Steve Heckman, Legacy: A Coltrane Tribute

Tribute albums to seminal jazz masters by contemporary players can go any number of ways, not always for the best. If the resulting music has its internal expressive fire burning, then it stands out as a performative whole of its own. If not, one might well ask, "What's the point?"

Happily we find an integral whole going on Steve Heckman's Legacy: A Coltrane Tribute (Jazzed Media 1074). Steve is in fine form on tenor and soprano, Grant Levin sounds well on piano, and the rhythm section of Eric Markowitz on bass and Smith Dobson V keeps things swinging.

The middle period of John Coltrane's output gets most of the attention, and that is fine given that the quartet and Heckman in particular have gained a great deal from studying the music of that time.

The Heckman original "The Legacy" spells out the indebtedness to middle-Trane while carrying on with good swinging ideas and an improvisational voice collective extending the sounds further.

"Resolution" and "Dear Lord" take from the early-late period and things like "26-2" and "Impressions" have the middle period resonance going nicely.

Of course if you don't know Trane you should start with his own recordings. But those Trane lovers like me out there will find plenty to get into on this album. Trane will never be replaced, but he can be honored, certainly. Heckman and company show complete respect while managing to breathe some new life into the music.

Nice.

The Dan Brubeck Quartet, Live From the Cellar, Celebrating the Music and Lyrics of Dave & Iola Brubeck

Iola Brubeck, life partner of Dave Brubeck, set a number of Brubeck's songs to lyrics. The Dan Brubeck Quartet got the good idea to address some of this music on their new release Live From the Cellar (Blue Forest DB15001 2-CD set).

It's a good group consisting of Dan Brubeck (son of Dave) on drums, Adam Thomas on bass and vocals, Steve Kaldestad on saxophone and Tony Foster at the piano. Everyone sounds well in a modern bop-ish-and-beyond context not far removed from Dave's classic gatherings yet contemporized.

The vocal numbers are some very familiar items, some obscure, but all worthwhile. So we get "In Your Own Sweet Way," but then also "Summer Song," "Lord, Lord," originally sung by Carmen McRae, and others. They all fare well with Iola's lyrics, as sung in a matter-of-fact way here by bassist Adan Thomas, who may remind just slightly of Chet Baker as a vocalist, only without the croon element.

It's a beautiful program, spiced by new instrumental versions of "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five," which given the talent of the group are much more than throw-ins.

Anyone who admired Brubeck the composer will no doubt appreciate as I did the vocal versions and the revelations of hearing them well-done.

The album is most enjoyable. I recommend you listen to this one.

Fred Tompkins, Flute Settings

Last month we took a look at Fred Tompkins' classically tinged jazz composition as recorded in the late '60s-early '70s by a stellar lineup of jazz all-stars (Fanfare 8, see post for September 4th, 2014). Today we jump ahead to the present, 2012 to be exact, and a recording of Fred Tompkins' recent work, Flute Settings (self released).

To draw comparisons with Fanfare 8 would not be quite fair. That record involved carefully conceived compositions recorded over a period of years. This album has good compositional elements--four by Fred, one a free collaborative improv with pianist Jim Hegarty, one by Hegarty himself, one by Boyd F. Becker-Nunley who plays steel pan on the number, and Ornette's "Lonely Woman".

As one can understand from the title the album is a showcase for Fred Tompkin's flute playing which is warm, lyrical, nuanced and open. He is not quite an Eric Dolphy in terms of technique, nor does he try to be. But he is quite effective and compelling in the solo role. The music ranges from Fred's work with flute and samples ("Voices") that plus the addition of Charlie Dent on drums ("Con Moto 3"), duets with Hegarty on piano ("Lonely Woman", "Melody" and "Free Form"), solo flute ("Solo Extensions"), and two different quintets, one with Becker-Nunley and a second steel pan voice ("Tabanca Time") and the final number ("Islands") with reeds, piano, guitar, and drums joining Fred.

This is generally a looser, more openly jazz-oriented date, some of it free form, others more arranged.

The compositional side of Tompkins (and others) can be heard to good effect but in other ways it is a more improvisational approach that prevails.

