[JPL] Bopndicks 10 picks Jan 2009

[Dick Crockett]

Bopndicks
10 picks Jan 2009
ARILD
ANDERSON/PABLO VINACCIA/TOMMY SMITH     LIVE AT BELLVILLE ECM
This is the essence of the third stream,  combining
classical presentation with jazz improvisation. Bassist Arild
Anderson's first release with a new trio composed of  extraordinary
saxophonist Scotsman Tommy Smith and Italian drummer Paolo Vinaccia. 
The major work here is Anderson's “Independency,” a piece
inspired by Norway's liberation from the union with Sweden. There's
profound dynamism in this composition recorded live at Oslo's
Belleville club.  Anderson's discreet use of electronics add outer
world effects with acoustics in third eye meditative variance.
Arild Anderson has a karmic kinship with profound third
streamer, George Russell, avantist Don Cherry and Scandinavian
residents-not jetting east coast to west coast in this country, but
just down the road to the next century.  
Just wait until you listen to Tommy Smith's work on this
CD to Ellington's “Prelude To A Kiss.” It all works with such
glacial speed, which is what the post modern European in all of us
do...
The human experience in crafted modernity might conjure
ill effects of the new post moderns with the guilt of history and
all, for these jazz interpretations are very personal and
spontaneous, and lend to an environment of a child in a house in the
suburbs.
This is the music of new beginnings, eventual changes
and the alternative of moving forward or spending a long vacation
with family and friends.
This is jazz unlike we're used to, and most intimate to
those who're of different worlds, different countries, different
ideals.
TIM
RIES STONES WORLD    THE ROLLING STONES PROJECT II Sunnyside
Records
Think
of the Rolling Stones, rowdy, unkempt, disorganized 'n' blues some
forty years ago, to the now Tim Ries and a total modern jazz Stones
world view. Tim Ries rearranges the Jagger/ Richards compositions set
with various esoteric techniques featuring  popular musicians from
various countries, Milton Nascimento from Brazil, Tidawt from Africa,
Miguel de la Tolea, Flaminco dancer and vocalist from Spain, Badal
Roy, percussionist from India, Ana Moura, fado singer in Lisbon. 
What Tim Ries has accomplished, while touring with the Rolling Stones
in 2006, is to record the songs with musicians identifying the music
to a world wide celebration with reflections of it in a more
sophisticated form  A remarkable accomplishment adding a more
progressive depth to the music. And the Rolling Stones were gracious
to comply and even perform in back up roles, Mick Jagger on harmonica
with Charlie Watts, drums and Ron Woods on guitar and lap steel in
“Hey Negrita,” and Keith Richards on guitar in “Baby Break It
Down.”  Ana Moura sings with a special passion on “No
Expectations” and “Brown Sugar.” She sings in a fado style, so
soulful as she sings in both Portuguese and English. Fado are
traditional songs with longing and mournful lyrics  created by
sailors on long journeys.  
Ana
Moura is a special treat here along with other world artists and as
you delve deep into this album you realize our communication with
each other is the same and that's Tim Ries triumph with “The
Rolling Stones Project II STONES
WORLD.”
WAYNE
WALLACE LATIN JAZZ QUINTET    INFINITY Patios
Records
Trombonist Wayne Wallace and his Latin Jazz Quintet
gives a whole new west coast contemporary sound  to an already
vibrant music. In these parts you want to get your aspects down to
some Latin dance club in Mountain View just to feel th hot breeze of
the South winds. There's lots of dance energy on “Infinity.”
Jackie Ryan adds more spice with her absolute phrasing  and scat on
“Close You Eyes” and “Love Walked In.”
“Cha-Cha
De Alegria” has a great hook and with Wayne Wallace exchanging
licks  with Roger Glen on flute and vibraphone, again, makes you want
to shake your shake-ables.  
And in reverence for great Freddie Hubbard, the Wallace
group closes with “Straight Life/Mr Clean.”
Wayne Wallace has produced an exceptional Latin mix of
traditional, funky modern stuff.  Kudos to Mr. Clean.
CARLOS
FRANZETTI   CITY OF PRAGUE ORCHESTRA    FILM NOIR Sunnyside Records
Three
reasons why this CD is beloved with pianist Carlos Franzetti &
City of Prague Orchestra and the new “Film Noir” release.  Andre
Previn and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Charlie Parker & Strings
and sound track recreations of noir films of existential mid 20th
Century spread sheets, “Man in The Grey Flannel Suit” with an
apostrophe sand the whole noir absurdity, the tantalizing existential noir that
made the post war American myth to the golden age of Madison Avenue.  
