Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Thomas Marriott: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson
Thomas Marriott: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson
ByThe disc traverses a musical landscape full of twists and turns, moving ever-so-smoothly from techno- based grooves ("Phases & Stages, Circles & Cycles ), to 1970s-era fusion explorations ("Write Your Own Songs, "You Wouldn't Cross the Street ), to straight-ahead blowing ("I'm Building Heartaches ). Tracks like "Everywhere I Go and "Crazy are comparatively clear-cut, adhering to the accessible nature of Nelson's gorgeous melodies.
An emphasis on melody seems to be Marriott's top priority throughout the disc's eleven tracks. The trumpeter's warm-tone and exuberance breathes life into simple, yet sumptuous themes such as "The Great Divide and "On the Road Again. An exciting soloist, Marriott's improvised dueling with Taylor's soprano saxophone on "I'm Building Heartaches stands out as a disc highlight.
Jorgensen and Harper keep things grounded while maintaining a loose, open-ended rapport with each groove. Burns snakes his way through the disc with inventive soloing and distorted synth clusters. His out-of- left-field accompaniment on the second half of "Crazy is worth the price of admission. Guest keyboardist Wayne Horwitz creates an electronic frenzy on the Weather Report-influenced "Write Your Own Songs the groove is practically a carbon copy of Joe Zawinul's "Black Market.
The music from this session may be hard to categorize, but the same can be said of Nelson. The eclectic nature of the iconic singer/songwriter's catalogue lends itself surprisingly well to Marriott's liberal approach.
Track Listing
Phases & Stages, Circles & Cycles; Everywhere I Go; Write Your Own Songs; You Wouldn
Personnel
Thomas Marriott
trumpetThomas Marriott: trumpet, flugelhorn; Mark Taylor: saxophone; Ryan Burns: Moog synthesizer, Fender Rhodes; Geoff Harper: bass; Matt Jorgensen: drums; Wayne Horwitz: keyboards (3); Rick Mandyck: guitar (10), vocal (11); Cecil Young: gong (11).
Album information
Title: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Origin Records
Comments
About Thomas Marriott
Instrument: Trumpet
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar To