Terell Stafford, Brotherlee Love, Celebrating Lee Morgan

When I was still in high school I chanced to buy the double LP Lee Morgan Live at the Lighthouse. I became a Lee Morgan fan for life. By now having heard and appreciated nearly all he recorded in his lifetime, I can say without reservation that Lee is one of the supreme jazz masters that lived on this earth in our lifetimes. So when trumpet stalwart Terell Stafford devotes a CD in loving tribute to Lee Morgan, I welcome it. Brotherlee Love: Celebrating Lee Morgan (Capri 74138-2) gives us much to celebrate. Terell manages to remake many of Lee's best compositions and to provide us with a 21st-century view of how Lee's music still speaks to us.

That may sound like something easy to do, but to do it right is no simple matter. What makes it work is, first and foremost, that Terell Stafford is an accomplished trumpet stylist in his own right. He comes out of the tradition that spawned Maestro Morgan, clearly, but he has his own take on it all. He extends the music in an original way. You hear all that on the album, for sure.

Then there's the band. They are right there in the swinging pocket demanded from the music, but they are no Blue Note era clones, far from it. Saxophonist Tim Warfield channels it all to his own perspective on it, as does pianist Bruce Barth. They add their own solo strengths to the music. Bassist Peter Washington and drummer Dana Hall provide the underpinning and push that drive the music to where it needs to be.

It's great to hear the remakes of gems like "Mr. Kenyatta," "Speedball," and somewhat lesser-known things like "Yes I Can, No You Can't" "Caroline," and Terell's own original "Favor."

Terell gives us some wonderful trumpet artistry here. The band stays with it and everything clicks with heartfelt love of Lee and the music and how it all can still be a platform for jazz of the high-caliber variety.

Oh, yes, they can! And they do! This is a great album. It is a tribute to Lee and it is a tribute to Terell and his band. Hear it!

Lina Allemano Four, Live at the Tranzac

Out of Canada today comes the Lina Allemano Four and their CD Live at the Tranzac (Lumo). Lina is a primo trumpetiste with a good sense of form, fine chops and a pleasingly brassy attack, a Barbara Donald for today. Her quartet is a good one with voices of merit in Brodie West on alto, Andrew Downing on double bass, and Nick Fraser on drums.

The CD brings you a set of their music from the Tranzac club in Toronto. Each of the seven pieces was written by Lina, combining avant and post-hard-bop elements in ways that set up the improvisations well. Lina has something to say and says it. Brodie comes across with a piercing free-post-Bird passion that acts as a nice foil to Lina's extroverted brass effusions. The rhythm section works together very well throughout.

It's an album that gets better the more you listen. Lina Allemano has brass power. It's a good one to hear. Check this one by all means.

Carol Morgan Quartet, Blue Glass Music

Trumpetismo Carol Morgan returns with a nicely put-together quartet on her Blue Glass Music (Blue Bamboo Music 019) in a program of songbook and jazz standards and a couple of originals by band members. It's thoughtfully straight-ahead jazz in a contemporary bopping-the-changes mode. Drummer of note Matt Wilson grounds the music with his tasteful swing, Martin Wind wields the bass in appropriate ways, tenorist Joel Frahm plays an eclectic and limber tenor, and Carol Morgan shows her debt to the cool-heat of past masters while sounding ever more confident in her own right.

This has good blowing frameworks and the emphasis on the trumpet-tenor solo spots, with some nice interplay between the two as well. They cover some well worn paths, from "April in Paris" to Ornette's "Lonely Woman," but they do so with the special fingerprint of players with their own take on where to take it all.

Ms. Morgan has poise and fluency. She is sounding better than ever here. Nice job.

Trumpet Ace Melvin Jones Hits Straight to the Core on his "Pivot" Album

I am not going to mess with a lot of words today. That's because a lot of words are not needed to capture what Melvin Jones's Pivot (Turnaround 1004) is all about. Mr. Jones plays trumpet with a brash and bold extroversion that puts him in the Lee Morgan-Freddie Hubbard-Woody Shaw bracket. Hook him up with a very hot band (like the one here), let him get his own tunes in there, and let loose. This is music with that push, that heat that does the soul good. No kidding this is the modern day Hard that hard bop was and is suppose to be, only this is the present-day equivalent.

The band scorches and Melvin shows what he is made of. It's something good, absolutely.

If you like the full-body assault of trumpet pyrotechnics, fondly remember the best Blue Notes of the later middle period, Melvin's album will set you to going. He can play!

Wallace Roney: Don't Take Him For Granted

It's been a number of years since those who would be our musical spin doctors, trendsetters and what have you singled out trumpeter Wallace Roney as the flavor of the month. Such attention cannot all be bad. The artist gets more gigs and recording opportunities as a result. Once the dust settles, however, such an artist either continues to grow and make good music or falls back on a formula that he, she or the agent or record company feel is part of what got him or her all the initial attention. That can be devastating to the artist in the long run, surely. Thankfully, Wallace Roney has not fallen into that trap.

