Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Walt Blanton: Monuments
Walt Blanton: Monuments
By
After experimenting with sounds and concepts for about a year, Blanton, along with pianist Tony Branco and drummer John Nasshan felt the time was right to roll tape on their daring musical experiment. The resulting seven tracks, recorded in one day during the summer of 2006, comprises Monuments; an adventurous musical joy-ride full of unexpected twists and turns.
Blanton is a powerhouse of a trumpeter who can play with lyrical restraint, culling notes from the middle register, and having fun with short melodic spurts, as he does on "Lester Rides Again and "In And Out." There are moments, however, when brilliant tone and commanding technique take over, as on "Life Force." For the majority of the disc, it is Blanton who plants the initial musical seed for each piece, creating themes with noticeable traces of post-bop and contemporary mainstream jazz, singed with an abundance of melancholy and satire.
The interplay between piano and trumpet is astonishing. Branco seems to anticipate Blanton's every move, accentuating the nuances of the trumpeter's rhythmic momentum. The pianist enjoys dancing along the outer realm of tonalitywith Don Pullen-like fervoron the title track and serves up elongated, patiently developed rumblings on the lengthy and multi-faceted "Life Force.
Always colorful and rhythmically adventurous, Nasshan maintains an incessant drive, keeping things grounded and swinging. His subtle cymbal work on the serene "Song Without Words melds easily with Branco's light-as-air clusters.
A conceptual winner, void of unnecessary posturing, Monuments is a fun time had by three exceptional musical minds.
Track Listing
Monuments; Song Without Words; Suite For Lulu; Life Force; Alone; Lester Rides Again; In And Out.
Personnel
Walt Blanton: trumpet; Tony Branco: piano; John Nasshan: drums.
Album information
Title: Monuments | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Origin Records
< Previous
Jim Rotondi with Joe Locke at Jazz Ca...
Next >
Mofro: Early Archives