Nonetheless there is much in the way of thoughtful music to be heard, good flute presence and an open attitude that for its sincere straightforwardness has much charm and listenability. And it's great to hear that Fred is still at it, making very good music.

Recommended.

Kenny Wheeler Jazz Master Class Remembered

New England Conservatory's Jazz Studies Department Chair Ken Schaphorst remembers a Kenny Wheeler master class at the school.

Kenny Wheeler described his compositional process in a masterclass at NEC in 2002:

The process I go through to write or compose a new melody is this--I get up about 7:00 and don't wash or shave or anything, but put on a bathrobe or dressing gown and take a couple of biscuits, a tea, and sit at the piano which is an old slightly out of tune upright. Then I play through some 4-part Bach Chorales. After that I try, with my limited technique to play through some Bach 2- or-3 part Inventions or maybe Preludes. Then I fumble through some more modern music such as Ravel, Debussy, Hindemith, Bartok or maybe the English Peter Warlock.

And then begins the serious business of trying to compose something. This consists of improvising at the piano for anywhere from 1/2 hour to 3 or 4 hours or even more. What I think I'm looking for during this time is something I'm not looking for. That is, I'm trying to arrive at some semi-trance-like state where the improvising I'm doing at the piano is kind of just flowing through me or flowing past me. I don't mean at all that this is any kind of a religious state but more of a dream-like state. And then, if I do manage to arrive at this state, then I might play something that catches the nondream-like part of me by surprise. It may only be 3 or 4 notes. But it's like the dream-like part of me managed to escape for a second or two from the awake part of me and decided to play something of its own choice. But the awake part of me hears that little phrase and says "What was that? That's something I didn't expect to hear, and I like it." And that could be the beginning of your new melody.

But there is no guarantee that you will reach this semi-dream-like state. After many hours you may not get there. But you might take a break, or you might have a little argument with your wife, and go back to the piano a little bit angry and bang out a phrase in anger which makes you say "Wait a minute! What was that?" There doesn't seem to be any sure way of reaching this state of mind where you play something that surprises yourself. I just know that I can't start the day all fresh at the piano at 7:00 and say to myself "And now I will compose a melody." It seems I have to go through this process which I described.

R.I.P., Kenny Wheeler, 1930-2014.

The Ali Ryerson Jazz Flute Big Band, Game Changer

I was communicating online the other day to a jazz-brother-running-buddy (I won't mention his name because if he does do what he says he'll want to announce it in his own way when ready) who was musing aloud about writing a piece for a large flute ensemble. In the course of what he was thinking-talking he mentioned Henry Brant's "Angels and Devils", a pioneering work of last century for flute orchestra--an incredible sounding sonance. I wasn't thinking but I should have mentioned the album on tap today, the Ali Ryerson Jazz Flute Big Band and their Game Changer (Capri 74124-2). There are 16 flutes in all manner of sizes-ranges. Hubert Laws, Holly Hoffmann and Nestor Torres are the main soloists. And then of course a rhythm section--Mark Levine, Rufus Reid and Akira Tana.

A number of arrangers are responsible for the charts and they do well. The selections are chosen with care and good taste. Nelson's "Stolen Moments", Herbie's "Speak Like A Child", Trane's "Impressions" and a bunch of others, all good choices. The massive flute sound makes all the golden chestnuts breathe anew.

It's a sensual delight that gets to you in all the right ways.

Got flute? This is FLUTE! Hear it.

Bennett Paster, Relentless Pursuit of the Beautiful

A good hard-bop session still makes it in my book. That's what you get with Bennett Paster's Relentless Pursuit of the Beautiful (self released). The gathering is in the form of a sextet, with guest percussionist Gilad adding a seventh voice for part of the set.

Bennett Paster penned the compositions and plays a quite convincing piano for the program. He's got a Harris through Hancock feel, harmonically hip, line fluent. There's a three-horn front line for those Blue Note type voicings and Paster takes advantage in the writing. Joel Frahm is on tenor, Tim Armacost on tenor and soprano, and Alex Pope Norris plays the trumpet. All can solo in the syle with good facility, velocity, and taste. And they do. The rhythm team of Gregory Ryan and Willard B Dyson Jr, bass and drums, do all you would expect to get the session swinging.

