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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Chris Trinidad’s Changing Tides (Iridium Records, 2021)

Chris Trinidad: bass guitar; Reggie Padilla: saxophones; Jamie Dubberly: trombones; Miguelito Valdes: trumpets and flugelhorns; Evan Francis: flute (1, 6, 7) Alex Hand: guitars; Christian Tumalan: piano (3, 4, 5. 6, 7) David Rokeach: drum set; Jose Sanchez: percussion.

The continuing pandemic, which began in 2020 is taking a toll of enormous proportions on everyone, particularly for musicians who play the genre of Black American Music. The fact that we are locked in such a bizarre, confusing and dangerous time, has given most people the idea of how great yesterday was. Nostalgia is a dichotomy, both wondrous and deceptive. We think of yesterday as if it was a beautiful time, and indeed it can be, but it is also empty. Once we relive memories, there’s a feeling of “ok, what’s next?” Nostalgia can also be a way to move ahead. Bassist Chris Trinidad who released the album Certain Times in 2014, has looked at a way to take that music in this time, which for the Filipino Canadian born, Bay area bassist, represented feelings of nostalgia and originally was written in December, 2013 during the season of Advent when those in the Christian faith make preparations for the Christmas holiday President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, and though such feelings existed long before, him, his election just unearthed a cauldron of division. Trump was (and still is) a microcosm of the division that has been built with unacceptable ideologies of select groups of people that made cancel culture the norm. The music on the original album was thus imbued with a sense of hope, a sense of nostalgia, but in this time of uncertainty, the music of Certain Times gained new meaning.

As the Governor of California at the time, Gavin Newsom had shut down the state of California, Trinidad had played with David Rokeach in the ensemble Voices of Praise and because of the pandemic, a lot of musicians unaccustomed to recording, had to adjust; a reason why there were a few recording maladies such as bongos sounding like a badly encoded MP3, take the bassist’s album Con Todo for example. Trinidad assisted the drummer with the recording process and found the inspiration for Changing Tides, his reimagination of Certain Times, facilitated by arranger Tony Corman, this is a big band album and with the help of technology this nonet, plays ALL the parts, so what sounds like multiple players is in fact each musician on their chosen instrument.

The thing that makes the arrangements shine to their full capacity on the new recording is the Rokeach-Trinidad backbone. Rokeach, a staple of the Bay Area scene, paid his dues with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Mavis Staples and others, so he adapts in many situations, completely in service to the music. Evan Francis’ flute solo soars over the half time rhythm section playing, and Reggie Padilla, who was heard to great effect on Trinidad’s Cancion Tagalog really lays deep into the drummer’s swing with an alto solo. During the half time sections, Rokeach is spare, punctuating proceedings in a way Antonio Sanchez did (and still does) to add more flavors in the comping. It is here that the big band arrangement really takes use of Corman’s skills– the brass and woodwinds form a call and response, in addition to some nice sections where the horns fall and stagger atop each other. Certain Times pianist Alex Conde, lends his arranging touch to “Something New In The Familiar”, the sassy strut of the saxophones seem as if they are being quite forward with their request of something, the trumpets offer a rather unimpressed answer in response. Alex Hand (who appeared on Chant Triptych II) has a beautiful solo blending thoughtful lines, with more jagged asides. Trinidad takes a wondrous melodic solo full of nothing but melodic fundamentals. The bassist rarely solos on his recordings, but the Jared Burrows arrangement affords him a chance to do so.

“Finding Somewhere Forever” reimagined by Kenny Wheeler acolyte Len Aruliah using his techniques in the arrangement is a ballad at first but morphs into a pretty waltz, with room for solos from Christian Tumalan’s lithe piano, Reggie Padilla on soprano, Cuban trumpeter Miguelito Valdes, and Jamie Dubberly on trombone. The track is perhaps the most adventurous on the album in which Aruliah writes some astonishing sections for brass and woodwinds, including a contrafact (a new melody over existing chords-think Miles Davis’ “Weirdo” based on “Walkin”) on the original tune. Baritone saxophonist Charlie Gurke’s arrangement of “A Reading In Retrospect” partly takes its cue from the minimalism of Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Once more Reggie Padilla slices and dices on the baritone saxophone, and Christian Tumalan floats like clouds in an azure sky. A hip unison baritone and left hand section follows with trumpets throwing out strong, stinging jabs.

The closing “Though Certainly Speaking”, arranged by Ivor Holloway is rollicking. The bass line is somewhat redolent of Pee Wee Ellis’ “The Chicken”, but the groovy 5/4 is some nice Latin heat. Reggie Padilla’s tenor is declarative and agile, and along with Alex Hand’s guitar solo, on the bridge part of the form Rokeach channels some Steve Gadd.

Sound:

As usual with Chris Trinidad projects there is a remarkable consistency. As mentioned at the top of the review, because of the nature of the musicians recording in isolation due of the pandemic, the sonic issues that plagued Cancion Tagalog are not present here. There is a close miked quality and a wide sound stage that are quite pleasing and the recording has a lot of depth, mixed by Trinidad and mastered by Akiyoshi Ehara at Sleepy Wizard Studios in El Cerrito, CA.

Concluding Thoughts:

With Changing Tides, Chris Trinidad has taken the music of one of his best albums, and recast it in the way that only masters do and can. Master musicians find an endless durability in certain compositions, be it original or standards where their depth as artists combined with the knowledge of core concepts like rhythm, melody and harmony make for seemingly endless reinvention. The fact that Trinidad truly is a jack of all trades, master of none make his music worth investigating and exploring. If there are any caveats that can be had, it’s that he is not better known– the larger music world really needs to take notice.

Music: 9.5/10

Sound: 9/10

Equipment used:

Audiolab CDT6000 transport (for CD playback)

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Marantz NR 1200 (preamp)

Marantz MM7025 (power amp)

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Audioquest Golden Gate Cables

Canare 4S11 10 ft speaker wire

youtube

#big band #audiophile #jazz

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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ATTITUDE! Pause & Effect (ESP Disk, 2021)

Rose Tang: voice, electric guitar, percussion; Ayumi Ishito: tenor saxophone, voice; Wen-Ting Wu: drums, voice.

Pause & Effect by the trio Attitude, featuring guitarist, pianist, artist, spoken word, human rights advocate and performance artist Rose Tang, saxophonist Ayumi Ishito and drummer Wen- Ting Wu is a powerful statement, one of the most powerful in a less than ideal 2021. Tang, a Tiananmen Massacre survivor, and former major network journalist, was born in Guiyang, China in 1968. Her father was an artist (still alive and painting), who was jailed for raising his voice against the injustices of Chairman Mao. In 1989 she was a political and social activist student who survived Tiananmen Square, one of the most significant events in modern Chinese history. The other members of Attitude, saxophonist Ishito, Ishikawa Japan born, NYC based, and Wu from Taiwan, also NYC based form a potent Pan Asian collective which is important on several fronts– Not only does the album raise provocative, searing commentary on Asian female stereotypes, but also the unfortunate situation in Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party is threatening the freedom of that city, but also guilty of numerous Human rights offenses. Most notably the subjugation of Uyghurs, the Turkic ethnic group calling the Xinjiang province home. Uyghurs are a culturally rich group of people that the Chinese government is openly committing genocide against.

Tang’s spoken word on “Gimme A Mic” sets the intense, fiery tone of the album. She has a way with words that automatically makes a person stop, think and question their perspective. With percolating support from Ishito and Wu, Tang makes her activist stance known, and that anyone can be an activist for what they believe in. It is a shake up call to pay attention. “Who Flung Dung?” is perhaps the most memorable of the album’s five tracks. Since the start COVID pandemic, and even before, the treatment of Asians and Asian Americans in America has been less than ideal. Essentially with Africans, African Americans and Latinos, all of these groups built America for free off the back of the white man. The Page Act of 1845 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 made it impossible for Asians and Asian Americans to have equal social footing, and Hollywood with the first silent movies of Anna Mae Wong to the portrayals of brilliant actresses like Nobu McCarthy, and Broadway shows like Miss Saigon have festered disgusting stereotypes of Asian women, that white men tend to uphold. Though the landscape is changing with powerful female characters, the stain of the “yellow fever” remains. Conversations about the emasculation of the Asian male have also been at the forefront. Tang uses her voice as a weapon slinging truth about uncomfortable female Asian stereotypes, that are an immediate threat to the white patriarchy, the lines “I’m ain’t Madama Butterfly, I ain’t Yoko Ono” and especially “I’m sick of this Asian Babe Fetish” are bullets directly to the heart of the unconscious white savior that are evoked by these words, the free improvisation from Ishito and Wu in perfect sync is blistering.

“Flames With No Names” is deeply personal, as Tang reflects her own experience as an activist. Vivid language and adjectives bloom to the fore to bring her distaste of the Chinese government, stripping freedom and democracy away from Hong Kong to the listener. The repeated refrain “add oil” brings so much weight, as do the slowly burning embers from Ishito and Wu. The reason why the phrase “add oil” is so potent and gripping is its backstory.

In 2019 during the Hong Kong revolution, that phrase was echoed by protesters, the track title “Flames With No Names” is a reference to a Chinese proverb. A title as Tang related privately is, “a cathartic volcano-like feeling raging inside a person.” Her blood curdling screams are startling and truly bring home the frustration. Ishito reprises “8 Steps” from her second album Midnite Cinema the Ornette ish melody quirky, and “Seven O’ Clock” brings some calm, words in Chinese, Japanese and English, ricocheting across the sound stage are a meditation on what it means to be human.

“Conversation” is an open, nearly 25 minute free improvisation to close the album. Dazzling interplay between Ishito and Wu occurs, Ishito has one of the most unique tenor saxophone sounds, bordering on baritone and she really lets it shine. Tang utilizes pianistIc tone colors, and her voice to build intensity, as the ensemble builds to a sonic tornado. The best free improvisation has a story, and there is an arc here that is organic and unforced.

Sound:

Recorded by Jim Clouse at ESP disk’s customary Park West Studio on December 16, 2019 and September 3, 2020, the music was mixed by Clouse and Ayumi Ishito. The recording is a digital download with a physical release appearing on vinyl only. Tang’s voice is immediate for the digital download in the center of the sound stage. Ishito and Wu are in the rear of the sound stage, with lots of the natural room tone of the studio present. On tracks like “8 Steps/Seven O’Clock” do post production effects appear with ambient sounds and panning voice effects. A beautiful sounding recording.

Concluding Thoughts:

Pause & Effect is an album that demands attention. The spoken word by Tang for some, may be difficult to hear as it contains a lot of truth that some may not be privy to. With Ishito and Wu, completing the collective, the parts make a fantastic unit. The trio brings a punk quality of not giving a fuck, which makes the album endearing, and hopefully this is not just a one album/a handful of live performances project. Again the album physically is available ONLY on vinyl, and as a digital download, it is available for streaming on Bandcamp.

Music: 9/10

Sound: 9.5/10

Equipment used for review

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Marantz NR 1200 (pre amp)

Marantz MM 7025 power amplifier

Sony X700 4K HD blu ray player with Western Digital Easy Store external HDD for file playback

Fuhrman power conditioner

Audioquest Golden Gate and Forest cables.

Canare 4S11 10 ft speaker cables

youtube

#punk #free jazz #activism #China #Hong Kong #freedom #uyghurs #Japan #Taiwan #human #planet earth #fuck you

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Tong Tong’s Greatest Hits (Sasanoha Records, 2021)

In the past year, there were no bigger surprises than Tong Tong’s Greatest Hits. It is incredibly rare to begin with that a panda would release an album, much less a greatest hits package from her heyday in the mid 1990’s. The 6 track EP is made even more special because there were only 20 of them ever made– somehow, it found its way to the U.S. Not much is known about this exhilarating baby panda, but it is her sheer enthusiasm and conviction with her songwriting and evocative lyrics reminiscent of the grace of some of the finest ancient haikus that make this so compelling.

