Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Scott Miller - Joe Fonda: Bottoms Out

138

Scott Miller - Joe Fonda: Bottoms Out

By

View read count
Scott Miller - Joe Fonda: Bottoms Out
Bottoms Out features some of the most innovative and imaginative improvisers on the scene today - musicians who have mastered the blues and bop but are also aware of the musical developments of the last thirty years in what is often pejoratively or derisively labeled "free" music. These five performances capture a large ensemble as exciting as any operating these days, playing straight-ahead with fire and extending the range of possibilities with unfailing musical sensibility.

Take the opening, Joe Fonda's "Song for My Mother/Mischief." The gentle theme evolves into a rollicking blues rapped out by drummer Kevin Norton. Trombonist Steve Swell takes a gutty tailgating solo that recalls the very best of the great Roswell Rudd. Hard to top, but baritone saxophonist David Schumacher follows him unaccompanied and takes things even farther. Then the instrumentalists come together in a glorious frenzy evoking the outrageous climaxes of Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.

Scott Miller's compositions, which fill out the balance of the disc, are engagingly and intricately constructed to make maximum use of this large ensemble, allowing for all the soloists - particularly Fonda, Norton, the stunningly versatile pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, and Swell - to show their tremendous abilities. They need those abilities, for Miller's compositions are loaded with unexpected twists. This is jazz and improvised music of the highest quality. Recommended.

Personnel

Scott Miller, composer; Joe Fonda, b; Kevin Norton, d; Michael Jefry Stevens, p; Mark Whitecage, as; David Bindman, cl, ts; David Schumacher, bari s (#'s 1-3); Robert DeBellis, bari s (#4); Sam Furnace, bari s (#5); Steve Swell, tbn (#'s 1-4); Jim Leff, tbn (#5).

Track listing: Song for My Mother/Mischief / No Second Troy / Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground / Over the Sea Waltz / Spencer Lane Extension.

Album information

Title: Bottoms Out | Year Released: 1999 | Record Label: Cadence Jazz Records

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

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

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.