Category: Reviews

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Dan Bilawsky reviews David Gibson “Boom!” for All About Jazz…

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allaboutjazz.com

Trombonist David Gibson’s Boom!—his sixth leader date, and third release on the Posi-Tone imprint—is something of a fresh start. His two previous releases—A Little Somethin’ (Posi-Tone, 2009) and End Of The Tunnel (Posi-Tone, 2011)—were cut from the same cloth, as each largely focused on funk, soul jazz, and swing; both albums also featured the same quartet—Gibson on trombone, Julius Tolentino on alto saxophone, labelmateJared Gold on organ, and Quincy Davis on drums. Now, Gibson returns with a new group—a winning quintet—that’s more interested in straight-ahead statements than head-bobbing constructs.

Some of the material presented here, along with the men that present it, brings out the bolder side of Gibson. The trombonist allies himself with intrepid players like trumpeterJosh Evans, who occasionally carries the fire of Freddie Hubbard and the spirit ofWoody Shaw in his horn, and pianist Theo Hill, who works his way through this music with firm-handed brilliance. Then there’s the steady-as-a-rock bass work of Alex Claffy and the swinging-turned-swatting drums of Kush Abadey to contend with. When all five men fire on all cylinders, (“The High Road” and “Eyes Of Argus”), the results are breathtaking. But strength doesn’t define this group. This is a quintet that’s just as likely to float (“The Dance”), create a vibe tune (“Grass Fed”), or move with a spring in its step (“Persephone”) as it is to muscle its way through a piece.

Gibson wrote eight of the ten songs on this record, covering everything from edgy burners to groove music (“Boom!”), but he chose to close the album with a pair of dissimilar covers—”The Cupbearers,” a jazz standard that’s often associated with pianist Tommy Flanagan, and “Change The World,” a pop piece that Eric Clapton and Babyface delivered to the masses. The former cooks and kicks while the latter moves slowly, closing out the album in earthy fashion.

Gibson’s organ group always delivered good time sounds with heart and soul, but this quintet is a step above that band. This group brings out the best in his playing and his music, emphasizing the might and musicality in his work.

Track Listing: The High Road; Rare Truth; Grass Fed; Eyes Of Argus; Persephone; Empathy; Boom!; The Dance; The Cup Bearers; Change The World.

Personnel: David Gibson: trombone; Josh Evans: trumpet; Theo Hill: piano; Alex Claffy: bass; Kush Abadey: drums.

 

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Bop n Jazz goes “Boom!” for David Gibson…

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criticaljazz.com

David Gibson is back with a retro swing and arguably one of 2014’s finest releases!
Posi-Tone may well be one of the strongest if not the strongest straight ahead labels. Boom! is an elegant yet wildly sophisticated swing that will hit you right between the eyes. The sound is reminiscent of the working bands that started a grand tradition on the Blue Note and Impulse labels before both eventually bailed on the traditional sound for the more pretentious “look at me!” sound of today.
The compositions here are mostly originals with Gibson having written eight of the ten tunes. These numbers are percussive, lyrically intense and have evolving dynamics that only serve to highlight the blatantly obvious fact that Gibson is as solid a trombone player as you will find working the straight ahead side of the street. “The High Road” with the classic retro swing vibe is an immediate attention grabber along with “Boom” and “The Dance.”
The quintet assembled includes Josh Evans on trumpet, Theo Hill on piano, Alex Claffy on bass and Kush Abadey on drums. Over the years the sound of the more traditional working band has given way to that of a leader and a 4tet of after thoughts. The second horn of Evans adds power while the remaining rhythm section adds the clarity of swing, it smolders. Simply put, Boom! can set your hair on fire if you let it!

 

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Mark Corroto keeps “Moving Right Along” with Jon Davis on All About Jazz…

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allaboutjazz.com

by Mark Corroto

Every jazz generation has its own Tommy Flanagan, an unheralded player that finally steps into the spotlight and everyone wonders how he has been hiding in plain sight all these years. With Moving Right Along, a follow up to One Up Front(Posi-Tone, 2013) pianist Jon Davis takes center stage with an assured sense of swing and a sumptuous way with a jazz vocabulary.

