Reviews DEC 09 test

Reviews DEC 09 test
12/11/09
Jason
Marsalis
mood MJQ-like on ‘Characters’, slowmoving and elegiac, the Florida players
coping admirably with the to and fro of
Jason’s compositional ideas. His notes
call for more prominence for the vibes in
jazz and he pays tribute to Hamp, the
great pioneer, with ‘Midnight Sun’ and
‘Seven Come Eleven’, swinging hard yet
sounding rather nearer to Milt Jackson
and Bobby Hutcherson in style than to
Hamp. Pianist Johnson does well,
especially on the sweet-sounding
Brazilian song ‘Durango Kid’ and the
very lively ‘Western Vacation Ranch’,
and Jason’s resolutions are always
interesting. Approach with caution if five
tracks of solo drumming is four tracks
too many. Peter Vacher
The Mar Vista
Philharmonic
No Forest Fire
Zonic Entertainment (ZEN 2005) |
Tommy Mars (Hammond org, Fender Rhodes, v), Walt
Fowler (t, flhn), Bruce Fowler
(tb), Larry Klimas (ts, ss), Kurt
McGettrick (b clt, bar s), Arthur
Barrow (b) and Vinnie Colaiuta
(d). Rec. 22 August 2002
The line-up will be
familiar to devotees of
the late Frank Zappa as the great man’s
touring band from 1988, but the vibe
here is more electric Miles than Mothers
of Invention. These long, free, group
improvisations plug right in to a postBitches Brew conception of the slowly
uncoiling groove – a connection made
clear by Tommy Mars’ vintage Fender
Rhodes sound and Kurt McGettrick’s
bass clarinet recreating Bernie Maupin’s
low, murky excavations on those original
Miles cuts. The calibre of the listening
and interaction is astonishingly high with
the rhythm section of Barrow and
Colaiuta flitting nimbly from idea to idea
in a hyperactive gush of creativity, and
the horns responding with spontaneous
charts pulled out of nowhere. And it’s
kind of touching that even here, in this
most un-Zappa of contexts, their old
boss’s presence can be felt in the
irreverence of Tommy Mars’ daft, Bushera satirical asides. Uncle Frank’s
influence will never really die. Daniel Spicer
Max.bab
Inner Orbit
ACT Records 9666-2 |
Max Von Mosch (ts, ss), Benedikt Jahnel (p), Benny
Schafer (b) and Andi Haberl (d).
Rec. September 2008 and March 2009
Saxophonist Max Von Mosch explains
the concept of the album as so: “We’ve
been wondering what astronauts
actually feel in the weightless infinity of
space and have tried to translate it into
44 DEC09/JAN10 // Jazzwise
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our language of sound.” The centre
piece is the half hour long Leonov’s
‘Space Walk Suite’, an imaginary
soundtrack to accompany the first
Soviet Cosmonaut to go space walking
in 1965. The quartet hit all the right
buttons in terms of sonics, with a
mystery and floatiness captured by
trance-like piano and a melodically
meandering sax. But the suite never
really gets away from this vague drifting
impressionism that in the end makes the
whole exercise lack shape and purpose.
The listener will probably find
themselves zoning out into space
themselves. The second half is,
however, a lot more absorbing, and
takes its cue from the late Esbjörn
Svensson’s Trio’s 1999 release Gagarin’s
Point of View, also of course on the ACT
label, the title track of which is featured
here too. The five tracks, all originals but
for the Svensson, is more typical quartet
jazz and works well with its finely
detailed mix of tranquil, pastoral folky
tunes and dreamy jazzscapes
sometimes recalling the work of a Julian
Arguelles or Iain Ballamy. Selwyn Harris
Paoli Mejias
Jazzambia
Paoli Mejias Music |
Paoli Mejias (perc), Miguel Zenon, Ricardo Pons (as),
Jaleel Shaw (as, ss), Chris Cheek (ss), Luis Perdomo (p),
Christian Nieves (g, perc), Hans Glawischnig (b), Antonio
Sanchez, Tony Escapa (d), Rafael De Gracia (perc) and Yan
Carlos Artime (v). Rec. 2008
Though officially on a sabbatical from
jazz, most of the straightahead stuff I
heard in the 1970s with its mainly
electric pianos and basses sounded
anaemic and boring. Wanting more
musical excitement, I discovered the
Fania label with its fiery All-Stars and a
young Eddie Palmieri with its own brand
of irrepressible rhythms mixed with an
unmistakable feel for jazz. In a way, all
the musicians on this record, even if
they haven’t actually played with him,
are Palmieri disciples, but more into
North American jazz than their
predecessors. Mejias, now 38, is a
master percussionist, who has worked
with Eddie’s band for the past 10 years
and who is now out on his own as a
leader. He has recruited the cream of the
crop of New York-based Latin jazzers,
who have seldom sounded so exciting
on material that links Africa, Europe,
Brazil, Puerto Rico and America.
Zenon’s ‘Diaspora’, Glawischnig’s ‘El
Tintero’ and Perdomo’s ‘Links’ are all
formidable, complex compositions with
arresting arrangements that build and
groove, with Mejias driving the already
brilliant rhythm sections. Of the saxists,
Zenon plays on the first three tunes,
again displaying much more passion
than on his own dates as a leader, even
with basically the same section men.