“Tong Tong Ain’t The Grim Reaper” delivers a heart wrenching vulnerability through it’s dark chord progression and steady beat. Tong Tong gets the core of her existence, it’s pretty simple really– she eats bamboo, likes apples, drinks milk, but is only just a panda. The emotion and tenderness in her voice is nearly heartbreaking, but the listener cannot help but smile as through the wabi sabi conveyed in the song there is a ray of hope.

Perhaps the most scintillating and thought provoking track of the collection is her 1994 hip hop hit “Panda Express”. Here, Tong Tong laments on the need for friends– she thinks she found them at Panda Express, and her rhyming skills are formidable as well. Perhaps not quite to the standard of Wu Tang Clan, Dr. Dre or Tupac, but for sure it’s endearing. “Bamboo Shake” is just joyful and sunny about her daily shake making routine, and she delivers some slinky funk for “Tong Tong’s Hesoten” (belly).

What happened to Tong Tong after the 90’s? No one is entirely sure, but this is a great collection to remember the sparkling years she was on the top. Tong Tong is quite shy so she asked to please not review the audio portion or give the album a star rating. As a bonus, grey market Russian Federation versions include the bonus Christmas anthem “Wakatake Tree”.

youtube

#pandas #bamboo #panda express #orange chicken

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Shizuka’s Mind: Bob James’ One (CTI/Tappan Zee, 1974) and the problem of jazz critics

I’m sitting here at almost 7 AM, on a frigid December morning writing this piece. There is literally no reason for it other than something I was listening to, and I hope that through my blog I can expose readers to recordings that I love that perhaps they are unfamiliar with. Jazz music, or Black American Music must be passed onto future generations, as well as other genres of music which have had some of their most important moments during the last century. We are in an information golden era, where everything is accessible, yet at the same time there is the unsettling reality that certain things especially in the age of 30 second Tiktok videos and other social media that things will be lost to time based on the fact that what is happening in a short span of time is most important.

I was born in the early eighties, when a lot of music my parents had grown up with from the sixties and seventies was emblematic of distinct forward movements in culture. The sixties and seventies in recorded music buoyed by counterculture and a desire to push back against the conservative ideals of the previous few decades. The late 60’s and the 70’s with the advent of multi track recording allowed for artists and producers to craft their music like audio novels. Certainly in pop and rock, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, Genesis, Yes, Peter Gabriel and the Alan Parsons Project (notice the theme of all these artists being British?) broke new ground in making albums be literally novels in their flow of songs and sequencing. Digressions aside, this music was all still very very fresh. This leads me to an album I enjoy that still is fresh to me

Keyboardist Bob James, who had made an avant garde jazz album Explosions (1965, Esp Disk) and had done some work for theater, replaced house arranger Don Sebesky for Creed Taylor’s pivotal CTI Records at some point in 1972. I’m something of a CTI fanatic and have been since I was a child. James had contributed keyboards and string arrangements for artists on CTI and its “urban” subsidiary Kudu, including flutist Hubert Laws, saxophonists Grover Washington Jr, Stanley Turrentine, and Hank Crawford, among others in addition to being part of the touring CTI All Stars, a group Creed Taylor assembled each year mainly for summer tours where fans of the artists could see them play their hits and popular tracks backed by the same all star groups, many of which who had played together on the studio albums. CTI brought jazz a level of popularity through it’s elegant presentation of album art featuring striking photographs from Pete Turner on beautifully glossy album covers, and excellent sound engineering from Rudy Van Gelder, famous for his work the previous two decades for Blue Note, Impulse! Prestige, Savoy, Vox and other labels. In 1974, James got the opportunity to lead his own CTI recording, his first of four for the label entitled One.

Why am I writing about One? For starters, it’s an iconic album, especially in the hip hop community. It’s one of the most famous albums of the so called jazz-funk genre, both sonically, and visually striking. The cover art features an ominous, frightening looking golden face, looking something like a door knob against a dark background. It also oddly resembles the Japanese Buddhist figure Achala, which can be seen at many temples throughout Japan. Right away, that album cover catches your attention with the Gene Laurants photography in the spirit of the abstract. Very frequently CTI album covers featuring Pete Turner’s photographs engender a “what the?” type of response. The strange cover of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s Red Clay comes to mind, or the cover to George Benson’s White Rabbit featuring an indigenous South American individual with white face paint which some folks mistook for a face full of cocaine! James Three cover appears to be a laser, which is odd.

The music of One is a mix of James originals, some adaptations of classical (the Pachebel “Canon In D” derived “In the Garden”), and the sultry, funky cover of the Eugene McDaniels penned “Feel Like Making Love” which Roberta Flack made famous with James and the same rhythm section in tow. Then the coup de grace, “Nautilus” brings the album to historic proportions. Many have heard it if they don’t know it by name. In short it’s a deep album cut, those are the tracks in the middle or at the end of an album where it’s determined the track isn’t fit for radio, or top streaming rotation. These are often the tunes where artists really let loose and play, or are quite experimental. “Nautilus” is experimental in it’s unusual keyboard textures which reminded James of being underwater in a submarine and producer Creed Taylor of stalactites in a cave. The track has been sampled on over 350 hip hop songs, with it’s atmosphere or relentless funky bass line and keyboard melody riff the focal point (no pun intended to my Focal Chora 826 speakers!)

Again, why am I writing about this album? I recently got the Super Audio CD released by Evosound Records earlier this year and was listening to “Feel Like Making Love” and “Nautilus” and drinking in the details. It’s a wonderful SACD. Sonically it’s a impressive recording; Rudy Van Gelder’s engineering superb, and Creed Taylor’s usual glossy production add to the mood. Some tracks primarily use the center as focus while “In The Garden”, “Feel Like Making Love” and “Nautilus” use a wide panorama between both speakers. The lengthy opening cut, “Valley of The Shadows” has that classic weird CTI, kind of free of tempo vibe on the intro, some pretty searing Steve Gadd drumming, and some pretty cool modern classical harmonies in the strings. James had a penchant on these early albums for some hip string writing, but the album tends to rankle purists… the kind of jazz fans that like their music swinging, straight ahead and acoustic, my mind was opened up long ago, and I instantly rebel against jazz purists. I was one when I didn’t know anything.

I decided to randomly search the All Music Guide rating for One on my phone, and while it receives a four out of five star rating, the review is written by Scott Yanow, a jazz critic and historian who has several books on the subject, and whose life goal is to hear and own every jazz recording ever made. I’ve never been a fan of Mr. Yanow’s work, whose tastes tend to be a bit conservative, favors bebop and hard bop based styles as well as pre bop jazz. He does like several avant garde and electric jazz albums, but his review of One is quite dismissive. All Music Guide has an issue where star ratings do not reflect the inept reviews of Yanow or the hyberbolic, self absorbed reviews of Thom Jurek. Yanow refers to the session incorrectly as James’ first recording for his own Tappan Zee label (James did acquire ownership of the masters to his CTI recordings following a lawsuit of Creed Taylor). He wrote:

Bob James' first recording for his Tappan Zee label is typically lightweight. Although Grover Washington, Jr. has two spots on soprano, and trumpeter Jon Faddis is in the brass section, James' dated Fender Rhodes keyboard is the lead voice throughout the six pieces, which include two adaptations of classical works. Only a lightly funky version of "Feel Like Making Love" rises above the level of pleasant background music.

Yanow simply is wrong about the music on the album. Much of his impressions come from surface, cursory listens, and the reviews lack the depth associated with writers such as Travis Rogers, Tyran Grillo, Raul de Gama, and my former mentor John Kelman. Mr. Yanow’s writing is frequently shallow, aimed at newcomers to jazz, but his often purely historical writing lacks the insight of writers such as the recently departed Greg Tate on the social issues surrounding the music, and built in systemic issues in the jazz world based on the social and cultural reasons. For example Yanow’s book, Bebop (Third Ear Press, 2000) though containing some good information is a purely paint by the numbers affair again aimed at novices, that offers little substance to well seasoned jazz fans like myself. Back to the issue at hand and Bob James. Mr. Yanow complains that the music is lightweight (do the string harmonies elude him on the opening track?), but this is still a period where jazz-funk hadn’t quite completely transformed into smooth jazz, a few years later, and like a lot of CTI albums there’s quite a bit of substance beneath the gloss. Yanow also misses the point about the Fender Rhodes electric piano. While the instrument was began development after World War II, with models resembling it’s present form being introduced in 1965. It became a fixture in popular music from the 1970’s onward. It’s sweet bell-like tones remain one of the most identifiable sounds in music, and in the field of jazz, like Herbie Hancock, the late masters Chick Corea and George Duke, and the little known European organist turned Rhodes player Rob Franken. James has one of the most recognizable styles and sounds on the instrument, widely emulated. The Rhodes is a popular instrument with the current crop of artists in the music today, among them Robert Glasper, Cory Henry and Connie Han and many others and is hardly dated. That said, the sound may be considered dated to those who grew up when the music happened in real time and were inundated for that sound. For those on the club scene in the 80′s, or those grew up with jazz/soul/funk from the 70′s or hip hop however the sound is as contemporary as the “dated” analog synthesizers or vintage digital gear like the Yamaha DX-7, Emulator II or Fairlight CMI for those who create 80′s style music or synthwave.

Mr. Yanow represents a certain old guard of white, older male, jazz critics that generally have a preference for acoustic styles and generally look at jazz through a narrow historical lens I’ve often referred to in personal conversations as “the problematic linear historical jazz narrative”. This perspective is at least to me, a life long jazz fan, seen as the “correct” way of thinking, when there are indeed many different perspectives What I mean by the narrative being problematic is this: In it’s 100 plus year history, jazz history narratives, generally written by cisgender white males, tend to focus a fairly limited scope of innovators, or important stylists, at the expense of expanding the role of women beyond vocalists, and completely avoiding significant contributions of musicians that are of marginalized groups like Asian and Asian American musicians or a book that has yet to be written: transgender jazz artists, which as a transgender woman I find particularly troubling. The linear narrative generally looks like this:

Trumpet: Buddy Bolden→ (start of recorded music) pre bop: King Oliver → Louis Armstrong → Bix Beiderbecke→ swing era: Roy Eldridge→ modern jazz: Dizzy Gillespie → Miles Davis → Clifford Brown → Lee Morgan → Freddie Hubbard.

As you can see from my crude brief example… this only covers the 1920’s through the 1960’s, excludes players who had very recognizable personal styles such as Kenny Dorham and Donald Byrd, and players who had significant influences on their peers like Wynton Marsalis, or the late Roy Hargrove, and excludes avant garde game changers like Lester Bowie, Wadada Leo Smith and Don Cherry.

What then occurs is known respected critics like Yanow just fixate on this narrative, and that narrative excludes Bob James beyond a minor mention of him being a “godfather” of smooth jazz. I’m not exactly sure if Mr. Yanow likes hip hop (I’m guessing no) but the impact of “Nautilus” amongst generations of people who were not born (like myself) when the record was made is enormous. In fact, the song is so ingrained in the cultural fabric of millennials such as myself that James himself reverse sampled himself on the piece for a new composition “Submarine” on the album Espresso (2018) and has since licensed his entire catalog for sampling. Numerous other songs like “Take Me To the Mardi Gras” with it’s famous agogo bells have been the source of samples for everyone from Run DMC to the German Eurodance group Snap and their 1990 hit “The Power” (actually stolen from the rapper Chill Rob G but that’s another story) and even Pat Metheny’s classic 1995 track “To The End Of the World”. Also, the recordings of Bob James were huge in the Black community in the 1970’s and 1980’s especially once smooth jazz became huge. Surely Greg Tate would have been able to vouch for the importance of Bob James’ One. As I said at the top this article in itself is pointless and purely from my hive mind, but thanks for reading. All rights of the posted review used in the article belong to the All Music Guide.

