Tag: Doug Webb

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Music and More blog on “Inner Agent” by David Gibson

mindset2Trombonist David Gibson has created a fine modern mainstream jazz album with his fourth Posi-Tone release. Performing alongside him are Freddie Hendrix on trumpet, Theo Hill on piano, Alexander Claffy on bass, Kush Abadey on drums. Saxophonists Doug Webb and Caleb Curtis guest on a couple of tracks as well. The title track “Inner Agent” opens the album in an up-tempo fashion with bright sounding piano and swinging cymbal play supporting punchy and brash horn riffs. There is an excellent section for the piano, bass and drums unit that swings very hard. “Axe Grinder” sets a funky groove with the horns harmonizing and then breaking free for solo sections, including some stratospheric trumpet. Gibson takes a rapid and smoothly executed trombone solo over rippling piano and subtle bass and drums. There is a fast and exciting sendoff to “The Sythe” with ripe saxophone soloing over muscular playing from the rhythm section, and Abadey’s drums driving the music hard. Gibson gets another nice featured spot, ramping the tempo down just a hair and developing a confident and well-articulated solo. “The Court” has a bouncy and interesting foundation from the piano, bass and drums, while strutting horns come out together and then diverge in short statements before returning to complete this pithy and concise tune. There is a medium tempo sensibility to “Gravy” with swaggering horns sounding good over strong rhythm and percussively comped piano. Gibson’s trombone glides through the rhythm with aplomb demonstrating an appealing tone to his music. The album is completed with a tasteful and restrained version of The Beatles “Here Comes the Sun.” The horns are very subtle and it isn’t until the piano references the melody that the penny drops and you hear what is happening. This performance is emblematic of the entire album, because it is music that is tasteful and thoughtful and should be well received by mainstream jazz fans.

Tim Niland – Music and More blog

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Smooth Technique and a love of Melody is “Bright Side” by Doug Webb

mindset2From the very first, sweet strains of tenor saxophone that leap from my CD player, I know it’s Doug Webb. I’ve been listening to his style and enjoying the excitement he creates on stage for three decades. Webb has been featured on over 150 jazz recordings and has added his blues soaked style to tracks used in hundreds of television programs and movies. He’s an on-demand, Southern California, saxophone session man for television and film. This, his seventh album release, is funk-based with Manarelli on trumpet blending well with Webb’s saxophone licks. Webb has penned seven out of the twelve songs on this CD. His composition skills showcase smooth technique and a love of melody. The addition of Charette on organ spices things up and thickens the stew when Webb puts the pots on to boil. This is particularly obvious on cut #3, “The Drive”, where everyone of the musicians seem powered up and propel their improvisational skills at a fast clip. I found Webb’s composition, “Melody for Margie” to be beautiful, promoting a visceral emotion. Another of his compositions I enjoyed immensely is “One For Hank” where Cherry on guitar gers to stretch out, as well as Charette on organ. All in all, this CD swings and Webb is flying above the solid rhythm section, as daring as a man on a trapeze. His music is exciting.

Dee Dee McNeil – musicalmemoirs’s blog

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Midwest Record joins the “Allied Forces” by Steve Fidyk

mindset2Straight ahead swinging jazz powered by  a crew of leaders in their own rights, drummer Fidyk makes no statements here other than he can keep things on track from the back of the stage and that good are meant to be shared by all.  Not the kind of feel good jazz you’d associate with water front bars on summer nights but you have to call it that for lack of a better name, this is smoking stuff that works throughout and is the kind of friendly hard core jazz that brings new listeners into the tent despite themselves.  On the money throughout and totally hot.

Chris Spector – Midwest Record

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Dusted Magazine shows us the “Bright Side” by Doug Webb

mindset2The title of Doug Webb’s seventh Positone release sums up not only a personal outlook on his vocation, but the reality of it as well, given a career involving 30+ years as a professional musician. Bright Side teams the tenorist with some of the brightest of his immediate peers on the imprint with trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, organist Brian Charette and guitarist Ed Cherry each successful leaders in their own right. Drummer Steve Fidyk doesn’t have a session under his auspices yet, but his calendar as a sideman remains packed with cherry-picked gigs.

As with earlier Webb dates the program draws liberally from a songbook of originals while threading in a handful of covers including the bossa nova “Bahia” and Oliver Nelson’s hardbop workhorse “The Drive”. Webb is a specialist at devising tight punchy heads that pack sizeable ensemble wallops while working flexibly as spring boards for economy-minded solos. “Society Al”, a titular riff on a Dexter Gordon composition, features his horn initially in isolation before the band arrives to advance a rolling, organ-forward groove.