When you think sixties jazz nostalgia with Andre Previn
and Charlie Parker, you have something in the jazz universe that's
special, a view of jazz through the lens of the soundtrack and the
noir ecology implied through film.  
Remember “Anatomy Of A Murder,” music by Duke
Ellington? Perfect example.  
The most blatant and memorable was Roger Vadim's “Les
Liaison Dangereuses” with soundtrack by Thelonious Monk with Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers making a brief appearance.
Music from noir classics weighs heavily on the romance
of an era in film and this Carlo Franzetti CD is emblematic of the
period with fully orchestrated classics such as “Body Heat,”
“Last Tango In Paris,” “I Want To Live,” “The Bad And The
Beautiful,” “Alfie” and others make this endearing for
listeners and especially poignant with an added  
“Salome”
voice of saxophonist Andy Fusco.
MILTON NASCIMENTO &
THE JOBIM TRIO   NOVAS BOSSAS Blue Note
“Novas
Bossas” is an homage to internationally acclaimed Antonio Carlos
Jobim and his music and whose friendship with vocalist Milton
Nascimento, who Jobim used to say  was the only singer capable of
reaching the original pitch of his compositions and arrangements in
the release of this CD recorded in what would've been his 80thyear with the assistance of the Jobim trio with son Paulo on guitar
and grandson Daniel on piano.
The first five songs are based on fond memories of
Antonio Jobim, his humanity and music and the concluding songs are
Jobim originals and their joyous elastic quality.  
You may not understand Portuguese, but you will know the
redeeming heart and character of Jobim's music.
JAMES
GALWAY & TIEMPO LIBRE     O'REILLY STREET RCA Red SealRecordings
A classic and joyous reflection of swing with the poetry
of Baroque. This new CD combines the great talent of Irish flutist
Sir Jame Galway with the contemporary impressions of a Miami based
energetic and well known Cuban quartet,”Tiempo Libre.
O'Reilly street in Old Havana named after Irish General
Alexander O'Reilly who liberated Havana from British occupation in
1763.
The most prominent piece that brings James Galway and
Tiempo Libre together is French pianist Claude Bolling's “Music
from Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” originally performed by Claude
Bolling with another world renowned flutist, Jean Pierre Rempal. 
There must be a recording somewhere in the lexicon of music dazzle,
for Baroque and jazz make a winsome counterpoint song and dance,  a
yin and yang to a bountiful universe. Then there's a Claude
Bolling/Jorge Gomez collaboration, intended or not, to happily
consort with “Espiegle/General O'Reilly.”  
Some hip swaying with “Tica Tica,” “ Soncito”
and “Contradanza” to condense the freedom of Afro Cuban dance in
this euphoria.  
This celebration with James Galway and Tiempo Libre is
real and honest through expression of excellent musicians and the
popular classic music of Claude Bolling.
Believe
me, you'll be on your feet, extolling this as one of your most
memorable live performances.  And it's really one take studio, DiGiorno.
JOE
MAGNARELLI      PERSISTENCE Reservoir Records
Bop trumpet imperious Joe Magnarelli with smoky baritone
saxophonist Gary Smulyan combine in this 'take no prisoners' into a
hard bop nirvana, so tempting that you'll pull out some old Donald
Byrd/ Pepper Adams recordings and sooth out!  
Yeah baby! Feel the swagger in your Stacy Adams pointed
shoes, short brim hat and narrow lapels on your suave two button suit
jacket, for this is no tennis shoes and shorts session. This is East
Coast all the way!  And most cool with the title tune, as Magnarelli
barks out the changes. This is jazz in the sixties most cultural
urban village. Then “The Village” elevates to a more existential
hard bop path as you nod accordingly.
This is what hard boppers did and still do, when
recording this, add a few standards in the mix as “I Had The
Craziest Dream,” and just like the pilot who landed his plane in
the Hudson, you just nail it! Thet's the Magnarelli code for hard bop
rebellion. But don't let it impede your justification, just to keep
your family and a few close friends safe.  You feel it right through
the tight lipped trumpet bop player, that you are, as you wail-
according to Clifford- like a matador in “D Train Boogaloo,” with
ghost of Lee Morgan written like grafitti on the inner layer.  The
same with “Haunted Heart,”this is true hard bop nirvana and only
a few know how to go there and Joe Magnarelli and Gary Smulyan have
the map to go there. “You And The Night And The Music”
perpetuates the euphoria that this music can do, to 'pop a vein.'
This Joe Magnarelli CD is captivating and brilliantly
conceived right down to every song. It's what the noir style of the
sixties want to do, after all, what concept, rough life, three AM 
sensuality and hard music have to do with a heady ride home.
