Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Darius Jones Quartet: Book Of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise)

83

Darius Jones Quartet: Book Of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise)

By

View read count
Darius Jones Quartet: Book Of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise)
Saxophonist Darius Jones has rung the changes on each of his widely acclaimed leadership dates. Book Of Mae'bul subverts expectations again with an all new quartet drawn from NYC's finest, who shift between intricate script and flowing invention in the blink of an eye. Together they navigate eight of Jones' compositions, which tend towards order rather than entropy more than might be expected. For those looking for comparisons, drummer Mike Pride's From Bacteria To Boys' Betweenwhile (Aum Fidelity, 2010) which featured the reedman, provides a more accurate indication of the ground traversed in its subtle subversion of classic jazz tropes than either of Jones' prior Man'ish Boy (Aum Fidelity, 2009) or Big Gurl (Aum Fidelity 2011).

Jones' keening, emotion-laden saxophone is all-pervasive, largely eschewing the extremes except for the occasional blurts at the start or end of phrases. That typifies his approach: a gorgeous vibrato caress shaded with carefully controlled overblowing. On piano, Matt Mitchell, lately seen with Tim Berne's Snakeoil, furnishes sophisticated harmonic support which jostles and envelops the leader. In the bass chair, Trevor Dunn's sure-footed calisthenics form the foundation which underpins proceedings, more so than drummer Ches Smith (also part of Berne's ensemble) whose stream of consciousness delivery delineates the pulse through non-repeating motifs, angular attacks and diverting textures.

Jones has added a new dimension to his writing. With each track he takes convention and gives it a twist, juxtaposing disparate styles in a manner which elicits complicated emotional responses. Few cuts finish in the same arena in which they started, often going through a sequence of moods. A series of lucent piano notes presage the achingly plaintive theme, and subsequent choppy extemporizations of "The Enjoli Moon," while on "Be Patient With Me" a tender rubato opening segues into an impassioned saxophone break, before a rippling piano trio that imperceptibly develops an out of focus salsa feel, only to close as an enraptured ballad. By contrast, the headlong tumble of "Winkie" explores call and response as an organizing motif, first set out in rejoinders between alto and piano, and then subsequently dueling bass and drums, until an insistent Latin vamp closes out. The only misfire is "Roosevelt," reprised from his debut in a bare bones rendering, where a long fadeout irritates, especially as it contains some of the most adventurous playing on the disc.

Personnel

Darius Jones
saxophone, alto

Album information

Title: Book of Mae'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: AUM Fidelity

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Darius Jones Concerts


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.