His new album If Only for One Night (High Note 7202) wisely puts him in a good live club situation, NYC's Irridium. He has his regular band in tow, which includes his eloquent brother Antoine on reeds and the hard-hitting yet subtle triumverant Aruan Ortiz, Rashaan Carter and Kush Abadey on piano, bass and drums, respectively.

There are some jazz standards, notably a very nice version of Herbie Hancock's "I Have A Dream," and there are originals. Wallace has the legacy of Miles in his bones, of course. But he consistently hits it harder than Miles in a typical period, though the Miles of Four and More has lots of that too.

He and his band have been growing though. This is excellent live jazz with all that entails. They are out to play and they do. There's enough fire for the NYC Fire Department to contend with. And there is an assurance in Roney's playing as well as the band as a whole. They are in that desirable category where "mainstream" only connotes an aspect of their connectedness to a tradition. It does not connote the careful cloning, polite whitewashing, or the playing it all for grandma approach some artists, too many alas, are apt to fall back upon for either security or due to a momentary (or permanent) lapse in the talent part of the equation.

No, Wallace Roney is mainstream only in the sense that he builds on what went before. And most importantly he does that with the essence of what jazz, especially live jazz, should be. A vehicle for self-expression, an instant form of communication, a conduit of the musical, mental and emotional self. Listen to the concluding, unaccompanied trumpet solo on "FMS." You'll get what I mean! I think most will find this a very worthy addition to their collection. It's brought hours of joyous enjoyment for me so far. May it do that for you as well.

Carol Morgan, Trumpet Extraordinaire

Women trumpeters in jazz? The Sweethearts of Rhythm had some, though I don't recall their names. Barbara Donald. Now there was a good one. Bold, brassy, harmonically advanced. I'm sure I am leaving out a number of them. But then there's Carol Morgan. Here's a player for you!

She's had a few albums out but Opening (Blue Bamboo) is the first with her trio: Morgan, Harvie S on bass and Rich Derosa on drums (and Woody Witt guesting on tenor & soprano).

Ms. Morgan has an appealing tone, somewhere between the alum puckerishness of Clark Terry and the quiet intensity of Chet Baker, perhaps, but not as fragile sounding. She is loquacious in her straight-ahead soloing. Hey, she's good!

The album mixes hard bop and American songbook standards (actually, only one of the latter) and some originals by Carol and drummer Derosa.

This is very solid horn and some very together performances. Horn players take note. Listeners, too!

Kirk Knuffke & A Bare-Bones Trumpet, Clarinet, Drum Trio

Chances are you may not have heard of Kirk Knuffke. He plays a thoughtfully burnished trumpet, puts together some singularly baroque-ish and post-boppish instrumental motifs and has the good idea to form a trio with fellow music-makers Doug Wieselman (on clarinet or guitar) and Kenny Wollesen (on drums) for Amnesia Brown (Clean Feed).

It's a set of music where the rather naked trio setting gives all concerned plenty of air and aural presence. They take good advantage of the opportunity. Knuffke writes some very interesting lines to frame the improvisations and Wollesen's drums gently swing or add color as needed. Kirk's trumpet work is introspective and direct on this date. His sound is bell-like; his note choices well played from the standpoint of gamesmanship as well as execution. Wieselman's clarinet follows along similar lines and makes for a very appropriate co-frontline voice. His guitar work is filled with loose humor and earthiness.

Amnesia Brown burns and cools alternately. It has a mood that inspires contemplation without stinting on musical content. Certainly recommended.

James Zollar, Trumpet

James Zollar plays the trumpet. He plays it well. He plays it primarily in the sort of mid-sixties Blue Note style, though he does not directly mimic the Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard models that usually find their way into the musical language of such an improviser. James Zollar's Zollar Systems (JZRZ) came out this past February and it's time to give it some thought.

Zollar is joined by a solid cast of fellow musicians. Stacy Dillard on soprano and tenor has good facility; Rick Germanson mans the piano with skill and taste, and so on. The tracks are a mix of appealing straight-ahead numbers, a standard, a couple of straightforward songs with a guest vocalist, and something decidedly odd, which we'll get to in a minute.

I should also note that Don Byron makes a very nice cameo clarinet appearance on the up "Spasmodic Movements."

Now for the oddity. "Time to Say Goodbye" is the classical crossover song that was a huge hit, wonderfully done by Bocelli and Brightman. James Zollar does a version here, which begins nicely in a shimmering out-of-time way with undulating piano and Zollar on the lead melody. Then it rapidly gets a bit out there. Enter mezzo-soprano Sahoto Sako singing a "straight" version of the melody while Zollar takes it out. It's a rather weird combination and I don't know what to make of it. It's a joke? I like what James is doing and the free Tranesque piano shimmer underneath. But what a combination, and what a jarring conclusion to what otherwise is a good mainstream effort. Actually, I'd like to hear more of this second side of Zollar. It reminds a little of Dave Burrell's outside version of La Boheme done years ago for BYG. That took some getting used to. . . and so does this. No matter.

All in all, James Zollar has given us a fine effort and some very listenable music. I am piqued with curiosity about the dual direction shown. Where is he going next?