This is a light and nimble organ unit featuring Jared Gold on the Hammond B-3, Dave Stryker on guitar and McClenty Hunter on drums. This album feels like a real leap forward for Gold, he is channeling more energy than on previous releases and letting loose a strong Larry Young influence that serves him well. The middle section of the album is where they strut their stuff the best, beginning with “Hoopin’ On Sundays” where Gold develops strong, pulsating organ with strong drum interplay to excellent effect. “Shadowboxing” is a dynamic performance that comes storming out of the gate with a strong progressive feel (Young’s influence is felt particularly strongly here) but the musicians are well in control and able to throttle back and forward the intensity as necessary. Hunter gets a nice spot to shine on “Bedo’s Blues” with is nimble drumming supporting viscous organ before they both deftly drop into a perfect pocket for Stryker’s guitar interlude. “Right Nowish” has a very cool rhythm and blues vibe to it with a quicksilver guitar solo paving the way for Gold’s most interesting statement of the record, grinding the organ, digging deep, and testing his imagination.
Category: Reviews
SomethingElseReviews! on Jared Gold “Intuition”….
One of the great things about jazz is that some jazz musicians can just get together in a studio and knock out tunes and resulting record can be just as enjoyable as a carefully constructed, meticulously planned affair…
A stalwart at the quality mainstream jazz label Posi-Tone Records, Gold has consistently encapsulated what is so great about the Posi-Tone catalog: he’s well-schooled in tradition, brings vigor and his own voice to the music, and he swings like the dickens. That’s why we’re here talking about his sixth record overall and the forth one in a row covered on this space….
A straight-up first-rate blowing session with plenty enough wrinkles in it to ward off that sameness feel, Intuition is another productive day at the office for Jared Gold.
Lucid Culture goes to the “Lower East Side” with Ehud Asherie…
Ehud Asherie and Harry Allen Take Their Act Downtown
A little over a year ago, Posi-Tone put out Ehud Asherie and Harry Allen’s Upper West Side, a duo set of standards with a comfortably sleek, old New York sophistication. Now the pianist and tenor saxophonist have taken their act downtown with Lower East Side. Does this new album evoke superannuated wannabe prom queens stuffed into tacky dresses, passed out and pissing themselves on the sidewalk while their stretch limos block the crosswalks? No. This is a LES of the mind, one that goes back close to a hundred years. Asherie’s specialty is stride piano, a strength he downplayed on the previous album; here, he cuts loose with a mix of meticulousness and high spirits. Allen’s smoky charm is pretty much the same as it was before, although he gets more boisterous as he goes along. That the album swings as hard as it does despite the absence of bass and drums testifies to the inspiration of the playing: much of this is like stumbling into a club at four in the morning and slurring, “Can you play this or that?” and the band indulges you hetter than you could imagine.
Andy Razaf’s S’posin sets the tone with its jaunty combination of ragtime and torch. With its almost furtive, scampering groove, Vincent Youmans’ Hallelujah throws the church doors wide to let in some street flavor. Jobim’s Portrait in Black and White changes the mood with a potent turn into noir, Asherie hovering uneasily behind Allen’s overcast lines.
They go back to coy and a little devious with their take of the old Rosemary Clooney chestnut Hey There, then give Richard Rogers’ Thou Swell a blithely scampering jump blues treatment. The up/down tangent continues with a breathy, allusively lurid take of Leonard Bernstein’s Some Other Time folllowed by the hazy yet perfectly precise happy hour version of Thanks a Million, a vibe they maintain on Loads of Love. Irving Berlin’s Always gets reinvented as a lush jazz waltz – who knew how much sheer fun this song could be? The album winds up with the easygoing, casual sway of When I Grow Too Old to Dream, Allen building from boudoir smolder to understated triumph over Asherie’s steady, carefree strolling pace. This one’s going to get a lot of play in bars and bistros: it should come with a parental advisory sticker because it makes you want a drink.
