August 2001

From the Inside Out
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By Chris M. Slawecki

Read Part 1-2

Like the offerings of your favorite ice cream specialty shoppe, jazz can present a variety of flavors both exotic and familiar. Here’s your chance to soothe your midsummer musical palette with cool delights. Just remember that the names listed below are just that – names. One man’s Butter Brickle might be another man’s Butternut Crunch.

CLASSICAL JAZZ

David Matthews and the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra: BACH 2000 (Milestone)
Pianist, arranger, and bandleader David Matthews has released several sets from his own piano Trio and several previous MJO projects. Though he plays no piano on this newest MJO release, its musical vision – to honor one of the most respected and performed composers in classical music, timed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death – is no less ambitious. Featured soloists include Bill Evans on saxophones and flute and trumpet player Lew Soloff, for whom Matthews produced a series of albums in the mid-1980s (Among his many other credits, Matthews arranged the all-time Yusef Lateef funk BOMB, Autophysiopsychic, in 1978). This large ensemble retains its warmth and intimacy under Matthews’ direction, and his reworking of Bach’s constructions possess their own integrity: The familiar themes of “Minuet: A Lover’s Concerto” and “Toccata and Fugue,” which silkily glides along a loping bassline, remain true to both their hallowed composer and to the swingin’ large ensemble spirits of Basie, Goodman and Ellington. The instrumental counterpoint in “Toccata” and “Invention No. 4” are particularly dizzying, while the somber French horn shadings in the almost sketched introduction to “Siciliano” and in “Air on the G String” evoke the specter of Birth of the Cool. Not quite up to the standard set by the Modern Jazz Quartet’s Blues on Bach, but undoubtedly a worthy entry into this field.

SOUTH AFRICAN JAZZ

Andy Narell: Live in South Africa (Heads Up)
This is more than “just” Narell’s first live album – it’s a respectful, enthusiastic cultural exchange recorded live at the Blues Room in Johannesburg. Up front, it’s steel pan drummer Narell, a native New Yorker who fearlessly explores Caribbean, Latin, and American and African Jazz and pop traditions. Surrounding Narell is a colorful band whose members represent nearly every sound and style of their native South Africa: Basi Mahlasela (percussion, from Soweto); Rob Watson (drums, Bloemfontein); Denny Lalouette (bass, Mauritius); Andile Yenana (keyboards, Eastern Cape); and Louis Mhlanga (guitar, Zimbabwe, who Narell met during Narell’s first tour of South Africa and recruited to play guitar on his subsequent release, Fire In The Engine Room).

The level of interplay between these musicians, combined with their individual musicianship, is stellar and exhilarating; not just Narell’s unbridled playing, which sounds like a broad, warm smile that just won’t fade, but also the rhythmic undercurrents upon which his steel pans dance. As individual instruments swell into and then out of their charts, vibrant songs such as “Kalinda,” “Hannibal’s Revenge” and “Chakalaka” simply explode with rhythm and melody – with international color and life. The door to “Jenny’s Room” opens softly, with piano and guitar trading delicate figures that set the stage for the leader’s winsome, leprechaun dance. Guitarist Mhlanga is particularly noteworthy, but everyone contributes. Narell also revisits “Mpule” from Heads Up’s compilation Smooth Africa (read more about Smooth Africa) and ends with an honorable reworking of the South African traditional “Oxama.” Summer Daydream #1: Somebody’s got to put together an Andy Narell / Gary Burton duet record…

POPULAR CLASSICS

Phil Upchurch: Tell The Truth! (Evidence)
You may not know Phil Upchurch. Actually, that would more accurately read, “You may think that you don’t know Phil Upchurch.” But if you’ve heard a blues or pop or soul or jazz record by the likes of George Benson (Breezin’), Jerry Butler (The Best of ), Michael Jackson (Off The Wall) or Muddy Waters (Electric Mud) – by just about anybody – within the past three decades, you’ve heard Upchurch play (he’s also released about two dozen titles as leader of his own sessions). Though this set is comprised almost entirely of jazz and pop standards, through these standards Upchurch ultimately reveals himself. When the situation calls for it, such as the spirited front stoop funk workout on “She’s Alright” (with a nice touch of blues harmonica) and the cruise through “Manhattan,” Upchurch rocks. Yet he also glides smoothly through the flamenco sketched introduction to “La Costa” and the opening “Jive Samba,” some classic swivel-hipped, Latin-tinged soul-jazz. Upchurch’s self-accompaniment in “Take Five” is nothing short of brilliant, and this eight-minute solo version of “St. Louis Blues” even better, as it reaches back to the common stride and boogie-woogie roots that the blues and jazz share. Not many instrumentalists can sustain an eight minute solo version of anything; if “St. Louis Blues” is not at least considered as a nominee for the Best Jazz Instrumental Solo award come Grammy time, there’s no sense presenting that award. Here’s the real question: Does Upchurch sound like a lot of other famous guitarists (Benson, Jim Hall, Metheny, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, etc.), or do a lot of other guitarists sound like him?