As a sideman, he has held the piano chair in bands led by jazz fusion greats Jaco Pastorious and Brian Melvin, big band leaders Joris Teepe and Bill Mobley, and jazz legendsJoe Henderson, Milt Jackson, and Stan Getz and today’s stars Eddie Henderson and Ilhan Ersahin.

Leading his own trio with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Shinnosuke Takahashi, he negotiates a few standards, some discerning pop tunes, and five original compositions. Judging his approach is best taken up with his his covers of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. The latter’s “Moment’s Notice” is taken at a gentler pace revealing Davis’ sweet-tempered disposition. Same for his solo mediative take on Monk’s “Reflections.” Davis plays with patience and an imperturbability that suggests he would sound this way playing for an audience of one or a packed concert hall. 

He brings out his inner Tommy Flanagan with a lovely take of the Lennon/McCartney piece “She’s Leaving Home.” The trio brushes away all frippery for the essence of the music (and remembered lyric), and more importantly it swings. Davis has a way with the blues here, and on his slow-cooked piece “The Beauty And The Blues” that weaves a proper garment out of just a few threads. The outward-swinging pieces, “Dania” and the title track reveal a dexterous approach that keeps his refined touch intact.

Track Listing: Moving Right Along; Under The Stairway; Moment’s Notice; Beauty and The Blues; I’ve Never Been In Love Before; Reflections; She’s Leaving Home; Portrait of Tracy; Dania; Just In Case; Pensive Puff; I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues.

Personnel: Jon Davis: piano; Yasushi Nakamura: bass; Shinnosuke Takahashi: drums.

 

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Nate Chinen reviews Art Hirahara “Libations & Meditations” for the NY Times

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www.nytimes.com

ART HIRAHARA

“Libations & Meditations” (Posi-Tone)

We live in an age of riches, at least where the subject concerns working jazz pianists. You could stick with established names, many of them playing as well as ever, and feel abundantly fulfilled. Or you could focus on new arrivals, still in their 20s, and savor a sense of discovery. What you’d miss either way is the possibility of an astute, well-traveled pianist making a breakout statement — like the one by Art Hirahara on “Libations & Meditations,” his thoughtfully assured new album.

Mr. Hirahara, just shy of 44, has been a workhorse on the New York jazz scene for more than a decade, since moving from the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the California Institute of the Arts, he brings a broad base of knowledge to his enterprise: electronic composition, West African music, Balinese gamelan, multiple strains of the avant-garde. But his dialogue with the jazz tradition on this album isn’t inherently radical or envelope-pushing; it often sounds respectfully at ease, without being hemmed in by convention.

 

And his sturdy trio, with Linda Oh on bass and John Davis on drums, works just as convincingly with hard-swinging momentum (in parts of “Bop Bim Be” and its partner track, “Be Bim Bop”) as it does with minor-key crescendo building (“Big Country”) and dirgelike semi-abstraction (“Dead Man Posed”).

There’s a back story to the original material, involving the death of Mr. Hirahara’s father in 2011, but it was surely more useful to the creation of the compositions than to any understanding of them. (Mr. Hirahara’s trio will perform this music on Feb. 16 at Smalls.)

Whatever the case, Mr. Hirahara’s instincts as a composer are sensible and clear, and he isn’t too serious to acknowledge some standard influences: “With Two Ice Cubes,” the opener, is a syncopated slalom through the form of Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?,” and “Only Child” is a Bill Evans piece played with a fondness approaching deference.

The only other nonoriginal is “Karatachi No Hana,” a Japanese standard (by the composer-conductor Kosaku Yamada) that Mr. Hirahara imbues with an air of churchlike solemnity, as in a hymn. Playing unaccompanied, with a patient cadence and an impeccable touch, he creates a moment at once personal and unabashedly artful. NATE CHINEN

 

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Bop ‘n Jazz reviews Jon Davis “Moving Right Along”…

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www.criticaljazz.com

With pianist Jon Davis, always expect the unexpected and his upcoming release Moving Right Along is no exception. Davis is one of the more adventurous and thought provoking pianists of the day. 