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#bob james #jazz funk #scott yanow #all music guide #hip hop #Robert Glasper

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Shizuka’s Vault: A Funny Little Time Capsule of An Era: Blue Note Live At The Roxy (Blue Note, 1976)

(pictured: October 2021 Japanese CD reissues, from my collection)

Collective personnel include: Rosko: presenter; Alphonse Mouzon, Joey Baron, Steve Gutierrez, Ndugu Chancler, Keith Killgo, Gerry Brown: drums; Ronnie Laws: tenor saxophone; Robby Robinson, Bobby Lyle, Marshall Otwell, Kevin Toney, Gene Harris: keyboards; Earl Klugh, Bill Rogers: guitar; Donnie Beck; Ron Carter (bass overdubbed later), John Lee, bass; Donald Byrd: trumpet; and others.

Blue Note Live At The Roxy is one of those albums that upon its release in 1976, seems to have been just kind of “there”, and sort of sank from view with little memory of what it was. It’s a funny little time capsule of an era. Albums like this are lost to the dustbin of time, particularly in the streaming era. The release in many ways was seen as a microcosm in the Black American Music industry at the time as a product from a big corporate entity that swallowed the once influential and path breaking independent label, sort of using it as a brand, only in name (even redesigning the iconic logo). The album starts with a commercial, (yes, you heard right!) fading into the live audio from the Roxy nightclub in Hollywood. It seems to have a minor cult following amongst 70′s jazz and funk lovers, and that’s a reason besides being a part of my childhood I’m bringing attention to it.

To look at this album as product-- It’s presence on vinyl is ubiquitous, regularly showing up on eBay, or Discogs, going as cheap as $2. It was released in four countries (according to Discogs) Even some sealed or near mint vinyl copies appear, a testament to how much of a machine this United Artists era of Blue Note was, that they were farming out copies of new releases in hopes an album would achieve the crossover success that the Larry and Fonce Mizell produced Donald Byrd and Bobbi Humphrey albums did, or the Larry Rosen and Dave Grusin (soon to strike a deal with Arista as a subsidiary for their GRP label, a leader in the digital recording and smooth jazz radio revolution a few short years later) produced Noel Pointer and Earl Klugh albums. Many of these, like Alphonse Mouzon’s The Man Incognito or John Lee and Gerry Brown’s Still Can’t Say Enough gained little traction outside R&B/funk circles, or gaining a small cult following in crate digging circles where recordings like these found new life in their sample laden breaks.

Blue Note was acquired by United Artists in 1971, after having been under the umbrella of Liberty Records since 1966. United Artists was under Transamerica Corporation which bought out the Liberty conglomerate. Blue Note remained an independent under founders Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, when due to health issues Lion decided to sell the label in 1966, despite the success of Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder (1963) and Horace Silver’s Song For My Father (1964) was in dire financial straits. Francis Wolff produced sessions often with pianist Duke Pearson overseeing A&R duties (sometimes serving as producer) and the sound of sessions like Hot Dog (1969) by Lou Donaldson, and the unreleased till 1980 Mothership, the wild, avant leaning final album for the label by organist Larry Young recorded in 1969, pretty much had the standard Blue Note sound Lion and Rudy Van Gelder created. When George Butler, who had worked at United Artists became Blue Note president in 1972, a marked shift took place from a label with a strong legacy in artistry and innovation to a label that became something else entirely in the eyes of many, especially for purists, and fans of straight ahead jazz.

Why am I writing about such a marginal album in the first place and giving some historical background? It’s for people getting into this music, to be aware of the appearance of this much maligned era of Blue Note back into circulation (minus this album) on streaming, which very well because of the crate digging culture, may find a new audience beyond those who hit dance floors to these records in places like the UK and Japan . I also wish to mention this albums’ very brief and collectible nature on CD and the garish nature of this album, which I was introduced in my childhood makes it at least for me, memorable.

I was introduced to this album in my uncle’s vast record collection as an 8 year old. I was filing through records, saw it was a Blue Note, and saw it had the 70′s era UA logo I was crazy about which you see pictured at the top. Having grown up with Blue Note albums from the likes of Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell, as well as Donald Byrd, and because my mom and I also had Earl Klugh’s popular 1977 album Living Inside Your Love at home, plus my father having Donald Byrd’s Blackbyrd, I was familiar somewhat with this period of Blue Note. Blue Note Live At The Roxy also had Earl Klugh featured, as well as some other names I recognized like Ronnie Laws. Having been (and still am) a huge fan of CTI Summer Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl by the CTI All Stars, I thought this album might be similar. My uncle put it on his system and I think he played the Mouzon portion and I remember pretty heavy bass, which comes through on my Focal Chora 826 speakers loud and clear. The CD to me sounds just like the vinyl, which I had also played at my university radio station, apprenticing as a teenager long before I attended school there. Jazz record labels at this juncture in time in the 1970’s, started a trend of featuring their artists on package tours at major concert halls and clubs. While the practice of jazz in the concert hall was prominent in the 1930′s with John Hammond’s famous From Spirituals To Swing concert and through Norman Granz’ Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts starting in 1946. In the 70′s, producer Creed Taylor began the trend of record labels featuring their artists in concert to mainstream audiences starting with the CTI All Stars’ California Concert. Labels such as Arista, Pablo, ECM, Flying Dutchman, Columbia, Galaxy and Milestone followed the trend of these package tours and often times were released on double or triple album all star summits. Sometimes these albums would result in inspired, combustible playing, or just be absolute messes of awkward, incompatible musician styles. For an example of this label mega fest, there is none better than Columbia’s two infamous Montreux Summit (available on most streaming services) albums that included such incongruous style match ups as Dexter Gordon paired with Bob James, George Duke and Billy Cobham. Blue Note Live At The Roxy is a mix of both this kind of thing. Now that I’m no longer a purist and at the start of my forties, I can appreciate this album as fun and can say I enjoy it for what it is: a sort of overblown, over produced snap shot of Blue Note at the time, in the Butler era which I have often termed “the dark era of Blue Note”.

As Texas based saxophonist Jim Sangrey along with others in the industry who lived this moment in real time said on the Organissimo Jazz Forums upon Butler’s death in 2008:

The longer it went on, the more and more it was all about L.A. based studio dates, not about "slick street jazz" or whatever you want to call it.

As Sangrey elaborated in an earlier post perfectly summing up the United Artists Blue Note era

If you again look at the timeline, when Butler first assumed the lead at UA/BN, there were a lot of "pop-jazz" albums like Visions (Grant Green) by a lot of people. In retrospect, these were not as bad as they seemed at the time, although few were as good as you'd want them to be either. If he had stopped there, ok, the shift was on once UA/Transamerica, bought out Liberty (far more the turning point than Liberty buying out BN, I think), and it could have been just another case of corporate bullshit winning the day.

But he didn't, and it wasn't. The whole Blue Note Hits A New Note thing was enormous in terms of "push" (i.e. -marketing). You could sign up for a freakin' newsletter for cryin' out loud, in case you wanted to know how chapped Bobbi Humphrey's lips were or weren't at her last gig, I guess...This wasn't intended to be just a co-opting of a label's name, this was a hoped for movement, a redefining of a legacy/brand name/whatever. And almost all of it was crap and/or repetitious redoings of a formula that had worked one time. There was no "rebuilding" or "redefining", just cheap opportunistic riding of a formula and farming out of work to slicksters, who did what slicksters do - make slick music for ready, and short-term, consumption. The only two "serious" artists left on the label were Hutch & Horace. The former's output began to be produced (to lessening effect as time went by, imo) by Dale Oehler (Butler again being "Executive Producer"), the latter's work shifting from Butler w/Marcus to Silver w/o any noticeable change, so I think this was one of those "stay out of the way" dynamics. And they got less and less push as time went by. Silver's was the very last release of new, original material on BN before it went inactive, and believe me when I tell you that it was released damn near in a vacuum.

All "style" & no substance. Go to THIS PAGE and see how the covers got prettier and prettier while the music got emptier & emptier. And that's not just a sign of the times either, since, as noted earlier, you can (and some did) make "commercial", "jazzy" music that is not as totally devoid of content as most of this effluvia was.

I'll give this much to Butler's BN though - it laid the groundwork for GRP, since Dave Grusin & Rosen became an active production team there. So if you want some, any, kind of "lasting legacy" from it all, there it is, and you can have it.

Others, like the late writer, historian and radio host Chris Albertson pointed to how clueless Butler was in a lot of the choices made, and that several others in the industry had issues with him. Albertson remarked in the Butler thread, “he ran Blue Note into the ground” when the label ceased to release new music from 1978-1984. In 1985, Blue Note was jump started by a classic Town Hall NYC concert organized by then president Bruce Lundvall featuring returning label legends and new talent. In Butler’s defense it does take a certain kind of moxy to kind of push the label the direction he did to attempt to reach new audiences, despite it’s huge failure. It is the aforementioned L.A. session slick that dominates the Roxy album.

In 2012 it was reissued for the first time, anywhere in the world on CD in Japan as 2 separate CD volumes. This was a surprise to take such a minor, pretty obscure title and put it on CD with many others seeing the light of day from that era of Blue Note’s history. Given the nature of Japanese CD releases, at times being reissued again years later I took the plunge and bought both. I bought them to “represent the worst part of Blue Note” in my collection, often calling it “the worst Blue Note album ever made” but until I bought (from the same series) Blue Note Meets The LA Philharmonic (never reissued on CD since or available streaming as the original LP) I was pretty wrong. Natural Illusions (1972) by Bobby Hutcherson, and In A Special Way (1976) by Gene Harris are just putrid affairs that make you want to puncture your eardrums with a sharp device--examples of the effluvia Sangrey mentioned. The latter features Philip Bailey and Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire, but the arrangements by Jerry Peters (who produced Harris’ Tone Tantrum and played keys on many Mizell dates) are just empty, pedestrian, slickly produced for the sake of being produced. Harris sounds phoned in, and out of his natural element, the greasy, funky piano on Three Sounds albums or his much loved Concord albums from the 80’s to the 90’s.

Briefly returning to Blue Note Meets The LA Philharmonic, a kind of sequel to the Roxy album, the best portions are featuring Bobby Hutcherson and Carmen McRae, but the showcase for Earl Klugh, a monster player to be sure, with musaky renditions of his tunes “Cabo Frio” and “Angelina” from his debut Earl Klugh (1976) featuring full orchestra, were a reminder I never liked any other albums of his minus Living Inside Your Love. The aural wallpaper of these two tracks was a prime example of these over arcing productions and was nauseating. In January 2021, I lost these albums alongside 1,500 others in an apartment fire. Both Roxy albums nearly ten years after their initial reissue were reissued in October 2021, and I bought them again.

