martino's staccato runs. Hart maintains a steady beat as Martino continues punching at air with impressive scalar runs. Davis returns but in the much more formal walking-bass mode as the tune turns pure jazz. Goldstein's solo is a mix of speedy single notes and big block chords. "Exit" takes another turn and becomes a slow blues ballad. I know the cut just ended, but it does not end with a resolution. It is as if the guys couldn't find the exit. Get it?

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · guitar

Larry Coryell: The Dragon Gate

The idea behind Spaces Revisited was to produce music that echoed Coryell's landmark jazz-rock album Spaces from three decades earlier. Spaces featured Coryell, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham and bassist Miroslav Vitous, plus Chick Corea on one cut. As often happens with such projects, intentions are one thing and results are another. Coryell admits this in the liner notes. But to him this was a positive development allowing the band, using the same two-guitar lineup, to produce new music that kept nonetheless in the spirit of the original even if the music itself was not similar.

"The Dragon Gate" opens the album. The introductory guitar section has some bebop qualities. It is a catchy melody. With the opening statement out of the way, the tune heads into straight-ahead territory. While not a fusion piece, this is a high-caliber jazz performance. Coryell and Lagrène are clear, clean and crisp, playing wonderfully off each other. Cobham also has things working as he pounds away propelling the affair. Several minutes of impressive trading ensue until the hypnotic melody returns and fades out.

Coryell took this band on the road after this recording. Their live performances were just as enjoyable as this great cut.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · guitar

Pierre Moerlen's Gong: Downwind

Vibes player Pierre Moerlen gathered quite an interesting crew for this fusion recording. In addition to Didier Malherbe, one of the founding members of the original Gong lineup, and regular Gong member Hansford Rowe, Moerlen is joined by rock hero Steve Winwood. This time out the part of "rotating guitarist" is played by Mike Oldfield, the same award-winning, platinum record seller and composer responsible for the highly successful Tubular Bells from several years previous. Mike Oldfield's brother Terry Oldfield, who has since gone on to become a prolific composer in his own right, plays the flute.

The vibes gave Gong a sound separate and apart from its jazz-rock contemporaries. The instrument's warm tones lack the hard bite that jazz-rock fans almost always demand from any lead instrument. But Moerlen wisely uses his axe's rhythmic qualities as a framework for his compositions, which take full advantage of both the melodic and rhythmic aspects of the instrument. Plus there is always an electric guitar or saxophone or synthesizer around to help supply some drama.

"Downwind" is a syncopated piece relying on a somewhat understated African beat. Strangely, or perhaps in honor, Moerlen plays a cycle of vibraphone riffs that sound very suspiciously like certain sections of Oldfield's Tubular Bells. When Oldfield enters, the resemblance becomes more than suspicious. Someone should be charged. But the point is that this is Oldfield's bag. He is good at it. Does he improvise? I am not quite sure. I know Malherbe is improvising, so I can call this jazz. Winwood is lost somewhere in the mix. Terry Oldfield's flute sounds Olde English. A very impressive percussion midsection leads us up the castle steps and toward the incessant ringing of those bells – I mean vibes.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion · vibes

Jason Seizer: All the Things You Are

No need to ask who German tenor player Jason Seizer was influenced by: Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh are the obvious answers (probably through Mark Turner, by the way). Here Seizer not only tackles "All the Tings," a frequent warhorse of Tristano alumni, but does so without quoting the written melody until the last few seconds of the track – another a trademark of cool school musicians for whom paraphrasing standards and carving countermelodies to their themes was a daily exercise in creativity. How does that way of playing work with this basically unknown German musician? On the one hand, it is quite refreshing compared to all the post-bop addicts roaming the international jazz scene. On the other hand, Seizer's sound and phrasing are not distinctive enough yet, and his efforts might not sound quite as interesting without Marc Copland's challenging chordal support. So we have a personality worth taking account of but that needs competition and a stimulating surrounding on a regular basis to better develop its budding potential.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · all the things you are · germany · jerome kern covers · tenor sax

Marcin Wasilewski: Diamonds and Pearls

On their preceding record for ECM, they were simply called The Trio. Now the three young Poles who first gained international attention as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's rhythm section have evolved to become the pianist's group. He obviously is the main composer on this record, though half of the tunes were penned by Carla Bley, Ennio Morricone or Prince. This shows The Trio's wide-ranging influences, borrowing like most jazz musicians of their generation from both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the former Iron Curtain. It also shows their ability to drag any tune they like, be it jazz or pop, into the orb of an aesthetic defined during several years of playing together. In this respect, they are still essentially a cooperative trio, as attested by their distinctive sound and interplay. What's more, with a repertoire from both the old and new continents, they elected to record in New York – apparently showing they are unconcerned with the USA vs. European jazz issue that has often attached to recent ECM productions.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · ecm · piano trio · poland

Philip Catherine: Lendas Brasileiras

For his second solo recording in years, Philip Catherine has chosen to play most tunes with two guitars, using the rerecording technique. On this one, a Brazilian song played on acoustic guitars, he displays an impressive technique in both rhythmic and solo aspects. But, as always with Catherine, virtuosity is not the main goal. On the one hand he has nothing to prove and is long past the stage of technical feats for the sake of showing off. On the other hand, he is mainly a lyrical musician; the sound he produces on his guitars clearly demonstrates his concern about melody. Few musicians can make a guitar "sing" as Philip Catherine does. Even on a tune from Brazil, there are moments when you can obviously trace the singing quality of his fingerings and touch to his main models: Django Reinhardt and René Thomas, whose influence Catherine has absorbed to develop his own style.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · guitar · solo guitar

Omar Sosa: D'Son

Omar Sosa carries on with his attempt at blending his native Cuban musical breeding (which included both piano and percussion) with the rest of the Black Diaspora's culture in an all-embracing syncretic perspective. In the process he has borrowed from Northern and Black Africa as well as from the whole of South America, and from jazz improvisation as well as from European classical music. This tune is based on the Cuban danzon tradition, but is treated more in a composer's way than in a performer's. Sosa refrains from extrovert Latin licks, and confronts the poised soloing of the flute, then the flugelhorn, with the intricate rhythmic maze of the percussionists. Then his own piano soars and slowly builds a climax with few but beautifully phrased notes. Indeed, Sosa is a searching musician who will get trapped in neither his own multi-instrumental virtuosity nor the clichés of his Cuban origins.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · cuba · world fusion

Gilad Atzmon: In the Small Hours

On this track, multi-reed player Gilad Atzmon displays a beautiful, huge alto sound that exudes feeling on a lush ballad built in a most classical and efficient way. One often thinks of Cannonball Adderley as an obvious influence, both as far as alto tone and articulation are concerned, but also because of the use of the Fender Rhodes to provide both harmonic background and atmosphere. Some mainly see Atzmon as an artist who frequently expresses his provocative political opinions on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (which he fled by emigrating to London). Others are not too sensitive to his world-music oriented compositions. A track like this should simply convince everyone that Gilad Atzmon can also be a deeply rooted jazz stylist.

July 31, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · israel

Bobby Streng Saxomble: Empty Room

Ignore the scary album cover. Those who long for the heyday of jazz-funk horn bands such as Dreams or Tower of Power will find much to like on the CD within. Best of all, it was recorded live, in a Michigan nightclub.

After a dreamy, languid sax-section intro reminiscent of Don Ellis, Saxomble's tight, competent rhythm section lays down a solid Latin-funk groove propelling the horns through a fairly standard head that somehow manages to keep itself above the cliché waterline. It's an energetic, polished live performance. Michael Hiemstra delivers a solid tenor solo, fueled by spirited comping from Jonathan Ovaltie, the locked-in drive of Henniger's electric bass and Nick Adams's crisp drums. But the ensemble really takes flight with Mark Rieme's intense soprano harangue, which builds to a lofty, explosive conclusion.

Back in my salad days on the road in the '70s, I found that the Detroit area had the best jazz radio in the country and some of the best musicians to be found anywhere. These young players are living up to that legacy.

