Native New Yorker and New England Conservatory grad Benjamin Drazen distinguishes himself as a potent alto saxophonist and accomplished composer on his debut as a leader. Joined by a solid group consisting of pianist Jon Davis, bassist Carlo De Rosa and drummer Eric McPherson, Drazen blows with conviction on swinging vehicles like the burning “Mr. Twilight” and the quote-filled “Monkish.” The saxophonist wails with soulful authority on “Jazz Heaven” and demonstrates a lilting, lyrical touch on the lovely “Neeney’s Waltz.” On Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” Drazen digs deep with full-bodied tones. And for pure, unadulterated burn, there’s a smoking rendition of George Gershwin’s “This Is New.” – Bill Milkowski
Category: Reviews
Mike Hobart reviews Captain Black Big Band for Financial Times…
Pianist Orrin Evans’ occasional big band alternates rumbustious riffs and tear-along chases with delicate impressionism and a timely modal waltz. The slightly rough at the edges live recordings are culled from three club dates and brim-full of modernist swagger and the excitement of live performance.
The rhythm section is a powerful cushion, muted brass swell and slur and solo strength is high. “Big Jimmy”, featuring Ralph Bowen on soprano sax, showcases creamy saxophones and fanfare brass at an impressively fast tempo.
AAJ review for David Gibson “End Of The Tunnel”…
The second release for trombonist David Gibson’s quartet,End Of The Tunnel, is a return to the ever popular soul-jazz genre. As with his previous disc, A Little Somethin’ (Posi-Tone, 2009), Gibson and organist Jared Gold share a love for that infectious 1960s organ combo sound.
This disc also continues with the same lineup, and why not keep going? The music just feels so good; a sound that began in African-American churches but was ultimately incorporated into night clubs acts by the likes of Jimmy Smith, Big John Patton, Jimmy McGriff, Baby Face Willetteand Jack McDuff.
Soul-jazz music also had an influence beyond clubs, as this recording reflects. The opening track,Herbie Hancock’s “Blind Man, Blind Man,” sizzles, with Gibson playing the role of trombonistGrachan Moncur III from the original. The band has a flair for the slow burn, and Gibson follows up with a piece of Head Hunter groove, mimicking Hancock’s “Chameleon” with his own “Wasabi.” The quartet keeps one foot in the ’60s, the other steps in territory currently held by Stanton Moore’s funk band Galactic.
Gibson’s writing and arrangements bring the music back to the sanctified with the balladic “A Place Of Our Own” and serves up a mini-tribute to Horace Silver on “Preachin.” Giving the nod to Julius Tolentino on “The In-Whim,” the alto saxophonist takes an impressive outward pass at the track, before the band quiets down for the Gibson’s soulful turn taken.
The disc ends with Jackie McLean’s “Blue Rondo,” as Gibson once again picks up Moncur’s trombone line and trades licks with Tolentino before drummer Quincy Davis’ solo on a disc filled with plenty of sizzle and pop.
Track Listing: Blind Man, Blind Man; Wasabi; Sunday Morning; End of the Tunnel; A Place of Our Own; Splat!; The In-Whim; Preachin’; Blue Rondo.
Personnel: David Gibson: trombone; Julius Tolentino: alto saxophone; Jared Gold: organ; Quincy Davis: drums.
Record Label: Posi-Tone Records | Style: Straightahead/Mainstream
Mark Corroto / All About Jazz
Guitar International review for Dave Juarez “Round Red Light”…
Round Red Light
This CD is an excellent showcase for saxophonist Blake, who is featured throughout and offers a solid performance on every track. Pianist Escreet offers solos that are largely scalar in their approach. Juarez has a John Scofield-like influence present in his playing and sound. He truly has an interesting and creative compositional gift in this musical style.
Titles include “Montpellier View,” “Round Red light,” “Lonely Brooklyn,” “Luna De Barcelona” and “RNP.” The music is well played and energetic. Fans of this genre will probably enjoy the overall effort of the quintet. This CD is definitely more about the total musical group and tunes than a feature of any individual.
