Jeff Holmes Quartet, Of One's Own

Monk, Jarrett, meet Jeff Holmes, a pianist who is related to you. He is carrying on with a quartet, on an album Of One's Own (Miles High 8621). He has grasped the essence of what you guys are about, and is taking it someplace of his own.

The quartet is up to the challenge. Adam Kolker plays tenor, soprano and bass clarinet in a modern zone, sometimes functioning as Garbarek and Dewey R did in the old Jarrett quartets, but with a personal sound, again of his own. James Cammack on acoustic and electric bass and Steve Johns on drums propel the band to swing or do the straight-eight as needed. The solos are crafted well, the originals very good, and Jeff Holmes plays some excellent piano here.

This is a pianist to watch, to hear, to look forward to again. And this album captivates.

Andrea Brachfeld, Lady of the Island

Not all the "jazz" I listen to, cover, write about is avant. Anyone who regularly reads my blogs knows that. Why? For one thing, a constant diet of avant, or any other style, is not good for the soul. Second, it is important to cover what one thinks are valid musical statements being made today, no matter the style. Third, music is music. Good music is worthwhile no matter where it comes from or what it uses as building blocks.

So today we have a straight-ahead, mainstream effort by flautist Andrea Brachfeld, Lady of the Island (Zoho 201210). Andrea can PLAY. And she's put together some new and old standards, some compositions of her own, gathered a gaggle of excellent players, gotten some hip arrangements together, and let it all happen. It's a quartet with added folks for the larger arrangements. Those folks include Wycliffe Gordon, who sounds great, Wallace Roney (hey!), and others. Everything swings, some with a bit of the Latin tinge.

All reflects very well on Andrea Brachfeld and her artistry. Dig her version of Herbie Hancock's "Eye of the Hurricane" and you'll get it!

Jeremy Long, In Suspension

The organ trio, as we who listen to what's coming out well-know, is undergoing a revival. Much of the music is "in the tradition," hearkening and paying tribute to the classic era of what went before.

Not all that many are carving new or staking out lesser explored territories within the form. Jeremy Long is one, on In Suspension (Innova 827). Jeremy is a tenor who has a kind of hardness in his sound and an aggressively swinging quality, something that Joe Henderson did so well. Long's compositions take the organ trio to contemporary places.

Drummer Jason Tiemann gets a groove happening in a modern way and can do some hip soloing too. Organist Steven Snyder goes beyond the Jimmie Smith, et al, mode into a post-middle-period-Larry-Young sort of feel.

This is not cutting edge avant jazz. What it is is very competent, enjoyable, contemporary mainstream mid-late Blue Note style grooving, organ trio mode. And that's a pleasure to hear.

Kevin Crabb, "Waltz for Dylan": Drummer-led Contemporary Jazz Quartet

If a band is playing contemporary mainstream jazz, swinging is still an important factor. Kevin Crabb's Waltz for Dylan (Crabbclaw) SWINGS.

Crabb plays very together time on drums and that is the backbone of the group's swing. Don Thompson on bass gets with the loosely jointed walking style that picks out choice notes in the changes-tonality and propulses them well. Pianist John Beasely has a Bill Evans harmonic richness and does his right hand improvs with excellent swing sensibility--and I hear the influences of Hancock and early Corea in there too, but with his own inventive flair. Finally, with all this as a set up Kelly Jefferson on tenor and soprano manages to sound mainstream without taking on the mannerisms of the flavor-of-the-month stylistic chic cliques. There is good facility, bright tone and imagination.

The tunes are by Mr. Crabb and they convince.

This may be a sleeper of an album. It is. Wake it up by playing it. Crabb and company have it going for this one.

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!