It's well-crafted mainstream jazz, with nicely written tunes and well played solos. You will not be disappointed if you come to it expecting to hear the serious side of what that is. And your toes will tap when they feel it.

Albert Mangelsdorff Quintett, Legends Live, Audimax Freiburg, 1964

Albert Mangelsdorff's Quintet of 1964 was a beautiful thing. The band played new jazz versions of Asian pieces and original compositions reflecting the melodic feel of Asian music, from Ravi Shankar to Indonesia to Japan.

The quintet was a well healed outfit with Mangelsdorff of course on trombone, Heinz Sauer on tenor and soprano sax, Gunter Kronberg on alto sax, Gunter Lenz on contrabass and Ralf Hubner on drums. They released several excellent LPs that did not get much distribution in the States (to my knowledge) at the time. It was only in the later '80s that I caught up with them.

The band used the pianoless format that Ornette had made so critical an element of new thing jazz and the rhythm section had something of the force and drive of the Haden plus Blackwell or Higgins lineup of Ornette's classic group. Mangelsdorff played in a pre-multiple tone fashion that showed already that he was in his own class. In Sauer and Kronberg he had stylistically sympathetic and quite good soloists and of course the makings of a three-horn frontline that were especially prominent in working through the head structures of the pieces in the band's repertoire.

On June 22, 1964 they played a concert at Audimax Freiburg which happily was recorded in excellent sound. The master tapes have been transferred to digital format and are now available as a Jazzhaus CD (101 706), Legends Live, Audimax Freiburg.

It is I must say a thrill to hear the band in such beautiful audio quality, live and in their prime. They run through their "world jazz" repertoire in 70 minutes of inspired soloing, hard driving swing and beautifully performed arrangements.

Whether or not you have the original record releases you will find this CD enthralling I suspect, a revelation perhaps, and otherwise a fantastic go for the Quintet. It's indispensable listening.

Ernest Dawkins, Afro Straight

Ernest Dawkins has been a pivotal figure on the Chicago jazz scene for many decades now, as central member of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, as leader of his New Horizons Ensemble.

He steps out today with a new ensemble devoted to straight-ahead Afro-Latin tinged jazz. There's Ernest on alto and tenor plus trumpet (Corey Wilkes), piano (Willerm Delisfort), acoustic bass (Junius Paul) and drums (Isaiah Spencer). Latin percussion in the form of conga and/or bongos liven up most of the tracks.

There are two Dawkins originals and a slew of classic jazz numbers, from "Mr. PC" and "Footprints" to "God Bless the Child" and "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise."

Ernest's arrangements are solid hard-bopping entities that recall the classic Blue Note-ish vein, with plenty of room for solos.

Everybody cooks and the soloing is strong. Dawkins reminds us here that he can run with whatever pack he sees fit. He is as convincing as leader-arranger-soloist in this ensemble as he has been with the more Afro-Avant excursions for which he is known.

Most importantly, it is alive and vibrant. This is not a retreat or a mannerist rehash. It is a full-out explorations of roots, with all the fire and commitment of a living art form, as brought to you by an important artist of the music today. Dig in.

Stephen Gauci, Thunk!

As a companion piece to the Whammies review today, we go to a program of Thelonious Monk arrangements and improvisations around them that keeps things fresh and exciting. I speak of Stephen Gauci and his album Thunk! (Not Two MW868-2).

Stephen Gauci is a tenorist that's getting things very together with a series of his own recordings and as a member of Michael Bisio's group. This time out he gets a nice combination of self, Mr. Bisio on bass, Kenny Wessel on guitar and Jeremy Carlstedt on drums. I've seen that they've been gigging around the city. Alas I've never have been able to catch them due to everyday snarls and SNAFUs.

But the album gets their music down for us all to hear. We have a good sampling of classic Monk tunes, like "Ruby My Dear" and "Nutty", only it's arranged subtly, differently, sometimes with a straight-eight funk feel, sometimes by extending a harmonic section, adding an ostinato, all good ideas.

Stephen sounds great, Kenny Wessel really comes on, Michael Bisio is his usual outstanding self and Jeremy Carlstedt does everything right.