“Silver Lining” gives Charette the chance to show off his skill with building swirling, descending textures as Fidyk carves out a choppy beat beside him. Magnarelli sits out leaving Webb to ride the waves through a solo ripe with both velocity and spirited inflections. Credited to someone with the surname Eastlee, “Steak Sauce” shows off the quintet’s shared facility with a boogaloo rhythm. Charette’s bass lines ooze grease and the horns lock on some lean, but tasty unisons atop another porous series of patterns from Fidyk. Cherry leans back and concerns himself with comping inventively under the frontline extemporizations before moving stepping out for a supple say of his own.

“Melody for Margie” and “One for Hank” reference more important figures in Webb’s personal history, the first at a ballad tempo that capitalize on Charette and Cherry’s capabilities at shaping amorous support lines and Fidyk’s gentle facility with brushes. The second personifies in sound a saxophonist answering to the surname Mobley, at least in general feel, as Webb glides through a set of cerulean-hued changes and into another plush-voiced solo that ranges purposefully through his horn’s middle register. Charette and Cherry also get spotlights before a group exit and the album caps off with another groove workout in the accommodating guise of Webb’s  “Funky Medina”. With friends and continued opportunities like these it’s easy to see how he entertains his abiding optimism.

Derek Taylor  –  Dusted Magazine

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Midwest record is the first to look on the “Bright Side” by Doug Webb

mindset2This is a direct descendant of the kind of jazz record that took jazz from smoky, late night New York clubs to the rec rooms of then nascent suburban sprawl.  With a crew of leaders backing up the first call sax man, this is a perfect example of where jazz meets commercial vibes and coming out none the worse for wear.  Pure jazz for pure jazzbos, listening dates don’t come any Better than this.  Well done.

Midwest Record

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WBGO has David Gibson’s “Inner Agent” on its radar

mindset2When trombonist David Gibson put out “Boom” last year, one listen and you knew this guy likes working with no net. Told me the feeling was exhilarating to make music this way. It’s also quite fulfilling to listen to and see live, something I made sure happened with David Gibson.

With “Inner Agent”, Gibson’s upcoming release from Posi-tone Records, the trombonist says, “This recording is a natural continuation of what we began with “Boom”. There are more risks taken and more trust present in the performances.”

Returning are pianist Theo Hill, bassist Alexander Claffey and drummer Kush Abadey. We hear Freddie Hendrix this time on trumpet, and the additional artistry of tenor saxophonist Doug Webb and Caleb Curtis on alto sax.

With a backstory that includes time spent on the bandstands of Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Jon Faddis and James Moody, Gibson and group can go gorgeous, then slide into something fun & funky, or big, bad and bold.

The leader talked selection of a tune like Dr. Billy Taylor’s “I Wish I Knew” by explaining, “I first heard this song sung by Nina Simone in the documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? In the documentary she is asked what freedom was to her. She responded, “Freedom is… NO FEAR.”

The group’s sanctified feel is full of that trust that fills this entire record.

As you might expect, there are a couple of nods to trombone master Curtis Fuller with “The Court”, which gives all a chance to get out on the open road, and “Sweetness”, with the warmth of the group’s swing and sway given a nice feature.

George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” is a grand closer for the nine tunes on   David Gibson’s “Inner Agent”. The release is a compelling “come together” of some pretty serious talent, who trust each other well enough for us to have a great time listening.

– Gary Walker, Morning Jazz – WBGO       WBGO radar

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All About Jazz – chimes in first on the new one “Inner Agent” by David Gibson

mindset2The idea of creating a safe space to allow for disregarding safety may be paradoxical in nature, but it makes perfect sense when contextualized or couched in jazz terms. There can be no resolution of faith in one’s surroundings and colleagues without taking the trust fall, there can be no reward without risk, and there can be no true growth without belief. Those ideals are jazz to the core, and they’re at the heart of this project from trombonist David Gibson.

Inner Agent, the fourth fine album that Gibson has released on the Posi-tone imprint, seeks to explore those very concepts to the fullest. It walks a similar path as Boom! (Posi-tone, 2015), a directional shift that found Gibson moving away from an organ-centric format and creating a bolder sonic brew with a crew of young guns, but it’s a more evolved statement. Gibson has essentially kept the Boom! band intact—trumpeter Freddie Hendrix fills the seat formerly occupied by Josh Evans, but pianist Theo Hill, bassist Alexander Claffy, and drummer Kush Abadey all remain aboard—and his music is all the better for it. The rapport between these men has been strengthened over time, a greater sense of understanding has been fostered through their interactions, and a willingness to take more chances is evident on this recording.