Down-Home Funk and Hard Bop on Native Soul's "Soul Step"

A soulful way is what the Native Soul quartet brings to the table. Their second release Soul Step (Talking Drum 2010) gives the listener a generous 70 minutes of originals and standards that cover a kind of updated approach to the funk (in the Horace Silver sense) and late hard bop current as part of the scene in the late '60s-early '70s. In there too is a little of the electricity of the earthy forms of fusion from that time and a little of the Blue Note Tyner et al swing-and-blow-against-piano-riffs style. It's a world of samba, jazz waltz, all-out funk rootsyness.

Peter Branin (tenor sax, soprano, flute) has a sort of early middle Shorter-channels-Trane sound much of the time. Pianist Noah Haidu gets the Tyner-meets-Cedar Walton elementality going and can also hit the hard bop route with that "soul" so present in the group name/album name.

The rhythm section of Marcus McLaurine, bass, and Steve Johns, drums, does what is needed at the right times to get it all rolling.

The only thing I might say that is less than positive, is that I would have liked this disk even more if the solos took a little more chances. They are firmly in the realm of what the "proper" pressure points, the right notes, the amount of push should be in this kind of music. My ears hear opportunities to take on more fire, to take it out a little more. They no doubt do not wish to do that, and so instead of a Lee Morgan at the Lighthouse full-burn you get a slightly less evolved form of the music. No doubt they hang back slightly because that's what they hear and that's how they wish to communicate with the listeners. I am sure that the path they have chosen will make them acceptable to the more timid jazz radioplay formats. And if that's what they feel, all the better for them.

It's very well done. It doesn't hit as hard, and it doesn't hit me as hard as I would like. Others may find it more agreeable. This one is for them.

Elliott Caine Sextet Live On "Hippie Chicks" CD

Despite the psychedelic title (Hippie Chicks On Acid)(Wondercap 07006) and the tongue-in-cheek cover art, this CD documents a modern hard bop sextet date shading into energy territory (something like Lee Morgan in the Lighthouse period).

Trumpeter Elliott Caine has that extroverted, big brassy sound of the Navarro-Brown through Morgan-Shaw school. His sextet has notable other solo voices too--Carl Randall on tenor, Maheesh Balasooriya on piano, Nick Mancini, vibes; and a crack bass-drums team of Bill Markus and Kenny Elliott, respectively.

This puts you into gear with 65 minutes of live immediacy. The tunes are effective blowing vehicles written by Mr. Caine in a later Blue Note boldness of style.

Your enjoyment of Hippie Chicks will have a direct relation to where you stand vis-a-vis this style. It's music that brims over with life. While it probably won't win any awards this year, it will find a welcome place in your collection for its fire and honest free-swinging approach.

Toots Thielemans' Harmonica Live with His European Quartet

Everybody knows that Toots Thielemans IS jazz harmonica. He is the man. He phrases like a horn. Others have followed in his wake but he continues to lead the way. If you listen to the late George Shearing's Quintet in the early 50s, when Toots was the guitarist, you can hear in the few features for the Thielemans harmonica that he had gotten his style pretty much together by then. And he's kept going for the many years that have followed, refining and perfecting his technique but pretty much working out the game plan established in those days.

He is a bop and after cat, with a lyrical side that pronounces with eloquence. The CD European Quartet Live (Challenge Jazz 70160) gives you plenty of undiluted Toots in later years, as vital as ever. The European Quartet benefits from a long tenure working together. It's Toots with Karel Boehlee (piano, synth), Hein Van de Geyn (acoustic bass), and Hans Van Oosterhout (drums). They're a first-rate jazz outfit. Mr. Boehlee's piano shows a nice touch, lush harmonies and a lyricism that complements Toot's way of going about it.

The music was recorded at various venues between 2006-2008 and it catches the group in good form. There are some exquisite renditions of standards like "I Loves You Porgy," "The Days of Wine and Roses," and the "Theme from Midnight Cowboy," plus some more directly jazz-oriented numbers. They swing along or get into ballad mode as needed.

It's a good one. If you don't have any Toots this would bear up nicely in your collection. Definitely pure Toots.