July 31, 2008 · 1 comment

Tags: 2000s jazz

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones: Wade in the Water

Hank Jones's father was a minister who was suspicious of jazz as the Devil's music. Clearly his sons Elvin, Thad and Hank had different views. Even so, pianist Jones has tried to bridge the gulf between jazz and religious music on more than one occasion. (Check out, for example, his solo recording Tiptoe Tapdance from the late 1970s.) Here he joins with bassist Charlie Haden on "Wade in the Water," an old spiritual associated with the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Golden Gate Quartet, among others. Jones surprises us on this track, adopting a much heavier touch than usual, and playing more forcefully on the beat. Haden goes along for the ride . . . but with the piano playing in such a traditional manner, a bassline is hardly necessary. Don't look for any rootless chords or hip bebop licks -- they have been locked away for the day. There is more spiritual than jazz here, and this track is more likely to inspire you to jump up and testify, rather than order another drink from the bar. Hipsters can lament, but Minister Jones would be quite pleased.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: piano

Joe Lovano & Hank Jones: Alone Together

Seldom was a CD more aptly named. This is truly a Joyous Encounter. I would be hard pressed to name a tenor saxophonist of the current era who constructs better solos, phrase by phrase, than Joe Lovano, as he demonstrates again on this track. It is sheer aural pleasure to hear him in such an under-produced yet well-conceived setting. And if anyone knows how to accompany a reed player and contribute his own estimable solos, it is Hank Jones, who has backed (to name a few) Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Zoot Sims, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt and Johnny Hodges, over the years. What higher praise could one offer than to say that this new-millennium collaboration is worthy to stand alongside these earlier classics?

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · alone together · tenor sax

Roberta Gambarini & Hank Jones: Lush Life

About a half century separates the ages of these two artists, but you wouldn't guess it from this collaboration. Jones is always youthful, no matter what the date on his birth certificate might tell you. Gambarini, for her part, performs with great maturity in this setting, eschewing skiddle-dee-doo scat pyrotechnics, which she so often delivers with great (too great?) ease, and instead digs deeply into the psychological state of this strange ballad.

You need maturity to pull off this song. Some may think that these lyrics were an example of overreaching by Strayhorn, who was still a teenager when he began work on this world-weary lament. After all, how much could he know about getting "washed away by too many through the day 12 o'clock tales." But these precocious lyrics still bowl me over. Has anyone written a more vehement denial of the whole ethos of the love song -- daring to proclaim that "romance is mush stifling those who strive." The pathos and self-duplicity of these words transcend pop tune sentimentality, just as Strayhorn's harmonies reach to the heights of art song.

Gambarini rises to the occasion here. Jones's accompaniment is very stark, but further serves to anchor this performance and contribute to its high drama. Fans will also want to check out a memorable live recording of this same song by Gambarini and Jones (with bass and drums) from the 2006 Umbria Jazz Festival.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: billy strayhorn covers · jazz vocals · lush life

Jane Ira Bloom: Nearly Summertime/Summertime

Recorded during a summer in New York City, Jane Ira Bloom's version of "Summertime" is quite evocative of the season, and a brilliant example of the saxophonist's approach to standards. The recording opens with Jane's angular composition "Nearly Summertime" played in unison by saxophone and trumpet. Next the rhythm section enters with drum color, a bass solo and a piano vamp in dotted quarter notes (2 notes over 3 beats) that presages what will come later. Gradually, Werner, Priester and Bloom join into the ensemble before Bloom launches an ascending scale to introduce the Gershwin melody, set in 6/4 time. Behind the melody, the horns play long, hypnotic chords at half the speed of the piano vamp, and when Bloom takes over for her solo she leads with another ascending scale based on the same rhythmic pattern. Her sound grows more impassioned as she climbs higher in register, and as the performance grows in intensity you can almost feel the heat generating from the ground. The intensity doesn't let up until the end of the theme, when the horns suddenly dissipate and Hersch plays a rippling triplet figure that might signal a much-needed summer rainstorm.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1980s jazz · gershwin covers · soprano sax · summertime

Gunther Schuller: Summertime

The recording dates above are rather misleading, as it is the premiere performance of an arrangement written by Gunther Schuller in 1949. It was written for the Miles Davis Nonet but never recorded or broadcast by that group. Gil Evans famously described the Claude Thornhill sound (which he helped originate) as hanging "like a cloud," and Schuller's arrangement opens with hypnotic seesawing chords that create the same effect. An ominous countermelody in the tuba and baritone sax leads to the theme statement with cup-muted trumpet fronting a dance-band style background that maintains the chords from the opening for awhile, then gradually moves into more complex counterpoint. Then the mood breaks with a double-time chorus (with another double-time passage placed on top!). While the harmony remains Thornhill-esque, the overall style turns into straight-ahead bebop. And this passage, which seems completely unnecessary, probably did more to take this chart out of contention for recording by Miles than anything else. Still, for all it achieves, it is an amazing effort from the very talented Mr. Schuller.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1980s jazz · big band · gershwin covers · summertime

Eddie Jefferson: Summertime

In the mid-'70s, Eddie Jefferson was starting to get overdue recognition as "the Godfather of Vocalese," and his fame continued to rise until he was murdered outside a Detroit nightclub in 1979. The Main Man was one of Jefferson's finest albums, featuring definitive versions of classics like "Jeannine" and "Moody's Mood For Love." "Summertime" is unusual in Jefferson's repertoire in that it does not appear to stem from an instrumental solo; rather, it is Jefferson's loose interpretation of the Gershwin standard. Interestingly, it is sung in the same key as John Coltrane's groundbreaking version—D minor—and like Coltrane, Jefferson seems interested in stripping away all the sentimentality of the original song. The tempo is medium fast and the performance is quite aggressive. On the second time through the song, Jefferson takes great liberties with the lyric (for example, "Fish are jumpin' about on the lake, flop, flop, flop, tryin' to give the fishermen a break") and strongly accents the asides (the "flops" above). However, the recording does not entirely break with the past, as Slide Hampton lifts Gil Evans's famous background riff and uses it to back Jefferson.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · gershwin covers · jazz vocals · summertime · vocalese

Chris Connor & Maynard Ferguson: Summertime

Chris Connor and Maynard Ferguson worked together while in Stan Kenton's band, and when they both became jazz stars a few years later, they recorded two separate albums together, one for Ferguson's label, Roulette, and the other for Connor's label, Atlantic. Their version of "Summertime," which kicks off the Atlantic LP, starts with a highly rhythmic duet between the nearly slapped bass of Sanders and the tight snare of Jones, and things just build and build from there. Connor's opening theme statement sounds defiant and rhythmically sure, holding back just slightly in the opening chorus and building as the trombones, trumpets and saxes all join in with riffs that add to the growing intensity. Ferguson's trumpet solo continues the upward climb until the climax of the arrangement where trumpet and band exchange improvised ideas and written shout chorus passages. Then suddenly the volume comes back down for Connor's return. The gradual decrescendo from there to the end doesn't work nearly as well as the crescendo that came before, but the fadeout (usually the bane of jazz fans and critics) actually gives this arrangement a needed balance.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1960s jazz · gershwin covers · jazz vocals · summertime

John Coltrane: Summertime

From the first note of this recording, you can tell that Coltrane's version of "Summertime" will be unique. Without any introduction, Coltrane kicks off the tune in D minor. While jazz versions of "Summertime" are played in a variety of keys, D minor sounds higher than the keys we usually hear for this song. When the rhythm section enters two beats later, the effect is complete, with Elvin Jones's slashing rhythms and McCoy Tyner's syncopated quartal harmonies. As on the album's title tune, Coltrane and Tyner reduce "Summertime" to a minimal modal harmonic base and focus on building emotional intensity. Dating from early in the Quartet's existence, this performance is not as intense as later recordings, but it shows that the group already knew which direction it would travel.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1960s jazz · gershwin covers · summertime · tenor sax