Vince Lewis / Guitar International
AAJ review for Benjamin Drazen “Inner Flights”…
Alto and soprano saxophonist Benjamin Drazen’s smashing debut recording as a leader contains all of the essential ingredients for a meaningful mainstream jazz record. The leader’s seven original compositions are a diverse, substantial, and pleasantly familiar lot. Drazen and pianistJon Davis, the disc’s primary soloists, play in the moment and think their way through improvisations instead of endlessly spewing licks mastered in the practice room. The rhythm section, comprised of Davis, bassist Carlo DeRosa, and drummer Eric McPherson, evinces a focused, levelheaded quality, even while they engage in rousing, straightforward swing.
Taken at a snail’s pace, Drazen’s version of the standard “Polka Dots And Moonbeams” is six minutes and fifty-eight seconds of pure ballad magic. Following Davis’s brief introduction, the saxophonist seesaws between a tender rendering of the tune’s melody and hearty, effusive locutions. He tugs at the heartstrings and engages the intellect. Later on, his improvisation is more assertive yet never departs from the character of the song. Davis’ brief solo makes every note fit into a larger scheme. There’s a quiet, understated eloquence in the ways in which chords are lightly struck and sustained. At one point Davis plays a portion of one of the tune’s phrases, lets a note hang in the air, and then DeRosa deftly fills in the rest. Throughout the track, Drazen and company make emotionally compelling music that doesn’t need to shout to make its point.
Track Listing: Mr. Twilight; Monkish; Prayer For Brothers Gone By; Jazz Heaven; Inner Flights; Neeney’s Waltz; This Is New; Kickin’ Up Dirt; Polka Dots And Moonbeams.
Personnel: Benjamin Drazen: saxophones; Jon Davis: piano; Carlo DeRosa: bass; Eric McPherson: drums.
Audiophile Audition on David Gibson “End of the Tunnel”….
David Gibson – End of the Tunnel – Posi-tone PR8082, 48:40 ****:
(David Gibson, trombone; Julius Tolentino, alto sax; Jared Gold, Hammond organ; Quincy Jones, drums)
David Gibson has a fine pedigree. After coming to New York from Oklahoma, his credentials were honed by stays with Slide Hampton, Jon Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Heath, and James Moody. Playing with this caliber of leaders breaks you in fast.
In 2009, Gibson recorded “A Little Somethin’” with the same group in which he returns with his latest Posi-tone release, End of the Tunnel. Gibson’s latest release earned immediate extended listening for me as it has such a locked-in groove that you want to drink in its pleasures two or three times in a row. It makes both great late night listening as well as funky driving accompaniment. I found myself comparing Gibson’s release to either early Jazz Crusaders with Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson swinging with the keyboards of Joe Sample, or to a 1960s Blue Note organ and horn groovefest.
Herbie Hancock’s “Blind Man, Blind Man” gets the band off to a rousing start. While Gibson and Tolentino honor Hancock’s melody, Jared Gold supplies the grease to lubricate your joints. Gibson solos with authority, both powerfully and in full command. Tolentino’s solo brings to mind Lou Donaldson in its funkiness and dripping with blues.
“Wasabi”, written by Gibson, has the Jazz Crusaders influence with an updated new millennium feel. Quincy Davis and Gold provide the underpinning for the horns to groove on. “Sunday Morning” is churchified soul jazz that begs for a greasy club setting. Gibson reaches for old-school influences in his solo and succeeds in meeting that standard. The title track follows and it kicks into overdrive quickly. Davis sets a blistering pace that seems to inspire Jared Gold.
“A Place of our Own” is a ballad with a bite as Gold adds organ effects and Davis’ powerful drum crescendos demand attention. Gold’s “Splat” brings us back to familiar organ/ horn territory. The relaxed yet swing heavy groove that the quartet sets makes them a great candidate for some touring this Summer on the Festival circuit.
“Preachin” penned by Gold shows this rising Hammond star to have good ears for the rhythms that elevate tight organ/horn groups to the upper echelon of this re-emerging trend that is a happy element of the last ten years. As we lose the last of our old school Hammond masters, younger organ players are happily keeping the tradition alive. Those of us that love this music can’t be happier.
