The Ron Carter Nonet—Eight Plus

(Dreyfus Jazz FDM 36705)

While the French are catching a lot of stateside political flack these days, we personally don't have a problem with France. After all, they helped the Americans win the Revolutionary War and sent us the Statute of Liberty, the very symbol of the country's freedom. In regards to Jazz, it's always a great day when something new arrives from the French Dreyfus Jazz label. Recent releases by Roy Haynes, Jean-Michel Pilc, Bireli Lagrene, a hot young sax player named Rosario Giuliani, and now, The Ron Carter Nonet project, have made for some quality listening. Eight Plus is an unusual session in that Carter steps up front and solos, as well as being the rock solid bandleader, producer and composer he is. In addition to a standard quartet that includes Stephen Scott on piano and Lewis Nash on drums, Carter eschews the main timekeeping bass duties to one Leon Maleson. Carter handles the primary solos on piccolo bass throughout Eight Plus. Four cellos added to Carter's quintet creates the nonet sound. The most unusual piece here is a rendition of Leon Russell's "A Song For You." The song with the highest swing quotient is the opening "Eight," which is a sideways "Impressions" minus a couple of notes that morphs extremely close into the Coltrane standard. Notably, these sessions date back to 1990, but the ideas and the execution are as fresh as ever.