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong: Summertime

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded two relaxed, swinging albums for Verve before Norman Granz had the inspiration to use them in a deluxe 2-LP set featuring 16 songs from Porgy and Bess. While not the first Porgy and Bess concept album, Ella & Louis's version is one of the best. Both were in top vocal form at the time of the recording, and while Louis's trumpet chops were not as strong as they had been in years past, he could still perform stunning solos. On "Summertime," Russ Garcia's arrangement adds a few subtle touches to the original orchestration. Armstrong plays a majestic first chorus on trumpet, followed by Ella's smooth and creamy vocal. After a subtle key change, Louis takes a solo vocal chorus. When Ella returns, she spins a beautifully conceived variation on the melody while Louis supports her with some of the tenderest scatting he ever recorded.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · gershwin covers · jazz vocals · summertime

Erroll Garner: Summertime

Erroll Garner's Columbia version of "Summertime" sounds like a playful romp, but there is a lot of musical substance beneath the surface. Garner's introduction is in straight eighth notes. While doubtlessly shortened for recording time considerations, it still makes an effective contrast to the sinuous Garner strut tempo that follows. In the theme statement and his ensuing solo, Garner uses triplet patterns both as further contrast to the introduction and to add a sassy quality to his interpretation. Garner's mastery of dynamics is on full display with the pianist bringing the group's volume up and down through his touch at the keyboard. And as a balance to the introduction, the closing chorus uses a simple quarter-note pattern (in more or less straight time) as a shout chorus, which replaces the restatement of the original theme. At the end, all that is left of Gershwin's original is the opening phrase, which Garner plays over the final held chord.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · gershwin covers · piano trio · summertime

Charlie Parker: Summertime

Although Charlie Parker was proud of playing with a string section, this version of "Summertime" shows why the venture was an artistic failure. Using an adaptation of the original orchestral score as background, Parker does little more than ornament the Gershwin melody. The only compelling part of this recording is Parker's acidic tone, which is quite different from the polished sound of opera divas who use the same basic arrangement on "classical pop" albums or in staged versions of Porgy and Bess. Even then, Parker barely holds our interest through this recording. If Parker had used more improvisation on this side (as on his classic version of "Just Friends" also recorded at this session), his version of "Summertime" might rank as one of the greatest. As is, it's just a disappointment.

July 30, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1940s jazz · alto sax · gershwin covers · jazz with strings · summertime

Billie Holiday: Summertime

Billie Holiday was not the first jazz artist to record "Summertime" (Bob Crosby recorded a transcription version five months earlier) but hers was the first recorded for 78s and probably did more than any other version to establish the song as a potential jazz standard. For any listener of the time who had heard "Summertime" in its operatic version, Holiday's rendition was a shock—raw and dirty with the rasp of Bunny Berigan's trumpet echoed in Holiday's voice. Holiday jettisons nearly the entire melody, flattening out the melodic contour to fit her voice and her artistic sense, and behind her, Berigan and Artie Shaw jam away, sensing even then that this new Gershwin song with its easy harmonic sequence would be a natural for the jazz repertoire.

July 29, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1930s jazz · gershwin covers · jazz vocals · summertime

Raymond Fol: The Four Seasons (Spring: First Movement)

In the mid-'60s the fine French pianist and arranger Raymond Fol had the audacity to record a big band arrangement of Vivaldi’s bestselling set of concerti. And for that he chose Johnny Griffin as main soloist on most tracks, beginning with the universally famous initial one: Le Printemps, 1st Movement (Allegro).

Fol was a great admirer of Duke Ellington (who returned the favor by performing one of Fol's compositions with his own orchestra) and had a strong classical background. On the other hand, as a pianist he played with Sidney Bechet as well as with Dizzy Gillespie. For this session, he arranged every movement of the four Vivaldi concerti in a jazz style, each differing from one another. This loud Afro-Cuban opening must have been a shock to classical music buffs of the time, even though Fol’s writing is so intelligent that anyone with open ears should admit that he did a great job.

But another musician played a key role in the success of this recording: Johnny Griffin. He hadn’t yet chosen to live in Europe for good, but was familiar with the French jazz scene. No wonder, then, that Fol used his fiery, powerful tenor sax to express the exuberance of spring. After all, wasn’t the “little giant” born a Taurus, at the end of April, and wasn’t he best adapted to bridge the gap between Vivaldi’s Venice, Fol’s Paris and his own Chicago, regardless of stylistic barriers?

July 29, 2008 · 1 comment

Tags: 1960s jazz · classical jazz · france · tenor sax

Shelly Manne: Summertime

In 1959 producer Lester Koenig had the good sense to record Shelly Manne & His Men for four nights at San Francisco's Blackhawk. It was an audacious move: none of the sidemen was particularly well known, and the band was in transition, using Feldman as a temporary substitute for Russ Freeman. The resulting four LPs (later expanded to five CDs) are beloved in the jazz community because the musicians played in peak form throughout and the arrangements were fresh takes on familiar material. "Summertime" opens the first album and sets the stage for the 5+ hours of remarkable music to follow. Starting with Budwig's double stops and Manne's light cymbal touches, Gordon intones the theme while the rhythm section creates a mood rather than states the beat. Gordon, in Harmon mute, uses a pure straight tone and his ideas are pointed and direct, with no extraneous notes or terminal vibrato to soften the edge. Kamuca's warm tone and flowery ideas contrast Gordon's, and Feldman builds and releases tension in his solo without sacrificing the overall mood.

July 29, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · gershwin covers · summertime · west coast jazz

Sidney Bechet: Summertime

Sidney Bechet's version of "Summertime" is one of the great recordings in jazz history. Bechet takes the Gershwin song's 16-bar form and simple harmonic structure and treats it like an extension of the 12-bar blues. With Teddy Bunn providing single-string commentary on his guitar behind Bechet's soprano, it is as if Bechet and Bunn were playing the parts of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong from a classic blues recording. Bechet solos throughout the 4-minute recording (certainly one of the longest jazz solos recorded to that time), utilizing much of his unique musical vocabulary, including rasps, growls and various speeds of vibrato. Bunn's responses are almost all from the blues vernacular, except in one spot where he quotes the familiar countermelody from the original opera score.

July 29, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1930s jazz · gershwin covers · soprano sax · summertime

Miles Davis: Summertime

One of the many wonders in the Miles Davis/Gil Evans album of Porgy and Bess is how Evans was able to remain faithful to the spirit of Gershwin's opera without using the original orchestrations. There is no better example than "Summertime." As originally presented in the opera, "Summertime" is a lullaby (a fact seemingly forgotten in the full-voiced performances of certain divas). Gil uses a gently swinging riff that easily adapts to the harmonic changes of the song, while in front Miles plays a solo that strays off the melody more than you think, but always stays connected with the contour of the original tune. And it's all so quiet! Even when Miles builds the intensity of his solo, he never loses sight of the overall context.

July 29, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · big band · gershwin covers · summertime

Marc Rossi: Fatwa In Carbondale

A fulltime professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Marc Rossi's major influences have included George Russell and Jimmy Giuffre (with both of whom he performed), and he has also studied Carnatic and Hindustani Indian music. The selections on Hidden Mandala are all intriguing fusions of jazz and South Indian music, except for "Fatwa in Carbondale," which is a rousing Afro-Cuban jam with a melody based on George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept. For sheer entertainment value, "Fatwa" is the go-to track. The incongruous title was inspired by Rossi's facetious idea that American-born Sufi leader Sheik Din Dayeni (aka Dean Greenberg), "whose spiritual precepts I admire, might issue a fatwa [stern religious edict] to his community."

Rossi's modal vamp intro sets up Van Lenten's breezy flute reading of the enticing theme. Van Lenten's richly intoned and commanding solo is propelled by Rossi's forceful montuno. The pianist follows with a stirring solo of his own that is bolstered by his superbly executed left-hand Latin-rhythm patterns. Urmson's expressive electric bass improv comes next, before the deck is cleared for Zottarelli, who, aided by another insistent Rossi montuno, delivers a splendidly developed, variegated drum solo. Rossi proves here that he is just as comfortable frolicking in Latin America as elsewhere he is in South India, but this composition deserved a better, or more appropriate, title.

July 29, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz

Herbie Nichols: Love, Gloom, Cash, Love

Countless songs have been written about the relationship between romance and money, from "Money Honey" and "Romance Without Finance (is a Nuisance)," to "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Can't Buy Me Love," to name but a few that quickly come to mind. Herbie Nichols's bluntly titled "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love" was inspired by his own personal experience, and although he recorded it as an instrumental, he did write poetic lyrics for it to show to the woman in question, as in the bridge:

          The gloom is the thought
          That everything's naught;
          The passionate, rapt'rous display;
          The grubbing and staking each day
          To help keep you fickle and gay, dear.

