Jung on Jazz April 1999

The hour-long lecture of sounds is best uninterrupted from beginning to end, but for marketing is divided into ten parts for easy listening. It transcends categories and definitions. Highlights include a rhythmic “Shiva,” dominated by heated solos from Williams, Tardy, and Gunn to the backdrop of blistering beats and “Sybil’s Blues,” a turntable dialogue with bassist Jordan, percussionist Kwame Bell, and horns. Gunn takes his work with Branford Marsalis’s Buckshot Lefonque to a whole new dimension. Heyward’s trombone solo energizes the riff even more.

The disc starts out strong with back to back moments of inspired playing from both saxophonists and their cohorts. Both reedmen push the rhythm section on John Coltrane’s “Mr. P.C.” and Miles Davis’s “Four,” with muscular horn phrases and memorable interplay. The duo coasts along for a lean “Lover Man.” Freeman’s graceful musings probe the ballad while Petersen’s robust tenor melodies throb with passion.

If you don’t know who Pete McCann is, get acquainted with him fast because he is sure to be a force in a few years. A guitarist that is first rate, McCann has been spotted around and about New York with Bobby Previte. Featuring Peter Epstein on alto and soprano saxophones, Bruce Huron on tenor, Tim Lefebvre on bass, and Matt Wilson, of Dewey Redman, fame on drums, Parable is made up of twelve McCann originals.

McCann has an attractive sound that works well with two horns. The guitarist’s inventive licks are the crux of an effective “Grimlock.” “Open Gate” is a surprisingly fresh with a percussive, obtuse introduction and some heavy playing from Huron and McCann. “Hoedown” is another dynamic composition, but before all you cowboys start dusting off your boots, this isn’t line dancing friendly. It’s not that kind of hoedown. This one is pure exhiliration created by Epstein’s searching melody, underscored by McCann’s consummate guitar wizardry.

The first of the six improvisations features the Odean Pope Trio (Pope, tenor; Gerald Veasley, bass; Cornell Rochester, drums) tearing a hole in the ozone layer. Pope screams at the top of his range while being backed by Rochester matching wits with the saxophonist. The tumultuous music is void of any preconception and is unfiltered, no-nonsense improvisation at its finest. The Peter Brotzmann Trio (Brotzmann, tenor; Harry Miller, bass; Louis Moholo, drums) performs the second improvisation, a twenty minute long, ping pong match between the tenor player and Moholo. It evokes the best attraction about free jazz, anticipation of the next twist and the next turn.

Who is Papo Vazquez and where the hell has he been hiding? Vazquez, the trombonist with Jerry Gonzalez’s Fort Apache Band and a fixture in New York’s loft scene of the ’70s, working with Hilton Ruiz and Milton Cardona, has been composing. Five of his originals are featured on his new recording At The Point, Volume One, recorded live at The Point, a Bronx community arts center, featuring his new Pirates and Troubadours band (pianist Arturo O’Farrill, drummers Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez and Phoenix Rivera, bassists Tony Batista and Andy Gonzalez, saxophonists Michael Brecker and Willie Williams, conguero Richie Flores, and percussionists Tito Cepeda, Mickey Sierra, and Milton Cardona.

The infectious rhythm from Cepeda and Sierra and the dynamic melody from O’Farrill wows the listener from the start of “Baila Plena.” The stunning, virtuoso solos from Vazquez and Williams is, in a word, caliente. The solid jazz blowing continues for a marvelous “Coqui,” featuring some witty dialogue between Brecker and Vazquez, but Brecker steals the scene, playing an epic solo. Vazquez’s dervish trombone exercises coupled with the pulsating beat of Rivera and Flores and the tantalizing chords from O’Farrill makes “The Last Dynasty” the crackerjack mambo that it is. Vazquez leads the Pirates and Troubadours, who like a well-oiled machine, don’t miss a beat.

Perkins excels on the Monk gem, “Well You Needn’t,” weaving his solos around Warrington’s dapper bass lines and Strazzeri’s perpetual motion at the keys. Then, there is Perkins’s suave solo on “Blue Skies” that also features a passionate Huffsteter and some swinging ensemble choruses too. The group closes out the night with a pleasant rendition of another Monk tune, “Straight No Chaser.” Perkins show how, in his seventies he still can duke it out with any of the light-weight young guns with convincing authority, flawless technique, and some heated blowing.

The set opens with a playful “Will You Still Be Mine,” slows down for a senuous “Please Send Me Someone To Love,” and who can forget the lingering “Body And Soul.” But nothing tops the rendition of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” that would even make Mr. Bennett proud. Wright is at his best, rousing images of cable cars and morning fog, yada-yada-yada. Garland contours the fine melody perfectly, helping the spolighted altoist shine.

Although European audiences were arguably more accepting of freer forms of improvised music in the ’60s and ’70s, that has radically changed in the latter half of the ’90s, where there seems to be an avant-garde explosion. Look no further than the popularity of David S. Ware and Charles Gayle on college radio and the growing appreciation and fanfare for Dave Douglas for proof that improvised creativity is back with a vengeance. Douglas, who began to turn heads with John Zorn, has evolved into the pre-eminent trumpeter of his time. And while younger talents like Nicholas Payton and Roy Hargrove are bastardized by their mega-conglomerate labels to record an endless line of music that lends little or nothing to the continuum, Douglas has sacrificed fleeting fame and fortune for a more lasting and noble endeavor, composing and documenting his own music, one of which has been his string band. Consisting of violinist Mark Feldman, cellist Erik Friedlander, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Michael Sarin, the string quartet joins Douglas for this eclectic program.

Douglas plus strings commences “Convergence” with a traditional Burmese melody “Chit Kyoo Thwe Tog Nyin Hmar Lar (Will You Accept My Love or Not?),” which plays like an introduction of sorts for “Joe’s Auto Glass.” The dialogue between Friedlander and the trumpeter inspires melancholy. Feldman’s reflective violin musings are breathtaking. Even the late Yehudi Menohin would have been proud. Then there’s Douglas’s lament “Tzotzil Maya,” a piece written in response to the massacre of 45 villagers in rural Mexico. Douglas passionately blows from the opening bars to the close summoning deep sympathy and sadness. There is a brutal honesty to Douglas’s voice that is compellingly featured throughout “Convergence.” Check out “Meeting at Infinity” and “Goodbye Tony,” a moving memorial to the late Tony Williams.

Check out Stitt’s lightning fast intro on “I’ll Walk Alone” and then his laid-back strut through the remainder of the piece. Stitt’s precise, unflappable alto makes the music echo long after the composition has concluded. For a taste of a more lyrical Stitt, there’s the Ellington ballad “I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good,” which the altoist plays to a tee. Throw a warm fire and a nice Merlot into the mix and there’s one elegant evening. Stitt caresses the melody, proving he must have been a romantic at heart. For some tenor with the Stitt, there’s the excellent “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby.” Stitt’s ability to tell a story is just as proficient on tenor as it is on alto. It’s another example of Stitt’s amazing stylistic portfolio.

FREDERICK WASHINGTON JR.
Lilac
(Passin Thru)

It is a shame that the major record companies don’t scrap their crappy Christmas albums that aren’t worth a damn anyway, and use that budget to record an artist such as Frederick Washington, Jr., whose worthwhile offerings should be heard outside of St. Louis. Give Oliver Lake credit for having the courage to take such steps and for giving the public access to another unheralded voice crying out to be heard.

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PETE MALINVERNI
A Very Good Year
(Reservoir Music)

For anyone who isn’t fortunate enough to attend the pianist’s free show every Sunday, at least they have a couple of his Reservoir recordings available to hold them over.

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