Matt Blostein, Vinnie Sperrazza and their Second, "Paraphrase"

Music changes over time. What was mainstream in jazz circa 1965 is more retro now, 46 years later. So Al Cohn and Zoot Sims are long gone, their music still great, but people coming up with that take on the jazz sound are really not mainstream anymore; they are revivalists.

So what then IS mainstream? Perhaps some of the things Dave Holland has been doing form one part of it. There's a looseness that isn't quite "free" in the definition of the music by that name. It has a swinging or rocking pulse, it features soloists more or less out of a post-Trane sensibility, the songs have unifying ostinatos, tonally centered themes that embrace bop and what came after, and they break up the ensemble into varying combinations in ways that Zoot and Al didn't normally deem fit.

The Matt Blostein-Vinnie Sperrazza Quartet and their second CD Paraphrase (Yeah-Yeah 0006) is mainstream in this way, partially, it seems to me. There are strong soloists in Mr. Blostein and his alto, and Jacob Garchik and his trombone; strong anchorage from Geoff Kraly on electric bass; and well executed swinging drumming from co-leader Vinnie Sperrazza.

What's more the two leaders provide compositional material that has weight, is much more involved than the series of head arrangements that mainstream was mostly about in 1965. There are interesting written interludes before, during and after the soloing. And some of the soloing is related thematically to the compositional passagework in ways that go beyond "playing the changes."

All that is fine, you might think, but what about Paraphrase taken on its own. How does it stand up? Very well. Just because I can elaborate on the various traits that put it into a "new mainstream" development does not imply that the music is generic. It is not. In fact the quartet would seem to be well on the way to defining itself as a singular example within the space it operates. Both the lack of a piano or other chording instrument and the treatment of the routines leaves plenty of room for each individual to develop his solo style and the collective sound of the band as well.

They do that and do it well. If fact the CD is excellent, no matter what category you would care to invoke. This is first-rate music, as worthy a second album as I've heard from a young group in the last several years. Get it and you'll be getting something to give your ears much pleasure and your mind much to ponder.

Chris Massey and "Vibrainium"

Young drummer Chris Massey leads a select group he calls the "Nue Jazz Project." Their new album Vibrainium (Chris Massey Music) showcases the band and the songwriting abilities of Mr. Massey and several of his bandmates.

This is a throughly modern outing and the band is up to the challenge of creating "Neu" jazz. Good soloists are out front throughout, not the least in Chris Massey himself. Benjamin Drazen plays some heated lines on the alto and soprano and perhaps is the strongest of them. Donald Malloy is in the bold brassy trumpet tradition, and pianist Evgeny Lebedev has a nice touch and some good harmonic-melodic ideas. The rhythm team of Massey and bassist David Ostrem keep it all swinging.

Comparisons to Art Bleakey's Jazz Messengers have been made, and that's inevitable. A drummer-led group playing a modern version of hard bop. . . so who comes to mind then? But the many years that have now intervened between the heyday of the Messengers and today are reflected in the music. The opener "Galactus" for example utilizes "Giant Steps" changes on the blowing sections, which Mr. Blakey's groups were not likely to take on back in 1962.

The way that they do modern sorts of versions of Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge" and Chick Corea's "Windows" shows that they center in on that past but circle around it and try getting something new from it. In many ways they are more like a mid-period Wayne Shorter group updated for today. A subtle difference perhaps, but a difference nonetheless.

Chris Massey and the Nue Jazz Project is a straightahead band that does not rest on the past ways of getting everything moving. They are more restless and searching in their sound. That leads me to think that the band could be on the verge of further development.

In the meantime this is a fine set from a talent group of journeymen. Nice going!

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?

Antoinette Montague, 2010

Antoinette Montague has a new album that's coming out shortly. It's Behind the Smile (In the Groove). Now I've gotten a bit of a dose of "jazz singers" in the recent past, and I find that there are many out there who don't quite have the talent or instrument to qualify.