So it's not "just" another Monk tribute. These guys have been playing the tunes for a long while and the arrangements seem like they evolved out of thinking about and dealing with the music, not as a grafting.

So it all rings out true and plumb without missing soul and expression! Stephen Gauci is a player you need to hear and this is a perfect place for that. Listen up and liken it up? You no doubt will.

Alex Wyatt, There's Always Something

Thanks to Kickstarter, we have Alex Wyatt's There's Always Something (NOWT Records NOWT 006) to appreciate. It's a sextet playing Wyatt's compositions, Alex on drums, Kyle Wilson on tenor, Masahiro Yamamoto, alto and soprano, Greg Ruggiero on guitar, Danny Fox, piano, and Christopher Tordini, bass.

It's a set of players that have the subtle finesse and style to fit the pieces, which are new jazz mainstream--or in other words, the music is progressive-acoustic, well put-together, and the players know what to do. Alex's rhythmic sensibilities come into play in the compositions and in the grooves that weave around them. There are kicks and other rhythmic devices that give the music a jolt and show off Wyatt's fine drumming. But the melodic-harmonic content of the numbers is also compelling, with some nice twists.

I like Wilson's stylistically encompassing tenor. It compliments Yamamoto's contemporary stance nicely. Both Ruggiero and Fox weave some very attractive lines. Tordini's bass playing is distinctive enough that you can listen to what he's doing directly and get something out of it on its own, but of course what he's doing also fits in well with the music at hand.

Everybody sounds good and the tunes are quite interesting and unpredictable. It's an album you need to listen to a few times to get how nice it all is. Then you are there. I was. Thank you Alex.

Platform 1 Takes Off, with Ken Vandermark and Steve Swell

Platform 1? The name of a very lively "free jazz" quintet. Platform 1 Takes Off (Clean Feed 255) is the name of what I take to be their first CD as a unit.

It's Magnus Broo on trumpet, Steve Swell on trombone, Ken Vandermark on tenor and clarinet, Michael Vatcher, drums, and Joe Williamson on bass. All but Vatcher contribute compositions for the outing, and they have a memorable head blast off quality.

The rhythm section is loose and first-rate. The front line gives us extroverted improvisational joy and collective madness of the best sort. Swell and Vandermark come though as expected with their well-developed artistry. Magnus Broo holds his own among them.

It's a beautifully performed set of modern, cutting edge avant improv. Those who know these folks from past haunts will not be disappointed; those coming to this music for the first time, with a little patience, will find themselves digging in and digging the sounds, I certainly think. Yes!

Greg Lewis Organ Monk: Uwo in the Black

Greg Lewis and his Organ Monk project/ensemble return for more with Uwo in the Black (self-released). It's the music of Thelonious Monk...for Greg Lewis' organ quartet, you dig? And in the process Lewis puts in some of his own numbers, which works. "In the Black--My Nephew" is a rather touching ballad, for example.

So the band is Lewis of course on organ, Ronald Jackson on guitar, Reginald R. Woods on tenor and Nasheet Waits on drums. They are loose and up for it on this session, filled with the spirit and letting loose. And they tackle some of the less traveled Monk-ways with "Skippy," "Teo," "Bright Mississippi" and "Ugly Beauty."

Everyone is on the bean and Nasheet kicks it up a couple of notches for Lewis to soar over. So we can bask in the radiating heat. This is Organ Monk at its best. And that's really something to hear!

David Bixler, The Nearest Exit May Be Inside Your Head

David Bixler, alto saxophonist, writer of music, bandleader, steps forward on his The Nearest Exit May Be Inside Your Head (Zoho 201206). It's thoughtful mainstream by a quintet--Bixler, John Hart, guitar, Scott Wendholdt, trumpet, Ugonna Okegwo, bass, and Andy Watson, drums. They wrap themselves in 10 Dixler originals, in the process getting a good group interplay and worthwhile soloing.

Bixler has a Bird-through-McLean-Cannonball-and-Woods feel to his playing without copping licks. And of course that's rare. He gets good wood on the ball, so to speak, throughout. Wendholdt holds his own on trumpet with hip articulation and nice sound. John Hart comps and solos with facility. The rhythm team of Okegwo and Watson come out with solid strutting and get a momentum going in fine fashion.