REGGAE JAZZ

Ernest Ranglin: gotcha! (Telarc)
There don’t seem to be very many reggae jazz records. But if any guitarist has the chops to pull it off, it’s the venerable Ranglin, who in the 1950s shaped the cornerstone for modern reggae and ska through jamming with Prince Buster and Bob Marley and later helped transport the slinky island sound into global pop through sessions with Jimmy Cliff and Johnny Nash. gotcha! smoothly glides along the tracks of the traditional reggae “chicka-chick, chicka-chick” rhythm, while solos from pianist Warren Bernhardt, saxophonist Antonio Hart, and of course Ranglin adorn the languid landscape as it flows by. Ranglin’s musical genius is in his sheer sound, with its tone and finish that somehow straddle both Wes Montgomery (as in “Way Back When,” with indefatigable single-note runs that seem to dance and swirl into a melodic whirlpool) and Chet Atkins (for example, the fleet “The Bubbler”). Drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Anthony Jackson, keyboardist Gary Mayone and renown Caribbean percussionist Errol “Crusher” Bennett comprise the rest of this crackerjack band. Bernhardt’s solos in “Soulful Moments” and “Thinking of You” genteelly evoke the touch of George Shearing, and further the placid and tranquil mood of a warm and sleepy summer Sunday afternoon. But gotcha! is almost a little too smooth, and if it was a food, it would be pureed mango: Refreshing, tart, and ripe with sweet-sticky juice, but nothing you can sink your teeth into.

INTERNATIONAL JAZZ

TrioFattoruso: Trio Fattoruso (Big World)
Nearly a half century ago in Uruguay, bassist Antonio Fattoruso formed the first Trio Fattoruso by drafting into his band two musician sons, drummer Jorge and keyboard player Hugo. In this family tradition, the two brothers now recruit Hugo’s son Francisco on bass for a lively new trio set that weaves native Uruguayan threads into fusion, Latin, and contemporary Jazz cloth. The cuts that feature vocals – including and especially the arpeggio-framed opener “Esa Tristeza” – suggest Ivan Lins’ sophisticated Brazilian pop. But as it progresses, this set grows deeper: Hugo’s piano flights and Jorge’s whipsmart drums in “S.T.C. – P.M.” and “A Morte de um Deus de Sal” suggest a Keith Jarrett trio with Jack DeJohnette. Bassist Francisco often roars like a Stanley Clarke / Jaco Pastorious monster barely tethered to its leash, pounding the beat with angular bodyshots in “S.T.C. – P.M.”and displaying the magic, nearly ridiculously fleet fingers of Tony Levin in “De Igual a Igual,” in the cycling jackhammer introduction to “Charlando Con Jorge Graf,” and in the powerhouse “Distortion Generator,” which suggests King Crimson in its energy, odd meters, and title. “Queixa” sparkles with a romantic and reflective melody, but it’s neither sentimental nor saccharine. Summer Daydream #2: Somebody’s got to give a copy of this record to George Duke. Maybe he’ll remember what Jazz sounds like…

SOUL JAZZ

Rodney Jones: Soul Manifesto (Blue Note)
Guitarist Jones throws down this stoned soul picnic, scheduled for August 28 release, with Idris Muhammad on drumsticks and Lonnie Plaxico on fatback bass setting the table for saxophonists Arthur Blythe and Maceo Parker, James Brown’s most reliable foil for decades, plus Dr. Lonnie Smith on that traditional soul stewpot, the Hammond B-3. As befits a rump-roastin’, booty-toastin’ set, the saxophonists splash up steamin’ bowls of classic Lou Donaldson and King Curtis and Stanley Turrentine riffs, as on “Soul Makossa” or the almost painfully slow-grooving ballad “Soul Eyes.” Dr. Smith beats the hell out of that Hammond in the meaty “Soup Bone” and “Mobius 3,” which bounces on a beat that’s the very distilled essence of New Orleans funk. As for the leader, his melodic leads in “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Soul Eyes” smolder with moody blue emotion, while his rhythm licks in “Groove Bone Part 1” come thumping straight outta the Godfather’s classic “Licking Stick-Licking Stick,” deepening that James Brown connection. Most importantly, even though Jones affords everyone tons of solo room, and he consistently rips up particularly torrid sheets of Grant Green / Boogaloo Jones sound himself, the overall impression of this Manifesto is that of a house-rocking band. An absolutely perfect soundtrack for your summer backyard barbeque.

(Read Rodney Jones': The Making of A Jazz CD, an AAJ.com exclusive feature.)