The smoke, Gran Marnier and ribs at dawn make me dizzy
now. With Joe Magnarelli's “Persistence,” I can dream, can't I?  
MARTIAL
SOLAL TRIO       LONGITUDE Cam Jazz
Martial Solal teams with twin brothers, Francios on bass
and drummer Louis Moutin on this special CD , “Longitude.” One of
the great French multi generational jazz pianists, Martial Solal's
artistry is full of reportorial integrity, a history of listening,
absorbing and conjugating life, through myth, humor, drama and
romance on jazz piano.
Know this as you listen to 80 year old Martial Solal
deliver lightning fast observances, catchy panache, all with
precision and distinctive technique on this new CD.  “Slightly
Bluesy” is humor, pun filled with Charlie Chaplin antics as his
rhythm mates hang in, and as if tired of trickery, shift into a
straight ahead stream of consciousness.  Francios  Moutin never
misses adding his own reflections as the resolution is complete.
Dan Morganstern liner notes suggest those new to Martial
Solal may listen first to his rendition on “Here's That Rainy Day,” “Tea For Two” and “The Last Time I Saw Paris”  as a way to
tap into the amazing Solal technique and energy, for his conception
may reach as far back as Debussy and early Baroque, to stride like
Art Tatum, delightful Ahmad Jamal sunny visuals, even Monk blues
vamps, now even some neo modernists, Robert Glasper, Enrico
Pieranunzi.
The title tune an Solal original, “Longitude” sounds
like a young Jacques Tati running up and down wooden stairs in tap
shoes. It's a way for Solal to make an almost visual impression and a
latitudinal drift into “Bizarre, vous avex dit 7,” with
dexterity, motion and pandemonium as the musical slapsticks keep
coming, almost a French laugh riot, with wry sophistication and
touch.  
Hang on to this “Longitude” CD,  for Martial Solal
is more mischievous and playful  than ever.
WALT
WEISKOPF    DAY IN DAY OUT Criss
Cross Records
Tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf revives a format popular
in the fifties-sixties with Gerry Mulligan, Mingus, some of Mancini's
writing, Bob Brookmeyer, Shorty Rogers, Donald Byrd and Thelonious
Monk. Oliver Nelson used it successfully in his “Blues And The
Abstract Truth albums on Impulse. Weiskopf's Octet consists of five
horns, his tenor with Andy Fusco, alto,  and Gary Smulyan on baritone
saxophone, including John Mosca, trombone, and Michael Leonhart,
trumpet.  
Pet Zak on piano with Doug Weiss on bass and Kendrick
Scott on drums round out  octet rhythm section.  
Originally entitled “Four Shades for Saxophone and
Piano,” now on this cd,  “Blues In Two,” “Walk In The
Woods,”” Off Yellow” and “Lean and Mean,”  Weiskopf wrote
the charts while touring in 2003 with Steely Dan, adding later the
solo and background parts, then writing four originals and two
arrangements while on the road in 2006 with Steely Dan and Donald
Fagen.
All the music is charted with very little room for
improvisation. It's quite a challenge writing all segments.  
It requires musicians who can read and are considered
some of the best in the world to perform this piece wherein this
musical engine, all instruments must seem to function,
simultaneously.
Walt Weiskopf concludes with a wonderful solo on
Ellington's “I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good” and a lovely chase
with pianist Peter Zak. And the horn arrangement's have a soft and
smooth texture with a slow tempo that's distinctive and memorable.
Writing for an ensemble is a lost art and Walt Weiskopf captures it
on “Day In Night Out” with the grace and ease of an authentic
contemporary jazz modernist.
MIKE
LeDONNE      FIVE LIVE Savant
Records
Pianist
Mike LeDonne recaptures  the lost art of the live hard bop session in
the sixties with this new CD recorded at Smoke Jazz Club in New York
City.
Music in clubs like this was prevalent in the 50's
-60's,  as a Wednesday night at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit
where Chet Baker or Donald Byrd or the Jazz Messengers would play all
the time, any time in big cities across the America. That's where
Jeremy Pelt's “Good Times” chimes in, where the music cherishes
old times.  
Not so much now, where music tastes have changed.  
It could have been a special time squeezed in just prior
to Vietnam, long hair and the Beatles revolution.
Maybe this LeDonne mood is all good black & white
wistful noir or maybe just a night in October, 2007 where the guys
just are hanging out playing their 'Asimov.'  
Could be just too philosophical, man, and too cool just
to imagine.  
Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, Trumpet extraordinare
Jeremy Pelt with first call session men, John Webber on bass and Joe
Farnsworth on drums.  