The typical straight ahead piano trio can border on the tedious at times. One leader and two after thoughts banging out a selection of predictable covers is about as far away as you can get for Moving Right Along. “Moments Notice” from John Coltrane and “Reflections” from Thelonious Monk are certainly familiar tunes but the harmonic movement and slightly diverted meter on each allows new life for these long honored classic tunes. There are some surprises along the way including the Jaco Pastorius composition “Portrait of Tracy” and an evocative reading of The Beatles classic “She’s Leaving Home.” Harold Arlen’s “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues” is pure gold. 

Davis paints his lyrical sense of purpose with a broad brush yet it is the sound of the collective that ties together a myriad of styles with a uniformity of sound that is most impressive. Some of the more impressive Davis originals include “Under The Stairway” and “Just In Case” but this is a release that revolves around variety while never venturing off the melodic cliff. Jon Davis is an A list pianist and while this is far from his first outing as a leader there is little doubt that the ability to play any style and with any ensemble is a given. 

In the world of the predictable and if not occasionally mind numbing piano trio, Jon Davis is a breath of fresh air!

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BlogCritics Music Review: Art Hirahara – ‘Libations and Meditations’

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http://blogcritics.org/music-review-art-hirahara-libations-and-meditations-posi-tone/

by Jon Sobel

Jazz pianist Art Hirahara’s new trio album Libations and Meditations (Posi-Tone) has cracked a shell for me. I listen to a lot of jazz. I have even played some jazz (or at least tinkered around its edges) in my time. But I almost never write about it. Jazz writers typically show off a very deep, specialized knowledge, and like some (though by no means all) jazz musicians, they often convey an esoteric clubbiness that’s less than inviting to others who are interested but not expert.

Accompanied on Libations and Meditations by bassist Linda Oh and drummer Jon Davis, Hirahara puts forth 11 of his own compositions with a blend of fireworks and atmospherics that sounds cutting-edge and comfortable at the same time. Reminding me here of Bill Evans, there of Dave Brubeck, and over there, in the distance, faintly of Chick Corea, these numbers possess a large measure of the warmth of some of the 20th century’s most popular jazz, but they also challenge my ears and brain.

“Father’s Song” feels like a comforting parental blanket, while a three-and-a-half minute length tames the humorous but disconcertingly herky-jerky rhythms of the appropriately titled “Be Bim Bop.” (The even shorter “Bop Bim Be,” energized like a laugh by Davis’s expert drumming and decorated with mini-quotes from classic jazz themes, forms an opposite bookend near the end of the album.) The gentle solo piece “Karatachi No Hana,” presumably inspired by a traditional Japanese song by that name, sounds to me like down-home Americana, something you’d hear Rich Dworsky play on A Prairie Home Companion. “The Looking Glass,” another solo piece, has the resonance of a jazz standard, the kind that used to derive from musical theater.

“Only Child” swings easily through the kind of natural-sounding chord changes for which Hirahara has a gift, sequences that never quite resolve when you expect them to yet always do loop back home. The contrast with the next track, the eerie “Dead Man Posed” with its Chopinesque intervals and stark dissonances amid cushiony darkness, is extreme, with Davis making the most of his malleted toms and cymbal washes. And the album’s closing track, the contemplative but motile “Nereids and Naiads,” features a melodic, heartfelt solo from Oh in 5/4 time. When a piece in an odd time signature sounds thoroughly organic you know you’re in the company of a group that’s truly playing as one.

Throughout the album the trio conveys the sense of joy that marks jazz at its best. To this non-jazz writer, Hirahara’s trio has hit it out of the park with this set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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D4M reviews Brian Charette’s latest CD “Good Tipper”…

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d4m.com

Brian Charette – Good Tipper

Released by D4 at 4:00 PM
There’s not enough great jazz coming out these days, but this little gem by jazz organist/keyboard player Brian Charette is a great find heading into the new year. You can expect an hour of quality instrumental jazz with Brian and a few talented friends.

We’ll be featuring the title track, an original piece with Avi Rothbard on strings and Jordan Young on percussion. The three create a chemical explosion, an absolute blast of a listen. While they show off their chemistry, they’ll also produce layers perfectly and truly give depth to the finished single.

