Burton Greene with R*time, Burton's Time

Burton Greene, avant improv icon, pianist, composer, creative force, is not one to pin down. At least, not for long. His lengthy career has been variously documented by some mostly excellent recordings. His movement from station-to-station in his creative life can be fairly well mapped-out by listening to the sequence of albums.

But what matters right now is a recent release out on CIMP (400) of Burton and a Quartet-Quintet, recorded in the States in 2011, namely Burton Greene with R*time, Burton's Time.

It is a Burton Greene increasingly occupied with, and singularly original in the composition zone. There are four Greene pieces, four more co-written with Silke Rollig, and one by Silke. They have angular memorability, have a post-Mingus-like arc to their melodic-harmonic unfolding (as Bob Rusch suggests in the liners), but nevertheless occupy their own special place.

The compositions are freely and imaginatively realized by a seasoned and nicely blended ensemble that includes of course Burton on piano, Reut Regev on trombone, Adam Lane on bass, and Igal Foni on drums. Michael Attias on alto makes it a quintet for the last half of the program.

These are excellent players all, perhaps the biggest surprise in Reut Regev, who is a trombonist with a definite original presence. I have not heard her previously and she impresses me as a player.

The emphasis throughout is on the compositions and how to play them freely while leaving room within the interstices for improvisational sequences. That happens consistently and effectively.

Burton's Time is an album that stays in the mind after hearing. It is new jazz that moves forward with Burton's special sense of form and structure-- free, yes, but also rigorous and memorable from a melodic-structural point of view.

It is an achievement, certainly one of Burton's best in the last decade. I do recommend it strongly.

Leslie Pintchik, In the Nature of Things

Jazz. OK, what is it? One answer was formulated by Fats Waller, I believe, and essentially translated to "Never Mind. Shut up and listen and you'll hear what it is." Now that doesn't satisfy everybody but it nonetheless holds true today as much as ever. I could throw around some definitions but not today, not here.

Better to listen, because that's what the definitions would then imply. If you don't listen closely and repeatedly, no words will help. So what is jazz? One answer is the album today. Pianist-composer Leslie Pintchik and her ensemble put together a new program of music you could profitably hear to help you on your way to a mental construct of "jazz". It's called In the Nature of Things (Pintch Hard 002). We've covered another of hers here if you want to look that up.

Well this is modern jazz, not so much commercial (which to me would be a negative most of the time) as current. Leslie is at the piano, Steve Wilson presides often enough on alto and soprano saxes, Ron Horton brings his trumpet and flugelhorn, Scott Hardy is on acoustic bass, Michael Sarin on drums, and Satoshi Takeishi on percussion.

They do one standard for the measure and the rest are Pintchik originals. These are well-made. They have chord changes of interest which Leslie and company solo over with skill and finesse. The head melodies are fetching and well-voiced for the ensemble. Leslie has a harmonically rich, rhythmically lively piano style that bears your ear-attention, most definitely.

It is a pleasure, a treat to hear. And you know what? It's like jazz, you dig? As in blow (your horn). It's a good example of the middle-ground today.