Dan Bilawsky on David Weiss “Venture Inward”…
Fans of trumpeter David Weiss may be a bit confused when they take a look at this album. At quick glance, it reads like a re-tread of Weiss’ Snuck In (Sunnyside, 2010), which has a near-identical line-up playing a near-identical program, but there’s a good reason for that: both albums were actually recorded a day apart in completely different environments. Snuck In—and companion piece Snuck Out (Sunnyside, 2011)—capture Weiss’ Point Of Departure band (mostly) live at New York’s Jazz Standard on March 25, 2008; The majority of Venture Inward‘s tracks were recorded in a studio a day earlier.
It’s tempting to run a complete compare-and-contrast on all three albums, but it isn’t really necessary. All of these records, when viewed as a single body of work, help to provide a complete picture of this band at a specific point and time and they’re all first rate.
Weiss’ Point Of Departure quintet points directly to the late ’60s, but doesn’t really live there. The band takes inspiration from trumpeter Miles Davis’ second great quintet and its membership, trumpeter Charles Moore, and original thinking pianist Andrew Hill, but it puts its own spin on material connected to these artists. Weiss chose wisely when he put together this group of highly respected modernists, who fit this music well without kowtowing to its creators. Tenor saxophonistJD Allen shares the front line with Weiss, and both men marry the unpredictable with the melodic at every turn. Guitarist Nir Felder deftly changes hats, as he delivers shimmering background commentary one minute and probing solo work the next, and drummer Jamire Williams is a beacon of intensity. Bassist Luques Curtis, who’s replaced by Matt Clohesy on the Sunnyside albums, acts as a musical adhesive, binding all manner of sound together at any given moment.
Pianist Herbie Hancock’s “I Have A Dream,” which features some winning interplay between Weiss and Allen, and drummer Tony Williams’ “Black Comedy,” which moves with strength and off-kilter buoyancy, open things up. Moore’s lengthy and intense “Number 4” finds the band exploring a loose-tight rhythmic duality, as solos get passed around and things congeal and disintegrate at will. The majority of this music is powerful and direct, but finesse does find a way into the picture on Hill’s “Pax,” which follows on the heels of his sly “Venture Inward.” Moore’s “Snuck In” serves as potent conclusion to an exciting album that’s built around a new take on the late ’60s “new thing” esthetic.
Track Listing: I Have A Dream; Black Comedy; Number 4; Venture Inward; Pax; Snuck In.
Personnel: David Weiss: trumpet; J.D. Allen: tenor saxophone; Nir Felder: guitar; Luques Curtis: bass; Jamire Williams: drums.
Brent Black reviews Jared Gold “Intuition”…
Organ trios are all the rage once again. This retro throwback has made a comeback in a big way. Joey De Francesco, Pat Bianchi and now Jared Gold are and continue to raise the bar for aspiring players and those that have been on the scene for some time.
Two aspects of Gold’s playing move him to the front of the pack and these include an innate gift of swing as well as a harmonic foundation that allows Gold to express his own musical identity without doing a riff on someone one else. Gold takes his cue from players such as Larry Young and Jack McDuff along with the great Don Patterson to ultimately do a riff on himself. The musical pedigree of Gold can and should be the envy of other players attempting to master his craft. John Abercrombie, Ed Cherry, and Ralph Peterson are but a handful of names one can drop when discussing the contemporary greats Gold has shared a stage with.
With the new release Intuition which is a righteous groove from open to close, Gold is accompanied by the great Dave Stryker on guitar and one of the most under appreciated drummers in the formidable McClenty Hunter on drums. Another side project for Gold has been the manufacture of what can best be described as a portable B3 which is best described in the link below:
http://www.criticaljazz.com/2013/02/new-organ-products-from-b3-phenom-jared.html
An instructional type video is included in the link and this quality piece of gear is a must for the local and or traveling musician. Be sure and check out www.foldingorgan.com. The demands of an off the hook touring schedule were the catalyst that inspired the development of this organ controller and now Gold is marketing these to the public.