It’s quick to start with ease and grace, Avi’s guitar dominating the entrance and setting the mood for everyone’s fine talents. The song will keep its upbeat charisma, and sway the listener back and forth through the layers. This piece is ear candy for the jazz aficionado.

Most of the album contains original compositions, and those alone will showcase fine talents and ideas, but the jazz covers are pretty impressive too. The latest single, a cover of Zombies’ Time of the Season, shows their ability to take a classic and spin it in a desirable web.

Streaming this gem is a little more difficult than I’d like it to be, but if you like either of the two released singles you’ll undoubtedly enjoy the rest of the album just as much. If you can, you should give all 12 songs a listen on Spotify. Once you realize Charette’s work is that of the finest quality, after you’ve decided you need to keep up with his future projects, you might want to consider tagging along for easy accessibility. You can find him at Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. 

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Audiophile Audition Reviews “Good Tipper”…

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audaud.com

Brian Charette – Good Tipper – Posi-Tone PR8128, 58:23 ****:

(Brian Charette – B-3 organ; Avi Rothbard – guitar; Jordan Young – drums; Yotam Silberstein –  guitar (2, 4, 7, 9); Mark Ferber – drums (2, 4, 7, 9); Joe Sucato – saxophone (10))

Brian Charette is one of the rising Hammond B-3 jazz stars. He is in demand as a sideman, and has worked with Lou Donaldson, Chaka Khan and Joni Mitchell. Additionally, he has graced jazz recordings with the likes of Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike DiRubbo and Tony Desare, while establishing himself as a rising star on the New York jazz scene. He studied classical music and writes master classes for Keyboard  Magazine. Now with Posi-tone Records, he has released two recordings in the last year, Square Oneand his current album, Good Tipper.

Good Tipper is an organ trio project with a twist. There are two separate ensembles, although the Avi Rothbard (guitar)/ Jordan Young group plays on eight of the twelve tracks. The title cut opens the album with an up tempo blues of a Charette original. Rothbard kicks it off on lead before Charette takes over at :45. His groove vibe is prevalent and he builds some rapid fire solos into the jam. Jordan Young contributes a nifty drum fill. All of this, in three-and-a-half minutes! He aligns with the Yotam Silberstein/guitar and Mark Ferber/drums configuration on the always spooky Rid Argent classic, “Time Of The Season”. Rod Argent has always injected jazziness into his pop hits, and Charette’s style is a perfect fit. The tonality has a Sixties feel to it, and the ensemble play is succinct. Many jazz players have delved into Richard Rodgers material. Charette has chosen the often-covered, “Spring Is Here”. He infuses jauntiness into the arrangement and divides the solos with Rothbard, who showcases his fluidity.

There are many interesting and “fun” selections of covers. “Cuando Cuando Cuando”, the loopy Italian pop song (recorded by many early sixties pop singers) is a surprising treat. Charette maintains the bossa nova, melodic cadence, but delivers some percolating, jazzy runs. It seems like 1962 again. Another unexpected choice is John Barry’s “You Only Live Twice” (from the James Bond movie of that name). Again, the familiarity of the Nancy Sinatra version is re-created with counter-leads by Charette and Silberstein. This is the first of three pop songs, and two Jimmy Webb tunes follow. “Wichita Lineman” was a career defining moment for Glen Campbell. Charette is able to summon the winsome melancholy of the vocals in his play. There is a subtle gospel dynamic to the organ. Silberstein’s sharp notation and improvisation lend a Wes Montgomery-like resonance. On “Up Up And Away” the structure emphasizes the basic hooks of the tune (including the last refrain) and its carefree flow. Webb’s songbook is intricate and well-crafted and receives fresh treatment in the hands of Charette.

There are five original numbers on Good Tipper. “Standing Still” utilizes a swing waltz-time in straight ahead trio play. On a change of pace, “To Live Your Life” is atmospheric with some complex chord progressions. “One and Now” is a lively samba number that expands to quartet with the addition of saxophonist Joe Sucato. Charette unleashes a spirited organ solo before handing it over to Sucato and Rothbard. It is old school bop and it works. The finale is a lively rendition of a classic Joe Henderson opus, “The Kicker”, which gives drummer Jordan Young a well-deserved solo.

