Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Ben Allison and Medicine Wheel: Riding the Nuclear Tiger
Ben Allison and Medicine Wheel: Riding the Nuclear Tiger
The non-traditional instrumentation of Medicine Wheel, with a cellist and a versatile horn section, creates a spicy sonic palette to present Allison's tunes, as one of the saxophonists also plays bass clarinet and the trumpeter plays some flugelhorn. These unusual timbres wind around the more conventional sounds of soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, piano, upright bass, and drums.
Allison's angular and darkly melodic lines shine with a barely perceptible tinge of atonality that gives Medicine Wheel's sound a refreshing originality. The musicians in Medicine Wheel skillfully execute this vision, working the subtly atonal sound into their individual solos. The liner notes explain the inspiration or musical starting point for each tune, like the Charles Mingus idea for the moody groove of "Love Chant Remix," the exhilaration of clinging to something out of control that fuels "Riding the Nuclear Tiger," and the atonal opening head to "Charlie Brown's Psychedelic Christmas."
Riding the Nuclear Tiger celebrates traditional jazz ideas while breathing new life into them with modern tonality and a dark sound. Ben Allison shines as principal composer and leader of Medicine Wheel.
More Info: http://www.palmetto-records.com/shopping_cart/allison_ben.html
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Personnel
Ben Allison
bass, acousticAlbum information
Title: Riding The Nuclear Tiger | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Palmetto Records
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