James Carney: Ways & Means (2009)

Terrell Kent Holmes

Contributor since 2003

Loves jazz, astronomy, and the Yankees.

Recent articles (174 total)

Published: September 5, 2009

Pianist James Carney takes the parameters involved in scoring films and applies them with the discipline of a jazz composer on the ambitious Ways & Means, the kind of challenging and cohesive work that listeners have come to expect from this exemplary musician.

Carney's band is as great a gathering of talent as one can find and they don't waste a note in his intricate arrangements. The excellence of Tony Malaby Tony Malaby

sax, tenor 's tenor and Josh Roseman Josh Roseman

trombone 's trombone drive "Nefarious Notions"; Carney blends acoustic and synthesized sounds to produce a wonderful aural bouquet on the epic "Squatters," Peter Epstein Peter Epstein
b.1967
sax, sopranino adding a sprite of a soprano sax above Mark Ferber Mark Ferber

drums 's impatient cymbal tapping, while trumpeter Ralph Alessi Ralph Alessi

trumpet doesn't play a solo as much as sing an aria. The improvised "Champion of Honesty," which opens with someone (probably Alessi) mumbling into his horn, sounds like Satan's Philharmonic warming up before a concert.

Carney's layered keyboard work paces the eerie "Onondaga," with Ferber's measured drumming and Epstein's passionate soprano building up the tension. "Legal Action" sounds like a marriage between jazz and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. "Pow Wow" is a free jazz type of improv that sounds like something Charles Mingus Charles Mingus
1922 - 1979
bass, acoustic or John Coltrane John Coltrane
1926 - 1967
saxophone might have assembled. Even the ballad "Gargoyles," a touching tribute to Carney's late drummer Dan Morris, is just as rich with the layered interplay that defines the disc.

To say that Carney is simply a jazz musician would be somewhat off the mark. With all of the styles and influences he seamlessly integrates on Ways & Means, his music would disintegrate the boundaries of any single genre into which one might try to place it.

Track Listing: Nefarious Notions; Squatters; Champion of Honesty; Onondaga; The Business End; Legal Action; Fallout; Pow Wow; Gargoyles.

Personnel: Peter Epstein: soprano and alto saxophones; Ralph Alessi: trumpet; Tony Malaby: tenor saxophone; Josh Roseman: trombone; James Carney: acoustic and electric pianos, analog synthesizer, glockenspiel; Chris Lightcap: contrabass; Mark Ferber: drums.

Record Label: Songlines Recordings
Style: Fringes of Jazz