Regardless of the stylistic variations, Good Tipper is good jazz!

TrackList: Good Tipper; Time Of The Season; Spring Is Here; Cuando Cuando Cuando; Another Quarter; Standing Still; You Only Live Twice; Wichita Lineman; Up Up And Away; One And Nine; To Live In Your Life; The Kicker

–Robbie Gerson

 

 

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Brian Charette’s “Good Tipper” gets covered by Dusted in Exile….

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dustedmagazine.com

Brian Charette – Good Tipper (Positone)

image

Organist Brian Charette keeps the schedule of a shark, always on the move and making things happen. Any lapse in activity and he starts to get bored. The once-a-year release schedule of his old label Steeplechase couldn’t keep pace with his output, a quandary that facilitated a switch to Brooklyn-based Positone that also increased his currency stateside.

Good Tipper follows a playbook similar to its predecessor mixing originals and covers with a lean toward the latter. An unintentional side effect is the feeling that Charette could probably play this stuff in his sleep, but that doesn’t make the results any less groovy, particularly when his choice in covers casts such a wide net and succeeds in cementing an unruffled retro sound. There’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure in Charette’s song reservoir, just catchy melodies and rhythms to be expanded and retooled regardless of their source.

Guitarist Avi Rothbard and drummer Jordan Young complete Charette’s classic B-3 schematic, each player steeped in the deep history of their chosen format. A third of the tracks swap out Rothbard and Young for guitarist Yotam Silberstein and drummer Mark Ferber, both of whom were Charette’s partners on his Positone debut, but the personnel changes do nothing to disrupt the flow of the program. The gliding groove of the title track serves as concise palate cleanser before Charette takes down his first cover, The Zombies’ “Time of the Season.” The ensuing vibe is all mohair suits and Pall Mall menthols via Happy Hour at the Holiday Inn, but Ferber syncopates smoothly and Silberstein comps in the corners in such a way that the three successfully (and somewhat miraculously) circumvent any kitsch.

“Spring is Here” and “Cuando Cuando Cuando” cover the jazz standard and Latin bases respectively before a pair of originals, the first by Rothbard and the following by the leader. “Another Quarter” brings the funk with a heavy film of Hammond grease and the effect is The Meters as dosed on Diazepam. Charette channels his inner-Art Neville as Rothbard picks a luminous single-note solo against a pocket-clinging backbeat. “Standing Still” shakes off tonal opacity in favor of a straightforward groove and it’s another stage-setter this time for the triple-punch of John Barry’s “You Only Live Twice” with “Wichita Lineman” and “Up Up and Away” from the Jimmy Webb songbook. Charette has a ball with all three, bringing a soaring Baptist church vibe to the Bond theme that skirts the edges of operatic excess. The reinventions of the Webb tunes are similarly audacious, fusing an AM Radio populism to the honky-tonk anthems that once again keeps the kitsch in check.

The closing tracks of the program prove just engaging. Saxophonist Joe Sucato lends his velvet horn to the brisk Rothbard samba “One And Nine” as an eleventh hour guest and then disappears. Charette’s relaxed-tempo ballad “To Live in Your Life”, afloat in verdant swells, shimmering guitar chords and pattering brushes contrasts with a rapid, but uncluttered rendition of Joe Henderson’s “The Kicker.” Considered in sum the album is an effort worthy of a listener gratuity greater than the standard 15 percent.