Gold performs with his own group, side work with John Abercrombie ( I had the honor of interviewing ) along with Dave Stryker, Oliver Lake, Ralph Bowen and David Gibson. If James Brown was the hardest working man in show business then Gold may be a close second.
Intuition is a groove infused pocket driven jam that is arguably Gold’s finest work to date. Take some Gold originals that sound like “standards” on deck and then toss in some soulful and soul filled covers including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and another Carol King classic “You’ve Got A Friend” and you get dangerously close to sonic nirvana ( no pun intended ). The Dave Stryker original “Bedo’s Blues” closes the release and captures the essence of what a organ trio that swings is all about. The Gold original “The Crusher” is an apt description if not one word review of this release. Jared Gold crushes Intuition!
The Jazz Breakfast takes on David Weiss “Venture Inward”…
New York trumpeter Weiss leads a quintet with JD Allen on tenor, Nir Felder on guitar, Luques Curtis on bass and Jamire Williams on drums.
The material is all from the late 1960s, and includes Herbie Hancock’s I Have A Dream, Tony Williams’ Black Comedy, a couple of Andrew Hills and two Charles Moores.
The angle is to get back to that kind of searching, explorative playing that was the hallmark of the late ’60s, but to do it in a modern idiom. Weiss is a natural for this way of approaching the edges of what has become the mainstream with a sense of adventure. After all, he has played with some of the crucial musicians from those times – Bobby Hutcherson, Bily Hart, James Moody among them.
Venture Inward shows a band of players comfortable in each other’s company and able to explore their music assured of cohesive support. Guitarist Felder is particularly strong on the title track, while the most searching are the long work-outs Number 4 and I Have A Dream. I find Weiss’s improvisation on the latter takes too many turns up and down very similar scales, but he is powerful and original elsewhere on the album. Allen has some fun on the former.
It might not be an outstanding album in the end, but it’s a fulfilling one, and certainly achieves its central aim. Well recorded.
Outside-Inside-Out on Ehud Asherie “Lower East Side”…
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If you were fortunate enough to hear Ehud Asherie and Harry Allen’s Upper West Side, which I gave a 4.5 star review of in Downbeat, then you should must check out the duo’s latest release, Lower East Side. Every quality that graced the former album is abundant on the latter: Asherie’s delicious touch and masterful stride playing, Allen’s husky and romantic old school tenor playing, gorgeous old tunes that aren’t often played, and the duo’s ability to employ older styles to make new statements. This album is outstanding from top to bottom. The medium swinger “S’posin’” starts things off, and it’s the perfect vehicle for Allen’s lyricism, and dig his use of a slight growl a la Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, etc. Asherie’s playing throughout the album, especially when he plays in a stride style, as on “Hallelujah!”, makes me wish more players would incorporate such an important piano style into their playing. A.C. Jobim’s “Portrait in Black and White” is haunting; Allen’s reading of the melody is silky smooth and utterly captivating. Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ “Hey There” is a lovely ballad, as is “Thanks a Million.” The album closes with the somewhat bittersweet and wistful “When I Grow Too Old to Dream.” The track is another example of everything that’s great about this album. It showcases two fantastic musicians who expertly execute their strong points of view and who make music that’s fun, moving, timeless, and above all, swinging.
If you missed Upper West Side go back and check that out. And then dig into Lower East Side, as it picks up right where the previous album left off.
