Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » D. D. Jackson: Anthem

165

D. D. Jackson: Anthem

By

View read count
D. D. Jackson: Anthem
Pianist/composer D. D. Jackson recently received the Juno Award (“Best Contemporary (Instrumental) Jazz Album”) for his RCA debut ...so far. While that solo outing garnered raves from most critics, I’m not sure they will be as enamored with Anthem. Here, Jackson has decided to enhance his piano playing with organ overdubs, to no good effect. To his credit (and as a sign of his growing clout in the biz), he has also assembled a first-rate, all-star supporting cast featuring Jack DeJohnette (drums), James Carter (sax), Mino Cinelu (percussion), Richard Bona (electric bass) and newcomer Christian Howes (electric violin). Unfortunately, as the New York Rangers prove, great players don’t always make a great team! Jackson permits Christian Howes’ screechy, over-amped violin to dominate the solo space, DeJohnette thrashes about wildly and the great James Carter is buried in the morass. Jackson’s 10 original compositions run the gamut from a frantically paced samba (Spring Song), to overblown bop (Showcase Blues), to a rather disjointed tribute to saxophonist Dewey Redman (Dewey's Groove). Attribute my disdain to the “old fart factor” if you wish, but this Anthem left me cold. Back to the drawing board D. D. ##

Personnel

D.D. Jackson

Album information

Title: Anthem | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: RCA Victor

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.