Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Dennis Gonz: Idle Wild

325

Dennis Gonz: Idle Wild

By

View read count
Dennis Gonz: Idle Wild
As with his previous efforts, notably 2004's quartet NY Midnight Suite, Texas-born trumpeter Dennis González creates jazz steeped in life's various joys, anxieties, truths and wonders. González's works require time and patience for full appreciation as they unfold through various rhythms, melodies, and harmonies. This is a thinking person's jazz. Catchy riffs and clever hooks won't do here. Tolerance and serenity are in abundance instead on Idle Wild, with saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Michael T. A. Thompson expanding and enriching the album's wisdom.

The recording begins with the sophisticated "Elechi," an elegy for Malachi Flavors that is as playful as it is cerebral. González and crew especially excel in the rhythmic and melodic shifts as the piece moves from one plane of music to the next. These transitions give the music a dimension of movement that is human in nature, somehow flawed, thoughtful and purposeful. Though nearly 22 minutes in length, the tune comes through smooth and fully realized.

"Bush Medicine," yet another gem of subtlety and motion, swirls and twirls in various directions, though its core is more lighthearted than the opening number. Of the song, González has said, "If you are sick with a cold, you take cold medicine. If your country is sick with Bush, you give it Bush Medicine." "Dust" and "Song" are faster tunes, though just as rich in texture as anything else on the album. The title song shows a slightly more somber hue than anything else on the album, with Filiano and Thompson instigating a darker, more urgent background for the horns of González and Lake.

Track Listing

Elechi - Elergy For Malachi Favors; Bush Medicine; Dust; Idle Wild; Song; Document For Toshinori Kondo.

Personnel

Dennis Gonzalez: trumpet; Oliver Lake: alto saxophone; Ken Filiano: double bass; Michael T. A. Thompson: drums.

Album information

Title: Idle Wild | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Clean Feed 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.