Check This Out

Liam, settle down, I'm trying to blog!

Some of you out there probably have lives....children....maybe even a job! I find myself using the phrase "there are only so many hours in the day" quite frequently. (Gotta be careful though. When I used that line on my accountant when he asked me why I hadn't organized my receipts, he didn't see the humor in it...)So he's a segment I'm calling Check This Out. It's just some short bits on what I've been checking out lately. And just to be clear, "Check Out" in this context is jazz slang for "listen to" or read about" or "observe".

Drummer Chris Massey has a new CD called "Vibranium". Massey has been on the scene for the better part of the last decade, having performed as a sideman with veterans like Donald Harrison and Joe Lovano. He features a quintet of musicians who I was completely unfamiliar with, but who are all clearly quite skilled in the art of New York Jazz. I say New York Jazz because I grow weary of the labels like Straight Ahead, Post-Bop, and Modern Mainstream. These guys play jazz like New Yorkers do:it's swinging, it's got an edge to it, and it's tied to the jazz tradition without sounding hackneyed. Massey is part of the lineage as a drummer and also a drummer-composer-bandleader. His time is solid, his drums have a full, warm sound. But he doesn't showboat;he's accompanies his sidemen well. Massey plays a wonderful solo on "Change" which is a composition unto itself, with a consistent technical control but also using dramatic dynamics.

Donald Malloy is a strong trumpeter, reminiscent of early Terence Blanchard. Benjamin Drazen is a fine alto player; I'm certain he's checked out Jackie McClean and Antonio Hart, but I wondered if he had ever listened to Arthur Blythe or Joe Ford? Pianist Evgeny Lebedev plays a great solo on the tune "Galactus", a 7/4 vibe (which seems to me "borrowed" from a Jeff Watts tune from the Charles Fambrough album "Thunder and Rainbows", if I'm not mistaken. Hey, like they say, good composers borrow, great composers steal. I don't know where I would fall in that. I rent....). "Vibranium" is a great debut from Massey and his quintet. http://www.chrismasseyjazz.com/

Next up is Esperanza Spalding, a bassist-vocalist-composer from Portland, Oregon, who, unless you've been living under a rock, you know has taken the music world by somewhat of a storm. (She won a Grammy for Best New Artist, I believe the first "jazz" artist to ever do so. This sent Justin Bieber fans into a murderous rage! How dare they give a Grammy to a real musician!)I first heard Esperanza and her highly accomplished band at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2009 and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Part of me can't help but think that much of the hubbub is due to Spalding's image; an attractive, female bassist who simultaneously sings and plays- and also sports a huge afro. I think one would be foolish not to acknowledge that, in today's superficial society, that this kind of unique image would help one get a career started. All that being said, I've been going back to listen to Spalding's music in more detail.

Her self titled CD, "Esperanza" is full of music that draws on many influences, yet feels highly personal. Honestly, it's the kind of CD I wish I could make:it's got a little bit of everything mixed in a visionary way. It's a boiling melting pot of influences;samba, latin, fusion,jazz,funk,blues, R&B. In terms of pushing jazz, or music, in a new direction, this is an example of a project which transcends style. Even the jazziest cut on the CD," If That's True", is at least half hip-hop, or neo-soul, or whatever you want to call it. " I Know You Know" is part funk, part samba, but the vocals have a kind of hip-hop/pop rhythm to them, almost R. Kelly-ish. All in all, this is what music is supposed to; EVOLVE. (Just like humanity. I have more hope in the evolution of music, personally.)I really enjoy this CD, but I would like to see what Spalding is doing in 10 years. With all of her precociousness, she still has room to develop as a musician and composer. Which is a good thing. http://www.esperanzaspalding.com/

Fraser Hollins

Speaking of composing bass players, I'm listening to a disc by Canadian bassist Fraser Hollins. I met him on a gig with saxophonist Christine Jensen recently at the Upstairs Jazz Club in Montreal, where Fraser is based(no pun intended). Fraser is a bass player who has tons of technique and tons of creativity. His new CD entitled "Aerial" features his flawless bass playing and composing. Much of this CD makes me think that there might be a "Canadian" style of modern jazz, in that much of the young Canadian musicians write music with extremely colorful melodies and harmonies. These melodies and harmonies might hint every once in a while at things like hard bop or Tristano-style jazz, but that's never the concern. The concern is to create a feeling. But Hollins' group here has all the rhythmic sophistication of a New York band, which makes the "listening picture" (oxymoron?) feel complete to me. Check out Hollins' bowed bass work on "Vyana"; it's gorgeous. Saxophonist Joel Miller is strong and endlessly inventive on this album. Pianist Steve Amirault is also very solid in his comping and improvising. http://www.fraserhollins.com/home.html

Woody Shaw

And finally, you need to check this out: a video from a blog called "Brilliant Corners";this is Woody Shaw, the late master trumpeter, playing in a courtyard in Boston in the late 80's with a band of pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist David Williams, and a very young Terri-Lynne Carrington on drums. It's a little weird to see world class musicians playing in what seems to be some kind of hotel gig for passing pedestrians. But Woody, although ailing, is clearly killin'. Shaw is arguably one of the last important innovators of jazz trumpet. Enjoy!

http://brilliantcornersabostonjazzblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/ginseng-people-woody-shaw-quartet.html#links