Archive for the ‘Jack DeJohnette’ Category
Michael Brecker: Tales from the Hudson (1996 – Grp Records)
In the crowded field of excellent tenor players, Michael Brecker rises to the top of my list. I think the thing that gives Brecker an edge over the others is the fact that he is a master of so many genres of jazz. Many people are no doubt familiar with the electric, funky side of Michael Brecker as the co-leader of the Brecker Brothers and former member of Steps Ahead. He has done significant pop dates with Paul Simon, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. One could easily fill a CD collection with albums on which he has performed as a sideman in many jazz contexts.
Yet this is only his fourth CD as a leader. All of them have been in the modern, progressive, straight-ahead jazz vein. This one is, to my ears, his most successful outing yet. I think the difference is that this one is a little less “progressive” or “outside.” The melodies here are a little more accessible and memorable, yet the soloing is just as creative and adventuresome as we have come to expect from Brecker and the other jazz luminaries on this CD. The top-notch team of sidemen here are Pat Metheny on guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Dave Holland on bass, and Joey Calderazzo on piano. Pianist McCoy Tyner and percussionist Don Alias are added on two tunes.
Six of the nine compositions are Brecker’s. They are varied, thoughtful, and provide great vehicles for improvisation. Metheny contributes “Bilbao” from his Travels album, Calderazzo contributes a medium tempo swinger, and “Willie T.” comes from the late pianist Don Grolnick, who produced Brecker’s first two solo albums and performed with Brecker frequently.
I would especially recommend this album to those who have come to jazz through the “new adult comtemporary” door and are ready to take the next step towards discovering what real jazz is all about.
Dave Hughes (All About Jazz)
1. Slings and Arrows
2. Midnight Voyage
3. Song for Bilbao
4. Beau Rivage
5. African Skies
6. Introduction to Naked Soul
7. Naked Soul
8. Willie T.
9. Cabin Fever
Personnel:
Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone)
Joey Calderazzo, McCoy Tyner (piano)
Pat Metheny (guitar)
Dave Holland (bass)
Jack DeJohnette (drums)
Don Alias (percussion)
Original Release Date: September 10, 1996 – Label: Grp Records
Recorded at the Power Station, New York
Keith Jarrett: My Foolish Heart (Live at Montreux 2007 – ECM)
Pianist Keith Jarrett’s career practically invites criticism or, at the very least, intense comment. His outspokenness, his utter seriousness of intent and the resulting love-hate relationship with the audience, even his vocalisms, evoke strong responses, both pro and con, from listeners.
As the years have gone by, expectations have continued to rise, almost to the point that no matter what he does, Jarrett will fail in someone’s eyes, and My Foolish Heart is no exception. However, the only issue that really matters is this: does he and, by extension, the trio, communicate with and connect to the listener?
ECM has released this double-CD live recording from the 2001 Montreux Jazz Festival as a sort of now-to-then comparison to the upcoming release Setting The Standards: New York Sessions 1983, which will mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of this trio in 2008. Any Jarrett release is an event and, when combined with Jarrett’s liner notes which talk about how special this performance was, practically promises a revelatory listening experience.
Revelation is, however, a very personal thing. Since this music consists of well-known standards the magic, if it is to be found, will not be in new sounds, but in the details of the performance for those who can, or desire to, hear them.
The best jazz is the music of spontaneous, unexpected creation. It requires dynamic energy and concentration plus the seeming contradictory ability to let go, forgetting all the technique and theory and just playing. In this case, what is to be played starts with the tunes themselves, with melody. A standard is labeled as such because its construction has achieved the delicate balance between the melodic phrasing and harmony that creates something unique, and being immediately identifiable and memorable.
To treat such a creation as mere changes is to violate its sanctity, and true improvisation will maintain contact, however tenuous, with the source of the inspiration. In this respect, Jarrett is masterful and there is nary a moment on any track when it is not obvious which tune is being played. The changes are respected, but so are the melody and emotional essence of the tune, with Jarrett using the musical language of conventional bebop jazz.
Bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, acknowledged masters in their own right, obviously know Jarrett and each other extremely well. Any given performance can vary, but this one does seem to find this rhythm section in top form. DeJohnette’s famous energy is controlled but white hot while Peacock, whose solos are short but meaningful, adds a delightful bounce and verve.
The trio is playing as one and this is the joy of the performance. The surprise comes with the three stride tunes, “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose” and “You Took Advantage Of Me,” and if anyone was waiting for a reason to gush about this performance, it is here.
