Roswell Rudd: Trombone Tribe

It appears that music flows through Rudd, coursing through his veins and flowering his breath as it twists through the 14 feet of brass tubing and out that bell at the end of his chosen instrument. On Trombone Tribe, Roswell Rudd is, once again, on top of his game. He has created a series of songs that traverse myriad geographies, bubbling over through the soul of the vast human Diaspora—from Africa—as in "Fanfare," that is crafted and performed with unforgettable passion by the Gangbe Brass Band, to New Orleans in the minor march, "Hulla Gulla" and back again in the spacey, orbital "Bone Again With Bonerama."

His stellar romps—through guttural yowls and growls—in "Astro Slyde," "Sand In My Slide Shuffle," and "Slide and the Family Bone" are impossible to listen to without the irrepressible urge to leap up and dance. "Elton Dean," the sketch of the fabled English trombonist, breaks fresh ground in the realm of jazz odes. "Twelve Bars with Sexmob" is a wildly funny and magnificent exchange with an exciting group of musicians who push the envelope in funky territory. And the suite, "A Place Above" revisits the vibrant praise and worship that can only be found in the unabashed and total communion of an African church.

Rudd would be the first to deflect attention from himself and allow the stellar cast of musicians to bask in the bright glory of Trombone Tribe, and justifiably so. "Bonerama" is a case in point, where the empathetic exchanges between the trombones, drums and guitar are almost telepathic, as is the work of almost every other musician grouping in the record, be it Ray Anderson, Wycliffe Gordon, Eddie Bert, Josh Roseman and others on "Astro Slyde" and "Hulla Gulla," or Rudd, Deborah Weisz and Steve Swell with bassist Henry Grimes' unparalleled arco break on "Sand In My Slide Shuffle" and tubaist Bob Stewart and drummer Barry Altschul on "No End" and "To The Day." Here is music that is memorable for its almost passacaglia-like quality and its humor as well. It appears that Roswell Rudd can, once again, do no wrong with song and dance that carries the delightful weight of musical history.

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