Jaleel Shaw again shows how well he
adapts to different situations and
displays further evidence of a
burgeoning personal style, while
Perdomo, Glawischnig and Sanchez
(often showing off their dark side) – plus
the mighty Mejias – make massive
contributions to a record that was
deservedly high up the US Latin Jazz
charts on its release. About as good of
its kind as it gets. Tony Hall
Joe Morris
Today On Earth
AUM Fidelity AUM058 |
Joe Morris (g), Jim Hobbs (as), Timo Shanko (b) and
Luther Gray (d). Rec. 2009
Given the difficulty that many double
bassists have if they decide to switch to
the electric version of the instrument,
namely they hit the small axe too hard, it
is impressive to hear Morris play an
even smaller axe, the guitar, with the
kind of delicacy that he does. He
favours a spindly, piercing tone with no
fear of an oddly shaped line, his
movement frequently mirroring the often
skewed Ornette-ish statements of his
frontline partner Hobbs, yet there are
moments when Morris’ wispy,
descending lines are almost like righthand piano chords brushed ever so
lightly on a keyboard. Indeed, his
comping is of the utmost discretion,
sometimes nothing more than slurs or
vapour trails of sound that increase the
translucence of the ensemble voice, its
hovering between swing and rubato,
and this mesh-like, finely threaded
nature of the music is definitely one of
its fortés. Generally speaking, Morris’
compositions have a wry, off-kilter
quality to them with the melodicrhythmic input leaning towards figures
that can be unsettlingly sharp in pitch
and fractured in their development yet
there is a lyricism that comes through on
several pieces, none more so than the
slightly African-tinged laments in which
Morris appears practically as a modallyinclined Gabor Sazabo taking the place
of Don Cherry in a version of Old And
New Dreams. As with the previous
release Wildlife there is a distinct
ensemble voice, a lithe, supple sound
comes through, and looks as if it will
continue to grow over time. Morris’
rising stature as a composer-leader and
soloist is indisputable. Kevin Le Gendre
Josh Nelson
I Hear A Rhapsody
Steel Bird SB005 |
Josh Nelson (p, kys, t, v), Ben Wendel (ts, bn), Tom
Catanzaro (ss, ts), Charles Altura (g), Hamilton Price, Sam
Minaie (b), Kevin Kanner and Zach Harmon (d, perc).
Rec. December 2008
If the Los Angeles-based pianist,
composer and arranger Josh Nelson
hasn’t crossed your radar yet, then this
album is an excellent introduction.
Framed by striking reinterpretations of ‘A
Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’
and ‘Here’s That Rainy Day’, both of
which owe something to the highJoe Morris
velocity romanticism of Bill Evans, the
disc’s true appeal lies in Nelson’s
original compositions. Whether in the
mournful chorale which haunts the
ending of ‘Bhutto Song’ (a tribute to the
slain political leader), the clever
major/minor ambiguities of ‘Nebulous’,
or the almost classical development of
the solo tour de force ‘Lullaby for
Ludvig’, Nelson and his outstanding
West Coast band achieve an incredible
array of moods, emotions and textural
detail. While Nelson’s ‘The Antidote’
may have been inspired by a Keith
Jarrett Standards Trio cut (‘The Cure’),
its soundworld owes more to another of
his heroes, Herbie Hancock. Superior
readings of ‘Theme from Chinatown’
and ‘I Hear A Rhapsody’ add lustre to
an impeccably programmed set.
Peter Quinn
New Orleans Jazz
Orchestra
Book One
World Village 468079 |
Irvin Mayfield (t), Barney Floyd, Eric Lucero, Leon
‘Chocolate’ Brown, Ashlin Parker (t), Ronald Westray,
Mitch Butler, Terrance Taplin (tb), Evan Christopher (clt),
Aaron Fletcher (as), Ed ‘Sweetbread’ Petersen (ts), Derek
Douget (ts, ss), Norbert Stachel (bar s), Victor ‘Red’
Atkins (p), David Pulphus (b), Adonis Rose (d), Johnaye
Kendrick and John Boutte (v). Rec. 21-22 Nov 2008
Stylish trumpeter Irvin Mayfield already
has an impressive duo album with Ellis
Marsalis to his credit. Heard in person
last year, he proved a confident crowdpleaser and looks to be the right man to
front this mighty ensemble, founded
apparently as long ago as 2002. Few of
these players are known to me save
Rose on drums, Westray for his
association with the Marsalis LCJO
orchestra and clarinet soloist Evan
Christopher, an omni-present figure on
the New Orleans scene. Oddly, over two
recent visits to the Crescent City, I heard
nothing of them. Commissioned to
contribute, post-Katrina, to ‘All The
Saints’ by a local Episcopal church,
Mayfield, as artistic director, came up
with some of these pieces and
performed them. He says he adds more
each year, partly in homage to his late
father drowned in the Katrina tragedy.
Opening with the marvellous ‘7th Ward
Blues’, Hefti-like in its serenity, it
features sterling solos from Douget,
Westray (a touch too strident) and
Mayfield himself, the Bigard-like
Christopher soaring over the ensemble.
Local instructor Petersen gets ‘Sweet
Bread on the Levee’ to himself, straining
every muscle, before Kendrick, pure-