Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » The Microscopic Septet: Friday the Thirteenth - The Micr...

249

The Microscopic Septet: Friday the Thirteenth - The Micros Play Monk

By

View read count
The Microscopic Septet: Friday the Thirteenth - The Micros Play Monk
One of New York City's favorites, The Microscopic Sextet's 30-year run has seen a dormant period, but has been revitalized via its affiliation with Cuneiform Records. With its fourth release for the label, Thelonious Monk's influence and eternal spirit yields a wittily entertaining facelift via the septet's customary off-center expansions on bop and swing, to complement the intermittent jiggle to the avant-garde. Its musicians are true to form with their holistic stance on Monk's discography, and, thankfully, they coat the material with a fresh spin, which is the antidote to the present, and seemingly well-worn, literal renditions of the master's songbook.

Perhaps not the unit's most radical outing, Friday the Thirteenth—The Micros Play Monk is centered on modern jazz classics, and not comprised of the artists' respective compositions. Therefore, it probably wouldn't be a wise idea to mash and slash Monk's work into oblivion—loosely speaking, that is. But with minor detours and clever rhythmic deviations amid a few nicely placed freeform jaunts, the music is a study in contrasts and textural arrays. Add the sometimes hyper-mode soloing and tenderly coined choruses, and the septet hearkens to a different drummer on "Teo," due to drummer Richard Dworkin's wily, surf rock tom patterns and the horn section's revved-up phrasings and improvised breakdown. They inject quotes from other Monk pieces not represented on the album, while instilling a cha-cha vibe during "We See." Then, on "Epistrophy," Dave Sewelson's popping baritone sax notes give way to a sprightly multi-register blast from his fellow horn-men, atop Dworkin's perky Latin groove.

Devoid of clichés and the old wine-new bottle equation, The Microscopic Septet, as anticipated, delivers the goods with its signature mode of adventure and quirkiness. It's a colloquy that professes a sense of newness under the portent that the musicians have aligned their creative juices with Monk's spirit—and nod of approval from above.

Track Listing

Brilliant Corners; Friday the 13th; Gallop's Gallop; Teo; Pannonica; Evidence; We See; Off Minor; Bye-Ya; Worry Later; Misterioso; Epistrophy.

Personnel

Microscopic Septet
band / ensemble / orchestra

Phillip Johnston: soprano sax; Don Davis: alto sax; Mike Hashim: tenor sax; Dave Sewelson: baritone sax; Joel Forrester: piano; David Hofstra: double-bass; Richard Dworkin: drums.

Album information

Title: Friday the Thirteenth - The Micros Play Monk | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Cuneiform 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

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.