What Blue Note Live At The Roxy gets right in it’s four mini sets for marquee roster artists, is the presence of strong working bands. After the hilarious advertisement for the Blue Note Hits A New Note Campaign featuring the voice of radio personality (and former CBS Sports voice over artist) Rosko, the MC of the evening with a seriously funky backing track, the drummer Alphonse Mouzon takes the stage. The sadly departed Mouzon was the original drummer in Weather Report, was behind the kit on some of McCoy Tyner’s 70’s classics, who had also played with keyboardist Doug Carn, and around time of the Roxy concert was recording with Herbie Hancock. Mouzon’s first Blue Note Mind Transplant (1974) is an underrated jazz-rock classic, overshadowed by Billy Cobham’s Atlantic debut Spectrum the previous year. The album, which like Spectrum featured the late, future Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin, asserted Mouzon was the next jazz-rock king on drums aside Tony Williams and Cobham. Mouzon's group is playing selections from the newly released, absolutely awful The Man Incognito album but live, the three tunes are exciting showcases for Mouzon’s power and improvisational creativity during solos. “New York City” is actually pretty funny on The Man Incognito with a George Duke style monologue, on Roxy it’s simmered down to a bit of gritty street funk with whanging guitars. “Without A Reason” has a lengthy solo intro, on a hi fi system, Mouzon’s drums are truly in your face, and keyboardist Robby Robinson worships at the space pod of Chick Corea and the styling of Jan Hammer with screaming mini Moog. The danceable groove with guitar solo is broken up by a drum/percussion duet with Mouzon and percussionist Rudy Regalado.

Ronnie Laws is next with his band Pressure, playing music off his Wayne Henderson (of Crusaders fame) produced Pressure Sensitive (1975) and recently released Fever (1976) with it’s hilarious cover of Laws covered in steam. The band is locked in tight, with tasty keyboards from Bobby Lyle who’d be a star in smooth jazz just a few years later. Laws, who contributed some pretty free interludes on Earth Wind & Fire’s Last Days In Time (Columbia, 1972) contributes some searing playing not really heard on his studio albums save “From Ronnie, With Love” on Fever during the Blaxploitation/adult film funk of “Captain Midnight”, then slowly dials things down on the now standard in smooth jazz circles, “Night Breeze” composed by Bobby Lyle. Lyle’s Rhodes solo is effervescent and effective. The CD shuffles the LP order a bit by featuring the double album finale of Donald Byrd taped on location on July 19, 1976, at Central Park next playing his hits “Places and Spaces” and “(Fallin’ Like) Dominoes with the Blackbyrds. There is obviously post production here with an overdubbed announcement from Rosko and applause taken from the Roxy concert and faded in. This is the end of CD 1, when on the LP it represented the final two tunes on side 4. The band does a great job of capturing the essence of the Mizell’s intricate arrangements. Is Byrd’s playing in peak form here? No... in my opinion his peak playing can be found on albums like Byrd In Hand (1959), Free Form (1961), A New Perspective (1963), but by this time Byrd had devoted much of his time to being a professor at Howard University, and teaching, and he had earned six graduate degrees starting three groundbreaking jazz studies programs. The trumpet chops don’t matter when it’s about the grooves here.

Carmen McRae represents a high point on the album to be sure, the audience is really INTO it, and her rendition of “Ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do” is really whimsical. It’s also interesting to note Joey Baron who has been one of the most creative drummers in free improvisation and the Downtown New York scene is the drummer in her group. It was one of his first gigs as a young musician, and he mentioned in a recent Downbeat interview he had to play Mouzon’s drums and stand up just to attack the cymbals! Not a setting one would imagine him in, but really he laid a solid backing for her. What really represents the album as a time piece of the era is the ridiculous 5 or so minutes of a proclamation given to then label head George Butler, on behalf of then mayor Tom Bradley, except Councilman Dave Cunningham was representing Bradley. The speech by the Carolinian Butler is excruciating, sounding as if he has a German accent, and was this concert that huge that this bit needed to be included for posterity? It’s absolutely absurd and hilarious and probably has some weird sample possibilities. Butler did bring Woody Shaw to Columbia, but axed him when they wanted to push Wynton Marsalis, and he apparently played a role in Miles Davis’ final post retirement Columbia albums before his switch to Warner Brothers. The Earl Klugh medley shows just how good a player he was, especially in stripped down settings and the “Blue Note ‘76” track is a bit odd for the fact that it’s really a pseudo jam session with the evening’s principal artists with the addition of some of the cream of the crop of LA session players (including one saxophonist Fred Jackson The same that recorded a one off for Blue Note in the 60’s and recorded with John Patton?) It can be enjoyed as long as the listener doesn’t expect much, it’s kind of a generic funk number that was a dime a dozen for the time, Earl Klugh lays down his best Benson isms here. It’s also odd that the only Bobby Hutcherson appearance is this track (on marimba). Again it’s a fun listen but not earth shattering.

I just think that for whatever reason it’s strange the album especially in it’s first CD reissue from 2012 is more expensive than it should be. Each volume on CD for $12-15 is reasonable, but more than that? No. The album for me is a memory of childhood and a fun listen because of how 70’s cocaine and drugs kitsch it is, with some spots of some really good playing. The production value is high and does sound quite nice on a good hi fi, but this article is not my customary review so absent are my review ratings. Barring if you have the few key Donald Byrd or Bobbi Humphrey Mizell produced titles of this era, honestly is all you need. Blue Note Live At The Roxy is a perfect snapshot of what this era of Blue Note was. Thanks for reading about this obscure, funny time capsule of an era.

Note: For record label and variant obsessives, it seems that Japanese pressings featured the white “b” logo variant, which is seen on the CD. Also, Thanks to Jim Sangrey. His perspectives are truly one of a kind, and offer utterly singular unique views of what it was like hearing something of the era in real time.

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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A Deeper look at Pat Metheny: Side Eye NYC (Modern Recordings/Metheny Group Productions, 2021)

Pat Metheny: Guitars, Guitar bass, Orchestrionics; James Francies: Piano, Synths, Organ; Marcus Gilmore: Drums. Japanese version includes booklet notes by Yo Nakagawa. This review is of the Japanese CD version released in late September

Side Eye NYC (V1.IV) is the second release of 2021 for 20 time Grammy winning guitarist and composer Pat Metheny following the stellar first official entry into the classical arena with Road To The Sun (due for a deluxe score, LP and 2 CD box set version with a spectacular lenticular display later this year) with keyboardist James Francies and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The recording captures an effervescent and charged Metheny, Francies and Gilmore in the guitarist’s first true live album since Tokyo Day Trip EP (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2008) What Side Eye really is besides being a format for Metheny’s desire to play with a cadre of younger musicians who grew up on his music, and who have caught his eye as a major talent; is sort of a 21st century version of the classic organ trio format. The tradition of the organ trio both directly and indirectly is filtered through Metheny’s singular, unmistakable lens. It is worth mentioning that this review pertains to the Japanese edition of the CD which contains an exclusive bonus track “The Bat”, while the American edition is to follow on October 22, 2021 in LP and CD formats. It is currently available for streaming sans bonus track at Apple Music, Amazon HD, and Spotify. To aid readers of this review who may be new to Metheny or Black American Music and other improvised forms , below is a brief summary of the organ trio and how it fits into the present release.

The organ trio was a fixture in the early fifties in the Black community with the likes of legendary organists such as Milt Buckner, Bill Doggett and “Wild” Bill Davis. However, it wasn’t until 1956 when a 28 year old ex pianist from Norristown, PA, by the name of Jimmy Smith (1925-2005) collided onto the scene with a version of Dizzy Gillespie’s “The Champ” on his second recording A New Sound, A New Star, Jimmy Smith At The Organ, Volume 2 (Blue Note) that the notion of organ, and the role of the electric organ in popular music was changed forever. For Black music, Fats Waller and Count Basie had been early progenitors of both the pipe and Hammond organ but it was nothing like Smith.

Smith had been inspired to play the organ when he saw his idol, “Wild” Bill Davis in the early 1950’s. He had played some organ on the records in the R&B group of Don Gardner and the Sonotones around 1953-4, but it was Smith’s legendary three months of wood shedding in a Philadelphia warehouse that solidified his position as the Charlie Parker of the organ. Organists like Doggett, Buckner, Davis, and the novelty pop of Ethel Smith had favored an orchestral big band type approach to the Hammond organ, but Smith’s conception on the newly minted Hammond B-3 had made significant steps forward with drawbar registrations that he created that mimicked the sound of a bebop horn player. By employing the first 3 drawbars combined with the new percussion circuit that provided an almost vibraphone like bite to the attack of the note, he utilized the vocabulary of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie. Smith combined this with gospel influence and the soul of Horace Silver that had not been heard prior, while also respecting the traditions of both Buckner and Bill Davis, particularly on ballads. His popularity created a cottage industry with strings of organists in his wake including Jack McDuff, Don Patterson, Johnny Hammond Smith, John Patton, Shirley Scott, Rhoda Scott, Gloria Coleman, the recently departed maestro Dr. Lonnie Smith, Larry Young, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Kynard, Charles Earland, Eddie Bacchus, Akiko Tsuruga and most famously in the modern era, Joey DeFrancesco. While all of these organists had individual, unique voices on the instrument, it was not until the 1964 debut album on Blue Note by Larry Young, Into Somethin’ that the paradigm shifted further. By Unity in 1965, Young’s innovations as the next Hammond innovator were set. Though he initially was a strong Jimmy Smith disciple on his recordings for the Prestige subsidiary New Jazz (even utilizing former Smith guitarist Thornel Schwartz) the 1965 Blue Note date with trumpeter Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson’s tenor and Elvin Jones, Young employed quartal harmony a la McCoy Tyner and unusual structures. Metheny’s new album borrows from this rich organ tradition, but with several additions along the way, the guitarist has truly made the format his own.

Returning to Side Eye, the band is now in it’s fifth iteration, with drummer Joe Dyson replacing Gilmore, but the constants have been the guitarist and Francies. The recording is the fourth iteration of the group taken from the final two nights of the band’s engagement at Sony Hall in September, 2019 at the end of a grueling world tour. As this writer was at the final night of the engagement with the venue being flanked by NHK cameras for Japanese TV broadcast, Metheny, Francies and Gilmore were very inspired and smoking on all cylinders. Not since Travels (ECM, 1983) has a Metheny live album captured such excitement as Side Eye NYC does here. The album contains five reinventions of classic Metheny repertoire, with the album centerpiece being three brand new compositions. The Japanese edition of the album contains the exclusive bonus track “The Bat”. Despite the trio’s unconventional nature, with Francies plethora of keyboards in addition the return of a scaled down version of the Orchestrion, greatly broadening the sonic palette, the group is as stated before a sort of spin on the organ trio, and it’d be best served given the previous paragraph to examine that aspect of the album first.

James Francies demonstrates a startling fluency for playing his own basslines, like that of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff or John Patton, but his ability to inject counterpoint into the mix of grounding the earth is nonpareil, as his solo on “Bright Size Life” shows. His time in the spotlight is punctuated by a stunning left hand counterpoint to complement parallel lines in his right. The standard is given new life from his bass line, a fretless bass patch almost indecipherable from a real bassist; but like the traditional organ trio Metheny is lifted from the agility this bass line possesses, in addition to the buoyancy from Gilmore’s cymbals and comping. As the group tackles the third tune on the disc “Timeline”, originally written for Elvin Jones’ groove and featured on Michael Brecker’s Time Is Of The Essence (Verve, 1999) the rarely played tune is most clearly aligned to the classic organ trio format. Metheny swings with gargantuan force on the time tested 12 bar blues form (it’s bridge during the head and coda turning modal) digging in heavily to Gilmore’s beat and Francies’ Jack McDuff like bass line. In a role reversal in his last chorus, Metheny returns to his roots backing organists in Kansas City and BECOMES the organist by “shouting” or playing a drone pattern. The technique was developed in the Black church, and it involves the organist holding the tonic (the note of the key the song is in) and playing around it. It is on this tune, as well as the sensuous neo soul drenched spin on “Better Days Ahead” from the PMG’s Letter From Home (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 1989-- original release on Geffen that year) that the parallels to Francies’ Jimmy Smith to Metheny’s Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery and Grant Green appears here. What is meant by that is Francies’ intense, ahead of the beat approach offsets Pat’s relaxed behind the beat phrasing. On “Timeline” Francies’ application of the first three drawbars with no percussion is immediately redolent of Jimmy Smith’s use of the same on the timeless 20 minute opus The Sermon (Blue Note, 1958) but he gradually brightens the tone by pulling some of the upper drawbars which speak of his own roots in the church.

