Donny McCaslin: Declaration (2009 – Sunnyside)

 Venturing into unexplored territory, New York-based tenor saxophonist’s third recording for Sunnyside Records is a marked departure from his previous release, the stripped-down trio session Recommended Tools (Greenleaf, 2008). Augmenting his working ensemble with an understated brass section, Declaration showcases McCaslin’s stellar skills as an improviser while demonstrating his mettle as a burgeoning writer and arranger.
Renowned for his Olympian tenor solos, McCaslin’s facile interpretive abilities were honed under the tutelage of George Garzone and Billy Pierce at Berklee, and documented as a sideman in the company of such luminaries as David Binney, Dave Douglas, Danilo Perez and Maria Schneider. McCaslin comes into his own as a composer on this panoramic session, which highlights his creative virtuosity as soloist and writer in a variety of settings.
Joined by pianist Edward Simon and a four-piece brass choir, McCaslin’s augmented quintet interprets these multi-hued compositions with brio. As veterans of McCaslin’s previous Sunnyside dates, In Pursuit (2007) and Soar (2006), guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Scott Colley, drummer Antonio Sanchez and percussionist Pernell Saturnino lend this session a congenial sensibility filled with lyrical panache.
New to this longstanding core line-up, Simon proves as valuable a foil for McCaslin as Monder. Restrained and economical, Simon delivers billowy narrative soliloquies on “M” and “2nd Hour,” offering serene contrast to the leader’s fervid cadences. Whether amplifying McCaslin’s muscular phrasing with scorching fretwork on the appropriately titled “Rock Me,” or unveiling gossamer filigrees on the lush ballad “Jeanina,” Monder’s chameleonic versatility is peerless.
Embracing a wealth of genres and styles, the anthem-like opener “M” showcases the leader’s pneumatic tenor, while “Fat Cat” demonstrates McCaslin and Simon’s expertise navigating percolating Latin rhythms. The opulent harmonies of “Jeanina” and the plaintive Americana of the title track are the inverse of “Uppercut” and “2nd Hour”—labyrinthine post-bop excursions fraught with oblique angles and ingenious arrangements. Indicative of their titles, “Rock Me” is an electrified rave-up, with “Late Night Gospel” one of McCaslin’s most compelling tunes—an ascending blues meditation featuring Simon and Monder’s silver-toned lyricism buoyed by soulful brass accompaniment.
Considered one of the reigning mainstream tenor stylists of the post-Michael Brecker generation, Declaration is a bold new step for McCaslin, proving his abilities as a developing composer and arranger of note and opening new vistas on an already promising career.
By Troy Collins (All About Jazz)

Tracklist:
01 – M
02 – Fat Cat
03 – Declaration
04 – Uppercut
05 – Rock Me
06 – Jeanina
07 – 2nd Hour
08 – Last Night Gospel

Parsonnel:
Donny McCaslin: tenor saxophone, alto flute (1, 8)
Edward Simon: acoustic piano, organ (5)
Ben Monder: guitar
Scott Colley: bass
Antonio Sanchez: drums
Pernell Saturnino: percussion (2)
Alex Sipiagin: trumpet, flugelhorn (1, 2, 3, 5, 7)
Chris Komer: French horn (1, 2, 3, 5)
Marshall Gilkes: trombone (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8)
Marcus Rojas: tuba (3, 5, 7, 8), bass trombone (1)
Tatum Greenblatt: trumpet (1)

Original Release Date: July 28, 2009 – Label: Sunny Side Records

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Edward Simon – Unicity (2006 – Cam Jazz)

Pianist Edward Simon has been quietly but profoundly making an impact for a number of years. He’s been an astute sideman with high-caliber players like trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Greg Osby and guitarist Adam Rogers, but it is his own works—The Process (Criss Cross, 2003) and Simplicitas (Criss Cross, 2005)—that truly reveal his performance and compositional prowess.
Edwards explores the mystic of the piano trio again on Unicity, joined by two other outstanding musicians: bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade, both of whom are a vital part of the recent award-winning Wayne Shorter Quartet. Having played together on Patitucci’s 2003 Songs, Stories, and Spirituals, their chemistry is still intact.The underlying tone here is one of smooth and controlled power brought about by musicians who have a connected as a unit. Brian Blade is a drummer with a delicate sense of timing and detailed but never overpowering trap work. Patitucci, an awesome bassist, has never sounded better, with full-bodied rhythms, elaborate solos and a variety of textures. Simon, whose influences include pianists Chucho Valdes and Egberto Gismonti, plays with sophistication and classical training, reflecting his Venezuelan upbringing, combining lyricism and structure with jazz improvisation.One of Simon’s strengths is his ability to absorb and extract styles, be it the post bop of “The Messenger or the romanticism of the too-brief “Abiding Unicity, with gorgeous lines and dramatic changes. The remainder of the set continues with an eclectic mix, including “Evolution, where Patitucci employs the use of an electric arco bass, and “Eastern, where Simon improvises over a simple theme colored by Blade’s shimmering percussion.
(All About Jazz)

Track list:
1 Invocation Simon 0:54
2 The Messanger Patitucci 7:16
3 Abiding Unicity Simon 5:58
4 Gevriasolas Binney 7:25
5 The Midst of Chaos Simon 6:34
6 Prelude N.9 Mompou 4:11
7 Pathless Path Simon 5:30
8 Evolution Simon 6:40
9 Eastern Simon 5:09
10 Abiding Unicity (Reprise) Simon 3:01

Personnel:
Edward Simon: (piano)
John Patitucci: (bass, electric bass)
Brian Blade: (drums)

Original Release Date: August 29, 2006 – Label: Camjazz


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Adam Rogers: Allegory (2003 – Criss Cross )

