Animation: Asiento (2011)

C. Michael Bailey

Senior Contributor since 1997

...wants to know if Gene Harris is playing "Summertime" in Heaven...

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Published: March 25, 2011

Jam bands Phish and Gov't Mule have been making a cottage industry of covering a famous LP for their respective Halloween concerts (the bands' "costumes," so to speak). In 2010, we were treated to Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus (Warner Brothers, 1978) and The Who's Who's Next (MCA, 1975), respectively.

It is not unheard of for jazz musicians to reimagine iconic recordings of the past. Phil Woods Phil Woods
b.1931
sax, alto tipped his hat to Art Pepper + Eleven (Contemporary, 1959), with his Groovin' to Marty Paich (Jazzed Media, 2005); and Bill Cunliffe Bill Cunliffe
b.1956
piano paid homage to Oliver Nelson Oliver Nelson
1932 - 1975
arranger with The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take 2 (Resonance Records, 2008). Most recently Delfeayo Marsalis Delfeayo Marsalis
b.1965
trombone reimagined Duke Ellington Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
piano 's Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia, 1957) on Sweet Thunder (Troubadour Jazz, 2010).

Bob Belden Bob Belden
b.1956
arranger and Tim Hagans Tim Hagans
b.1954
trumpet take on the substantial monument of Miles Davis Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet ' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) under the collective banner of Animation in Asiento. The set was recorded live in 2006, as part of the Reissue: Classic Recordings Live series, at New York City's Merkin Hall. Rather than present note perfect fidelity to the original release, this is very much a reimagining of the classic recording by Belden and Hagans—who, with keyboardist Scott Kinsey Scott Kinsey

keyboard , bassist Matthew Garrison Matthew Garrison
b.1970
bass, electric , drummer Guy Lieata and turntablist DJ Logic DJ Logic
, blow off all of the duct-work, delivering a stunning work of art, distilled to its essence and presented in living aural color.

It is a big order to pay a proper tribute to such an important and iconoclastic recording, but Hagans, Belden and company do exactly that. Of critical importance in these interpretations are the basic rhythm section of Garrison and Lieata. They provide the track upon which this high-speed train travels. Garrison's hyper-burping electric bass ripples over the faster lines laid down by Lieata. When Garrison solos, as on "Pharaoh's Dance" and the title piece, he approaches his task angularly, revealing the deeply hidden rhythms of the pieces. Lieata is a percussive sorcerer, providing sounds and times that are both elastic and appropriate.

Hagans, more than any other trumpeter, was made for this recording. He draws all of the voodoo, gris-gris and mojo out of the music, liberally using an echoplex to bend his thoughts to the will of the music. Belden, playing soprano saxophone, shows why his Grammy-winning Black Dahlia (Blue Note, 2001) was so popular.

Asiento is superb in every way, satisfying a broad range of even the stubbornest jazz Jones.

Track Listing: Pharoh's Dance; Bitches' Brew; John McLaughlin; Miles Runs The Voodoo Down; Spanish Key; Sanctuary.

Personnel: Bob Belden: saxophone; Tim Hagans: trumpet; Scott Kinsey: keyboards; Matt Garrison: bass; Guy Licata: drums; DJ Logic: turntables.

Record Label: RareNoiseRecords