Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Bill McHenry: Bill McHenry Quartet Featuring Paul Motian

262

Bill McHenry: Bill McHenry Quartet Featuring Paul Motian

By

View read count
Bill McHenry: Bill McHenry Quartet Featuring Paul Motian
Saxophonist Bill McHenry's latest CD is a successful meeting of three of jazz's finest younger talents with one of the music's most venerated players. McHenry, who produced the CD and composed all nine selections, has a beautiful tone, strong and clear with an open freshness. He has a fluent sense of melody, but he can also let go of structure and work with the insides of chords. McHenry is also an excellent composer with a gift for inventive structures, and he gives his quartet—which includes Ben Monder on guitar, Reid Anderson on bass, and Paul Motian on drums—plenty of room to breathe.

The CD has a spacious mood and a sense of restraint that makes it an example of contemporary cool. The quartet's lack of piano gives the songs an airy feel, which fits perfectly with the pleasing clarity of McHenry's tone. Several songs stand out: "Stars (Heavenly Bodies)" features subtle guitar work by Monder, who sounds like a gently chiming bell, and there's also a nice bass run by Anderson. "Social Unconsciousness" has a sense of urgency, with a fine Monder solo, and "Alfombra Magica" has a lovely lyricism and yearning that branches off into unexpected electronic directions.

Any time a group has Paul Motian as its drummer, it benefits from his effortless style and flexible precision. Motian has been playing drums for over sixty years, and he is part of jazz's bedrock. Yet Motian always keeps vital, and he's thoroughly comfortable with the younger generation of musicians. His work here enhances an already excellent group, adding an underpinning of history and inspiration.

Track Listing

1. Alfombra Magica (6:20) 2. Social Unconciousness (4:50) 3. Time (5:16) 4. Dimensions (6:56) 5. Music has Meaning (9:54) 6. Stars (Heavenly Bodies) (4:28) 7. Idea #1 (2:58) 8. Two Chords (3:06) 9. The Hit (5:14)

Personnel

Bill McHenry
saxophone, tenor

Bill McHenry : tenor saxophone; Ben Monder : guitar; Reid Anderson : bass; Paul Motian : drums.

Album information

Title: Bill McHenry Quartet Featuring Paul Motian | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Fresh Sound New Talent

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.

Near

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.