Based on her new CD, however, Antoinette Montague doesn't displease. She is accompanied by a quartet that can play accompaniment and swing out with good soloing, and her choice of repertoire is not cliched. There's "I Hadn't Anyone Till You," OK, but it's given a kind of New Orleans marching lilt. Then there are the lesser covered numbers, like Brubeck's "Summer Song," Big Bill Broonzy's "Give Your Mama One Smile," Duke's "23rd Psalm," and a soul classic or two, like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On."

Her voice is drenched with the blues, has nice nuances in pitch, is dead-on for intonation, and has an appealing sound.

I've been disappointed by many contemporary singers, but not Antoinette. If you like the genre I think you'll dig her and the latest CD.

Pianist Julio Resende Puts A New Shine on Mainstream Jazz

In recent months thanks to Cleanfeed, Ayler Records and the kindness of Rodrigo Amado, I've gained a new appreciation of the Portuguese jazz scene today. It's vital. Julio Resende's new CD Assim Falava Jazzatustra (Cleanfeed) brings that home once again in a direct and exciting way.

Julio leads a fine quintet on this recording and they do a series of originals and a cover that provide much interest and variety. The music is in a freebop-and-beyond vein with the riffing rockish drive of "Don't" to the mesmeric "Ir e Voltar " (with superior guest vocalizing from Manuela Azevedo) and much in between to spark the senses and stimulate the ears. A big surprise is a bluesy balladic solo piano cover of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" that works perfectly.

Resende reflects the influence of early- to mid-Jarrett but uses that as a springboard to what is hard driving and contemporary all the way. As a soloist he is a clone of nobody and shows pianistic subtlety as well as formidable linear thrust. Alto saxophonist Perico Sambeat and tenorman Desiderio Lazaro are also strong soloists and with Resende's imaginative improvising form a consistently revelatory triumvirate. Doublebassist Ole Morten Vagan has moments to shine as well and acquits himself with some very lively discourse.

When a session like this (recorded live incidentally) works well it does so for the pieces, the soloing and the push of the rhythm section. Assam Falava Jazzatustra comes through with all of those elements in place. Is Resende the Zarathustra of jazz? I don't know and it is only an encapsulating idea to get you pondering at any rate.

This is a blast to hear! I recommend that you do so!

Eric Alexander and Some Hard Blowing Tenor, 1997

In the spring of 1997 Eric Alexander was around 27 years old when he went into Riverside Studios in Chicago to record Mode for Mabes (Delmark). An excellent group was assembled for the date, especially with the presence of piano master Harold Mabern, one of Eric's mentors and of course a giant of the hard swinging approach to modern jazz. It was a sextet with Jim Rotondi's trumpet and Steve Davis' trombone to flesh out the front line with that classic full sound that Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for example, brought to the music.

Allusions to Blakey's ensembles seem appropriate, since Mode for Mabes hits the ground hard with a set of kicking tunes that are in the lineage of the best of the tradition Art was most associated with. And so also Mr. Mabern, of course.

The title cut (co-written by Eric and Jim Rotondi) gives notice that this is most certainly NOT going to be a set to send you off to dreamland. They are here to play, and that they do. From the appealing originals to the standards and a version of Trane's "Naima," the music locks in and stays there.

It is amazing how accomplished Eric Alexander was by the time these sides were cut. To mix metaphors, he had ground down the rough edges of his technique and harnessed a fertile inventive imagination to create a tenor style with its feet planted firmly in modern tradition, but with the indelible stamp of Alexandrian panache. He's in good company with the terrifically limber solos of Mabern, Rotondi and Davis.

More than ten years later we can listen to Mode for Mabes and recognize the classic nature of the music. It sounds wonderful today and surely has to be counted as one of the milestones of Eric Alexander's recorded output. Get it and groove!