Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Matana Roberts: Lines For Lacy and The Calling

393

Matana Roberts: Lines For Lacy and The Calling

By

View read count








Matana Roberts
Lines for Lacy
Self-Published
2006


Matana Roberts
The Calling
Utech
2006




The sound of Matana Roberts' alto sax spans jazz her-story, from its roots in New Orleans, through the swinging '30s-40s, to the New Thing. Two new releases - one "soul-o sax, the other a quartet - display the breadth and depth of her vision.

Lines for Lacy, a tribute to former mentor/friend Steve Lacy, is a live set of Ellington/Strayhorn standards. The first number, with its slow-moving melodic anchor line surrounded by gossipy upper and lower neighbor tones cascading in liquid legatos, turns out to be a cleverly deconstructed "Take the 'A' Train . "In a Sentimental Mood never strays far from the melody, but contains some 'bent' notes bluer than an Ellington indigo, segueing into a beautiful rendition of "Isfahan , Roberts' breathy, clarinet-like tone exhibiting a rapid, range-roving phraseology. "Prelude to a Kiss - with more primal bending - follows, finishing with "Never No Lament/Don't Get Around Much Anymore , which oscillates in and out from down-home blues to romantically swung lines to stark, existential Ayler-esque ethereality.

The Calling, another live offering, with Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Thomson Kneeland (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums) added to the mix, balances three original compositions with covers of Sun Ra's "We Travel the Spaceways and two standards. Cornetist Bynum's playing is informed in turns by the 'growling' of Bubber Miley and Cootie Williams ("1863 & "Great Migration ), the cookin'-steamin'-relaxin' cool of mid-Miles ("My Man ) and new-school ecstatics (the title track & "Do You Know What It Means? ) Likewise, Roberts moves between the Bechet-like signifyin' arpeggios of the New Orleans tribute, to the tone poetry of "1863 , to full-on whooping in "My Man. Fujiwara's drums are busy and bustling, playing up, over and around, yet managing to stay thematic, while bassist Kneeland is relatively understated, supportive. The solos dovetail seamlessly, the styles and moods blend effortlessly, melding the voices of jazz ancestry into a history of now.


Tracks and Personnel

Lines for Lacy

Tracks: Introduction; Take the A Train; In A Sentimental Mood; Isfahan; Prelude to a Kiss; Never No Lament/Don't Get Around Much Anymore.

Personnel: Matana Roberts: alto sax.

The Calling

Tracks: The Calling; 1863; My Man; We Travel the Spaceways; Great Migration; Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans.

Personnel: Matana Roberts: alto sax, clarinet; Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet; Thomson Kneeland: bass; Tomas Fujiwara: drums, percussion.

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.

Near

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.