Jazz used to be a form of popular music, and indeed a folk music in its own right, before bebop intellectualized it and hard bop institutionalized it. That was a sad development in a way because the music drifted away from the public and ended up holed up in a tiny “art music” niche. When free jazz hit in the ’60s, there was no mistaking that jazz would never really go back.
Guitarist Adam Rogers is committed to making serious music for serious listeners. His debut, Art of the Invisible (Criss Cross, 2002), brought an already active sideman to the full attention of the jazz world, and the new quintet disc Allegory offers music of a similarly high caliber. Rogers is a traditionalist in every sense, whether it be in his playing, his group concept, or his compositions (all originals here), but the state of the jazz tradition is an advanced one indeed at this point. Modern jazz, as a category or just a plain description, works as good as any when it comes to describing Allegory.
Rogers paces his compositions. “Genghis” works through arranged melodic phrases (mostly consisting of his instrument placed carefully alongside Chris Potter’s tenor sax), loose reunions (more flexible and open), and explicit soloing (Rogers swinging bumpily along, almost funky but not quite there). He makes a conscious use of different meters: three, four, five, six, and seven are all featured on the record, sometimes in the same piece. The band sticks together through the changes, hiding them away and maintaining forward motion. “Orpheus” goes from six to seven and back, taking advantage of Rogers’ switch to nylon to reinforce a pensive mood before the piece shifts to a higher gear.
Other than Rogers, the most forward voices on this record belong to saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Scott Colley. Potter is responsible for most of the edgy feel when the music turns energetic, and Colley has a way of judiciously placing notes into various situations in order to round out harmonies and anchor the music.
The very same seriousness that gives Allegory its heft ironically subtracts from its effectiveness. Melodies are so focused that they rarely stick in your mind, the various changes in the music are abstract beyond ready comprehension, and the playing is so under control that it never really flies free. (Chris Potter provides just about all of the exceptions.)
I guess Adam Rogers has become too sophisticated for his own good. He’s obviously talented in just about every respect, but I just wish he would loosen up and get a little closer to the real roots of the music, a place where regular people can pick up the message without putting on a heavy thinking cap and listening over and over again. Could just be me…
Nils Jacobson  (All About Jazz)

Track List:
1. Confluence
2. Phrygia
3. Was
4. Genghis;
5. Angle of Repose;
6. Orpheus;
7. Red Leaves;
8. Cleveland;
9. Purpose;
10. Angle of Repose –
11. Reprise.

Personnel:
Adam Rogers (guitar)
Chris Potter: (tenor saxophone)
Edward Simon: (piano)
Scott Colley: (bass)
Clarence Penn: (drums)

Original Release Date: September 23, 2003  –  Label: Criss Cross
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Bobby Watson & Horizon: Horizon Reassembled (2004 – Palmetto Records)

To properly appreciate this CD, according to its leader, you need to listen to it five times.
He says his five-listen mandate is so listeners can hear each player’s contributions, which he details in clear and concise linear notes: pianist Edward Simon’s Latin influence, bassist Essiet Essiet’s African presence, drummer Victor Lewis’ drum technique, the thinking behind the solo lines of Terell Stafford on trumpet and flugelhorn, and – finally – Watson’s alto playing. The notes are better than average in their guidance and a fine incentive to set aside an evening with the CD player programmed on “repeat.”
The largely up-tempo nature of this album plays to the strengths of the group, which clearly hasn’t lost the ability to communicate despite a lengthy interlude. Their credentials are established within four minutes of the opening straight-ahead “Lemoncello,” largely by Watson’s driving exploration of his diamond-hard tone, but Stafford also shows he’s come to play with a decent collection of riffs that build well off each other. Most everyone does a bit of true “happy band” romping on the title track, and the closing “Xangongo” has a strong bit of world beat and group-think interaction going for it.
Watson’s advice to listen for things such as which of two snare drums Lewis selects is a good indicator of the subtle complexity of his backing, mostly seeking to earn respect rather than grabbing center stage and demanding it. Like Essiest’s percussion-like bass lines, this may need revisiting to appreciate. Still, Lewis builds things up to an intense fury in Simon’s Latin-themed “Pere,” culminating in a savage bit of kit abuse accompanied by the pianist’s simple vamp.
Things fall off a bit when the group slows down. “The Look Of Love” is an unremarkable effort by Watson and Stafford to soothe instead of challenge. “The Love We Had Yesterday” by Watson’s wife, Pam, features a pleasing enough melody, but again Watson and Stafford don’t seem inclined to elevate things beyond that surface level of satisfaction. Wanting to keep the mood level isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but since most of this album hardly seems intended to occupy the background of listeners’ minds it feels like there’s potential to get more out of these songs. The Watson originals “Dark Days” and its subsequent interlude get somewhat better treatment from Stafford and Simon, aided by the slow, moody R&B backdrop.
This may not be Watson at his absolute best, but Horizon Reassembled deserves a place among the very solid albums in his discography. Fans will enjoy it and the finer moments will no doubt lure some new listeners into seeking out other albums that offer more of them.
Mark Sabbatini (All About Jazz)

Track list:
1. Lemoncello
2. Pere
3. Love We Had Yesterday, The
4. Ginger Bread Boy
5. Horizon Reassembled
6. Look of Love, The
7. Eeeyyess
8. Permanoon
9. Dark Days
10. Dark Days (Interlude)
11. Xangongo

Personnel:
Bobby Watson (alto sax)
Terell Stafford (fluglehorn, trumpet)
Edward Simon (piano)
Essiet Essiet (bass)
Victor Lewis (drums)

Original Release Date: June 29, 2004  –  Label: Palmetto Records

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