The comparison to the original Metheny rendition of Ornette Coleman’s “Turnaround” on 80/81 (ECM, 1980) instructive, as the other track most referencing the organ trio though Francies’ sticks to the acoustic piano on this piece. For starters Metheny’s own playing is much more self assured than on the album from 41 years prior which the guitarist admitted to not playing the melody all that well. Also Marcus Gilmore’s (grandson of the legendary Roy Haynes) more relaxed deep pocket swing has a much different effect as opposed to Jack DeJohnette’s kinetic highly interactive drumming on 80/81. Though appearing as the seventh track on the album, this was the first tune of the night, and everyone gets limbered up. As on “Timeline”, the guitarist really leans into Gilmore’s backing as Metheny “strolls” with him in duo for six choruses at which Francies joins in playing left hand bass on piano. Following Metheny’s loose eight choruses, Francies solos for six, swap roles as Metheny’s Ibanez becomes semi acoustic and he provides the bassline accompaniment along with four to the bar comping like Freddie Green of the Count Basie Orchestra, a facet of Metheny’s playing only previously unveiled on “The Moon Song” from Beyond The Missouri Sky (Verve, 1997) with Charlie Haden. Metheny trades with Gilmore for a few choruses before the tune is taken out. A gorgeous “Sirabhorn” is sandwiched between “Lodger”, a brand new composition and “Turnaround”.

The three new compositions on the album really show what makes Side Eye as a unit special, and the live energy only adds to that. “It Starts When We Dissapear”, the first track to open the album announces itself with a dramatic chord progression from synths blended with the Orchestrion bottle organ, some synths from Francies and churning shaken percussion from the Orchestrion. Metheny and Francies state a main theme in unison, the guitar doubled by Francies Moog like bass. The overall vibe is an extension almost of the title track of Kin (<-->) (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2014) with it’s electronics and the trio takes the listener on an extended nearly fourteen minute journey, invoking at first some sort of techno ized cityscape. Francies’ liquid piano solo is full of ideas, and he is inspired by the double time tempo and Latin esque bass line. Metheny digs in on a bembe groove to the delight of the audience’s whoops and hollers, variety added to the tonal palette courtesy of Orchestrionic marimba. From here the group moves through a variety of written sections in the extended structure, returning to the moody head, Gilmore’s kaleidoscopic cymbal play a defining feature as it was at the start.

“Lodger” by far is one of the most memorable and intriguing compositions. Written as a dedication to guitarist Adam Rogers, Metheny exclusively sticks to distorted electric guitar, and though the piece in the melody has shades of “Travels” and more than a hint of Jimi Hendrix, it captures a hard rocking aspect of the guitarist’s playing that is relatively new. Gilmore lays down a hard, pounding rock beat, and Francies’ slow harmonic rhythm with elongated organ chords make effective use of the Leslie speaker “brake” feature on a Hammond. Metheny builds a long solo building to massive dynamic intensity, before a return to a slow simmer.

“Zenith Blue” is another breathtaking epic. A rubato late Coltrane incantation announces Metheny’s signature Roland GR300 guitar synthesizer, where a simple melodic kernel becomes euphoric. The Orchestrionic bottle organ becomes part of the melody, and if there is a nod to the late Lyle Mays in the texture, timbre and arrangement, this track is it. Metheny’s melody is long and intricate, a variety of colors being used, Orchestrionic 16th note percussion, glockenspiel, Gilmore’s drum and bass rhythm. Metheny elegantly floats over the changes on guitar synth, building on the GR300 in the way only he can, beautiful harmonies from synths and Orchestrionic bottle organ emerge, his solo almost ending in an abrupt thrash, before a variation of the theme is introduced as an interlude. Francies takes over with a Rhodes esque solo at a relaxed waltz tempo, Gilmore’s inner Elvin Jones coming to the fore. The Mays like “Prophet sound” timbre from the bottles returns to state part of the melody as Francies’ continues to solo, adding some additional layers of harmony. A driving section follows Francies’ solo with arpeggiated synths, the drum and bass rhythm, and the shakers in a Steve Reichian trance, and the tune reaches a thrilling conclusion. “The Bat” is a wonderful ballad closer, Francies’ bass line is so subtle that one easily forgets there is NO bassist, and his comping behind a reflective Metheny meditation is capped by Gilmore’s autumnal brush work and dark smoky cymbals that is icing on the cake after an hour plus of excellent music. The Japanese inclusion of “The Bat” increases the CD run time to 69:05 and makes it a much more complete, satisfying album experience than the streaming, the UK and American CD versions that close with “Zenith Blue”.

Sound:

Recorded, mixed and mastered by longtime engineering partner Pete Karam, with the live house sound courtesy of Austin Stillwell, Side Eye NYC is without question the finest sounding Metheny album in a very long time. Two versions of the album were analyzed for review, the high res streaming version available through all major streaming services and the Japanese CD. The streaming version utilized both the Marantz MM7025 dual AKM DACS and the Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC. While the Bifrost 2 seemingly adds a more distinct layer of separation, the Focal Chora 826 speakers do a wonderful job at displaying the wide dynamics the ensemble creates. If anything, streaming vs. CD, the bass is a bit tighter and more present in the high res version, but the CD sounds very very nice. One neat aspect of the VERY wide sound stage is Metheny’s distorted guitar on “Lodger”, while it appears center of the sound stage on most other tracks, is slightly LEFT of center coming outside the speaker, and the Roland GR300, on “Zenith Blue”, as Metheny has the synth full blast, it is placed in the center, and when he turns it off and uses the G303 (the guitar controller for the GR300) as a regular guitar, it also appears to the left of center coming outside the speaker, very cool use of spatial depth. Francies’ analog synths have textural variety and depth, the piano appearing across the sound stage on “It Starts When We Dissapear” and “Turnaround”, while for tracks like “The Bat” remain in the far left channel. Gilmore’s drums have thunder and punch, and his K Zildjian cymbals ring with gorgeous sizzle and wash.

Concluding Thoughts:

Side Eye NYC showcases a stimulating new configuration for Pat Metheny. Francies and Gilmore push him to inspired heights, and in turn they also deliver some great moments. The album could serve as a Pat Metheny primer for the uninitiated and it ranks as far as his live albums go the finest since Trio-->Live (Warner Brothers/Metheny Group Productions, 2000) in it’s unbridled enthusiasm. The Japanese CD is a more satisfying, complete album experience because of the inclusion of “The Bat”, but the potential of this new trio is definitely high. Metheny plans on going into the studio with Side Eye at some point and it is anyone’s guess where it will evolve to. Francies is the finest keyboard collaborator since Lyle Mays and the duo and quartets with Brad Mehldau, and their chemistry can lead to some very interesting places.

Music: 9.5/10

Sound: 9/10

Equipment used for review

HP Pavilion x360 laptop (for high res playback)

Audiolab CDT6000 transport (for CD playback)

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Pre amp: Marantz NR1200 stereo receiver

Marantz MM7025 power amplifier

Audioquest Golden Gate and Forest cables

Furman power conditioner

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#pat metheny #james francies black american music #jazz #marcus gilmore #organ trio

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Track review-- A deeper look at: Lyle Mays “Eberhard” (Self produced, 2021)

Lyle Mays (piano, keyboards, synthesizers), Bob Sheppard (sax and woodwinds), Steve Rodby (acoustic bass), Jimmy Johnson (electric bass), Alex Acuña (drums and percussion), Jimmy Branly (drums and percussion), Wade Culbreath (vibraphone and marimba), Bill Frisell (guitar), Mitchel Forman (Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano), Aubrey Johnson (vocals), Rosana Eckert (vocals), Gary Eckert (vocals), Timothy Loo (cello), Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick (cello), Eric Byers (cello) and Armen Ksajikian (cello)

When pianist, synthesist and composer Lyle Mays passed on February 10, 2020 from a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness, to say it was shocking to all those who enjoyed both his work with the Pat Metheny Group (1978-2005, with officially undocumented Japanese and European tours during 2009-10) and his small catalog as a bandleader was an understatement. The word genius is overused in the music and entertainment industry but Mays truly was a genius in every sense of the word. Not only was he a fabulous musician and composer, but he was multi-talented. Among his many interests outside music: architecture, he had designed his own Los Angeles house as well as one for his sister in Wisconsin; he was a soccer enthusiast that while he was with the PMG actually taught and coached a local team a distinct Brazilian style of play, he was a computer programmer, and a billiards player who played on the professional circuit. Above all, Mays’ attention to structure, detail and compositional drama was a hallmark of his own work, and his brilliant harmonic mind always contributed effervescent improvisational ideas. While he possessed chops in spades, the keyboardist always used them in a meaningful way. As a synthesist Mays was the most significant musician after Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul as a player in the “jazz” field.

Eberhard, composed in 2009 for the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, is a tribute to one of Mays’ greatest influences: the bassist Eberhard Weber. The 13 minute track, which is being released world wide as a single on CD, LP and streaming formats is in many ways a perfect bookend to Lyle Mays (Warner Bros/Metheny Group Productions, 1986) the titular debut record that, while sounding quite unique from anything in the so called “fusion” field was critically panned at the time. In the decades since, the album has gained a cult following as a bonafide classic. The remainder of Mays’ catalog (including a 1993 quartet concert released 22 years later The Ludwigsburg Concert) has broad reach that in its totality represented restless exploration and traversed multiple trails simultaneously.

After the PMG’s The Way Up however, Mays had reservations about where the music industry was going and retired from the music industry instead working a regular position as a software engineer. He also couldn’t deal with the rigors of touring and after the aforementioned PMG Songbook tour of Europe and Japan during 2009-10, Mays had had enough. Though there were rumblings of Metheny and Mays writing for a new Group record a few years later, ultimately the plans were scrapped and the keyboardist made relatively few live appearances, instead focusing on a few teaching appearances co lead with collaborator and sound designer Bob Rice (most known as a Synclavier operator for Frank Zappa) and a widely viewed TED Talks appearance. Mays had also become an endorsee for synthesizer companies Arturia and Trillian Spectrasonics.

Sometime in 2019 Mays’ health began to worsen and decided he needed to record Eberhard so it is not a traditional posthumous release because he was involved in every aspect of playing, composing, recording, orchestrating and producing. As an associate producer, long time PMG band mate, acoustic bassist on the track and best friend Steve Rodby says in the liners, Eberhard was not to be the last work of Lyle Mays and he had plans for more. After Mays’ death, on the Pat Metheny website, the guitarist posted some words about his long time musical compatriot and indicated that he and Mays had been talking about a wacky idea of which he could not reveal the details, but that it was something related to a sequel of their classic As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (ECM, 1981). Eberhard is significant for being the largest ensemble Mays ever led, at 16 members bringing back Alex Acuna and Bill Frisell from the first album, Steve Rodby on acousic bass (who appeared on 1988’s Street Dreams) and featuring mallet player Wade Culbreath, electric bassist Jimmy Johnson, vocalists Rosanna and Gary Eckhart as well as Mays’ niece the rising Aubrey Johnson. A string quartet, Bob Sheppard on reeds, Mitchel Forman on Hammond B-3 organ and Wurlitzer electric piano, and second drummer Jimmy Branly round out the group besides Mays’ piano and keyboards.

