Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Wally Schnalle: The Suit

82

Wally Schnalle: The Suit

By

View read count
Wally Schnalle: The Suit
"The Suit," drummer Wally Schnalle writes in the liner notes to his new album of the same name, "is simply a metaphor for a myriad of musical constraints such as: idiom, genre, common practice, expectations, bag, style, and convention. Each of these, and more, I find can impose severe limitations on creativity. And so the straight jacket (Suit) image. Seeking to avoid such restraints, Schnalle casts the net far and wide both compositionally and instrumentally on The Suit. Historic jazz forms are always present, but they mingle with hip-hop, electronica, and good old fashioned prog rock, to name just a few of the styles surveyed.

Helping Schnalle out on the disc is a capable and willing band consisting of Jeff Massanari (guitar), Jeff Pittson (keys), and Peter Barshay (acoustic and electric basses). Also credited is Schnalle's laptop, for facilitating "sounds you don't hear from the typical jazz bandstand. Electronics do play a large role in shaping the sound of the album. Rather than taking a dogmatic position on synthesizers and drum machines, I can only say I am favor of them when they sound good and against them when they sound like one of the preprogrammed sample tunes that are used as demos on portable keyboards. For the most part, the electronics on The Suit are used for texture and to build atmosphere, rather than to mimic the sound of an actual band.

Thus "15th Street Rundown features skittering synthesized percussion and nervous sounding turntable effects, but the star attraction is the wailing, Santana-sounding guitar work by Massanari. Likewise, the swirling keyboards on "Red Marty spread an aura of mystery that Barshay's acoustic bass lopes through. Schnalle's playing is powerfully fluid throughout, while at the same time he provides a gritty focus that grounds some of the spacier electronic moments.

These players are clearly excited by the possibilities of the music they are making. Schnalle and his band seem to understand that there is nowhere to hide once you step out of the "suit. Of course, once one gets past the fear of not having the standard fallback positions to rely on, the reality and promise of true freedom sets in.

Visit Wally Schnalle on the web.

Track Listing

The Wheels Of Agraz; Flowk; Shouldn't Be That Way; 15th Street Rundown; Red Marty; That Road; Do That; Emdecici; Suit Suite: Wear That Suit, Excellent Choice, How's The Fit?

Personnel

Wally Schnalle: drums and electronics; Jeff Massanari: guitar; Jeff Pittson: keys; Peter Barshay: acoustic and electric basses

Album information

Title: The Suit | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Retlaw 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.