Dizzy Gillespie's “Manteca” is pure organic,
artfully measured in a strong bop tone in the hands of these world
class musicians. No shuck and jive,  for these masters of the bop
universe know the spirit of this moment and that's when pure dynamic
nuance over whelm pathogenic modernity.
You just can't hear this stuff anymore. “Little M' is
an original tribute by LeDonne as to hand down the mantle of bop to
be cherished by future jazz archivists.  
Cedar Walton's “Bleeker Street Theme” concludes this
CD with patriotic hard bop jazz messenger service tribute to
America's fascination with the blues, national holidays,  Jack
Karoac, other niceties, eccentricities and the existential of post
modern life.
Bopndick sez: “When you gotta know the Zen of what is
then, before you know of what is now.”
ONES
TO WATCH: 
DAN
CRAY TRIO LIVE      OVER HERE OVER HEARD Crawdad
Records
This Chicago based trio of Day Cray, piano, Clark
Sommers, bass and Greg Wyser-Pratte on drums are champagne among the
young contemporary jazz trios in today's post modern world.  This
live performance at 'Pops For Champagne' in Chicago provides ample
evidence as Dan Cray's up tempo sophisticated dynamics, melodic, to
up tempo,  to down low end funk,  building on recurring themes to
wailing rhythmics of Clark Sommers and Greg Wyser-Pratte from “Old
Black Magic to ”Horace Silver's “Barbara.” Then a tempo driven
dogmatic “More Than You Know,” keeps as subtle groove. Wayne
Shorter's “Hammerhead” keeps it going on a nice heady blues
refrain, reharmonized by Cray, as the rhythm section always brings it
home as if Les McCann was in the house.
You'll realize after listening to this live performance,
it's only a matter of time for this band to achieve more recognition
for their work.  I'm a fan since their first CD, “Who Cares” as
you will too.  
NATALIE
COLE        STILL UNFORGETTABLE DMI Records/ATCO
Great songs, great arrangements, the great music
classics as Natalie Cole takes you back to the Nat King Cole era of
great music, only this is Natalie all the way, except “Walkin' My
Baby Back Home,” and a duet with dad. When you hear “You Go To My
Head,” you hear a romantic Natalie Cole at her best with the world
greatest musicians at their best.  And the arrangements are what make
melody and romance, “Still Unforgettable.”
KRISTIN
KORB        WHY CAN'T YOU BEHAVE Double
K Music
Kristin Korb has the range, tone in her voice and
perfect tempo, that dedicated jazz musicians have, a rare specialty
that only imbue gifted vocalists as one as this at the very beginning
of her eventual rising career. And with her background and
education,( ability processing the legends, Jackie Caine,  June
Christy, Anita O'Day,) Kristin Korb reminds one of early Dianne Krall
in her forthright timber, range and retro fifties hipness, especially
her duet with trombonist, Andy Martin, giving it a different look on
“Daydream,” “May I Come In.”  As the extraordinary Ray Bryant
inspired  Liew Mathew's “Cubano” highlights this CD,  Korb's
version of Italian ballad “Estate” is also ripe with dilatant
sensuality. As the story goes this attractive, well schooled young
lady of jazz is the real thing. We'll all remember her early CD and
bask in her eventual success.  Kristin Korb is a real bona fide jazz
singer and her new “Why Don't You Behave,” is just the beginning
of a remarkable jazz career.
GREG
REITAN           SOME OTHER TIME Sunnyside Records
Pianist Greg Reitan debuts with Sunny side label with
the new “Some Other Time” CD with that special touch, command and
cadence reminiscent of Brad Mehldau on “Dear Prudence” and Bill
Evans on “Time Remembered.”  Reitan's voice is sprite, well
schooled,  different, yet compelling with his originals on this CD,
“The Wayfarer,” “Bordeaux” and  “Autumn.” “Joy's Song” elevates a remarkable treat.
FLORIN
NICULESCU PLAYS
STEPHANE GRAPPELLI blujazz
Violinist Florin Niculescu, born in Bucharest Hungary to
a gypsy family of prominent musicians. His father Corneliu Niculescu
was a concert violinist and his mother was a pianist. His sister
played cello, consequently, Florin's childhood was solely devoted to
music.  
At 23, he moved to Paris and became involved in the
local jazz scene, for Django Reinhardt's and renowned French Italian
violinist Stephane Grappelli music still make a vivid impression as
stellar to Parisian jazz, much like Coltrane and Monk are revered
here in America.
Hence the obvious conclusion as Florin Niculescu plays
Stephane Grappelli with the most  romance, serendipity and aplomb.
Dick Crockett
“The
Voice” 88.7fm
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