Archive for the ‘Jeff “Tain” Watts’ Category
Jeff "Tain" Watts – Detained at the Blue Note (Half Note Records – 2004)
On Detained at the Blue Note , Jeff “Tain” Watts’ first live outing as a leader, the effusive drummer lets loose with one of the most unrestrained performances he’s ever released. Watts’ uninhibited style of drumming is best heard in the intimate club setting in which this disc was recorded. The outgoing Tain is inspired by the interaction with a live audience and the listeners respond in kind as the music escalates in intensity, delivering climax after climax to their roaring approval.
Opening with Bjork’s “107 Steps,” the quintet featuring saxophonist Marcus Strickland, pianist Dave Kikoski, guitarist David Gilmour and bassist Eric Revis engage in a liberated dance on the Latinish line, driven relentlessly by the leader’s inexorable rhythms. The date’s other four tracks reinvent Watts’ compositions from his earlier studio dates. “JC Is The Man” from Bar Talk is appropriately a dedication to a former Zinc Bar mixologist (Jean Claude) and not John Coltrane, although the music is most certainly, like most of Watts’ compositions, Trane influenced. The group bookends the song with a good-humored vocal chorus; in between they settle into a groove with Gilmore’s guitar and Kikoski’s keyboards setting a more Milesian mode.
Watts introduces the “powerful and soulful” Kenny Garrett, who joins the band for “Mr. JJ,” raising the excitement level another point with a passionate Coltrane-Sanders inspired solo that culminates in an electrifying duet with the explosive Watts. Strickland holds his own on tenor, once again proving that he is the leading up-and-coming saxophonist on the scene today. Citizen Tain’s “Sigmund Groid” receives a thorough treatment on a nineteen-minute examination of Watts’ thoughtful melody, featuring a searing extended solo by Garrett.
The closing “Like The Rose,” a moving ballad by Watts, begins with a beautiful bluesy piano prelude from Kikoski that introduces the leader’s vocal recitation of his lyrics, which are almost Shakespearean in their romanticism. Garrett and Gilmore get downright funky on the body of the tune, gamboling joyously over a Tain backbeat that spirals into a whirlwind that drives Gilmore’s guitar and Kikoski’s keyboards into a frolicking frenzy before returning to the tune’s tender words.
Few live dates succeed on the level of this one. Watts’ ability to capture the hearts and souls of listeners with music that remains uncompromising in its creativity is a shining example to all who aspire to reach a wider audience without sacrificing their integrity.
(All About Jazz)
Eric Revis: (Bass)
Original Release Date: September 14, 2004 – Label: Halfnote Records
Kenny Kirkland: Kenny Kirkland (1991 – Grp)
Keyboardist Kenny Kirkland’s long-overdue debut as a leader really stretches his talents and is occasionally unpredictable. Virtually each of the performances has its own personality and the personnel and instrumentation differ throughout the release. Among the highlights is “Mr. J.C.” (which features some stormy Branford Marsalis tenor), an electric Latin but still boppish update of Bud Powell’s “Celia” (taken as a duet with percussionist Don Alias), the struttin’ “Steepian Faith,” a driving rendition of Ornette Coleman’s “When Will the Blues Leave” that has some free bop alto from Roderick Ward, and Latin versions (with percussionist Jerry Gonzalez) of two standards not normally thought of as belonging to that idiom: Wayne Shorter’s “Ana Maria” and Thelonious Monk’s “Criss Cross.” This album has more than its share of brilliant moments.
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
1. Mr. J.C.
2. Midnight Silence
3. El Rey – Watts
4. Sleepian Faith
5. Celia
6. Chance
7. When Will the Blues Leave?
8. Ana Maria – Shorter
9. Revelations
10. Criss-Cross
11. Blasphemy
Personnel:
Kenny Kirkland (Piano – Keyb)
Branford Marsalis (Sopr &Ten Sax)
Roderick Ward (Alto Sax)
Roderick Ward (Alto Sax)
Robert Hurst (Bass)
Christian McBride (Bass),
Charnett Moffett (Bass),
Jeff “Tain” Watts (Drums)
Don Alias (Percu & Bongos)
Steve Berrios (Percu & Drums),
Jerry Gonzalez (Percu & Conga)
Original Release Date: 1991 – Label: Grp Records
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Wynton Marsalis: Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1 (1986 – SONY)
The first in a series, in which Marsalis re-investigates the jazz standards that many of his generation have, for one reason or another, rejected. The classic tunes that were part of the “songbooks” of all the great improvisers of the tradition–Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Clark Terry, Max Roach–are here, and Marsalis and Co. carry on the tradition of making these tunes their own. He wails “Cherokee” while paying tribute to the style and influence of Dizzy Gillespie with a rapid-fire muted sound. “Goodbye” and “New Orleans” look to the sound of early-’60s Miles Davis.
Marcus Roberts is a joy to hear. His piano playing draws influence from Monk and Bill Evans, and he executes his carefully-chosen notes and phrases with perfect, no-excess flair. None of this comes off as imitation, but rather shows contemporary players continuing a great tradition. Marsalis uses this album to focus on, and pay tribute to, the standards and styles that formed the foundations for this superior American art form.
Stanley Crouch.
Robert Hurst (bass)
Recorded at RCA Studio A, New York, New York on May 29 & 30 and September 24 & 25, 1986.
Original Release Date: January 1, 1987 – Label: Sony
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Across Rhythm 