Tag: Alphabet City

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Brian Charette “Alphabet City” AAJ review by Bruce Lindsay

Brian Charette - Alphabet City cover

 

 

 

 

 

www.allaboutjazz.com/

Alphabet City is organist Brian Charette’s ninth album, titled for the part of Manhattan where he lives (in the building which featured on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, apparently). He’s alongside guitarist Will Bernard and drummerRudy Royston, both familiar names on numerous other releases for Posi-tone Records: a standard, though high quality, organ trio, but the leader’s compositions give it a far-from-standard repertoire.

The 12 tunes, all originals, are all pretty short, pretty snappy and, in the case of the melancholy “White Lies,” pretty. Mostly, they’re mid-to up-tempo numbers, with Charette’s Hammond B-3 organ often adding a touch of soul. Fittingly for a musician with wide-ranging influences and a resume that includes work with Cyndi Lauper, Joni Mitchell,Lou Donaldson and Paul Simon the tunes on Alphabet City cover a broad spectrum of styles.

Charette has a nice line in notes about these tunes, explaining some of the titles and some of the musical constructs—sadly, they’re part of the press pack but not the album liner. So we learn that “Hungarian Major” uses a scale from Hungary—although that doesn’t explain the Frank Zappa-ish feel of Charette’s organ; “They Left Fred Out”—suitably funky, with Royston’s drumming at its punchy, driving, best—takes inspiration from James Brown and laments the absence of trombonist Fred Wesley from a Brown biopic; the prog-meets-fusion “Not A Purist” is influenced by Deep Purple and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

While it’s intriguing to hear the Mahavishnu sound filtered through the lineup of an organ trio, the real pleasure of Alphabet City is in hearing Charette, Bernard and Royston moving with confidence through the blues, funk and jazz of “They Left Fred Out,” “East Village” or (with added ’70s country) “Sharpie Moustache.”

 

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Dan Bilawsky reviews Brian Charette “Alphabet City” for All About Jazz

Brian Charette - Alphabet City cover

 

 

 

 

allaboutjazz.com

Organist Brian Charette brings his A-game to Alphabet City. But who would expect anything else from this consummate artist? After delivering a covers-heavy program with two different trio lineups on Good Tipper (Posi-Tone, 2014), Charette returns here with an all-originals outing that finds him in the company of guitarist Will Bernard and drummer Rudy Royston.

Alphabet City, in some respects, is an ode to Charette’s New York city home, haunts and habits. But that minimizes the scope and influences connected to this project. In truth, this album, like nearly everything else in Charette’s discography, is about Charette’s entire world, not a single section of a city. His early musical passions, vast experience(s), and general love of music—be it bop-based, bright, burbling, bizarre, or built with Eastern European influences—are all wrapped together in his work.

While these three musicians work well as a single unit, each has his own respective gifts to share. Charette’s diversified approach to music-making manages to keep things fresh; Royston plays with a marriage of technique and taste, alternately delivering direct blows, worming his way into the heart of a groove, and playing around the edges of a piece; and Bernard straddles musical worlds, simultaneously pulling from jazz, soul, and funk bags. It’s an odd combination in some respects, but it works.

There’s modal music in odd time signatures (“Split Black”), ambling and carefree performances (“West Village”), and mysterious, Hungarian-influenced music to be heard here (“Hungarian Major”). Charette and company might be knee deep in bebop on one track (“East Village”), but the next number might go someplace completely different, as the trio explores some serious funk that questions the absence of a Fred Wesley figure in aJames Brown biopic (“They Left Fred Out”). There are also intentionally edgy, alien, and fusion-based pursuits (“Not A Purist”), energetically swinging blues excursions (“The Vague Reply”), and gospel-tinged peace offerings to admire (“White Lies”). 
Given Charette’s track record and the skills of the players involved, it should come as no surprise that Alphabet City is as good as it is.

Track Listing: East Village; They Left Fred Out; West Village; Not A Purist; Sharpie Moustache; Disco Nap; Hungarian Major; Avenua A; Detours; Split Back; White Lies; The Vague Reply.

Personnel: Brian Charette: organ; Will Bernard: guitar; Rudy Royston: drums.

 

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Midwest Record reviews Brian Charette “Alphabet City”…

Brian Charette - Alphabet City cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRIAN CHARETTE/Alphabet City:  Anyone who doesn’t love swinging, tight, concise B3
jazz trio sizzle and steak can just leave this site now and not come back.  Charette
and his pals are bumping and jumping their way through a set of originals that show
there’s still plenty of originality that can be enjoyed in this format.  Great stuff
that smokes with the heat of the street, it’s a winner throughout.