As Nichols told Nat Hentoff, "I'm a guy who's been broke all my life, and music is a release for me." Unfortunately, to try to make ends meet, he usually had to play with Dixieland or R&B groups, as there were few gigs for his own highly individualistic music. "Love, Gloom, Cash, Love" is from his last recording session, only six years before his death at age 44 in 1963. A relaxed, loping waltz rhythm prevails throughout this track, as Nichols plays and embellishes the carefree theme that contains an almost ragtime quality, even at times sounding like something you'd expect to hear from a music box, except for the somber (gloomy?) bridge. A prancing, irresistible left-hand motif appears periodically. Some of Nichols's runs immediately remind one of Monk, but some of his darting phrases also bear a similarity to Duke Ellington's piano style in both their rhythmic character and touch. Although such influences may be evident, Nichols's unique approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony dominate as always.

July 28, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · piano trio

John Ellis & Double-Wide: Tattooed Teen Waltzes With Grandma

While listening to this track, you may not visualize a tattooed young man dancing a waltz with his grand- mother, but you will be charmed nonetheless. After a church-organ intro by Versace, Ellis plays the sweet, nostalgic theme, a waltz that possesses a rather quaint, small-town America flavoring. Perrine's sousaphone takes the first part of the bridge and Ellis the rest, before the leader begins his soulful, heartfelt solo, the tenor's vibrant tone enhancing his soothingly flowing lines. Organ, sousaphone and drums provide a perfect foundation for Ellis's musings. Versace solos gracefully and nimbly, with an attractively subdued sound. After the reprise, the waltz tempo is slowed to a crawl as Ellis bows out, and Versace, Perrine and Marsalis together create an effectively understated closing interlude. This is a beautifully arranged and performed piece.

The delightful John Ellis & Double-Wide has the unusual kind of instrumentation you might expect on a stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and indeed that's where the band performed this past May. Ellis first played with polished Perrine in New Orleans in the mid-'90's, and first hooked up with the distinctive Versace in New York. Marsalis completed the group that played together for the first time while recording this CD. Hopefully they can remain a working unit for some time to come, as they certainly deserve to be heard.

July 28, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz

Miles in India: All Blues

Miles had a cool period, and a fusion period, but the Prince of Darkness never went through a Carnatic phase. Even so, his music, especially from the modal period, is well suited for the multicultural angle of the Miles in India project. For my part, I give high marks to any session that puts the great ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram in a rhythm section alongside Ron Carter and Jimmy Cobb, and mixes sitar and alto sax in the front line. (Front line? Perhaps I should call it the front half lotus position.) Producer Bob Belden gets high marks just for the bravado of his vision. But the fun doesn't stop there. The band tackles "All Blues" in 5/4 just to add some more curry into an already spicy mix. In an age of tribute projects that are as tasty as last week's leftovers, this one delights the palette.

July 28, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: all blues · india · miles davis covers · world fusion

Terry Adams: Hilda

Long-time NRBQ fans know that the name is short for New Rhythm & Blues Quartet, and that from day one in 1968, irrepressible keyboardist/composer Terry Adams was the eclectic group's creative linchpin. Their first (self-titled) album included Sun Ra's "Rocket Number Nine," and they would play just about anything from rockabilly to country, from wacky covers of TV and movie themes to, of course, R&B. Sun Ra sidemen such as Marshall Allen and Pat Patrick would frequent NRBQ's horn section. All the while, Adams would engage audiences with unpredictable keyboard solos that could evoke both Jerry Lee Lewis and Thelonious Monk. Adams's long-awaited instrumental "jazz" recording finally saw the light of day in 1995, and was well worth the wait.

For the track "Hilda," Adams is reunited with trombonist Roswell Rudd, with whom he first played in the Carla Bley Band (European Tour 1977). Rudd plays the sparse, Monkish melody as Adams's piano aptly fills in the open spaces, Previte all the while keeping an out-of-kilter Latin beat. Rudd's rough-toned, vocalized sound and pungent, darting phrases make his solo a compelling listen. Adams responds with rich chords and tumbling runs, punctuated by urgent ostinatos and dissonant scatterings of notes. Cohen solos briefly before Previte's clanging, whirlwind drum break, which brings us back to the catchy theme. (Adams, Cohen and Previte, by the way, were on-screen members of singer Annie Ross's backup band in Robert Altman's film, Short Cuts.)

July 28, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz

Gunther Schuller: Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra

Jazz history moved too fast in the middle decades of the 20th century. Developments that had played out slowly in the history of classical music, unfolding leisurely over 30 years or more, hardly had that many months to strut their stuff in the jazz world, before being ushered off center stage to make room for the next new thing. Jazz critics and fans wanted transcendent breakthroughs, and moreover wanted another one every year.

As a result, Gunther Schuller's Third Stream -- a merging of the two preexisting streams of classical music and jazz -- is now seen by many as some passing fad that came and went. Yet the principles of Third Stream are as valid today as when Schuller coined the term back in 1957, and the potential of an ongoing rapprochement between these two musical perspectives is undiminished. Moreover, the music the Third Stream produced during its first blossoming, such as this Concertino from 1959 (recorded in this version in 1999 and released on a 2008 CD), continues to serve as eloquent testimony to Schuller's vision.

Schuller's Third Stream compositions sometimes veered more closely to the classical side, while other of his works took on a more pronounced jazz perspective. The Concertino for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra emphasizes the jazz side of the House of Schuller. This is also the household of Schuller to some extent, with sons Ed and George contributing their considerable talents to the ensemble, alongside pianist Bruce Barth and vibraphonist Tom Beckham. The music offers wide scope for improvisation, and these players rise to the occasion. But the underlying structures are full of interesting twists, such as the fresh take on 5/4 from the opening movement or the unconventional 13-bar blues of the "Passacaglia." All in all, this performance demonstrates the ongoing health of Third Stream, not just as a label or theory, but as a body of inspired music that merits our attention to this day.

July 28, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: symphonic jazz · third stream

Lee Konitz & Grace Kelly: Alone Together

Few saxophonists are more adept at horn counterpoint than Lee Konitz. I cherish the classic recordings of Konitz crossing saxes with Warne Marsh with the dash and verve with which action-movie stars cross swords. It was almost a new genre: cool jazz swashbuckling. Shiver me timbers, those were the days! But venerable duelists need to defend their territory when each new combatant comes to town. In this instance, the new face is teenager Grace Kelly, one of the most impressive young saxophonists in jazz. She matches Konitz line for line in this unaccompanied duet. But there is more "alone" than "together" in this version of "Alone Together," and more respectful horn conversation than parry and thrust. The two altoists wait until the final 30 seconds of the track before matching wits in counterpoint. The moment is electrifying, but all too brief. I demand a rematch.

July 27, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · alone together · alto sax

Grace Kelly: Just Friends

No, not that Grace Kelly. Even so, there might be a movie angle in this alto prodigy, the child of Korean parents, born in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1992, and already gaining recognition for her jazz playing in her mid-teens. On this CD, she shares the front line with Lee Konitz (who doesn't appear on this track), and shows off the maturity of her conception. Konitz has also been one of Kelly's teachers, and his influence can be seen in her oblique manner of solo construction. She never takes the obvious angle, and appears to be quite fastidious in her avoidance of the banal and predictable. By the same token, she is not given to showy demonstrations. In short, this is very smart playing, driven by a quest to find fresh melodic lines for old chord changes. Malone is the sole accompanist here, and is sensitive to the mood of the performance. But I was disappointed that the duo didn't push this song a little bit more. At under four minutes in duration, this version of "Just Friends" sounds like it could be the intro to a much longer, deeper performance. Yet make no mistake about it, this young artist is someone to watch.