I’d be remiss if I did not mention once again the talents of producer Marc Free and engineer, Nick O’Toole for continuing to bring out some of the best-sounding compact discs with state of the art acoustics-warm, well miked and mixed, and with each instrument never anything but spot on for
both comping and soloing duties.
TrackList: Blind Man, Blind Man, Wasabi, Sunday Morning, End of the Tunnel, A Place of Our Own, Splat, The In-Whim, Preachin’, Blue Rondo
— Jeff Krow
Amazing interview with Travis Sullivan….
Travis Sullivan composes and arranges with a fine flair. For about the last six years, he’s proven himself a strong leader of a large band, running the Bjorkestra, an acclaimed unit that plays slick, intricate and sometimes burning jazz versions of songs by popular Icelandic singer/songwriter Bjork.
It’s a band that’s an audience pleaser and one that musicians like to play in. In Milan, Italy, in December, trumpeter Dave Douglas was the guest soloist. “That’s a really fun group,” says Lauren Sevian, who has played baritone sax in the group (a chair she also holds in the Mingus Big Band). “The music is so cool—Bjork music for big band. It’s unbelievable. Travis Sullivan does a great job. Most of the arrangements are his. The musicians are all so incredible.”
Sullivan also working on special music to commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy in New York City.
So, if you ask some people, he’s a big band leader who’s adept in that arena. And they’re right, sort of. If you ask Sullivan, he’s an alto saxophonist who enjoys the challenge and adventurous interplay of small groups, and loves to improvise on his on his axe. His latest recording, New Directions, released in May, 2011 on Posi-Tone, attests to that. It’s a quartet that exhibits an alto player of strength, dexterity and imagination; it burns with a sympathetic and cooking rhythm section. It may come as a surprise to people who followed Sullivan’s work since coming out of the Manhattan School of Music. But it probably shouldn’t be. This cat is a player.
“It was time to start focusing on my own music and playing. That’s where my heart first and foremost lies,” he says, eagerly looking forward to the CD release. The title sums up those feelings and the fact that he’d like to focus more on his playing. “I definitely wanted to sort of make a statement about that. It’s a new direction based on events of the last six or seven years.”
“I consider myself, first and foremost, an improviser—a composer, second,” explains Sullivan. “One of my role models is someone like Wayne Shorter, where the composition and the improvisation try to integrate themselves into one whole. But when I created the Bjorkestra, it was always with the intention of creating a context for improvisation with her music, within a big band context. In theory, that’s great. It works. But I’m also a very democratic bandleader. When we perform, I try to spread the wealth very evenly in terms of solos. It makes it more accessible for an audience to hear over the course of an evening. Several horn players play, the different personalities and everything, rather than just one main soloist. The consequence is that I would only get to blow maybe one, possibly two, solos a night.”
The Bjork book is also primarily modal, so chord changes and similar attributes were not usually employed. “The improvisation side of things wasn’t always necessarily that challenging for me, in terms of what I practice, what I’ve studied and everything. So there was a part of my artistic expression that was put aside for the sake of performing this music,” says Sullivan.
“Where I draw most of my inspiration from is from jazz, and what I practice is definitely jazz. I transcribe a lot of artists, study the work of a lot of artists that are considered jazz artists. So I would like to think of myself as being a jazz guy. I think that with the Bjorkestra, it was questionable for a lot of people whether this music can really be considered jazz or not. I feel like it is. Jazz, for me, is taking and interpreting the best music of what’s going on right now—Bjork was an example of that—and making it one’s own: reinterpreting it, contextualizing it for improvisation. I really consider myself an improviser. That’s an integral part of jazz.”
Sullivan is joined on the record by Mike Eckroth on piano, Marco Panascia on bass and Brian Fishler on drums. The tunes, eight of ten originals, have different feels, but are all in the jazz realm. They find Sullivan with expressive swagger at times, and at other times with a more smooth, peaceful, but probing mode. Everyone in the rhythm section is on top of things, supportive, creative, and tight. “Tuneology” is the closest to hard bop, and the band gives a fine accounting on that front. “Autumn in New Hampshire” (Sullivan hails from there) is a ballad that shows how Sullivan can wring emotion from a nice melody.