Mays’ connection to Weber’s music goes back further than the 2009 composition, which has roots decades before in 1983. While Mays appeared on the bassist’s wonderful Later That Evening (ECM, 1982) Weber had appeared on Pat Metheny’s Watercolors (ECM, 1977) forming the backbone along with drummer Danny Gottlieb of what could be considered a Pat Metheny Group prototype, and the tracks Mays appeared, are really a prequel to Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978). Weber remained a profound influence on the keyboardist’s composing, and when the PMG’s swan song The Way Up (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2005) was released, the melancholy bass melody of “Part 2” was a direct reference to Weber.

The piece begins with an marimba ostinato from Culbreath, a two note motif with a touching chord progression. Mays states a few of the melodic ideas with his signature piano reverberating in the atmosphere with trademark subtle layers of keyboards and percussion from Acuna. It’s important to note the striking similarities in style between Mays and Weber keyboardist Rainer Bruninghaus. Mays and Bruninghaus, it must be said conjecturally, seem to have explored parallel paths in their harmonic styles and solo wise. Jimmy Johnson’s fretless bass then takes center stage for a bass melody redolent of Weber, before things really begin to percolate with minimalist motifs that are quite influenced by Indonesian Gamelan music (shades of the title track to Imaginary Day) and Steve Reich. Flutes state a motif taken directly from Weber’s “T. On A White Horse” on The Following Morning (ECM, 1974) and the first bits of wordless vocals appear with the motif, the percussive vocal effects that appear from the far left and right parts of the sound stage are reminiscent of the synth effects Mays used on “Northern Lights”, the first movement of the “Alaskan Suite” from Lyle Mays. There are also musique concrete sonic collages that frame the eerie dream like sequences much like the first two parts of Street Dreams (Warner Bros./Metheny Group Productions, 1988).

Mays takes a solo that builds in intensity and arc before the main musical kernel melodically is revealed behind Acuna’s drums and the wordless vocals from the Eckhart’s and Johnson. During a further development of this section, Mays and Johnson engage in an awe inspiring duo with Johnson’s vocals in unison with his keyboards. It is here and only here, for a couple of bars does Mays signature ocarina like synth lead appear, more as a texture placed in the mix alongside other sounds. Bob Sheppard, ace LA studio player and longtime associate of the keyboardist takes a searing tenor sax solo buoyed by Rodby’s inimitable bass and surging intensity from the rest of the ensemble. An intriguing aspect of Mays’ comping behind Sheppard revolves around a device he loved to use, where rhythmically his lines “pulse” much like the way Stravinsky has rhythmic pulsing in pieces like The Rite Of Spring and The Firebird. Another fine example of this style of comping would be the way Mays comps behind Pat Metheny’s guitar synthesizer solo on “As It Is” from Speaking of Now (Warner Bros. Metheny Group Productions, 2002) though there are numerous other examples of Mays doing this in other tracks throughout his discography. Once things reach the point of no return in terms of build, the piece ends as quietly as it began. The marimba ostinato returns behind the subtle synth underpinning and the piece achieves an utterly satisfying resolution. It is remarkable that in 13 minutes the piece travels as much territory as it does, it feels as if the listener has been on a much longer journey.

Sound:

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Rich Breen, Eberhard was recorded during the latter parts of 2019 up through January 2020. The familiar hand of Steve Rodby served alongside Bob Rice as associate producers and sonically the piece is full and dynamic covering the entire sound stage. Production wise, the album falls between Lyle Mays and Street Dreams. As with those albums, Frisell is a textural voice in the mix as opposed to a lead voice, and he seamlessly blends into the soundscape in a way the listener may not notice. Mays’ piano is at once gleaming but also relatively dark in timbre but is so resonant across the sound stage with reverb. Drums, and bass all sound accurate and have appropriate punch, and new details in the sub mix reveal themselves over time upon multiple listening.

Concluding Thoughts:

In a cultural era where the light music brings is needed more than ever Eberhard is simply a gift. Mays’ entire catalog is worth investigation, but there is something about the piece that places it near the top, it is perhaps barring none, the finest compositional achievement of his entire career. On its own terms it is wondrous, for those who have missed Mays’ contributions to the Metheny Group this will fill a much needed hole, but in terms of the keyboardist/composers’ oeuvre as a leader this quite simply is the piece de resistance and easily fits as the bookend to the self titled opus and a perfect capstone to a remarkable career and life.

Music: 10/10

Sound: 9.5/10

Equipment used for review:

HP Pavilion X360 laptop (for digital promo streaming)

Marantz NR1200 stereo receiver (used as preamp)

Marantz MM 7025 power amplifier with AKM 4000 series dual DAC’s

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones

Audioquest Forest and Golden Gate cables

Canare 4S11 speaker cable

#lyle mays #pat metheny group #eberhard weber #ecm records

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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A deeper look at Merci Miles: (Warner Records, 2021)

Miles Davis: trumpet; Kenny Garrett: saxophone; Deron Johnson: keyboard; Richard Patterson: bass; Ricky Wellman: drums

By July, 1991 Miles Davis was music royalty. The previous decade saw him reach a level of popularity and stardom seldom seen in jazz. By the early 80’s the trumpeter had changed music multiple times, 4 to be exact, with his foray into hip hop, the first recording to be issued after his death Doo Bop (Warner Bros, 1992) , marking the fifth groundbreaking turn in his career. Prior to his passing from stroke complications in 1991, he maintained a vigorous touring schedule, and the performances of his sextet of the period, the finest late career band he ever led (and arguably one of the best bands of his entire career) were supercharged. The music captured on the newly released Merci Miles: Live at Vienne (Rhino, 2021) marks the first time anywhere save two YouTube videos the concert has been available in full, and is significant and historically important for two reasons: it is one of Miles’ final performances in France available legally, and it features two compositions by Prince, the cheeky entendre laden titles “Penetration” and “Jailbait” that the late icon wrote specifically for Davis.

The picture of the late singer/composer/multi instrumentalist’s involvement with Davis is much clearer through the release of Prince’s own Sign O’ The Times multi disc mega box set and the official release of “Can I Play With U?” a track originally written by The Purple One during the legendary Rubberband (Rhino, 2018) sessions. Prince’s track was going to be included on what eventually turned out to be Davis’ first album with his new label, Warner Bros. Tutu (1986) but was eventually shelved. The track was then slated to be issued in the original, much more substantial The Last Word: The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings box set from the early 2000’s (of which promo copies existed) but was fazed out due to rights issues.

The trumpeter always regarded France warmly, from the time he first set foot on French soil as a 22 year old in 1949. The country was also where in the late 1950’s he recorded the innovative soundtrack to Elevator To The Gallows or Ascenseur pour l’echafaud director Louis Malle’s smoky noir film of which the trumpeter’s soundtrack, completely improvised featuring a top French rhythm section crystallized some of the ideas the trumpeter later would apply on Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). France was also the setting for the infamous romance with the late French starlet Juliette Greco. More importantly, France, being the first country to wholeheartedly embrace jazz and recognize creative improvised Black music to be on par with European art music, was ready for whatever Davis brought to the table, instead of the misdirected pining that many fans and critics demonstrated in the U.S. for his past, acoustic centered work.

Merci Miles was captured on July 1, 1991 at the Jazz a Vienne festival, at a picturesque Roman amphitheater filled to capacity. 7 days later on July 8, Miles would revisit the material from Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain at the Montreux Jazz Festival with a double orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones and featuring the late trumpeter Wallace Roney as a second voice alongside occasional spots for alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. The appearance featuring this music was followed by an appearance with former band mates in Paris on July 10 (a concert that unfortunately of this writing is being thieved by bootleggers for album release), and the European swing wrapped up in Nice, France on July 16th.

Miles’ band that July 1st evening, featuring Deron Johnson (who grew up with Miles’ nephew and former drummer Vince Wilburn, Jr) on keyboards; Kenny Garrett on alto saxophone and flute) lead bassist and Parliament alumnus Foley, bassist Richard Patterson, and the late Ricky Wellman on drums were inspired and smoking.

“Hannibal” written by Marcus Miller, which appeared on the group’s latest studio album Amandla (1989) is the high energy set opener, with the rhythm section of Johnson, Patterson and Wellman in perfect sync. Miles flies free with some solo lines before the head appears, and Kenny Garrett makes his first appearance with a lengthy solo. Garrett (who has a new Mack Avenue studio album in August) is like a heat seeking missile, the rhythm section responding and creating inner dialogues with him in response to his impassioned, pulpit stirring cries. Deron Johnson, often alongside with Garrett in taking some of the best solos of the evening, briefly dialogues with Miles before spinning off into his own, substantial solo turn. Johnson is a complete history of the keyboardist’s who played with the trumpeter and distills everything in his sparkling, distinctive soloing voice, swinging slightly behind the beat against the mightily funky bass and drums underneath.

“Human Nature”, the classic ballad from Michael Jackson’s Thriller (Epic, 1982) Davis first debuted on You’re Under Arrest (Columbia, 1985). The sensuous existential track became a blank canvas for the Davis band to paint on nightly. The trumpeter renders the melody with longing, then gradually shifts into a resourceful solo with a double time sprint. Within Davis’ solo and the use of Spanish tinged scales, and the colorful keyboard backing, the intense drama of the beautiful arrangements that Gil Evans crafted for Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1959) which Marcus Miller expanded upon in a sense for the film soundtrack Siesta (Warner Bros, 1989) are clearly felt. Davis quotes “Nature Boy” and a few other asides before passing the baton to Garrett, who used the tune as a nightly feature for intense late period Coltrane trance like meditation. Garrett fits in a quote of the old spiritual “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho” before rocketing into space; Wellman in particular follows him wherever he goes. Every now and then Miles jabs some mood setting chords with his Oberheim OBX synth as cues, while Garrett continues to combust. The saxophonist bursting at the seams as a fragment from the bridge to “Milestones” is used as an ostinato, Davis signals a quick blast with his trumpet and the tune ends. Garrett brought the audience and listeners at home on a thrill ride.

“Time After Time” , the Cyndi Lauper classic is ushered in as volcanic applause erupts from the audience, nearly drowning out the music. For 9 and a half minutes, the show belongs to Davis, as he gently finds all the melodic contours he can in the tune. Like “Round Midnight” and “My Funny Valentine” of decades past, “Time After Time” became one of Davis’ signature ballads. He drives his improvisation the same way as Aretha Franklin, Pavarotti, Bocelli or Carreras would, with a marked sense of passion and timeless beauty.

Disc 1 closes with one of the Prince tunes, “Penetration” where everyone gets off on the raunchy funk. Davis and Garrett are one during the track, and it truly shows the admiration and border less musicality that both icons would have shared, Davis struts with swagger between melody statements and Johnson rips into his solo with passion, Garrett’s searing alto ups the ante further. As a contrast, “Jailbait” on disc 2, is a gut bucket blues where both Johnson and Garrett take scintillating solos..

The show closes with “Wrinkle” a wondrous maze of a melody that is awe inspiring when played a top speed, and “Finale” a drum solo feature for Wellman that showcases his patented bass drum triplets while keeping rock solid time on the snare, a sort of shuffle where the bass and snare switch roles, and some lightning samba as well as his signature Go-Go groove.