Hard bop and beyond is where this goes. It's a twist on what's been done before. It avoids the cliches of the genre and showcases some serious players, Bixler at the front of them. Give it an ear.

Virginia Mayhew Quartet, Mary Lou Williams--The Next 100 Years

The next 100 years. . . where will we be? Chances are pretty solid that I and anybody reading this will be gone from this earth under the best of circumstances. What about the music we call jazz? I am pretty certain that Mary Lou Williams will still be remembered, maybe more so than she is right now. And so it is fitting that she be honored, and she is, on Virginia Mayhew's Mary Lou Williams--The Next 100 Years (Renma 6402).

It is in celebration of Mary Lou William's 100th birthday. Virginia has put together a program of Williams compositions, both well-known and obscure, plus two pieces by Mayhew herself in dedication.

It's Virginia on tenor, Ed Cherry on electric guitar, Harvie S on the upright and Andy Watson on drums, joined on several cuts by special guest trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. They are in excellent form throughout. I don't know Mayhew's work very well but I am impressed with her here. She plays a pure-toned tenor with bop/postbop imagination and the rest of the band cooks right along superbly.

The Williams compositions are arranged straightforwardly to bring out the essence of her music, Virgina's originals fit in well and sound well as well, and the solos have conviction and weight.

It's a fine recording. It made a Virginia Mayhew believer out of me. So quite obviously I recommend it to you!

Curtis Fuller, Down Home

Curtis Fuller, legend, trombonist of great influence and flair, elder statesman of jazz...at an age where many might be inclined to take it easy, Curtis keeps on going. His new album Down Home (Capri 74116-2) puts him in the company of some very-much-better-than-average hard boppers for a program of down home Curtis originals, a couple more by band members and a standard for good measure.

This is rootsy music in the Fuller tradition, with a three-horn frontline of Curtis, Keith Oxman (tenor), and Al Hood (trumpet and fluegel), along with Chip Stephens, piano, Ken Walker on bass, and Todd Reid, drums.

There is some good soloing going on (Oxman impresses especially but Hood can turn your head too) and it's classic-style Fuller music. Curtis may not sound as vigorous as he did 20 years ago, but when he plays, it's pure Fuller, albeit boiled down to the crux, the essence of his style.

Down Home is in the pocket and hard hitting. Keep it going Curtis. We hear you!

Rich Halley 4, Back From Beyond

The Rich Halley 4 continue to evolve and develop nicely, as can be heard in their latest, Back From Beyond (Pine Eagle 004). With them this time is the West Coast trombone notable Micheal Vlatkovich, of whom of course we have heard a good deal of on these pages over time.

He joins Rich's tenor, Clyde Reed's bass and Carson Halley's drums for a lively set of freebopping. These are good blowing vehicles by Halley and a few collective comps by the band. There are a couple of loose funk numbers that stay within the wide groove open horn style of the more swingtime oriented numbers.

Rich and Michael both work well together in tandem, with chemistry aiding and abetting the inspiration. Rich and Michael sound excellent and Clyde and Carson set up the music well with a very together stance.

This has become one of the more important free-freebop outfits on the West Coast and this album gives you plenty of reasons why. Give it your attention and it will give back!

Art Bailey Trio, Quiet As A Bone

Some piano trios blow you out of the water with the sheer force of the improvisations. Others do other things. The Art Bailey Trio, as heard on Quiet As A Bone (HRL Records RAT-002), do those other things.

Art Bailey wows you with his very quirky compositions. They are harmonically advanced, melodically unexpected, chromatic/a-chromatic and delightfully asymmetrical.

Other than two group improvs, the disk features Art's pen as much as his piano and the trio's appealingly loose-tight improvisational stance. In Michael Bates, bass, and Owen Howard, drums, he finds a perfect compatibility, a locking-in of sound and sense.

So what does it sound like? There is a hint of the early-mid Paul Bley trios and Herbie Nichols, but only that. This is original sound, very hip, straightforward outness.

