Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Joe Giardullo 4tet: Now Is

109

Joe Giardullo 4tet: Now Is

By

View read count
Joe Giardullo 4tet: Now Is
Spontaneity in music doesn’t have to come at the cost of order. In other words, Janis Joplin was wrong when she sang “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”

Saxophonist Joe Giardullo’s return to music 12 years ago at the urging of his friend and musical partner Joe McPhee has resulted in the rediscovery of two of creative music’s modern giants.

Their last recording, Shadow & Light (Drimala 2002), recorded while the events of September 11 were unfolding, is an eerie and beautiful commentary on the fragility of our life on this planet. With Now Is, Giardullo assembles the same cast plus drummer Tani Tabbal for more virtuous music making.

The disc opens with fifteen and a half minutes of firebrand playing. Tabbal and bassist Mike Bisio jet into a straight hard groove that urges McPhee and Giardullo to play catch up. They respond with passionate runs of energy. About halfway through the opener, the rhythm section pulls the emergency brake, testing their mates' attentiveness. What follows is a dissection and introspection with an energy wave bowed solo by Bisio and some nifty hand drumming. This title track reminds one of playing the entire side one of an LP of "new thing" jazz circa 1969.

The rub comes when you realize there are six more tracks and plenty of music to follow.

Giardullo assembles the quartet three more times, twice engages a trio, and finally the last track, a processional duo “Close” by McPhee’s somber flugelhorn with Tabbal’s mallets.

While nothing reaches the intensity of the title track, the remainder of the music focuses on separating the different musical parts for an amazingly clear recording. Joe McPhee skids his pocket trumpet across the dancing bass lines of Bisio on “SCINT,” while Giardullo sails over the entire affair.

These players have the ability to convey a visceral sense of emotion and ordered freedom (not an oxymoron) in their playing that is effortless for listeners to respond to.

Track Listing

Now Is; Spin; Conference; SCINT; O.A.O.L.; Spring Theory; Close.

Personnel

Joe Giardullo - Soprano Saxophone; Joe McPhee - Pocket Trumpet, Soprano Saxophone, Flugelhorn; Mike Bisio - Contrabass; Tani Tabbal - Drums, Djembe.

Album information

Title: Now Is | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Drimala 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.