Place it where you will in Jarrett’s discography, My Foolish Heart is true jazz artistry.
Budd Kopman (All About Jazz)
2- My Foolish Heart
3- Oleo
4- What’s new
5- The Song Is You
6- Ain’t Misbehavin’
2- You Took Advantage Of Me
3- Straight, No Chaser
4- Five Brothers
5- Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry
6- On Green Dolphin Street
7- Only The Lonely
Keith Jarrett (piano)
Gary Peacock (bass)
Jack DeJohnette (drums)
Recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001 – Label: ECM
Jackie McLean: Demon’s Dance (2006 – Blue Note)
Sometimes a work of art is best known because it ends a period in its creator’s career. If, in addition to its historic importance, it has immense artistic value, then it becomes a masterpiece. Such is the case of “Demon’s Dance”, the last recording from Jackie McLean’s Blue Note period, during which he discovered his unique voice both as a composer and as a performer over the span of 21 albums.
The essence of all those records is distilled and concentrated in Demon’s Dance. Here are the hard bop rhythms, the modal improvisations, the angular melodies and always an edgy avant-garde spirit. The fresh ways these elements fuse make this record unique, exciting and a rewarding listening experience, and not just a rehashing of old ideas. It summarizes a creative era of a brilliant artist and also hints at the future to come.
The horns complement and enhance each other while the rhythm section does much more than expected, adding layers of distinct and interesting harmonies to the tunes. There are no so-so tunes here, only the masterworks of a group of extremely talented musicians led by a man at the peak of his career. Two of the compositions outdo the others, though, in their creativity: the title tune and the last track, entitled “Message from Trane.”
This reissue does not have any alternate takes of previously unissued material, but it makes up for it by the pristine quality of the remastering and clarity of sound. This is not only a CD that rewards repeated listens, but also a masterpiece that summarizes what came before and hints at what is yet to come.
Hrayr Attarian (All about Jazz)
1. Demon’s Dance
2. Toyland
3. Boo Ann’s Grand
4. Sweet Love Of Mine
5. Floogeh;
5. Message From Trane.
Personnel:
Jackie McLean: (alto saxophone)
Woody Shaw: (trumpet)
LaMont Johnson: (piano)
Scott Holt (bass)
Jack DeJohnette: (drums)
Original Release Date: September 12, 2006 – Label: Blue Note Records
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Jaco Pastorius – Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology (2003 – Rhino / Wea)
Thankfully, there is finally a definitive Jaco Pastorius anthology that offers an accurate portrait of the breadth and depth of his innovative artistry beyond what his contributions to Weather Report and his own Word of Mouth and Trio of Doom (which many would argue are sufficient in and of themselves) would suggest. This two-CD, 28-track collection ranges across the fretless bass inventor’s earliest recordings, documented by a live appearance with Wayne Cochran’s C.C. Riders and home playing the Cochran standard “Amelia,” to his work with underground R&B act Little Beaver and such artists as Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Joni Mitchell in and out of the studio, Paul Bley, Airto and Flora Purim, Michel Columbier, Brian Melvin, and his diverse projects — including “Birdland” with Weather Report. There are three unreleased cuts — “Amelia,” an unreleased home demo of “The Chicken,” and “Good Morning Annya” from his unfinished steel drum project, Holiday for Pans. Two other cuts, “Foreign Fun” and “Okonkole y Trompa,” are on CD in the United States for the first time. Pastorius fanatics will no doubt already have everything here in one form or another. Casual listeners will be astonished by the sheer multi-dimensional nature of his limitless musicality and vision. Even those well acquainted with Pastorius will be surprised as to how well the sequencing of these tracks offers such a prismatic view of Pastorius’ growth as a bassist — check out the silky funky grooves on Little Beaver’s “I Can Dig It Baby” and the gutbucket greasy R&B of “Amelia,” as they give way to adventurous early fusion of “Batterie” with Metheny, Bley, and Bruce Ditmas. Even in abstraction, Pastorius had a groove. The more pop side of Jaco’s work is highlighted on the first disc with his contributions to Joni Mitchell’s Mingus and Shadows and Light albums, as well as his more exotic, atmospheric work with Airto and Flora. Disc two concentrates on Jaco’s innovative work as a composer for his own bands, as evidenced by “Word of Mouth,” “Liberty City,” “John and Mary,” “Chromatic Fantasy,” and “Blackbird.” Four live tracks with the big band showcase his role as a bandleader and arranger of true authority and vision. The solo “Amerika” offers a more intimate view of Pastorius as a seeker of texture and sonic subtleties. The set closes with him in trios with Mike Stern and Brian Melvin. This is a necessary package for anyone interested in the development of electric jazz in the 1970s and 1980s.
Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Disc: 1
1. The Chicken (Home Recording)
2. Amelia
3. I Can Dig It Baby
4. Batterie
5. Continuum
6. Midwestern Nights Dream
7. Foreign Fun
8. Birdland
9. Nativity
10. Las Olas
11. Sunday
12. Layas
13. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
14. The Dry Cleaner from des Moines
15. Punk Jazz
Disc: 2
1. 3 Views of a Secret
2. Liberty City
4. Blackbird
5. Word of Mouth
6. John and Mary
7. Good Morning Anya
8. Invitation
9. Soul Intro/The Chicken
10. Amerika
11. Okonkole y Trompa
12. Mood Swings
13. Out of the Night
Personnel:
Joni Mitchell (Guitar), Joni Mitchell (Vocals), Joni Mitchell, Bob Berg (Sax (Tenor)), Paul Bley (Piano (Electric)), Michael Brecker (Sax (Tenor)), Michael Brecker (Soloist), , Larry Carlton (Guitar (Electric)), Jack DeJohnette (Drums), Peter Erskine (Drums), Jon Faddis (Trumpet), Herbie Hancock (Piano), Hubert Laws (Flute & Alto Soprano Sax) , Albert Mangelsdorff (Trombone), Brian Melvin (Drums), Pat Metheny (Guitar), Bob Mintzer (Clarinet & Sax (Soprano & Tenor), Bob Moses (Drums), Alphonse Mouzon (Drums), , Bill Reichenbach Jr. (Trombone (Bass)), Wayne Shorter (Sax (Soprano & Tenor), Mike Stern (Guitar), Lenny White (Drums), Alex Foster (Clarinet & Sax Alto, Tenor & Soprano), Timmy Thomas (Keyboards), Emil Richard (Percussion), Don Alias (Conga & Bells), Airto Moreira (Percussion & Drums), Peter Graves (French Horn &Trombone (Bass)), Alex Acuña (Drums), Wayne Andre (Trombone), Joe Zawinul (Synthesizer, Piano & Vocals), Manolo Badrena (Tambourine), Dave Bargeron (Trombone), Dave Bargeron (Tuba), Michael Boddicker (Synthesizer Programming), Neal Bonsanti (Saxophone), Neal Bonsanti (Woodwind), Randy Brecker (Trumpet), Michel Colombier (Synthesizer), Michel Colombier (Piano& Fender Rhodes), Bruce Ditmas (Drums), Manfred Eicher, Randy Emerick (Clarinet), Randy Emerick (Sax (Alto, Baritone & Tenor)), Hugo Fattoruso (Keyboards), Kenneth Faulk (Trumpet), Robert Ferguson (Percussion & Drums), Russ Freeland (Trombone), Robert Gable (Sax (Baritone)), Steve Gadd (Drums), Mike Katz (Trombone), Steve Katz (Mixing), Rodney Lafon (Trumpet), Benny Latimore (Keyboards), Gary Lindsay (Saxophone), Gary Lindsay (Woodwind), Paul McCandless (Horn (English, Oboe & Sax (Tenor)), Othello Molineaux (Drums & Pan Flute), Brett Murphey (Trumpet), Melton Mustafa (Trumpet), Brian O’Flaherty (Trumpet), Jerry Peel (French Horn), Flora Purim (Vocals), Lee Ritenour (Guitar), Allyn Robinson (Drums), Oscar Salas (Percussion), Jerry Solomon (Engineer), Toots Thielemans (Harmonica), Ron Tooley (Trumpet), Brad Warnaar (French Horn), Leroy Williams (Drums (Steel)), Bill Milkowski (Liner Notes), John Brem (Trumpet), Mario Cruz (Clarinet, Flute (Alto, Soprano & Tenor Sax)), lex Darqui (Fender Rhodes), Paul Horn-Muller (Guitar & Drums (Steel)), Gary Mayone (Marimba), Steve Roitstein (French Horn), Pamela Sessody (Vocals), Bobby Thomas, Jr. (Percussion & Conga), Bobby Thomas, Jr. (Hand Drums), Jon Davis (Piano), Steve Jordan (Drums), Charles “Icarus” Johnson (Guitar), Willie Clarke (Percussion), Mary Pastorius (Vocals)
Original Release Date: April 22, 2003 – Label: Rhino / Wea
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CD1 CD 2
Across Rhythm 