Home » Jazz Articles » Jazz Journal » February 2004

125

February 2004

By

View read count
Damaged in Transit
Steve Swallow w/Chris Potter and Adam Nussbaum
(ECM)
The way Swallow describes this project in his liner notes, the recording of this live disc proceeded directly from the compositions to the rehearsals to the performance. As you listen, however, you can sense the effort expended by each of the three players, even on the quietest, prettiest tunes, as they interact with each other in mastering the material as well as uncoiling their imaginations.


Blazing Horns-Tenor in Roots
Tommy McCook
(Blood and Fire)
Roots music at its most elemental, this is a mesmerizing combination of R&B sax, alternately sultry and silken over a reggae groove that grows deeper with each successive cut. It’s as hypnotic as the best dub, but even more affecting since the interaction of the players gives the sound warmth and a sense of play missing from that genre.


Unclassified
Robert Randolph & The Family Band
(Warner Bros.)
Besides being unconventional with a vengeance—try to remember when you last heard a pedal steel used this way—this disc could be used as a musicological primer in the connection between blues and gospel music. You’d be hard pressed to find music in any genre more uplifting than this.


Coast to Coast
Red Holloway
(Milestone)
A seeming effortless collaboration of similarly talented veteran jazz players, this CD is satisfying in direct proportion to the ease with which the tradeoffs occur between musicians. As with most sessions on which Holloway appears, either as leader or sideman, this recording is proof positive that you don’t have to attempt the complicated to produce satisfying jazz.


Wide Angles
Michael Brecker Quindectet
(Verve)
Grammy-winner Brecker has alternated straight jazz projects with lighter fare over the last couple years, and here with the big group he has the versatility to effectively combine the two approaches. Hard core jazzers may find fault with the lush interludes dominated by strings, but there’s no denying the dynamic contrast between those passages and the more vigorous improvisational segments highlighted by brisk percussion.


Cobb’s Groove
Jimmy Cobb’s Mob
(Milestone)
The name of Jimmy Cobb alone gives pedigree to this band and its CD, since he was the drummer for Miles Davis during the Kind of Blue period. But the distinction extends to the individual musicians here, especially Peter Bernstein’s sparkling guitar. Nevertheless, he and the rest of the Mob, plus special guest Eric Alexander on saxophone, pivot around Cobb’s insistent rhythms making the title of the album all that much more appropriate


Universal Syncopations
Miroslav Vitous
(ECM)
There’s a tangible sense of play, not to mention a hearty sense of humor among these musicians—including Jan Garbarek, John Mclaughlin, Jack Dejohnnette, Chick Corea and Vitous himself—that belies this CD’s austere graphics. It begs repeated listening for those reasons alone, but also for the collective sense of discovering the compositions as well as rediscovering each other’s playing.

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.