Archive for the ‘John Patitucci’ Category
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)
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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Danilo Perez: …Till Then (2003 – Universal/Verve)
Interpretations of intent—always confounding—become both particularly difficult and intriguing with works of artistic expression as simultaneously precise, pleasurable, and subtly constructed as …Till Then. Intense musical innovations often stem from the simplest, most confined of experiments, rather than an intellectually driven perspective. The kind of artistic directedness found on …Till Then often creates a finished product either too forced to be aesthetically satisfying or too aesthetically driven to be convincing. Avoiding both these pitfalls, Danilo Perez has shaped a work of rare tonal consistency that quite astutely maintains a focused intellectual agenda while providing a moving, seamlessly natural experience.
In may ways, Perez’s current release is the fulfillment of the experiment begun with the earlier Panamonk, which unabashedly combined Monk’s rhythmic and compositional legacy with so-called Latin jazz. By expanding on his previous work, Perez has debunked many preconceptions regarding Latin jazz’s possibilities. In fact, Perez’s experiment has been so successful as to virtually erase the lines of division previously relegating Latin music to a separate, second class citizen of jazz.
The artist’s innovations indicate that jazz and Latin jazz should be seen as one continuum. After all, Spanish, African, Caribbean, and other Latin inflections have existed within the jazz idiom from its earliest origins, and have year after year been tremendously influential on its further development. With pieces such as the steel pan-colored “Gracias a la Vida,” the sumptuous ballad “Vera Cruz,” and his own “Improvisations in Red,” Perez states quite clearly that though Latin elements can be isolated and expanded, they can also be completely integrated into the jazz sphere. Or perhaps the other way around. Jazz elements can be completely integrated into Latin structures.
Such a musical statement would be significant enough, but in many ways this is only the formal background upon which Perez founds this album. If the formal concept indeed relies on synthesis and integration of stylistic elements, then the album as a whole represents a call for integration of a higher order, namely an integration of peoples, governments, and philosophic stances.
How else to explain the all-too timely inclusion of Joni Mitchell’s classic protest song, “Fiddle and the Drum,” the lyric of which quite dramatically raises concerns about America’s international actions and responsibility? Further, the overall sedate, more refined, and lamenting feel of the album suggests contemplation and introspection instead of the more energetic and vibrant material displayed on some of Perez’s previous material. This is not, however, the personal lament of an inward turning individual, but the iron-shod lament of emotional, political, and philosophic engagement.
In the end, under the influence of Perez’s arrangements and instrumental skill, musicians John Pattituci (bass), Brian Blade (drums), Ben Street (bass), Adam Cruz (drums), Donny McCaslin (soprano saxophone) and Liz Wright (vocals) all contribute excellent performances to the balanced and unusually concise nature of the album. The result is an intriguing, powerfully evocative outing which raises pertinent questions regarding cultural hegemony, isolationism, and the potential of music, in this case quite literally at times, to not only vocalize these concerns, but transcend them.
Franz A. Matzner (All About Jazz)
1. Native Soul
2. Gracias a la Vida
3. …Till Then
4. Overjoyed
5. Trocando em Miudos
6. Improvisation on Red
7. Paula C
8. Rabo de Nube
9. Fiddle and the Drum
10. Vera Cruz
Personnel:
Danilo Perez: (Piano,Fender Rhodes Piano)
Lizz Wright: (Vocals) (3,9)
Donny McCaslin: (Soprano Saxophone) (5,10)
Ben Street: (Bass) (1,4,7,8)
John Patitucci: (Bass)
Adam Cruz: (Drums,Steel Drums,Percussion) (1,4,7,8)
Brian Blade: (Drums) (2,3,5,10)
Original Release Date: August 4, 2003 – Label: Universal/Verve
Wayne Shorter – Alegría (2003 – Universal)
It is an utter joy to witness the profound evolution of a genius. With the release of Alegria, Wayne Shorter continues to widen and refine his unique musical vision—and share it with the world. From the first few notes of the opening song, “Sacajawea,” it becomes immediately evident that we’re being invited into a lyrical sonic world that is beyond common jazz metaphor. This music is stripped of all superfluity and becomes a singular document—a meeting of heavy spirits.
The music on Alegria feels “lived in” and this aura pervades every piece on the recording, even the sessions with musicians outside of the quartet orbit and the overdubbed sections. The ‘lived in’ quality comes from Shorter himself; like his former employer Miles Davis, there is as much music in what he chooses not to play as what he does voice with his horn. His tremendous presence with each note and every gesture again recalls Miles Davis, inspiring those around him to rise to a higher level of understanding of the music they are asked to interpret.
1. Sacajawea;
2. Serenata;
3. Veniendo Alegria;
4. Bachianas Brasileiras No.5;
5. Angola;
6. Interlude;
7. She Moves Through the Fair;
8. Orbits; 12th Century Carol;
9. Capricorn II
Personnel:
Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones;
Danilo Perez; Brad Mehldau: piano;
John Patitucci: bass;
Brian Blade, Terri Lyne Carrington-drums;
Alex Acuna-percussion;
Lew Soloff, Chris Gekker, Jeremy Pelt: trumpets;
Jim Pugh, Steve davis, Bruce Eidem, Papo Vasquez, Michael Boschen: trombones;
Chris Potter: bass clarinet, tenor saxophone;
Charles Curtis: solo cello;
Paul Dunkel: flute;
Steven Taylor: oboe;
Allen Blustine: clarinet, bass clarinet;
Frank Morelli-bassoon; John Clark, Stewart Rose-horns; Marcus Rojas-tuba; David Garrett, Barry Gold, Gloria Lum, Daniel Rothmuller, Brent Samuel, Cecilia Tsan: Cello
Original Release Date: March 25, 2003 (Label: Universal)
Across Rhythm 