Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Melvin Smith: Portrait

305

Melvin Smith: Portrait

By

View read count
Melvin Smith: Portrait
There is nothing newfangled here, but if mainstream bebop jazz saxophone is to your interests, then you will give this debut high marks.

Melvin Smith is a native of Jacksonville, Florida. Armed with a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, he was also honored there with the Lennie Johnson Award after graduation. Smith then studied under Jimmy Heath at the Queens College (New York) music department, gaining his Master's Degree in 1999.

Smith uses his church-going beliefs in the composition of his music, and the more secularly known tunes. The opening "Lord I Lift Your Name on High," written by M.O'Shields, is transmogrified as a semi-calypso that would get a nod from Sonny Rollins. On the traditional medley "Go Down Moses/Wade in the Water," Smith's arrangement is straight out of the classic early 1960s Blue Note sound. The tenor saxophonist jumps out and provides a masculine and melodic solo that is redolent of Hank Mobley at his best. Trumpeter Reggie Pittman shows that he is no slouch, with a solo that conjures up some Kenny Dorham vibes.

On Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog's "God Bless the Child," Smith engages in a lengthy tenor sax duet with pianist Gregory Royals, which begins as a reflective ballad and then intensifies during its almost eleven-minute stretch. Smith brings a more reverential tone to Donnie Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free," and picks up the soprano sax for his own "Manasseh" and Pete Seeger's "We Shall Overcome."

This album links in with the early 1960s Donald Byrd efforts including A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1962) and I'm Tryin' To Get Home (Blue Note, 1964). Although these releases were far more ambitious in delivering gospel jazz, Smith's first release imparts the same feeling.

Track Listing

Lord I Lift Your Name On High; Go Down Moses/Wade in the Water; Manasseh; Trylenera (part 1); Someday We'll All Be Free; 1750 Washington St.; God Bless the Child; Trylenera (part 2); We Shall Overcome.

Personnel

Melvin Smith
saxophone

Melvin Smith: soprano and tenor saxophone, piano overdubs; Lino C. Gomez: acoustic and electric bass; Reggie Pittman: trumpet, flugelhorn; Stephen Lee: piano (1-4, 9); Gregory Royals: piano (5-8); Sam Knight: drums (1-4, 9); Ezra Henry: drums (5, 6, 8).

Album information

Title: Portrait | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Self Produced

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.