Dave Sumner makes David Weiss his pick of the week for eMusic…
A solid new set of releases dropped this week, resulting in something like 20 recommendations in all. There’s some oddball recordings here, but for the most part, it’s Jazz of a straight-ahead variety that is the predominant sound. Also, a whole bunch of albums from debut and under-the-radar artists, so if you look over this list and feel like there’s something wrong with you for recognizing so few names… don’t. It’s not just you. Lots of new names and lots of new music for your consideration. Now, let’s begin…
David Weiss, Venture Inward: Trumpeter David Weiss leads a solid quintet of J.D. Allen (sax), Nir Felder (guitar), Luques Curtis (bass), and Jamire Williams (drums) through a set of renditions of compositions by Charles Moore, Andrew Hill, Tony Williams, and Herbie Hancock. While the music is relatively straight-ahead, it captures both the eccentricities of the original compositions and the personalities of the musicians now giving a new voice to those tunes. Just solid Jazz, likely to have some serious cross-appeal to both hardcore and casual fans alike. The quintet keeps the gas pedal close to the floor for most of the album, but their wonderful rendition of Andrew Hill’s “Pax” illustrates that they’re just as comfortable at slower speeds, as well. Pick of the Week.
Music and More on “The Kung-Fu Masters”…
Saxophonist Sean Nowell raised some eyebrows last year with an excellent mainstream post-bop jazz album called Stockholm Swinigin’. This new album approaches things from a different direction, leaving the world of buttoned down bop behind to import aspects of fusion, funk and pop into the mix. Along with Nowell on tenor saxophone, the Kung-Fu Masters are: Brad Mason on trumpet, Michael Dease on trombone, Art Hirahara and Adam Klipple on keyboards, Evan Marien on bass and Marko Djordjevic on drums. Jimi Hendrix’s rock anthem “Crosstown Traffic” is a highlight of the album with the horns replacing the amplified and distorted guitar riffs of the original recording, and the music barrels along at a breakneck pace. “In The Shikshteesh” allows for interesting work from the keyboard players, from synth to electric piano, they frame the sound of the music. There is a cool retro 1970’s funk vibe to “The Outside World” with punchy horns and dirty sounding keyboards conjuring up the grit of a city at the and of a busy day. Fans of the music that the late Donald Byrd recorded with the Mizell Brothers in the 1970’s will be right at home here. Some of the irreverence in the packaging of this disc might be a little misleading. This is not a frivolous album, but a set of music that draws from wildly diverse influences like martial arts movies, comic books and video games to push Nowell’s music into a new and unusual direction. Purists may turn away, but it is their loss, as the group is never disrespectful to the history of jazz but rather looks far afield for inspiration and material, and plays it an accessible and forthright manner. I hope the band has a chance to do some form of multi-media project along these lines, that would be a lot of fun to see.
Dan Bilawsky reviews Ehud Asherie “Lower East Side”…
In this day and age, when shock-and-awe maneuvers and new-thing sounds tend to get all the plaudits and press in jazz, it says a lot when a throwback duo date is widely admired by critics and fans alike. Such was the case with pianist Ehud Asherie’s Upper West Side (Posi-Tone, 2012), which brought him into contact with like-minded saxophonist Harry Allen and presented a program of old chestnuts that were revived by their expert hands. Now, a year after that album first appeared in the marketplace, its companion piece has come to light.
Upper West Side and the newly minted Lower East Side were both recorded during one hell of a magical session in the fall of 2009 and, while it’s impossible for an outsider to know whether specific songs were earmarked for specific albums at that point in time, it’s easy to theorize that they were; both albums are cut from the same cloth, but they aren’t the same. Asherie is a bit more extroverted on Lower East Side, as he dons his Fats Waller cap and conjures the spirit ofWillie “The Lion” Smith. Allen also plays things a bit hotter on this second go round. He still delivers that melt-your-soul tone time and again, but he’s also a bit more boisterous in places.
The usual suspects, like Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and Leonard Bernstein, all show up to the party at one time or another, but it’s the unlikely appearance of Antonio Carlos Jobim that proves to be most interesting. When they take on his “Portrait In Black And White,” Asherie and Allen briefly visit another place, where Brazilian music is glazed over with an Argentine sealant and left to dry in the warm and intoxicating air of night. This one serves as a little reminder that these guys aren’t simply period piece players; sure, they can evoke memories of long gone days, but they’re also full of surprises.