Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » John McNeil: East Coast Cool

199

John McNeil: East Coast Cool

John McNeil: East Coast Cool
Trumpeter/composer John McNeil is after a "third stream of sorts with East Coast Cool. His avowed purpose is to meld the cool jazz feel of the Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker quartet (which featured baritone sax and trumpet, but no piano) with the more decentralized approach and edge of modern free jazz. While it's impossible to know how the masters of yesterday might have approached this challenge, McNeil (who played with Mulligan and arranged for his tribute band) submits a pretty convincing model here.

Comprised mostly of McNeil originals, East Coast Cool is overall a well-balanced album. There are through-composed pieces like the laid-back modal "A Time to Go, with a beautiful melody in the horns, as well as harmonically or metrically free numbers, and tracks that are both in turn. Near the end of "Internal Hurdles, the group emerges from some far-flung free playing to sneak back into the theme. The seamless transition announces that you're in the hands of a highly skilled ensemble.

For this project McNeil assembled some top-notch instrumentalists. His quartet features Allan Chase's brawny but acrobatic baritone, Matt Wilson's nimble drumming (mainly with brushes) and John Hebert's rich bass. Standout tracks include the gentle ballad "Wanwood, featuring one of McNeil's more understated yet inspired solos; and "Waltz Helios, whose quirky two-note theme alternates with more flowing melodies. On "Delusions, Wilson begins a snare drum roll almost imperceptibly with the brushes and builds a wonderfully controlled crescendo nearly a minute long.

Track Listing

Deadline, A Time to Go, Brothr Frank, Bernie's tune, Duet #1, Delusions, Wanwood, Internal Hurdles, Duet #2, Waltz Helios, Schoenberg's Piano Concerto, GAB

Personnel

John McNeil
trumpet

John McNeil: trumpet; Alan Chase: baritone saxophone; John Hebert: bass; Matt Wilson: drums

Album information

Title: East Coast Cool | Year Released: 2006 | Record Label: OmniTone

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.