July 27, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: alto sax · just friends

Gary Burton Quartet: Blue Comedy

Because of all the diverse music Gary Burton has recorded for almost 50 years, and since the vibraphone is not exactly an instrument that jumps up and down asking for attention, we often forget that even before he achieved his role as jazz vibe icon, Burton was an important member in the early days of the jazz fusion movement. Burton's quartet isn't exactly playing fusion on "Blue Comedy." But he is performing in the early days with three gifted players who would in one form or another join him in the soon-to-be burgeoning jazz-rock movement. Coryell and Moses were already playing in Coryell's post-fusion group Free Spirits at this time. Swallow was a permanent member of Burton's quartet and would go on to perform with Carla Bley, among many others. For that reason, "Blue Comedy" is significant because it displays Burton and his bandmates just before the jazz-rock movement really took hold.

"Blue Comedy" is a modern jazz blues number. Burton opens the proceedings with a forthright straight- ahead melodic mallet run. Swallow's walking bassline steadily propels the piece. Coryell plays some choppy comping chords before he takes a restrained tasteful solo off the basic blues scales. There is little of the speed demon Coryell can be. But it is tasteful playing in the context of the number. Burton swings during his foray, occasionally leaving enough space for Moses's effective accents. The obligatory bass solo follows. Swallow is able to maintain the forward motion of the piece without much difficulty before he is joined for the wrap-up. "Blue Comedy" is real good jazz worthy of the venue in which it was presented: Carnegie Hall. From a historical perspective it is further evidence that all good fusion players had a foundation in traditional modern jazz before they started playing fast and loud. The best of them feel right at home in either style, and all of these players have proved that over time.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1960s jazz · fusion · vibes

Brand X: Nightmare Patrol

Drummer Phil Collins is replaced on this recording by Kenwood Dennard. The easiest way to describe much of Brand X's music is by comparing it to the sounds of their jazz-rock influences of the day. You could always count on part of a song, or the whole song, to sound like it was coming from Mahavishnu, Return to Forever or Larry Coryell. However, this live performance recorded at either the famous London jazz club Ronnie Scott's, The Hammersmith Odean or the Marquee Club (the liner notes name all three venues without delineating what happened where!) has its own style and sound and is a better representation of what the band could really do.

"Nightmare Patrol" at times does have a slight hint of Billy Cobham from his Spectrum and Crosswinds days, but most would not hear it. At any rate, the tune's character is darker than anything Cobham did. The cosmic introduction is buoyed by a mysterious melody that holds the piece together. Jones's throbbing bass is a leading actor in the presentation. He even doubles the melody. Toward the end, a spacey Goodsall arpeggio is accented by Dennard's cymbal work and Jones's harmonics. The song fades away as the audience reacts. As time went on, Brand X began to find its own voice. "Nightmare Patrol" is a fusion work the band should be rightly proud of.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion · synthesizer

Brand X: Malaga Virgen

Many Brand X fans thought the band really found its groove with the release of Moroccan Roll. Brand X, founded by guitarist John Goodsall and bassist Percy Jones, was becoming one of the most important European fusion bands in the genre. The band would never attain the notoriety of its American predecessors Mahavishnu, Return To Forever, Weather Report or even Eleventh House. But following in those footsteps was quite hard.

"Malaga Virgen," Spanish for "Malaga (Spain) virgin," is notable for how Robin Lumley makes his synthesizer sound like a combination of violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and keyboardist Jan Hammer in a feverish riff that is the tune's beginning and end. In between, a driving semi-Latin rhythm is established by Collins and Pert. In an explorative midsection, Jones has an impressive solo and Lumley turns into Chick Corea on piano. The Return to Forever motif is completed by Goodsall on acoustic guitar sounding every bit the equal of Al Di Meola.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion · synthesizer

Oscar Pettiford: Nica's Tempo

Though Oscar Pettiford is well remembered as one of the fathers of modern jazz bass playing, his unique, short-lived big band and the two fine LPs they made for ABC Paramount are virtually unknown to the jazz public today. This reissue combines both albums on one CD. The distinctive instrumentation provides a dose of welcome relief from the usual "wall of sound" approach of most big bands, without sacrificing power or rhythmic intensity. The charts – by Gigi Gryce, Lucky Thompson, and Benny Golson – are quintessential examples of a post-Tadd Dameron style of writing that lives on today in the work of Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, and Slide Hampton. On this track Flanagan, Farmer and Gryce contribute sparkling solos on one of Gryce's finest compositions.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · big band

Stan Kenton: An Esthete on Clark Street

Bill Russo recorded this composition with his own orchestra for the Dee Gee label, and later created this setting for the Kenton ensemble. The piece reflects his study with Lennie Tristano, as it sounds like a written improvisation over a set chord sequence. If Bach had written for the Kentonians, this is probably what the result would sound like; this has a very baroque-classical feel with near-even eighth notes over Levey's metronome-like brushes (fellow Tristanoites Konitz and Warne Marsh would open up gigs by playing Bach Two-part Inventions). Later on, the band breaks out into counterpoint, which is beautifully balanced. In fact the entire track shows how the band could play with precision and the kind of contained excitement needed for much of Russo's writing during this era. Soloists are Russo, Burgess and Rosolino on this live performance. It is a pity that this piece was not commercially recorded by the Kenton Orchestra.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1950s jazz · big band

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Eighthundred Streets By Feet

Already having an excellent knack for creating song titles, Magnus Öström can claim even further credit for his ingenuity as a drummer. His approach is to shape the contours of the music, without sacrificing the need for consistent groove. The gravity of his trancelike playing helps give the trio a punch and fullness that in turn allows Svensson and Berglund to dig further into their own improvisations. This song, with its minimalist repetitions, also has more typical pop progressions with some added twists. Listen to the use of effects and layering from Svensson's piano, creating an opaque wash of sound.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Where We Used To Live

Tuesday Wonderland is a concept album, and was first conceived as a collection of preludes and fugues for a jazz trio. As the music developed in rehearsal, it evolved out of its initial inspiration from J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier to be a more diverse exploration of various flavors. Here, the trio takes another page from the Bill Evans style, with a murkiness and looseness in their own interpretation.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Goldwrap

A gorgeous and uplifting journey through the collective mind of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio! The cycles of changing frequency coming from the drum set effects pedals fit the melody perfectly. The playing here is as relaxed and full as it gets, while maintaining a characteristic churning movement from the piano arpeggios. Svensson's inspiration from Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier is no longer apparent. There is a uniqueness in this man's music that shines on.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Viktoria Tolstoy: The Morning of You

In keeping with his training as a pop and R&B tunesmith, Esbjörn Svensson wrote this song to have a soulful groove and a more pop-influenced hook, on which Viktoria Tolstoy's powerful voice soars. Adding to her poise and comfort delivering the vocals is dexterity in the short guitar solo by Wakenius. The background vamp is accentuated by Jacob Karlzon's distinctive power at the piano.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · jazz vocals · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: The Unstable Table and the Infamous Fable

A rolling sea of arpeggios coming from the piano lays a bed for the elegiac melody. The subsequent bass solo is vocal-inflected and thunderous, something Berglund has come to be known for. Drums and bass lay out while Svensson delves further into a free territory of elegance and purity, harkening back to the pianist's admiration for Keith Jarrett's earlier solo work. This song has moments of relaxation, followed by an energizing push to the finishing coda.

July 26, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Tide of Trepidation

First in a series of concept albums, Viaticum blends musical adventures and humanistic ideals. The title is a Latin word meaning provisions for a journey, and in Catholicism denotes the premortem Eucharist. In this case, Esbjörn Svensson articulates his belief that music is spiritual nourishment for people from all walks of life. "Tide of Trepidation" has bawdiness in its groove, yet conveys a somber, inward-looking sentiment.

July 25, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Viktoria Tolstoy: Dialogue

There is warmth to this pretty ballad duet written by Esbjörn Svensson. The clear-voiced Tolstoy and the raspier-toned Landgren have a kinship that is immediately felt in the performance. During his early career, Svensson left the jazz community to work as a freelance pop songwriter and synth player for groups appearing on Swedish television. This one has some of the accessibility and, dare I say, catchiness that aren't found in much of the music written for the instrumental adventures of e.s.t.

July 25, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · jazz vocals · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: When God Created the Coffeebreak

An off-kilter left-hand bassline that is doubled by Dan Berglund shows off the skills of these instrumental experts in one of the few straight-up classical references in this album. Svensson himself was criticized for not being a virtuoso at times, but he understood the value of studying Bach just like Bill Evans did. In fact, the link is closer than one might think due to Svensson's trio gaining a wealth of knowledge in their early days by "trying to play in the sound of Bill Evans," which meant not to copy the style, but the mood of tunes such as "Nardis" and "'Round Midnight."

July 25, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · java jazz · piano trio · sweden

Nils Landgren & Esbjörn Svensson: Höpsi

This traditional folk song is not as eclectic a choice as many jazz fans might think. To be honest, Swedish musicians play folk music more now than ever before. Many people link Esbjörn Svensson to one of the creators of this trend, Swedish pianist Jan Johansson (1931-1968), due to the fact that both had tragically short lives whose impact will live on indefinitely.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Dodge the Dodo

With a prepared piano, Svensson delivers the rollicking melody, doubled by Berglund's arco bass. An effects pedal evokes the influence of Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in Berglund's own pushing solo. Then there is a departure into another dimension as Svensson draws upon Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert of solo improvisations to great result. Never a fan of transcribing licks, Svensson here details his own approach to playing within the mood or flavor of a jazz master, while not being a copier. Jarrett himself told Japanese concert promoter Toshinari Koinuma to book e.s.t. in 2002, and that's a cat who only a few years ago said in a Down Beat interview that no one was doing anything original anymore.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: Untitled Hidden Track

Keep the CD going at the end, and you'll hear a hidden track for 4 minutes and 44 seconds of raucous, thrashing metal vamps and a wild solo by Berglund, where he engages his customary guitar pedals. This track demonstrates the "hybrid identity" of e.s.t., as do Svensson's own words in Stuart Nicholson's book Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved To a New Address): "We want to hear stuff that bites us, we try to find that music. It's not a question that the only good music you can find is classical music or jazz, the problem is to find it and hear music and get inspired. I don't know how it works really, the creative filter or whatever, but it's fun."

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Esbjörn Svensson Trio: From Gagarin's Point of View

The melody here is as serene as the Swedish night sky, but there will always be a brooding quality to the "Nordic tone" in jazz that is just as vital. Creating imaginative characterizations of a murky world that exists maybe only in fantasies, the trio plays with sensitivity and a style all their own.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · piano trio · sweden

Nils Landgren Funk Unit: You Dig

The groove of Bernard Purdie is distinctive, and bassist/vocalist Price has a lot going on as he delivers a fresh, flowing rap verse. This album was a tribute to Cannonball Adderley, and is accordingly less innovative than many other things Esbjörn Svensson did. Nonetheless, it is fun music and everyone seems comfortable executing it, especially with the addition of the Brecker brothers. Nowadays, The Funk Unit drives the tempo much faster on this party tune.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · cannonball adderley tributes · sweden

Swedish Radio Jazz Group: Sorrow Is the Birth of Joy

Hearing the fluidity and touch coming from Esbjörn Svensson at this fledgling stage in his career, one knows there will be much more inspired playing to come. The pianist has a long opening cadenza and accompanies the melody from Nilsson's briny bari sax with lush voicings and arpeggios. Although Riedel writes in the notes that this piece is designed to build like Ellington's "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," this is an odyssey that spans territory ranging from "Sophisticated Lady" through "Tourist Point of View" and back.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · sweden

David Murray & Mal Waldron: I Should Care

So many great pianists have put their stamp on this standard over the years: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Bill Evans, to name a few. Monk's solo piano versions of "I Should Care" (especially the Riverside version) could serve as case studies in how to remake a standard in your own image. Hence I was disappointed to hear Mal Waldron, a very inventive and daring pianist, stick so close to the conventional chord changes here, and settle so comfortably into an old-fashioned groove. I hoped for something more surprising. David Murray, for his part, offers up a very inventive solo, and gives us a taste of fireworks. But Waldron seems content to let the tenorist do all of the heavy lifting. In short, there is not enough here to hold the listeners' interest for the full duration of this 12½ minutes of ballad musing. Waldron fans would be better served by checking out the dramatic version of "Soul Eyes" from this same date.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: i should care

David Murray & Mal Waldron: Soul Eyes

"Soul Eyes" is Mal Waldron's most famous composition, recorded by John Coltrane on Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors from 1957, and given a quasi-definitive interpretation by the same artist on the 1962 Coltrane LP. Here, a year before his death on December 2, 2002, Waldron collaborates with David Murray on a rich and wide-ranging exploration of "Soul Eyes," which is featured as the concluding track on the 2008 Justin Time duet release Silence. Over the course of 14 minutes, Murray and Waldron create a wondrous ebb-and-flow, moving from restrained lyricism to four-to-the-bar swing to pointillistic introspection before concluding with wide, sweeping bass clarinet lines over Waldron's aggressive pedal-point comping. A fitting memorial to a much missed artist.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: bass clarinet · soul eyes

Paul Motian: Light Blue

It's hard to make a song like Monk's "Light Blue," with its short repeated melody, sound right. By the way, who does play it on record or onstage nowadays? But this is not a problem for Paul Motian. With his atypical trio, he can imprint his personal mark on almost any type of song he chooses, since they will never play it in the usual way. Here, the trio repeats the melody six times with only slight changes before it starts improvising in a "theme-and-variation" kind of way, with Lovano and Frisell taking turns as lead voice, then accompanist, or going back to the melody in unison. Motian's light cymbal touch works as a rhythmic and melodic counterpoint to his partners' playing, and the whole illustrates beautifully one of the veteran drummer's great principles about music (which could also have been Monk's motto): less is more.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · ecm · light blue · monk covers

Trio Sud: Renaissance

On this ballad written by Sylvain Luc, Trio Sud shows that it has acquired an awesome maturity over the years. On their previous records one could be stunned by their choice of a very acoustic sound – specifically that of the Godin electro-acoustic guitar played by Luc – or by the virtuosity of the same Luc, alternating finger and pick techniques at breathtaking speed. Here one is just delighted by a trio sound that is fresh and full, by a song that unfolds its melody and harmonies in a most natural way, and by a guitar sound and phrasing that need no effects or licks to convey their message. It takes great confidence to play in such an unsophisticated way, and Trio Sud has reached that level of self awareness and humbleness where they can simply concentrate on playing music.

July 24, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · guitar

Francesco Bearzatti: Why?

With this quartet, Francesco Bearzatti has arguably reached the peak of his creativity. Still in his 30s, this fiery clarinet and tenor player has had an interesting career as a sidemen in Italy and France. He also led his own organ combo and "Sax Pistols," a loud trio with Stomu Takeishi and Dan Weiss reflecting his interest in Led Zeppelin and Nirvana. But with this consistent suite dedicated to an Italian-born adventuress who died in Mexico during the 1940s, Bearzatti finds not only a theme but also a format. Sound-wise, this quartet could be a rock band as far as power and tightness are concerned. Jazz-wise, they display a variety of attributes that goes back several decades — from early New Orleans music to now, a range that can seldom be heard nowadays — and their joy in playing and improvising is absolutely breathtaking. Could such a band come from anywhere but Italy? Why not, of course, but since Enrico Rava or Gianluigi Trovesi many musicians from the Peninsula have displayed an ability to feed on any period of jazz history not to imitate but to fuel their own creativity. Bearzatti and his mates are definitely wild improvisers with a vivid past and no fear of the future. May they spread the message as far beyond their native country as possible.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · italy · tenor sax

Stefano Battaglia: Our Circular Song

Stefano Battaglia is exactly the opposite of a stereotypical extroverted Italian musician. In fact he says he was unsurprised when Manfred Eicher invited him to record for the ECM label, since he was already deep into the aesthetic of the German producer renowned for his so-called "Nordic sound." But in fact, though he was born in Northern Italy, Battaglia can hardly be called a Viking, and even though Jarrett was among his early influences, he now is closer to, for example, Marilyn Crispell. Battaglia is highly concerned with the interaction between his piano and the other instruments in his trio (characteristically the drummer's seat is held by a percussionist, for the sake of color rather than steady pulse). The group never resorts to the theme-solo-theme pattern, since Battaglia and his partners are more interested in building sonic miniatures in the moment than in fitting into pre-established formats. Their composing most of their tunes together relates to these options. Still, their playing is never abstract and, in the sound of each instrument as in the short melodic phrases that occur under Battaglia's fingers, one often finds the singing quality that devotees of stereotype may attribute — not without cause — to the Italian origin of these fine musicians. In their musical tradition this singing quality is called cantabile.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · italy · piano trio

