Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Larry Bluth, Don Messina, Bill Chattin: Five Concerts an...

140

Larry Bluth, Don Messina, Bill Chattin: Five Concerts and a Landscape

By

View read count
Larry Bluth, Don Messina, Bill Chattin: Five Concerts and a Landscape
The title to this one derives from the five concerts where these ten selections were recorded; the landscape, by the late Annette Bluth-Lukemire, to whom this disc is dedicated, is on the front cover. Most of the cuts are the sorts of standards favored by Tristano-school players like Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz; pianist Bluth, backed by the bass of Messina and the drums of Chattin, plays them in Konitzian manner – sweetly and brightly, but with daring and piquant harmonies that might slip right by you if you're not paying attention. This sort of playing transfixed performers like Anthony Braxton, who emulates it on his standards recordings and shows marks of it in all his work. Braxton once described the effect of listening to a new Warne Marsh record after a steady diet of Coltrane, Ayler and Coleman: he said that coming from that perspective, he couldn't hear it, but that Marsh was playing things that were just as "out" as these outcats.

That's what this disc is like. From one angle, it's a pleasant collection of songs like "My Melancholy Baby," "You Go to My Head," "Lover Come Back to Me," "You Stepped Out of a Dream," "Darn That Dream," and "I'll Remember April." As if the world needed more interpretations of those. But Bluth, Messina, and Chattin lay down grooves that reward those who take the time to listen attentively. On every track, Bluth takes the songs into uncharted waters, sounding harmonically a bit like Martial Solal, who has recorded some memorable standards with Konitz, over the rhythm section's cool and upbeat background all the while.

On the basis of Bluth's adventurous but never grating playing, this disc is worth hearing. The sound quality of these live club tracks leaves much to be desired, but the music is there for anyone who listens.

Personnel

Don Messina
bass, acoustic

Album information

Title: Five Concerts And A Landscape | Year Released: 1998 | Record Label: Zinnia 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.