Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Chris Mondak: Eternal Youth

11

Chris Mondak: Eternal Youth

By

View read count
Chris Mondak: Eternal Youth
New England Conservatory of Music student Chris Mondak's Eternal Youth harkens back to early and hard-bop eras. Mondak, who has studied with Dave Holland and Cecil McBee, composed all of the songs (with the sole exception of "Be Honest with Yourself," which was co-written with his grandfather, Art Mondak). The music has a West Coast—Pacific Jazz feel. Mondak includes ballads on this offering and adds the invigorating Charlie Parker-like "Du Wow," which sounds like it could have been staged at the Royal Roost.

Whether walking the bass or providing counterpoint, Mondak keeps thing moving. His opening on the bubbling "Voyage Mist" consists of upbeat plucks and slaps while band mate Solomon Alber offers a throaty solo that soars upward atop the music like a great bird above some distant savanna. "Sweet Lovin" features Haoran Li's boisterous trombone. Matt Kelly gives the slow bluesy ballad "Abuelito" some fat sounding trumpet work. Guitarist Carlos Heredia whips up a graceful solo on the wishful "Dream Catcher" and, with their solos, saxophonist Alber and Li capture the upbeat mode of "Warriorld." The entire group gets a chance to shine on "Du Wow." The song even pauses for drum breaks, and Gavin Connolly fills the space with solos in a "make way for Max Roach" kind of way while Mondak adds to the romp with a Mingus-style walk.

For those who appreciate a retro approach to jazz and happy compositions, Mondak's Eternal Youth will most certainly satisfy.

Track Listing

Voyage Maid; Sweet Lovin'; Abuelito; Warriorld; Be Honest with Yourself; Swords on the Wall; Du Wow; Dream Catcher.

Personnel

Chris Mondak: bass; Matt Kelly: trumpet; Haoran Li: trombone; Solomon Alber: sax; Federico Nuti: piano; Carlos Heredia: guitar; Gavin Connolly: drums.

Album information

Title: Eternal Youth | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Chris Mondak Music

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

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.