Paolo Fresu: Si Dolce è il Tormento

The Monteverdi madrigal that Paolo Fresu tackles here was composed more than three centuries before any member of Fresu's Angel Quartet (plus 1 on this track) was born. This may lead the listener to meditate on the fact that Italian musicians definitely have their own treasure of melodies and have no problem dealing with it in whatever idiom. Indeed, when Monteverdi was alive none of the instruments played here existed in its actual form, except for the bass. Still, the vocal quality of Fresu's trumpet fits the melody so neatly that he hardly needs to improvise on it. Lê's guitar sound is obviously far from the baroque lute, but his playing is totally relevant to the emotional quality of the music. Behind them, the support that Di Castri and Gatto bring (the latter with subtle and highly melodic brushes) is just perfect, and Salis's accordion adds its voice in a most discreet manner. If this is the sweet (dolce) torment (tormento) that Monteverdi talked about in his title, let's pray that these "angels" may inflict it on us as long as possible. By all means!

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · classical jazz · italy

Gianluigi Trovesi: Now I Can

Gianluigi Trovesi is not only a great saxophone and clarinet player and one of the main historical figures of Italian Jazz in the last 40 years, he is also a consummate composer and arranger, and a fine humorist. This track bears witness to all the above in its dramatic construction (with a melodic theme hidden in the middle of a riff-based structure), its instrumentation (with the percussion and toys playing a high-pitched humoristic punctuation to the ensembles and solos by low-register instruments), the way it all swings in an infectious slow dancing manner, and finally the hilarious intrusion of Pino Minafra, grumbling some indescribable babble which might be the closest you can get to Southern Italian rap. Trovesi has had several midsize ensembles since '92 with rock, folk and baroque influences to them, but this one best shows the joyous side of his music. Some musicologist may trace this trend back to the old Italian musical tradition of scherzo, which literally means "joke" – a tradition that today's non-Italian musicians often seem unaware of.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · bass clarinet · italy

Gabriele Mirabassi: Madrugadero

Some will argue that Gabriele Mirabassi is not really a jazz musician, and to a certain extent they are right. His straight sound and tone still bear the mark of his breeding as a classical virtuoso, and he doesn't show any influence from such historical players as Barney Bigard or Benny Goodman. But then, his instrument has played such a small role in jazz's evolution over the past half century that it has allowed strong individuals with few strings attached to appear, at least in Europe. Indeed, Mirabassi mostly plays with Europeans, except for Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou-Khalil, who by the way lives in Germany. On this record Mirabassi mostly plays his own tunes with his own group, an unconventional Italian-French quartet. This track sounds like a folk tune, and some purists may again doubt its qualification as jazz. But the way the four players carry this tune from a linear melodic unison between accordion and clarinet to a free rubato exploration around the tuba's growls has definitely more to do with jazz improvisation than with any other musical genre. This bears witness to Mirabassi's open mind and to the Europeans' open vision of today's jazz.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · clarinet · italy

Stefano Bollani: Giroconlon

Stefano Bollani is an atypical musician, and it would be totally irrelevant to reduce him to his Italian origins, first because the melody is rarely the primal ingredient of his music. When it is, whether he pens it or plays a Beatles song or a jazz standard, he often makes it sound like an old-fashioned song used as a basis for rhythmic and harmonic invention. Here he starts with a strong left hand and a brisk right one, and the rhythmic interplay between the two caries on until a pop-songlike harmony emerges. Bollani has studied classical music thoroughly (he often borrows from Prokofiev) and has often supported pop singers before jazz took over. He is one of the young virtuosos who, mostly on the European side of the Atlantic, have a huge classical, pop and jazz culture and feel free to draw from it to shape new forms. In a country where the bop influence is still very strong, his evolution follows a very personal and unpredictable path.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · italy · solo piano

Brand X: Nuclear Burn

Unorthodox Behavior was Brand X's first album and was performed by what most consider the original lineup. This is actually a misnomer because Collins was not the band's original drummer but had come in as a replacement. Brand X was following in the steps of Mahavishnu, Return to Forever, and Eleventh House. The band became known to the fusion community as a quality group. Although they had a few high-profile gigs, most notably opening for John McLaughlin in Central Park, they never quite ascended to the top step. Despite this, they left behind some important jazz-rock music and introduced some important fusion players in Goodsall, Jones and Lumley. Collins was good as well, but it is arguable that Brand X was as important to his music and career as Genesis was.

"Nuclear Burn" features the elements all jazz rock fans wanted to hear at that time, including power drumming, lots of quick thematic changes, a wailing guitar player, a bassist who does more than help keep time, and a wild synthesizer player. "Nuclear Burn" is a full-out assault. The song's guitar riffs sound like something you might have heard come from Al Di Meola in Return to Forever. There are sections of the tune that could have been lifted right off a Mahavishnu record as well. These guys were capable of playing music of the highest caliber. They were not ripping off those bands by sometimes sounding like them. They were honoring them. Over time Brand X's sound would diverge from its influences. Sometimes this was for the good … sometimes not. But music is all about finding your own way.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion

Brand X: And So To F…

Phil Collins and Robin Lumley are back in Brand X for 1979's Product. The band's changing lineups were a product of two things. Collins in particular was a busy guy with his success in the rock group Genesis. So he wasn't always available. The record company also wanted music with more commercial appeal from the band. In a strange way Brand X actually became two bands, or more, by rotating musicians who had an affinity for playing either hard fusion or more accessible material. This album falls mostly into the last mentioned, but does contain some vocals.

"And So To F…" is a superior fusion number. A slow jazz-rock anthem introduction is presented. An energetic rolling rhythm and layered background is quickly developed over which Goodsall squeezes out some sustained guitar lines. Somewhat jarringly, and a bit off key, Goodsall presents some power chords. They serve to amp up the proceedings. Collins goes into overdrive. The bassist Giblin gets busy. Goodsall, the dominate voice on the piece, starts cranking out violin-like screeches. The song escapes into oblivion. This is Brand X proving that they deserve a page in the fusion encyclopedia.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion

Brand X: Earth Dance

Keyboardist Peter Robinson replaced Robin Lumley and drummer Chuck Burgi replaced Phil Collins for Brand X's Masques. Record executives were pressuring the band to play more commercial music. The quasi-jazz instrumental music of acts such as Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione and even Herb Alpert were actually charting at this time. The black ties were salivating over the possibilities.

"Earth Dance" was written by percussionist Morris Pert. It is expectedly heavy in rhythms. The song's introduction is a passel of ambient Asiatic themes. This soon gives way to a semi-Latin percussion vibe that dominates the rest of the piece. The melody almost becomes a bystander. When the melody is present the band sounds like a cross between a poor man's Eleventh House and Return to Forever. What tune there is, is full of ingratiating hooks and comes quite close in character to Spyro Gyra's hit "Morning Dance" released that same year. I am not suggesting anyone copied anyone. I don't know which tune was released first. But this was the type of music that the commercial types wanted fusion to start turning into. In the end, they had their way. My guess is that the record company was probably pleased with this cut. It is a good song. But it is not up to the standards of the band.