Sound:

Merci Miles is taken directly from the original tapes recorded and mixed by Patrick Savey and Mastered by John Webber at Air Studios in London. Similar to Sony/Legacy’s Bootleg Series releases for Davis, the tape is from the official broadcast, in this case captured by the small Zycopolis studios. Curiously for 1991, the sound is mono which could be due to whatever technical limitations of the tape, but it is very good strong mono. The Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC manages to wring out very nice separation for the band in the mono soundstage: In particular, Davis trumpet is vibrant, brassy, golden and present. Richard Patterson’s bass is commanding and takes the center of the sound stage, deep and rich. Ricky Wellman’s drums are full of gusto, there is a reason his nickname was “Sugarfoot” and you hear that in all it’s glory. Kenny Garrett’s passion radiates past the speakers, Deron Johnson’s keyboards float above the proceedings and Foley’s lead bass provides a wonderful textural contrast to everything else.

Concluding Thoughts:

The 80’s and early 90’s Miles cannon has seen relatively scant archival releases versus everything from the 50’s-70’s. Merci Miles is a welcome document of a band that truly was at the top of it’s game and at the peak of its powers. Miles Davis, judging from this concert was showing little sign of slowing down in his playing, there is a vitality and joy here that easily places this alongside his Montreux concerts of the period and the excellent Live Around The World (Warner Brothers, 1996). A wonderful present honoring the great musical icon thirty years on from his passing. The CD (reviewed here) and LP packages contain some particularly touching photos in a triple gatefold in the French Flag colors of Miles memorabilia from that final tour provided by Vince Wilburn, Jr and a superb liner essay from noted scholar Ashley Kahn contextualizing the history of the trumpeter’s French sojourns and the event itself, alongside some great photos. The cover also features some nice embossing of the album title text and Davis’ name. If there is any doubt about physical media, this album is a compelling case for why it’s so good to OWN a physical copy of an album.

Music: 10/10

Sound: 8.5/10

Equipment used for this review

Audiolab 6000 CDT transport

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver (as pre amp)

Marantz MM 7025 stereo power amplifier

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Audioquest Forest and Golden Gate cables

youtube

#miles davis #jazz #trumpet #prince #funk

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Circuit Kisser: Faking The Moon Landing, (Soundsabound, 2019)

Dan Chmielinski: electric bass, and synthesizers; Chase Baird: EWI; Mathis Picard: synthesizers; Diego Joaquin Ramirez: drums. Synthesizers used: DSI Prophet ‘08, Korg Polysix, Korg Prologue, Moog Grandmother, Moog One, Moog Subphatty, Moog Voyager, Oberheim OB-8, Roland Juno-106, Roland SE-02, Yamaha CS-60

Circuit Kisser is the brainchild of bassist and multi instrumentalist Dan Chmielinski. It is a unique ensemble in that the quartet, featuring “Chimy” on bass and synthesizers, Chase Baird on EWI, Mathis Picard on keyboards, and Diego Joaquin Ramirez on drums are a performing unit that with the exception of drums are completely based in analog synthesis. The band also plays live in real time without sequencers. What makes Faking The Moon Landing the group’s debut so fascinating is how the bassist’s interest in analog synthesizers contributes to a unified whole, often going far beyond the scope of “jazz” music. Chmielinski, who first fell in love with analog synths while scoring a soundtrack often has ingenious ways of blending each synthesizer so it’s nearly impossible to decipher the instruments from each other. A great example is how on “No Known Universe”, the odd metered 7/8 ostinato hinted at by Baird in it’s Coltrane ish introduction is later echoed flawlessly from Picard’s keyboards. Picard is effervescent, here and elsewhere such as on the intro of “Atomic Bliss”. The ostinato conceived as the bassist/multi instrumentalist was walking down the street, creates a visual picture within the listener of a 80’s CGI rendered model spinning in space. Baird’s EWI is volcanic, ripping fierce arpeggios with the portamento of his custom Roland GR300 inspired patch called “light bender” baked right in. The ostinato also is a launching pad for the Irish born Ramirez to dive into audacious ideas.

“Circa 1986” features a chordal based riff a bit reminiscent of Louis Cole’s projects including Knower. It’s brightly swinging groove brings Baird back into the forefront with a bridge almost out of a Bob Mintzer era Yellowjackets tune, again Ramirez shines over an ostinato.

The rest of the album creates some wonderful sound portraits, with the cheeky theme of “Boss Level” providing irony to the music of a boss level in a game, and the closing title track providing an epic conclusion.

Sound:

Faking The Moon Landing was recorded at Redacted Studios in New York, recorded by Nathan Prillaman and mixed and mastered by Prillaman and Chmielinski. Sonically, it really is a pleasure to listen to. Chmielinski took a hands off, classical style approach to the mastering and the synths themselves almost dictate the dynamics naturally. Synths cover the rear of the sound stage as well as the sides and foreground. Picard’s leads and solos naturally bounce with stereo delay, Baird’s EWI also bounces with delay from the left and right channels, and Ramirez’s drums provide the organic element with the acoustic contrast. The album is a subtly layered effort that not only shows care and consideration of the musical vision but just as much care and consideration for the listener as well.

Concluding Thoughts:

Circuit Kisser brings forth a strong statement on where jazz influenced or improvised music is in the present era. It’s evident from listening that all the musicians bring their influences and where they come from to the table and the biggest reward is eminently accessible but complex music that will interest everyone from fans of progressive rock, to the jazz-rock of the 70’s, fans of video games music, synthwave and more. Faking The Moon Landing is a fabulous debut, and the band’s future progress and recordings are eagerly anticipated.

Music rating: 10/10

Sound rating: 9.5/10

Equipment used for review:

Audiolab CDT6000 transport

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver (as pre amp)

Marantz MM 7025 power amplifier

Focal Chora 826 speakers

youtube

#synthwave #retrofuturism #analog synth #chase baird #dan chmielinski

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Chris Trinidad’s Cancion Tagalog (Iridium Records, 2020)

Chris Trinidad: bass guitar (all tracks); octavina (3, 7, 11); clave (1, 5, 7, 9); cabasa (4, 8) voice (4, 5, 9, 11, 12) Bo Razon: tres (1, 5, 9); bandurria (3, 7, 11) okonkolo (2, 6, 10); iya (2, 6, 10) bombo (9, 12) Raphael Geronimo: congas, bongo, timbales, guiro, bells (all tracks except 9); Carlos Caro: tumba (9), quinto (9), tres dos (9), guagua (9), chekere(9); David Lechuga: guitars (all tracks); John Calloway: flute (1, 5, 9); Reggie Padilla: tenor saxophone (4, 8,9); Kimwell Del Rosario: violin (2, 6, 10) Mary Grace Del Rosario: viola (10); Raquel Berlind: voice (9, 12).

Bassist and educator Chris Trinidad, Vancouver born and bred, but based in the Bay area town of Pinole, CA over the course of his life as musician has always been proud of representing his Filipino ancestry. The bassist is an astonishing musical polyglot, having tackled Latin jazz on his previous disc, Con Todo, and now with his eighth album Cancion Tagalog, a cross cultural blend of Latin and Filipino traditions, he examines a breadth of Filipino songs he heard growing up on cassette tapes, as well as traditional songs and a few originals.

In the extensive liners Trinidad gives an exhaustive but pint sized look at Filipino history and its relationship with the U.S. which helps prime the listener for the music ahead. Rather than give a blow by blow analysis of the music it is more instructive in this review to mention how the bassist blends textures from around the world to create some engaging renditions of traditional and popular Tagalog repertoire. Like the previous disc, Cancion Todo uses a lot of Latin and Afro Cuban elements that are repurposed for these compositions; particularly attractive is the slow rolling percussion on “The Maiden of the River Pasig” and Kimwell Del Rosario’s violin which plays the sweet melody full of longing. The violinist never strays from melodic contours on the three cuts he contributes to. “The Flower Of Manila” makes intoxicating use of a 2-3 clave, later switching to a 3-2 clave, and the grooving rhythm section work powered by Trinidad’s montuno is enhanced by some choro vocals adding to the spices in the pot. The use of the 12 string or mandolin like octavina on “How Lonely Is The Midnight '' brings humor to the table with a quote of Monk’s “Well You Needn’t”. Raquel Berlind’s vocals provide some of the most memorable music of the album with her smoky, alto illuminating “Isle of Enchantment” and especially “My Country”, also featuring a muscular tenor saxophone solo from Reggie Padilla. After Berlind’s vocal the band shifts into a burning coda with a bembe rhythm and exciting percussion interplay. Padilla soars over the section using multiphonics and altissimo playing. Trinidad’s playing functions throughout the album as Ron Carter’s might providing a strong harmonic root for everyone to shine.

Sound:

Recorded in isolation in California, Hawaii and British Columbia, Cancion Tagalog presents a challenge not found in pre pandemic recording. Trinidad’s recordings (of which he recorded and mixed this album) are normally excellent with their juicy, but not overly compressed detailed soundstage, and that signature juiciness is also present on this recording. However, because of the remote recording circumstances, some of the details like the percussion often presented at the far ends of the stereo soundstage sound as if they were recorded on tape run through many generations. Recording through Zoom or a like program introduces compression artifacts that with the Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC working in tandem with a Marantz MM 7025 power amplifier, and Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver as preamp, these details come through clearly. Also the highly resolving nature of the Focal Chora 826 speaker magnifies these sound issues. Raquel Berlind’s vocals on “Isle of Enchantment” suffer from some peak distortion; again as the result of being unable to have everyone record live in the studio at once. Still, through judicious editing Trinidad creates the illusion that these performances consist of everyone playing in the studio in real time.

Concluding Thoughts:

Chris Trinidad is once more successful at creating a unique cross cultural fusion. For those who may be unfamiliar with Filipino music this album could very well be the bridge that brings about further interest. He has a strong ensemble of players who bring about his vision, and the joy found in these pieces raises hope for what could be if humanity is represented at it’s very best.

Music rating: 8.5/10

Sound rating: 7.5/10

Equipment used:

Audiolab CDT6000 transport

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Schiit Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC

Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver (used as preamp)

Marantz MM 7025 Power amplifier

Audioquest Golden Gate cables

Audioquest Forest cables

Canare 4S11 10ft speaker cable

youtube

#chris trinidad #jazz #filipino music #tagalog #grownassmusic

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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Track review: Oddity “Brighter Day” (NPR Tiny Desk Submission)

Maddie Liu: vocals and trombone; Joseph Escobar: keyboards; Noah Zisser: bass; Logan Snyder: drums

Oakland based quartet Oddity led by vocalist and multi instrumentalist Maddie Liu is a microcosm of the post 20th century paradigm of modern music in the present era: Take the music you love, music you heard growing up and take those influences, put them in a funnel and make them yours. Liu’s musical studies were at UC Berkeley where her music studies led to a concentration on jazz with strong doses of neo soul, and hip hop added to the mix in her own compositions. She has an eclectic taste ranging from Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis, Ravel, Leonard Bernstein, Tyler the Creator, Blackstar, Chet Baker, and Kendrick Lamar among many others. The track “Brighter Day” submitted for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts reflects just some of those many interests. The hallmarks of her work: deep feeling, in the pocket rhythms and harmonic sophistication and when it comes to her mic skills an intense delivery, and cutting, surprising wordplay.