And the mesh between composition and improvisation is tight. Art has a strong idea of where he's going and the trio goes with him as a unity.

This is something to hear. If you dig modern-new-thing-avant piano trios, do not miss this.

For more information and to order a copy, past the following link into your browser: http://www.artbailey.org/listen/

Jerry Granelli Trio, Let Go

From veteran ace drummer Jerry Granelli comes a nice trio outing, Let Go (Plunge 00638). Jerry is on drums and sounds loose and swingingly nuanced; Simon Fisk doubles on contrabass and cello and fills an important melodic and rhythmic role, plus he's excellent with a bow or pizz; and there is Danny Gore on tenor, baritone and soprano. He's his own man.

All the numbers are co-written by the entire trio and have memorability and plenty of musicality. The pieces, perhaps because all three had a hand in them, flow naturally in terms of composition-arrangement and improvisation.

For several numbers they are joined by Mary Jane Lamond on vocals. She has a playfulness to her vocalizing, a good sound and adds quite a bit to the mix when she is present.

This is post-bop at its loose but focused best. The trio, with or without Ms. Lamond, is a winner. Well worth hearing!

Marshall Gilkes, Sound Stories

We live in an age, musically and perhaps otherwise, where multiple, pluralistic stylistic trends and content development proceed on multiple sets of virtual rivers and tributaries, each subject to its own set of standards and criteria and none superseding the others.

Certainly that is happening in the music called jazz and its many relatives by birth or marriage. And for someone like me, who revels in multi-renaissances, it is an exciting and rewarding time to live. Paradoxically, it is also a time where musical giants and potential giants, along with their shorter but equally serious handmaidens, scuffle to live, a situation that we cannot discuss here, but is as real and is as disturbing as anything we all face.

The point right now is what kinds of flourishing we are witnessing. Yesterday we had an excellent avant big band led by trombonist Steve Swell; today we have an excellent small-group mainstream jazz recording by trombonist Marshall Gilkes, namely Sound Stories (Alternate Side 005).

Marshall Gilkes plays a lot of trombone, with hipness and taste, and nice tone. His running partner, the up-and-coming (or is it "there-and-coming"?) Donny McCaslin on tenor, does the same in his own way. The two together and separately have much to do with the success of this, Marshall's third album.

The piano-bass-drums team is the right combination to go with the two-horn team. Adam Birnbaum on piano (a name you may well know) is heat and finesse personified. Yasushi Nakamura and Eric Doob on bass and drums, respectively, give the music that kick it needs and at the same time swing the hell out of everything.

And the compositions, all by Marshall, are complicated, driving, kicking, odd-timed and even-timed goodies of a high order. He combines sophistication with soul and the band goes with that perfectly.

In the end this one is not something to be ignored or taken for granted. Gilkes is a trombonist of real stature, the band is excellent and the compositions fresh and exciting. It may be easy to miss this one. You should not. Get it if you like new bone and rather great music for the quintet of today.

Juhani Aaltonen and Heikki Sarmanto, Conversations

I sometimes find that I have underestimated or not paid enough attention to an artist. I've heard some of his (or her) albums, didn't dislike them, but somehow nothing "took" in my mind. I'll admit that has been the case with reedist Juhani Aaltonen.

The "aha" moment has come for me however with the two-CD album duets he has made with pianist and fellow Finn Heikki Sarmanto, Conversations (TUM 024-2). It's the two of them going over the music of Sarmato, a few collaborative, spontaneously improvised efforts composition-wise, and a couple of standards.

Juhani sticks to the tenor, Heikki to the piano and they weave some rather magical speals and spells. Sarmanto seems like the ideal partner in such a dialog. He is concerned with a spontaneously advanced tonal platform and has many moments of brilliance in a kind of post-Paul-Bley world. He too I have not paid sufficient attention to, and in this context he sounds great.

Juhani on tenor is a fully formed presence. There are intimations of Trane and Ben, Archie and the grand tradition of tenorism, but put in a context that is firmly modern and Aaltonian.

These are marvels of expressive freedom grounded in all that has come before, but re-found in a new playing situation, so to speak.

Very impressive! Very beautiful. Try and give this one a listen!