Gibson delivers a winning program that references his influences, speaks to his love of diversity, and allows for the unexpected to enter into the equation. He comes off as an intrepid and indomitable spirit, but he’s not afraid to also let his emotions show. Whether engaging his core group in dialogue, working with or against his guests—saxophonists Doug Webb and Caleb Wheeler Curtis—or ceding the spotlight entirely, Gibson personifies leadership and puts the focus on the music. This is jazz with nothing to hide, made by a band with a hell of a lot to say.

The album kicks off with a one-two punch in the form of the racing title track and the shape-shifting “Axe Grinder.” Those original numbers position Gibson and his band as aggressors, but there’s more than blood, sweat, and sheer force here. A visit to the church of Billy Taylor on “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” makes that point. From there, Gibson keeps you guessing about where he might go. “The Scythe” is a slice of scintillating modern jazz, hard driving and edgy in all the best ways; Claffy’s “AJ” is pure buoyant charm; “The Court” and “Sweetness”—two tunes penned by trombonist Curtis Fuller—speak to strength and jauntiness, respectively; and “Gravy,” an older Gibson tune that comes from another time and band in his past, is unadulterated jazz-funk. That last number would’ve been a finer closer, but Gibson’s personalized take on “Here Comes The Sun” is an even better one.

I had the pleasure of being present when some of this music came into existence in the studio, and it’s no lie or exaggeration to say that the energy in the room at the time has carried over to the finished product. There’s a good deal of music out there that pulls from these same stylistic bags, but much of it seems calcified by comparison. Inner Agent is brimming with life.

Dan Bilawsky – All About Jazz

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Midwest Record chimes in on “Back East” by Doug Webb

DOUG WEBB/Back East

Is the saxophonic bad boy simply playing with raging intensity or is he bringing the daddio in unabashed fine style? No matter, when you’ve been a pro for over 30 years and other pros have always called on you because they know you will not misfire with tape rolling, to maintain this kind of energy and drive gives you the right to call it whatever you want. With a crew that’s right in step behind him, this is sure to be one of those smoking jazzbo dates that gets handed down from generation to generation as an example of killer playing on the loose. Fine stuff throughout.

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“Back East” by Doug Webb gets Dusted

mindset2Doug Webb – Back East (Positone)

A germane quote from Herman Hesse graces the tray card of Back East, tenorist Doug Webb’s fourth album for the Positone imprint. The words codify the compass point not just as something concrete, but also as an intangible concept better suited to the province of the mind. Tenorist Doug Webb is steeped in the East Coast jazz vernacular of his instrument from Coltrane on down. That abiding and encyclopedic knowledge informs the date while also raising some provoking questions about the tenacity of tradition and how best to reconcile it with continued efforts at fresh artistic expression.

Webb’s crackerjack rhythm section is right in tune with his no-nonsense designs. Pianist Peter Zak practices a less-is-more economy, switching from sparse, but supportive, comping to porous, but brief, solos that rarely fail in cutting to the melodic quick. Bassist Ben Wolfe and drummer Rudy Royston lock regularly on a breathing groove, the former extracting elastic snaps on his down strokes while the latter stokes the beat with smoothly synched cymbal and snare activity and choicely situated fills. With these foundational bases covered Webb is free to fire off ripe tenor salvos at will as on the effusive title opener, an up-tempo sprint that gets the job done beautifully in three-minutes and change.

Next, the band downshifts to an ambrosial ballad “Sally’s Song” and it’s here where the album’s arguable predictability begins to take purchase. Webb’s waltzing improvisation dances across Zak’s gilded chords while Wolfe and Royston add embellishments from their respective stereo channels. Mid-tempo and lightly bluesy, “Spiral” shifts the mood again in expected fashion leading into “RDW Esq.” (a Webb relation?) which practically proclaims an Atlantic-era Coltrane influence in the leader’s burnished phrasing. Familiar features ensue, a Jobim tune, one from Mancini and tribute to another tenor titan answering to the surname Turrentine in “Stanley”. Mileage will vary as to what degree these familiar signposts and ingredients erode the album’s singularity, but the superlative playing by all four musicians largely resists and subverts comparable reproach.