Derek Taylor

 

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Burning Ambulance goes to Brooklyn with Eric Wyatt “Borough of Kings”…

Eric Wyatt - Borough Of Kings cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

burningambulance.com

When you read the phrase “Brooklyn jazz” in 2014, you probably don’t think of a guy likeEric Wyatt. You probably think of young men in untucked plaid shirts with glasses and beards, and young women who look like substitute teachers, playing winding melody lines that take a minute and a half to resolve, or clattering and honking in improvised spasms, or crossing old-country folk with grindcore and arranging it for soprano saxophone, laptop and trap drums… Not Wyatt. He looks like a cross between Forest Whitaker and the Simpsonscharacter Bleeding Gums Murphy, and his music is swinging, bluesy hard bop, straight out of the 1960s. Still, he’s about as “Brooklyn jazz” as you can get—a lifelong resident of the borough, with bone-deep ties to the straightahead jazz world (he’s Sonny Rollins‘ godson). Wyatt made his debut as a leader in 1997—his Posi-Tone debut, Borough of Kings, is his third studio release, and fifth album overall—and has appeared on several discs by trombonistClifton Anderson and Rodney Kendrick.

On the majority of Borough of Kings (buy it from Amazon), Wyatt is joined by pianist Benito Gonzalez, bassist Ameen Saleem, and drummer Shinnosuke Takahashi. A few guests appear as well—Kyle Poole takes over the kit on the surprising “Can He Come Out,” which also features Duane Eubanks on trumpet, and Wyatt playing an electric saxophone; and Anderson plays trombone on the album-closing “What Would I Do Without You.”

The album kicks off with “The Peoples Champ,” a midtempo number on which the lyricism of Gonzalez’ piano conjures a Latin McCoy Tyner, Takahashi’s drumming has a heavyweight’s swing and force, and Wyatt’s saxophone playing is in the mode of Joe Henderson—but the Joe Henderson of 1964, not 1994. This is a fanfare, a wake-up call. The follow-up, “One for Hakim,” keeps the energy level high; it’s built on another rock ‘em sock ‘em groove from Takahashi, and Wyatt heads into a zone not far from where his godfather was hanging out in the East Broadway Run Down era. The title track is up next, and it’s surprising—it begins in the slow, incantatory of John Coltrane circa Crescent, but at the 90-second mark, it launches into double time, and becomes something very close to “Countdown,” from 1959’s Giant Steps. Which is weird, considering that there’s a version of “Countdown” four tracks later…

“Can He Come Out,” the fourth piece on the album, makes for a sharp left turn. Wyatt’s electric saxophone sounds like it’s being fed through a wah-wah pedal (it starts to recall the theme from Sanford & Son after a while), and drummer Poole offers sharp, funky breakbeats in place of the swinging jazz grooves that dominate the album. Guest trumpeter Eubanks plays loose, strutting lines atop the rhythm, as Gonzalez and Saleem keep the middle ground rock-steady. When the two horns begin to trade phrases, then harmonize, the whole thing comes together as a perfect modernization of Wyatt’s traditionalist aesthetic, with just enough weirdness (via electro-sax) to make it a compelling interlude that feels too short when it ends.

“Ancient Chinese Secret” kicks off the album’s second half with some flute that doesn’t reappear until its final 30 seconds. The bulk of the piece stomps in a manner somewhere between Branford Marsalis‘s current group and the David S. Ware Quartet at their most melodic (think 2000’s Surrendered). On “Quest,” Wyatt picks up the soprano sax, and it lasts 10 minutes or a thousand years, depending on your perceptions. Then comes the aforementioned version of “Countdown,” which is nearly three times as long as the original, and not nearly as frantic or showy. Wyatt takes the melody of the piece, which originally showed up only at the end, after two minutes of frantic soloing—first from drummer Art Taylor, then Coltrane—and decides to play it as a traditional composition, rather than a vehicle for demonstrating his speed. And since it’s a pretty nice melody, this turns out to be a really good idea.

The album concludes with “What Would I Do Without You,” the title of which suggests that it should be a ballad. It’s not, really. It’s uptempo, but it’s got a rotund mellowness (mostly due to Clifton Anderson‘s presence on trombone) that makes it an ideal closer. Anderson is a slick player, rarely smearing his notes to excess, and he makes a great foil for Wyatt; their solos, and particularly their interactions in the piece’s final minute, sound like two lifelong friends telling stories they both know already, but which still make each other laugh.

Eric Wyatt is a terrific, powerful saxophonist who deserves much more attention than he’s gotten to date. For people to start thinking of him when they hear the phrase “Brooklyn jazz” wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.