He wrote the music for the record with a small group in mind, and some of the writing goes back several years. “The oldest one was written about 10 years ago,” Sullivan says. “I was always writing when I was leading the big band, but having the intention to play it with a smaller ensemble. I’m very pleased with the way it came out. We did it all in one eight-hour session. … There are always things about myself as a player that I would like to do better. But I feel like the spirit and the energy is there. It comes across really well, and everybody plays really well on the record.”
Spirit and energy are things that come across in Sullivan’s jazz. But as a kid growing up in the 1980s in New Hampshire, he didn’t hear a lot of jazz. He was playing sax from the age of 10, and piano at 12, and it was quirky events in high school that led to a jazz enlightenment—but not the usual path. A friend in high school, a fellow saxophonist, had a collection of records, but it wasn’t the mainstream type of jazz that most people cut their teeth on. This friend had “all these avant-garde things—late Coltrane and stuff. We listened to that stuff, like Coltrane “Jupiter Variations.” We had no idea what was going on. We just thought it was kind of trippy and cool. … I got into jazz backwards. When I was in high school, I was listening to Albert Ayler, Coltrane, Dolphy.”
He also had an English teacher who started bringing him albums to check out. In that bunch wasPharoah Sanders and Art Ensemble of Chicago. “Then, one day he said he just got Sketches of Spain on CD. It blew his mind because he could hear everything. He started getting rid of his LP collection. He let me go through them and buy them for one dollar each. That’s what happened. I ended up buying about 30 albums from him. All this avant-garde jazz. … I got into (jazz) backwards.”
When Sullivan went off to college, he wasn’t majoring in music. He studied biochemistry. But the music department had a couple of big bands, and he played in one. “I played in the second big band my freshman year. Then I played in the top band my last three years there and ended up playing lead alto, which was great,” he recalls. “That exposed me to something.”
Trumpeter Taylor Haskins was a classmate, and trumpeter Dave Balou was getting his master’s degree there at the time. But for Sullivan, “I was interested in a totally different set of music. … Everybody there wanted to play straight- ahead stuff. I was a one of the avant-garde outcasts. I was interested in playing free jazz and free improvised music.” However, after exposure to more mainstream stuff— Clark Terry was an adjunct professor there, and there would be visits by people like Marshal Royal, Snooky Young, Al Grey, Milt Hinton and Frank Wess, Sullivan started going back to examine the music of Louis Armstrong, Lester Young and others.
By his junior year, Sullivan knew he wanted to pursue a life in music. He finished his degree and took a few years off, but continued studying music with George Garzone. That relationship lasted about three years, and it was Garzone who urged Sullivan to go to New York. Sullivan got into Manhattan School of Music, earned his master’s degree there and has been in New York ever since.
“When I got [to New York], I was blown away by the level of everybody there, as well as the city in general. I was going out a lot and hearing a lot of music. I played a few gigs here and there. After I graduated, I was doing a lot of quartet, quintet stuff that I was booking on my own.” In 1999, just after leaving the Manhattan School, he did his first recording with a quartet called As We Speak, with Rez Abbasion guitar and Ari Hoenig on drums.
By 2001, playing opportunities thinned out and he says he was “starting to get a little bored with the challenges of not making a lot of money. Doing the small group stuff … I was getting a little bit confused about how it was proceeding, how I was moving forward with the music. Then I started getting into the music of Bjork and started writing those arrangements. That evolved into forming the big band.
“The Bjorkestra started unfolding in a very magical way. From my perspective, it seemed to just have this energy behind it—sort of like a flower unfolding. I didn’t really try to have any control or expectations. So that’s what I’m trying to do now with these other projects: put them out to the world and see what happens.”
The Bjorkestra, even as its popularity grew, never got a huge amount of gigs. But to keep it moving, Sullivan would sometimes break it into a seven-piece group. “It gives me more opportunity to solo and really be out front as a saxophonist. That’s another thing too. I think a lot of my colleagues really forgot that’s what I was,” he says with a touch of humor. “A saxophonist first, not a big band arranger. A lot of my friends and colleagues in that band were people that I worked with. [They were] moving ahead with their solo careers. I’d look at that and say, ‘That’s really what I want more of.’ The difficulty with that is that it’s definitely the road way more traveled. I think it’s a little more challenging too [in a small combo] to stand out above the rest.”
Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra in Performance
So Sullivan is working with smaller groups, not just the quartet he recorded with, though he hopes to tour later this year in support of the CD. “Small groups are easier to work with,” he says. With the Bjorkestra, “I spend so much time contracting musicians, rehearsing, dealing with all different personalities … I want to make things a little bit easier on myself.”
Sullivan also has a project called the Casual Sextet, which has a rotating cast of members. “We gig every once in a while. I write more extended compositions for that group. I have another group called the Identity Crises, which has been going for about three years now. We’re starting to get a little bit of momentum. That’s more of a pop/jazz/fusion type of project. … That was the other stuff I was listening to when I was growing up. I listened to a lot of popular music. I still have a deep love for that music. And a lot of prog rock.” He notes, “There are a lot of different avenues I have for expression. I consider myself very lucky in that sense. It’s a matter of finding places to play, which I find challenging at times.”
Another band is CSP, which he leads with singer Kit Calvosa. Sullivan plays piano in that setting. “I enjoy that a lot too, being able to play with some great musicians and play that instrument as well, in a different context and different style than I usually find myself in. … We [Sullivan and Calvosa] have been co-writing songs for a couple of years now,” he says, but adds, “Really, the past couple of years for me have been taking the ship of my music career and trying to shift it; trying to figure out what the next direction is.”
The 9/11 project is called the Pilgrimage project, supplemented by a grant from New York State. It came about via a book of photographs Sullivan and his girlfriend came across in 2007 at a bookstore in Brooklyn. “It was a book of about 70 black-and- white photos of people looking at Ground Zero. This photographer called Kevin Bubriski had gone down there in the months following [the collapse of the World Trade Center] and taken photos capturing people’s expressions, just looking at the disaster. I had this real visceral reaction to it. It put me back in that moment where I was one of those people. I went down there back in November [2001], when you could see the towers still partially standing. It was a very deep emotional reaction.”
His girlfriend noted that the 10th anniversary would be coming up and that Sullivan should write music to accompany the photos. Sullivan loved the idea. He contacted the photographer, who was also enthused.
“I really want to do this thing right: get the right musicians for it, pay them well. Just do it right, so it will be a really nice tribute in memory of the 10th anniversary of that,” says Sullivan. “The plan is to debut it the week of 9/11. That’s when I’d really like the first performance to be. I don’t have a venue set yet. I’m kind of holding back and waiting to see what the money situation is going to be. If the money’s there, I might even try to do something at a less-than-traditional performance space. I’m not sure what it would be.”
In the meantime, Sullivan, like many Big Apple musicians, is hustling for gigs, getting outside work when he can, teaching some students. He’s also pushing more sideman gigs, of which he didn’t get many because of the perception he was more of a big band guy. “But I’ve been trying to get out there a little more—play other people’s music. I am really interested in that.” Posi-Tone is already talking about doing another album with Sullivan, he says, and a new Bjorkestra album, “Live at the Jazz Standard,” is likely to be released later this year.
ullivan knows there’s work ahead and see positive things continuing. “I am very lucky that I have the opportunity to play with all these great musicians—the opportunities I’ve already had, things I’ve already done, bringing a full big band over to Europe and getting to play with Dave Douglas. If somebody told me that five years ago, I’d be like, ‘Jeez. I can’t believe that.’ Now that it’s over, I’m like, ‘Why am I not doing that every day?’ It’s the sustainability and developing some continuity that is really my next endeavor.”
Selected Discography
Travis Sullivan, New Directions (Posi-Tone, 2011)
Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Enjoy (Koch, 2008)
Sean Nowell, Firewerks (Posi-Tone, 2007)
Travis Sullivan’s Project One, As We Speak (Travsul, 2001)
SaxShed reviews Travis Sullivan “New Directions”….
Alto saxophonist Travis Sullivan has released his third record “New Directions” on Posi-tone Records. Known primarily for leading his Björkestra project, Sullivan has assembled The Travis Sullivan Quartet where he is joined by pianist Mike Eckroth, bassist Marco Panascia, and drummer Brian Fishler.
