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CD/LP/Track Review
Michael Janisch: Purpose Built (2009)
Since moving to Britain from the US in 2005, bassist Michael Janisch has put much of his energy into collaborative projects involving musicians from the two countries. It's hardly a radical idea, but it's as good a shtick as any with which to carve a profile, and along with his prodigious instrumental talents, Janisch is an unusually media and marketing savvy artist, with an all singing, all dancing website and now, with Whirlwind Recordings, his own record label.
Shortly after arriving in London, Janisch formed The Transatlantic Collective with fellow Berklee alumnus, alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius
Patrick Cornelius
b.1978
sax, alto
. TTC debuted on disc earlier in 2009 with the well-received Traveling Song (Woodville Records). Cornelius is also a member of the 10-piece band on Purpose Built, another US/British project and Janisch's debut album as leader. Featured British players include the fast rising young vibraphonist, Jim Hughart
Jim Hughart
b.1936
, and the outstanding guitarist, Phil Robson, who leads his own groups, notably including the string quartet, double-bass and guitar outfit Six Strings & A Beat, as well as co-leading the post-rock, post-jazz band, Partisans, with tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Julian Siegel
Julian Siegel
saxophone
.
Janisch himself is an exceptionally powerful player whose approach to his instrument brings to mind Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
b.1929
piano
's dictum that the piano can be thought of as "88 tuned drums." Unlike the iconoclastic Taylor, however, Janisch is a lyrical, if forceful, player and one who is comfortable working within the established, post-bop, American jazz tradition. Purpose Built isn't concerned with constructing a new edifice, much less tearing down an existing one; it's about creating sympathetic, structured platforms for virtuoso improvisation, and within that template it's very successful.
Most of the 12 tracks on the album are up-tempo Janisch originals, but there are four covers: Sammy Fain's "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing," Miles Davis
Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet
' "Milestones," co-arranged with Cornelius, who contributes a fine bop-rooted solo, Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
1915 - 1967
piano
's "Blood Count," the slowest and most introspective tune on the set, and John Coltrane
John Coltrane
1926 - 1967
saxophone
's "Moment's Notice" (from the saxophonist's 1957 Blue Note album, Blue Train), a rapid-fire bass feature accompanied by drummer Johnathan Blake
Johnathan Blake
drums
.
Janisch's dense horn arrangements and relentlessly assertive playing style are both a little too monolithic for a disc lasting 73 minutes, but they're offset by the quality of the soloists. Cornelius shines, as do both tenor saxophonists, Paul Booth
Paul Booth
b.1977
and Walter Smith 111. But the real stars are Hart, guitarists Robson and Mike Moreno
Mike Moreno
guitar
, and pianist Aaron Goldberg
Aaron Goldberg
piano
, who is heard on just three tracks but makes a mighty impression. Janisch himself takes few formal solos, but is ever at the center of things.
A strong debut from a bandleader who will be even more effective once he's developed a better sense of contrasting light and shade dynamics.
Track Listing: Precisely Now; Adelante; Love Is A Many Splendored Thing; Shumshi; Milestones; Serenade Of The Seas; Puk-n-Pappo; Sofa Stomp; Lost Creek; Blood Count; Beep; Moment's Notice.
Personnel: Patrick Cornelius: alto saxophone (5, 11); Paul Booth: tenor saxophone (1, 2, 6); Walter Smith 111: tenor saxophone (1, 8, 11); Jason Palmer: trumpet (2, 7, 8, 11); Jim Hart: vibraphone (1, 4, 6,11); Mike Moreno: guitar (2, 7, 8); Phil Robson: guitar (5, 9); Aaron Goldberg: piano (3, 9, 10); Michael Janisch: acoustic bass (1, 3-7, 9-11) electric bass (2, 8, 12) ; Johnathan Blake: drums.
Record Label: Whirlwind Recordings Ltd
Style: Modern Jazz
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