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Multiple Reviews
Joe Locke: Nocturne for Ava & Mutual Admiration Society 2
George Kanzler
Jazz and music critic for major daily newspaper, also syndicated by Newhouse News Service, from 1968 to 2002; frelance since.  |  |
Bob Sneider/Joe Locke Film Noir Project | Joe Locke/David Hazeltine |
The versatility of vibraphonist Joe Locke
Joe Locke
b.1959
vibraphone
comes to the fore here, one album moody with intricately arranged, programmatic/impressionistic music, the other a loose quartet date emphasizing solos as much as tunes.
There's a mid-20th Century feel to Nocturne for Ava, evoking that time when melodic jazz found its way into TV show themes and movie soundtracks. It also uses instrumentation—augmented in places by horns—made popular by the George Shearing Quintet of that era, employing unison or harmony lines from piano, guitar and vibes. The program, as the group's name suggests, draws from film noir and neo-noir soundtracks, managing to blend in three originals that fit the programmatic mold and spirit.
Guitarist Bob Sneider
Bob Sneider
guitar
and Locke share leader billing, but originals and arrangements are also contributed by trumpeter John Sneider, pianist Paul Hofmann and tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart
Grant Stewart
b.1971
sax, tenor
. "Last Tango in Paris" features the full octet (also including bassist Martin Wind, drummer Tim Horner and percussionist Lusito Quintero) in an arrangement that ups the tempo and adds tropical accents, including bird call whistles under the vibes' out chorus, while preserving the sinuous Gato Barbieri-composed tenor sax lead. The Shearing Quintet combination prevails on a "Laura" framed by arco bass solos, Locke's hypnotic title tune and, surprisingly, "Los Feliz" from the Siesta soundtrack. Harmon-muted trumpet adds melancholy obligati to a dreamy "Afterglow" and voices the bridge on the trumpeter's ticking clock tempoed "Black Dahlia". The seductive, haunting power of relatively short, catchy kernels of melody in film themes is mined by the arrangers effectively with repeating but evolving motifs as undercurrents on the supremely dark "Theme from Blow Up" and "I Want to Live Main Theme" as well as the more up-tempo "Windmills of Your Mind" and "Flirtibird," the latter from the pioneering jazz score by Duke Ellington for Anatomy of a Murder.
Locke and pianist David Hazeltine
David Hazeltine
b.1958
piano
, showing almost preternatural musical compatibility, are joined on Mutual Admiration Society 2 by bassist Essiet Essiet
b.1956
bass, acoustic
and drummer Billy Drummond
Billy Drummond
b.1959
drums
. For the most part, the album is a spirited romp featuring sprightly, sometimes challenging originals like Hazeltine's 12-tone "Twelve" and Locke's "Pharoah Joy," inspired by Pharoah Sanders "Forays into Nigerian High Life". There are also two fetching ballads: Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" and Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks," the latter exquisitely lyrical and pensive.
Tracks and Personnel
Nocturne for Ava
Tracks: Last Tango in Paris; Afterglow; Theme From Blow Up; Laura; Black Dahlia; Windmills of Your Mind; Nocturne for Ava; Kiss Me, Kill Me; I Want to Live Main Theme; Flirtibird; Los Feliz.
Personnel: John Sneider: trumpet; Grant Stewart: tenor saxophone; Bob Sneider: guitar; Joe Locke: vibes; Paul Hofmann: piano; Martin wind: bass; Tim Horner: drums; Luisto Quintero: percussion.
Mutual Admiration Society 2
Tracks: Pharoah Joy; The Peacocks; One For Reedy Ree; Twelve; What's Not To Love?; Convocation; If It's Magic; Blues For Buddy.
Personnel: Joe Locke: vibes; David Hazeltine: piano; Essiet Essiet: bass; Billy Drummond: drums.
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