According to Jazz Times, Travis Sullivan is “…a gifted alto saxophonist and improviser who has also developed a strong and commanding voice as a composer.” He has also earned a worldwide reputation as an alto saxophonist, pianist, composer, and arranger. Sullivan has penned 8 of the 10 modern jazz compositions here on “New Directions.” Rodgers & Hart’s Spring is Here and the Tears for Fears classic Everybody Wants to Rule the Worldround out the rest of the recorded selections.
The opening cut Jamia’s Dance begins with the powerful sound of Sullivan’s rhythm section of Eckroth, Panascia and Fishler. Sullivan’s soon unleashes his unique alto sound that is full of passion. He seems to be singing through the saxophone which seems somehow reminiscent of Jan Garbarek’s haunting sound.
Autumn In N.H. Like the preceding cut, showcases Sullivan’s haunting alto saxophone sound. It seems a bit more delicate with classical undertones. The interplay between the members of the quartet is wonderful, particularly the occasional implied meter changes by drummer Brian Fishler.
Tuneology is a great title for this swinging, hard bop-to-Latin tune. His streaming 8th notes speak the jazz language, yet in Sullivan’s own way. He never sounds contrived or cliché. A formidable piano solo is taken by Eckroth. There is also a wonderful release into the Afro-Cuban section during head and solos.
The sneaky and funky Hidden Agenda has a 70s cop show quality within its brief opening ostinato. Sullivan’s solo is not made of the predictable pentatonic/blues-born lines often used in such a setting. He plays more melodically, flirting briefly with some alternate fingerings in between shapely, cascading lines. Panascia deftly solos for the first time on bass.
Although The Travis Sullivan Quartet approaches the Rogers and Hart standard in their own refreshing way, I much prefer the sound of the group on Sullivan’s originals. The highlight for me on Spring Is Herecomes within Sullivan’s final cadenza.
Georgie, unlike Spring Is Here features a sound and style more in keeping with the rest of the recording. Sullivan’s solo is constructed melodically and has the quality of a French saxophone etude set to jazz. It is a refreshing approach that sets Sullivan apart from others. Mike Eckroth solos beautifully on piano before the final melodic statement.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World reminded this listener of the way in which Coltrane interpreted his hit My Favorite Things. There are actually few similarities but enough to make a comparison. The short quote of the initial melody is all that seems in common with the 80s Tears for Fears classic however the pentatonic melody allows for some clever reharmonization. Later in the tune, the of 3/4 or 6/8 time feel gives way to a shuffle and then back to the original feeling in three.
The playful and hopeful Leap Of Faith gives way to one of Sullivan’s best efforts on saxophone here. Eckroth solos second on piano, although his take is tamer than the ferocity of Sullivan’s improvisation. Sullivan again stretches on the vamp as the group gradually retards and diminishes to the final fermata.
Eckroth solos first and is given the opportunity to demonstrate his own melodic solo voice on Magic Monday. Sullivan’s solo is more angular than Eckroth’s yet it is a desirable contrast within Magic Monday. Panascia solos for only the second time. This solo features him well on bass, but it is not as lengthy as on Hidden Agenda.
The final, title track New Directions well represents what this group does best – play modern, original jazz compositions. Eckroth plays a punctuated solo initially constructed of streaming 8th notes and then broadening to more rhythmic variation. As before, Sullivan plays with a drive and fire that keeps this listener engaged. Fisher solos over the figure laid down by Eckroth and Panascia before Sullivan joins in on the final statement of the head and plays a fitting solo vamp all the way to the ending unison kicks.
Travis Sullivan’s curious saxophone sound is not modeled after any obvious choices. He is neither Cannonball nor Sanborn – just two predictable and prominent influences among alto saxophonists today. His resonating alto voice with wide vibrato may have some skeptics due to its originality, however I trust his sound and music will also find many fans.
You can find out more at Posi-tone Records.