July 23, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1970s jazz · fusion

Enrico Rava: Visions

In Italy, jazz musicians and connoisseurs alike call Enrico Rava "maestro," and there are reasons for that. Beside his impressive career, both inside and outside Italy, Rava has always enlisted younger musicians to form new groups and explore new grounds, as with this pianoless quartet that refers more to the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker band than to the Ornette Coleman/Don Cherry association. Of course, the presence of Argentinean-born baritone saxophonist Javier Girotto is instrumental in this comparison. Some songs even sound almost as if they could belong to the Mulligan/Baker repertoire, but the most interesting ones are those, such as this track, that both bring the cool aesthetic into the new century and decentralize it towards the Old Continent. Apart from being a great musician, Rava has always been a true lover of the jazz tradition, from Bix Beiderbecke to Don Cherry. No wonder he can help himself whenever he wants to the heap of stylistic influences he has absorbed over the years, yet always sound like today, and like himself.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · italy · trumpet

Pietro Tonolo & Danilo Rea: Ah, cosa non è stato sotto la luna

They are not well known beyond the borders of their native country (although Tonolo has played with the likes of Gil Evans, Paul Motian and Gil Goldstein, and Rea with Lee Konitz, Chet Baker and Aldo Romano), but Tonolo & Rea are celebrities in Italy. It doesn't take more than a few bars played by this duo to hear why. Where do you find a tenor player with a mellower yet still powerful sound? Where do you find a pianist with such touch and harmonic sensitivity? What's also fascinating is that, as with many other Italian musicians, lyricism seems to come naturally to this pair. They can pen a tune with all the characteristics of a popular Italian melody, such as this track, yet never sound corny when they tackle it, whether playing the theme or improvising countermelodies. That's what one calls good taste. And, even if it also exists in other spheres (cooking, wine, clothes, etc.), you've got a good chance to find it aplenty within a triangle that encompasses Turin, Naples and Venice.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · italy

Franco D'Andrea: Old Jazz

It's hard to find a European musician who's absorbed the history of jazz piano — and jazz at large, for that matter — as thoroughly as Franco D'Andrea. His recent renditions of Ellington's or Monk's works are top-rank recordings, and he has managed to express his own personality both within and outside the boundaries of the classic-to-bop style. One can then understand that the title of this witty tune he penned is partly ironical, as are the quotations of bop clichés that spring here and there from D'Andrea's fingers. These may in fact be the only clues, during a blindfold test, to the fact that this trio is composed entirely of Europeans, all Italian in fact. Actually they have played with so many American musicians residing in or touring through their country that they have learned to speak the standard jazz language without accent. They even often prove more inventive in that idiom than some native speakers, and don't hesitate to foray beyond its borders when they feel restricted by them. Besides, all three are top-level instrumentalists and highly creative improvisers. Who can beat that, on either side of the Atlantic?

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1980s jazz · italy · piano trio

Maria Pia De Vito: Eucharisto Soi

Born in Naples, Southern Italy, a crucible of Mediterranean folk and classical influences, Maria Pia De Vito is one of the Peninsula's great voices and has frequently worked with such other European musicians as British pianist John Taylor, Belgian singer David Linx or Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger. Here she uses lyrics from an apocryphal gospel to build a song that sounds more Indian than Italian, polytheist than Christian. But phoné — the voice in ancient Greek — has always and universally been used to communicate with the divine, and De Vito certainly isn't one to restrict her vocal abilities to the Mediterranean orb. Supported mainly by tabla, bass and the very vocal-like sound of Trovesi's alto clarinet, she creates an utterly original mood, beyond the borders of tradition and modernity.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · italy · jazz vocals

Italian Instabile Orchestra: Il Maestro Muratore

Italy, which is often noted for its inability to achieve political unity, has nevertheless managed to produce an 18-piece orchestra whose members are almost all leaders of their own bands. No ordinary orchestra, then. The Italian Instabile Orchestra (whose personnel, as the name suggests, is liable to swell and evolve) was from its inception one of Europe's most stimulating large modern bands. This track ("The Master Mason" in English) shows the Instabile Orchestra at its arguably best period, displaying typically Mediterranean melodic inspiration on a modal 3/4 vamp arranged in a simple, efficient way. Another of Instabile's assets was that most of its members were potentially raunchy, free improvisers, be they veterans such as Gaslini, Schiano and Trovesi or younger musicians such as Rossi or Actis Dato. Nowadays the Instabile seldom plays, but this album (whose title clearly alludes to Ornette Coleman's Skies of America) is a milestone, set by master builders not only in the history of Italian jazz, but of European jazz at large.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · big band · italy

Antonello Salis: Graffio di Costa

Once you've recovered from listening to Antonello Salis for the first time (it's stunning on record, but it's killing in concert), the thing that will finish leaving you dumbfounded is to learn that he doesn't even have a piano at home. But Salis, who was born and still lives in Sardinia (an island off the Italian Mediterranean coast) and also plays accordion, is so full of music that he hardly needs to practice on any instrument to exude musicianship. This short, athletic, dark-skinned man is so replete with energy that he may sometimes look and sound restless. But on this CD where he devotes himself to the piano, he displays an appalling mastery of the instrument's many nuances and a huge sense of construction, melody and rhythm. Listening to this track, it's easy to understand why so many other musicians, from his fellow Sardinian Paolo Fresu to Joey Baron, French accordionist Richard Galliano or German pianist Jens Thomas, have wanted to perform with him. Salis is definitely unique and, both as a musician and as a person, larger than life.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 2000s jazz · sardinia · solo piano

Frank Strozier: Runnin'

Frank Strozier was one of a group of up-and-coming young musicians on the Memphis jazz scene in the early '50's, which included George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Phineas Newborn and Booker Little. So it was fitting that Little would join Strozier for the altoist's first date as leader in 1960. No one could have predicted what lay ahead for these two very talented artists. Little, who would undoubtedly have joined Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan as one of the new trumpet stars of the '60's, would die tragically of uremia the following year at the age of only 23. Strozier's career would stagnate, despite a brief stint with Miles Davis, to the point that by the '70's he had taken a job teaching science in the public schools of New York. When he landed a recording date in 1976, it was his first in 15 years, and with perhaps a touch of bitterness, it was titled Remember Me. In the mid-'80's, he tried a futile comeback on his first instrument, the piano, and has been little heard from since.

"Runnin'" is an aptly titled finger-busting, up-tempo hard-bop vehicle, the kind used to eliminate pretenders from bandstands during jam sessions, and both Strozier and Little eat it up, backed ably by none other than Miles Davis's rhythm section at the time. Strozier's leadoff solo possesses an urgent intensity comparable to that of Jackie McLean, with biting staccato phrasing, bluesy shouts, and an overriding sense of restless exploration. Little's spirited solo contains spiraling lines impeccably executed, interspersed with almost melancholy interludes and insistent wails. Cobb gets a brief but authoritative drum break before the intriguing call-and-response theme returns.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1960s jazz · alto sax

Emiliano Salvador: Una Mañana de Domingo

Emiliano Salvador never achieved the international success of other top Cuban jazzmen such as Paquito D'Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Arturo Sandoval and Chucho Valdes. In 1992, at age 41, Salvador died in his sleep of a heart attack. Valdes called him "the best pianist of his generation," and the words "Cuba's Jazz Legend" on the front of this CD's packaging are not mere hype. An accomplished drummer and percussionist, Salvador's piano playing could be intensely rhythmic and driving, and he was a diverse stylist overall, as likely to perform jazz versions of more traditional chachas, sambas, mambos, and danzons as he was to stretch out and burn on straight-ahead Latin jazz tunes.

"Una Mañana de Domingo," from his last recording, is a nearly 9-minute tour de force that encapsulates all of Salvador's power, grace and romanticism. The pianist unfurls the yearning melody slowly, veering off into tinkling embellishments complemented by resounding left-hand figures. A more reflective section ensues, before his pace intensifies and he moves into an energetic modal mindset, ingeniously adding tantalizing montuno passages here and there, his profound touch and intricate lines consistently captivating. He then plays the theme straight through before offering more brilliantly textured variations, leading finally to a dramatic and emphatic two-handed conclusion. Mix together Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner and Chucho Valdes, and you might approximate what Salvador achieves in this stunning performance.

July 22, 2008 · 0 comments

Tags: 1990s jazz · cuba · solo piano

Zdenko Ivanušić: Four Odd

The 41-year-old Zdenko Ivanušić is based in Zagreb, Croatia, and is equally proficient on alto, tenor and soprano saxes, besides being an excellent composer. He heads the Donna Lee Saxophone Quartet, was lead alto for the HGM Jazz Orchestra Zagreb, and has performed with several symphony and theatre orchestras located in Croatia. Zivaldo is his own label, for which he ha