The track, a reflection on ideal love is a sultry neo soul cut featuring Liu’s alto voice, a mixture tonally of Billie Holiday and Chet Baker. Her sensual delivery of the lyrics is flanked by the sterling rhythm section work keyboardist Joseph Escobar, bassist Noah Zisser, and Logan Snyder on drums. Snyder provides some subtle swing, with drunken 16th note syncopations thrown in and some hip rhythmic displacements. The vocals are enhanced by Escobar’s rich harmonies. Occasionally Liu’s vocals seem a bit strained and flat in places, but her passionate delivery keeps things engaging. The chorus in particular has some dreamy harmonies that just dissolve into the cosmos, one can just imagine listening to the groove on a starry summer evening with their significant other, the vibe is just perfect. Escobar takes a scintillating solo with a beautiful, faithful Rhodes Patch on his Nord Stage Two, and then Liu finishes with a trombone solo with liquid phrasing, J.J. Johnson's agility mixed with the juicy tone of Fred Wesley. Snyder moves some of the drunken feel to a straight eighth pattern onto the ride with sudden 16th note accents on the upbeats that create an almost quantized swung feeling from an MPC with that of a skipping record, a cool effect.

Sound

Engineered by Eli CR, the track has a lot of pop. Liu’s vocals are front and center, Escobar’s keyboards placed to the far right of the stereo image, and Snyder’s drums to center left, the dead snare making a transient impact on the Focal Chora 826 speakers with Zisser’s bass square in the center. The Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC and Marantz MM7025 power amplifier work in tandem to create a nice, wide soundstage and the track overall is a pleasing sonic experience.

Concluding Thoughts:

Maddie Liu (Oddity) is a woman on the scene today with an incredible potential which is absolutely lived up to on this track. Her strong musical personality combined with an aesthetic to use her jazz base to inform other music she loves puts her in the camp of forward thinking musicians such as Chase Baird, John Escreet, Ben Williams, Thana Alexa, Grace Kelly, Antonio Sanchez, Eric Harland, and musicians and groups with a strong underground contingent such as Ayumi Ishito, Mayteana Morales, and Arlen Hart that blend what they love with the sound of contemporary society. Maddie Liu is a talent to watch out for and this blog will most certainly be keeping tabs on her artistic progress.

Track rating: 9.5/10

Sound rating: 8.5/10

Equipment used:

HP Pavilion laptop

Schiit Bifrost 2 Multibit DAC

Dual AKM DACS (inside Marantz NR 1200)

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Marantz NR 1200 stereo receiver (as preamp)

Marantz MM7025 2 channel power amplifier

Audioquest Golden Gate and Forest cables

Canare 4S11 10 ft speaker cable

youtube

#maddie liu #oddity #neo soul #jazz #jill scott #robert glasper #herbie hancock #noah zisser #joseph escobar #logan snyder

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years ago

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A deeper look at: Pat Metheny: Road To The Sun (Metheny Group Productions/Modern Recordings, 2021)

Jason Vieaux, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: guitars; Pat Metheny: 42 string guitar (”Fur Alina”)

For 20 time Grammy winner, guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, his previous album From This Place (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2020) marked some his most effervescent recent playing and compositions while Road To The Sun, his first entry on a new label in more than fifteen years (The German based Modern Recordings) is a unique departure in his vast, varied rich catalog. It is a portrait of his continued evolution as an artist. For the first time in his oeuvre as a leader over what has approached nearly the half century mark, not one note of improvisation exists herein, this is purely an album of pieces that the guitarist wrote for OTHER guitar players.

The album functions as a testament to the overwhelming influence and admiration that the guitarist has garnered not just in jazz and improvised music but other genres such as rock, and classical. Metheny’s recorded discography tends to show growth, refinement, and reinvention often within cycles of several albums, along with unexpected detours along the way and the new album is no exception. He has described his output as “one long tune”, and that tune just keeps getting tweaked and reinvented in fresh ways that bear continual fascination and examination over several months or years. The two pieces, “Four Paths of Light” written for guitarist Jason Vieaux(who recorded Images of Metheny in 2005), and the centerpiece “Road To The Sun” written for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, take a cue from Duke Ellington in that Metheny wrote the pieces specifically for the musicians involved. Road To The Sun was composed with pictures of each member on Metheny’s workstation and the parts written for them. There is also a bonus track of Metheny himself playing Estonian composer Arvo Part’s “Fur Alina” on the behemoth 42 string Pikasso guitar that guitarist initially unveiled on Song X with Ornette Coleman (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 1986, reissued 2005 on Nonesuch) but used here and there until the Pat Metheny Group’s classic Imaginary Day (Warner Bros/Metheny Group Productions, 1997) when it became a permanent fixture to his customary acoustic and electric guitar and Roland GR300 guitar synthesizer arsenal.

For longtime fans of the guitarist, his richly textured melodic harmonic and rhythmic approach are imminently likable, however for fans of classical music and classical guitar literature, a deeper familiarity with his catalog is recommended, or at least a cross section of his guitar centric work.

Solo guitar within the jazz tradition is hardly new. In the 1970’s Metheny was among a crop of guitarists, including Joe Pass, John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner who were exploring new vistas in guitar technique. Pass’ Virtuoso! series of albums beginning in 1974 on Norman Granz’s Pablo label broke new terrain as far as traditional jazz guitar technique and the conception of harmony and rhythm, setting a bar for others to follow. Metheny, on the other hand, with his third release for ECM, New Chautaqua, in 1979 was doing something new and different. He brought his distinct Midwestern stamp, reverence for a wide variety of styles including rock, country and western, reverence for the jazz guitar tradition extending back to the beginning with Charlie Christian and his idol, Wes Montgomery. He then extracted and melded these in new form on the album, using the studio as an instrument via overdubs, creating ethereal guitar textures. The album though showcasing a very young Metheny a mere four years after his debut as a leader on Bright Size Life, was a harbinger of the the future, the strong compositions and instrumental command were there, in particular Jason Vieaux’s interpretation of “Four Paths of Light” in the second movement points to the kind of harmonic effervescence of Metheny’s compositions, and the insertion of common devices in his own playing like the glowing harmonics and frequent use of pedal tones, both chordally and in bass notes, demonstrate not only the Buffalo NY born Vieaux’s familiarity with Metheny’s playing but there is a clarity that perhaps only a classical guitarist can apply that makes the use of these signature Metheny isms so fascinating.

When he embarked on One Quiet Night (Warner Bros/Metheny Group Productions. 2003) essentially a private home studio recording of Metheny experimenting with his baritone guitar and it’s possibilities (again seeing scant use on previous albums) the type of almost melancholic, procession of the pedal points in Part 2 of “Four Paths of Light” ultimately lead to a brighter melody is indicative of the exploratory improvisational atmosphere the guitarist created on One Quiet Night. Part 1 with it’s dense harmonic labyrinth is redolent of Metheny’s challenging, less conventionally melodic (yet still very much so) writing starting with Orchestrion (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions) in 2010. The harmonic intensity and flashes of odd metered rhythmic percussiveness propel the initial movement. It’s density, not musically, but texturally harkens back to Zero Tolerance For Silence (Geffen, Metheny Group Productions, 1994) the brilliant, absolutely intense multi tracked guitar album that to this day remains one of the most talked about Metheny albums with its merits debated in hardcore fan circles. Part 4 introduces something completely new in Metheny’s technical universe: flamenco styled strumming-- a technique while not foreign to classical guitar literature; for him, comes as a pleasant surprise that is totally unexpected.

The main attraction of the album is “Road To The Sun”, a 6 piece suite which features the wildly popular Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. The LAGQ, formed in 1980 principally features John Dearman, William Kanengeiser, Scott Tenant and Matthew Greif. What the composition represents is an even deeper refinement of the guitarist’s more harmonically dense writing, which became more apparent when he and the late Lyle Mays wrote what turned out to be the Pat Metheny Group’s final effort The Way Up (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2005). The piece is filled with a brilliant arc of drama, especially notable is the second movement, the LAGQ taking to the soaring melody like ducks to water, and the fifth movement. Some fans new to Metheny’s sphere, may be puzzled by the abrupt cross fade of a figure in a 6/4 meter into an “out” section of pick scratching, notes played below the bridge of the guitar, and the four guitars used like a drum brigade. For a longtime Metheny lover, this section is absolutely hilarious because these are techniques oft used by the guitarist in his improvisations. The other segment of this movement worth calling attention to is the faux improvised section which Metheny writes in a “solo” section of each guitarist to play. According to Metheny, the members of the quartet save Matthew Greif, have no real jazz background so it’s incredibly impressive to hear each guitarist play phraseology so specific to the composer with musical slang rooted in the jazz tradition with a fluidity that some classical musicians would typically struggle with. Metheny actually makes a cameo on the piece, strumming along with the LAGQ. It can be akin to when someone may travel to another country where he/she may have to learn phrases phonetically, some people take to it so naturally that it may rival a native speaker. The sixth movement ends the piece placidly, perfectly bringing things full circle.

The disc ends with Metheny himself playing an arrangement of Arvo Part’s “Fur Alina” on 42 string Pikasso guitar. The piece, originally written for piano makes use of the pianistic aspects the guitar provides, the nearly infinite sustain of the Pikasso both natural and synthetic (by means of reverb) rendering the composition hypnotic. The use of the Pikasso here aside from Metheny’s pre pandemic uses of it to open shows, is by far the most engaging on record since “Into the Dream” on Imaginary Day.

Sound

If there are any misgivings to be had with Road To The Sun, it is to be had with the sound quality. There is simply a lack of dimension to the sound which is recorded, mixed and mastered by the fantastic Pete Karam, who has worked with the guitarist for many years. On “Four Paths of Light”, while a case can be argued this is what one may hear with an acoustic nylon string guitar, and what it sounds like live; it is primarily midrange heavy with no shining upper mid brilliance of say Metheny’s own nylon string sound on tracks like “If I Could”, “The Road To You”, “Night Turns into Day” or “Above The Treetops”. Revealing speakers such as the Focal Chora 826, showcase this boldly and nakedly. Jason Vieaux is primarily heard in the center sound stage which is realistic if you are hearing a nylon string in person, and the Schiit Bifrost 2 multibit DAC does little to expand the sound stage, beyond accentuating the decay of reverb into the center left channel. Because of the f guitars on the title composition, there is a bit more air to the space and the stereo nature of the sound stage is a bit more pronounced. While the sound of the Pikasso on “Fur Alina” is gorgeous there appears to be a strange background noise shifting throughout which is confirmed to be found on both the high resolution streaming version of Road To The Sun and it’s CD counterpart as both were used in this review.

Concluding Thoughts

Road To The Sun is another worthwhile, engaging, chapter in the one long song of Pat Metheny. Metheny’s composition chops for musicians in the classical arena are impressive, and much of the concepts fit naturally within the tenor of his long form music. The album marks the first example of Metheny in this arena since his interpretation of Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint in 1987. If a quibble can be made, and it is minor, it is that this music is so unapologetically Pat Metheny in its construction and sonorities that it would be fascinating to hear him play these pieces himself. Regardless, this is a fine entry that could serve as a ground floor introduction into his work for classical listeners that may not be familiar. For hardcore Metheny fans, mileage may vary but nonetheless, the results are never less than intriguing.

Music: 8.5/10

Sound: 6.0/10

Equipment used:

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC

Audiolab CDT6000 transport (for CD playback)

Marantz NR1200 stereo receiver

HP Pavilion x360 laptop (for high res streaming file playback)

Dual AKM 4458 DACS (inside Marantz 1200 for high res file playback)

Cables:

Audioquest Forest (Audiolabs CDT6000)

Audioquest Golden Gate (Schiit Bifrost 2 and Marantz NR1200)

Chromaleaf Canare 4S11 10 foot speaker cable (Focal Chora 826)

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#pat metheny #los angeles guitar quartet #jason vieaux #classical guitar #modern composers #classical music

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