Richard Kamins reviews Travis Sullivan “New Directions”
http://steptempest.blogspot.com/2011/05/modern-grooves.html
Alto saxophonist-composer Travis Sullivan is, perhaps, best known for his 18-piece big band, Bjorkestra, an ongoing project in which he reimagines and reshapes the music of the Icelandic singer/songwriter and notorious shape-shifter. In the midst of that heady project, one might forget that he himself is a strong writer and talented musician.
“New Directions” should and will open eyes and ears to Sullivan’s ability to write for a small ensemble. Joined by Mike Eckroth (piano), Marco Panascia (bass) and Brian Fischler(drums), Sullivan creates music that keeps the listener on his/her toes because not only is there a strong rhythmic pulse on most tracks but also what they play is involving, melodic and seeminglty without artifice. “Jamia’s Dance” opens the program and sets the stage with its handsome melody, shifting rhythms, the leader’s sweet tone and Eckroth’s piano work that is both powerful and impressionistic. It’s the interplay of the rhythm section, the pianist’s ability to color the music and Sullivan’s vibrant alto saxophone that stands out. Even the sweet take of “Spring Is Here” displays a maturity of thought, no one rushing the beat, the long tones and “singing” quality of the alto and the truly complementary work of the rhythm section. And the emotional content of these pieces make them stand out – these songs are not just exercises in technique. Instead, they tell musical “stories”, are constructed so that one can’t miss the melodic content but also can hear how the solos grow from the thematic material. The other “cover” tune is a snappy take on “Everybody Wants to Rule The World“, the 1985 hit for the British duo Tears for Fears. This is music that is alive and makes one think how good the quartet must sound in a “live” setting.
One other aspect stands out (for this reviewer) – these 10 songs are so rich with ideas that one does not immediately reach out for comparisons (i.e., Sullivan sounds like “fill-in-the-blank”, his writing is influenced by”so-and-so”.) Just listen. Enjoy the lightness of the interactions, the heat of the solos and the quality of the work. To find out more, go to www.travissullivan.com.
Dan Bilawsky’s AAJ review for Travis Sullivan “New Directions”…
Saxophonist Travis Sullivan has received lots of coverage for the music he creates with his Björkestra, but the success of that band is a double-edged sword. While following the musical pathways set forth by his Icelandic muse has helped the saxophonist expand his audience, it also temporarily suppressed his own musical personality. With New Directions, Sullivan steps out of the shadow of Björk and back into the light of his own creations.
For this ten-song program, Sullivan supplies eight originals that showcase his gleaming tone and melodic sensibilities, while also testifying to his varied musical interests. He paints bright melodies against the contrast of dark bass lines (“Jamia’s Dance”) and powers through funky, odd-metered workouts with ease (“Hidden Agenda”), but he also shows comfort soloing over rhythmic terrain that shifts from aggressive, driving swing to Latin-leaning grooves (“Tuneology”). While the majority of Sullivan’s pieces are grounded by a firm sense of rhythm, “Autumn In N.H” is a notable exception. This piece opens with Mike Eckroth’s wistful piano work, but the band eventually arrives in a gauzy musical atmosphere that allows for some interesting interplay and dynamic development.
While Sullivan only tackles two covers, his choices reflect the eclecticism found within his own work. He performs “Spring Is Here”—written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart—and fills it with noir-ish notions. The rhythm section provides some appropriately malleable accompaniment and Sullivan caps off the performance with a confident cadenza. A standard of a different sort, a popular ’80s pop confection in this case, is reworked to suit Sullivan’s own vision. On “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” bassist Marco Panascia’s frisky bass work provides direction early on, but Sullivan’s soloing eventually becomes the focal point. While drummer Brian Fishler powers the quartet through various styles of music, his solo star turn is saved for the final number. The title track finds Fishler soloing over a funky vamp and dissecting the time like a skilled surgeon with sticks, helping to end this enjoyable album on an energetic note.
Track Listing: Jamia’s Dance; Autumn In N.H.; Tuneology; Hidden Agenda; Spring Is Here; Georgie; Everybody Wants To Rule The World; Leap Of Faith; Magic Monday; New Directions.
Personnel: Travis Sullivan: alto saxophone; Mike Eckroth: piano; Marco Panascia: bass; Brian Fishler: drums.
Record Label: Posi-Tone Records | Style: Modern Jazz