Home » Jazz Articles » Play This! » Kenny Wheeler: Smatter

Kenny Wheeler: Smatter

By Scott Lichtman
October 27, 2024
View read count

The song "Smatter," from trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, offers the chance to hear several grandmasters of jazz concoct high-energy music together. For Wheeler's debut on ECM Records, Gnu High (ECM, 1976), he gathered the creative forces of Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland on the album's three tracks. Gnu High would quickly be deemed a classic.

Wheeler displays a tone that is equal parts warm and penetrating. His solos are uber-musical, transcending lyrical lines to create pure ambience. Holland and DeJohnette were one of the earliest rhythm bottom-ends to balance free jazz's use of liberated (cross-chord) phrasing with the confident pulse of classic swing. We get the added treat of hearing Jarrett lend his intense comping and soloing to a trumpet-led quartet format, in one of his final recordings as a sideman.

If anyone should ask you "what s'matter?" then you can enthusiastically point them to this track.

Contact Scott Lichtman on All About Jazz.
Jazz/fusion keyboardist & autograph collector in Stamford CT.

Contribute to Play This! Recommend a favorite song, album, or performance and we'll share it with your fellow All About Jazz readers. Submit it here.

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Kira Kira Live
< Previous

Auteur: Music Inspired by the Films ...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

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.