Derek Taylor

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Doug Webb “Triple Play” review by David Orthmann…

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www.allaboutjazz.com

As tempting as it is to simply consign a blowing session label toTriple Play, a three tenor saxophone plus rhythm date led byDoug Webb, there’s ample evidence that something more disciplined and structured is afoot. For one thing, eight of the disc’s eleven tracks are under six minutes—in other words, there’s not a lot of room for indulgence, excess, or one-upmanship of any kind. The material, including striking originals by the leader,Walt Weiskopf, and Joel Frahm, as well as assorted standards such as “Avalon,” “Giant Steps,” and “I Concentrate On You,” is often tendered by the horns like a reed section of a big band, carefully blended and precisely executed. Randy Aldcroft, who doesn’t appear on the record, is credited with the arrangements of three selections.

Organist Brian Charette serves as the session’s ballast, holding things in place with smart, pulsating work on the bass pedals, beautifully shaded and nuanced comping, as well as tweaking soloists with the occasional brash chord. Rudy Royston‘s drums and cymbals constitute the session’s wild card. He offers a busy, sometimes manic commentary, moving in and out of the pocket at will, punching holes in the music with his bass and snare drums, playing stretches of comparatively straight time, as well as tapping out jumbles of strokes.

Webb, Weiskopf, and Frahm are middle-aged veterans of the struggles and triumphs of jazz performance, far too accomplished and certain of their abilities to participate in some sort of spurious tenor battle; thankfully, the record’s end result is a wealth of inspired, highly focused improvisations. The three tenors—each in his own manner—play with a ruthless efficiency, making complete, rousing statements, usually in just a handful of choruses, on selections mostly taken at middling to up tempos.

Webb possesses an exemplary ability to navigate various tempos and find fresh perspectives on material that would induce a litany of clichés in a lesser player. Undaunted by the dizzying pace of “Avalon,” his ideas cohere without a trace of athleticism or strain. A three-chorus turn on Lou Donaldson‘s soul-jazz tune “Alligator Boogaloo” includes relaxed, neatly sculpted phrases as well as the requisite blues and R & B effusions. Throughout “I Concentrate On You,” amidst Charette’s and Royston’s firm support, he swings in a way that evinces a momentum of its own. During the first chorus of his composition “Jones,” Webb makes an art of stopping short, that is cutting off ideas before an easily anticipated conclusion, and then offering something else, without any hint of disengagement or loss of continuity.

It’s easy to become preoccupied with Weiskopf’s tone, a dense, vibrating, all-encompassing, blues-fused concoction, at the expense of taking notice of the ways in which he organizes ideas in the service of sustaining momentum. On his composition “Three’s A Crowd” and Webb’s “Triple Play,” he displays a flair for brief, dramatic entrances—such as slamming home one note and extending it, or making a handful of notes sound like a buzz saw, immediately following with an impassioned, metallic cry—and then rapidly getting down to the business of building a cogent, emotionally compelling improvisation. The second chorus on “The Way Things Are,” another one of his compositions, includes some of Weiskopf’s most stunning work on the record. His lines are taut, tightly connected, and for the most part etched into the hum and rumble of Charette’s bass line. When he pauses, or briefly spins out a flurry of notes that fly against the beat before snapping back to attention, the effect is like an edifice being ripped apart and immediately—miraculously—put back into place.

Each of Frahm’s solos is something of an adventure, as he manipulates his tone, juggles contrasting rhythms, intentionally rushes or drags time, changes temperament from cool to hot, and flashes a number of ideas in relatively short periods. His “Jones” improvisation gradually comes into focus. Frahm lays back for much of the first chorus, playing a little behind the beat and leaving some room between selected phrases. The last eight bars signal a change as his tone assumes a ragged edge. The second chorus begins with the insistent pecking of a number of staccato notes, which he rapidly wrestles into a nifty phrase. Eventually his sound thickens and he integrates squeaks, burr tones, and screams. During “Your Place Or Mine” Frahm evokes jazz of the swing era for about a half chorus in terms of vocabulary and rhythmic nuisances before metamorphosing to the present day. Throughout “Triple Play” he creates tension by playing slightly ahead of the beat, and sprinkles at least three song quotes into the solo’s second chorus.

Not unlike Swing Shift, Webb’s memorable 2012 release on Posi-Tone, Triple Play contains the present centered vibe of the last set of a club date, when the musicians are open to all possibilities, expressing themselves without inhibitions and, for an hour or so, the sounds are strong enough to keep the outside world at bay.

Track Listing: Jones; Three’s A Crowd; Giant Steps; The Way Things Are; Avalon; Jazz Car; Your Place Or Mine; I Concentrate On You; Pail Blues; Alligator Boogaloo; Triple Play.

Personnel: Doug Webb: tenor sax; Walt Weiskopf: tenor sax; Joel Frahm: tenor sax; Brian Charette: organ; Rudy Royston: drums.