Reviews

Greg Lewis - Organ Monk

Dave Bass - Gone

James Moody - 4B





Lewis
You'll be hard-pressed to find a CD in any genre with a more provocative photo than this leader debut by organist Greg Lewis. The inside fold depicts a shirtless Lewis seated, his nude wife (and co-executive producer) sitting astride him and their infant soon, oblivious to the scene, in a baby rocker nearby.

Whether artistic statement or cheap publicity, Lewis has a lot more to recommend him than lurid photography. Indeed, this is an inspired set, and not just because the music of Thelonious Monk travels so well.

Lewis, on the first-call list of several renowned vocalists, has this time brought together two top-notch collaborators i the persons of drummer Cindy Blackman and guitarist Ron Jackson. The interplay between the trio keeps the nergy up throughout the disc. Even on ballads like Monk'd Mood and Light Blue, there's a palpable feeling of the artists diving into the material.

Jackson adds some buttery licks on the aforementioned Light Blue, but also on the revved-up "Four-in-One" which also gives us a stunning dialogue between the leader and the future Mrs Carlos Santna. Blackman's ferocious work on the kit pushes the other two but none of the artists can be accused of hogging the time. The action is always dynamic, organic and respectful of the music.

Whether you're new to the organ trio format, or a longtime devotee, Greg Lewis & Co have crafted a solid addition to the canon.

Bass
By day, Bass is a deputy attorney general for the state specializing in civil rights enforcement. Nights and weekends, he indulges the jazz jones that supported him a few decades ago, when he became a familiar figure on the Bay Area jazz scene backing artists such as Bobby McFerrin and Babatunde Lea.

Somehow, the longtime Bay Area resident has also found time to play around in the recording studio. His new album, "Gone" presents 11 tracks (Astor Pollozza's Libertango being the sole non-original) that showcase Bass' considerable gifts asa composer highlight Bass' sharp compositional skills, generosity as a bandleader and understated charm as a pianist.

He begins in fairly conventional mode with "Le Grand" and takes on a Latin tinge on Mi Guajira" with additional percussion from conguero Harold Muniz.
The leader aside, Watts is clearly the preeminent soloist, whether on the aforementioned Libertango, or on the haunting, bluesier "Someday."

Vocalist Mary Stallings shows up for two tunes that provide a welcome kick in intensity, especially as they are inserted on the album, with 5 tunes between them. Her big voice leaves the listener wanting more but ironically, its to Bass' credit that on this occasion h doesn't over-do the vocal numbers. A vocal-piano duet with Stallings may, however, pay dividends in future.

Gone doesn't quite have the "instant stickiness" of some other contemporary jazz group dates, but its a disc that slowly unfurls its understated charms over the course of repeated auditions.

Moody
Of course, the "textbook"reference is cliche, but its the cliche that fits best on hearing Moody's crystalline communication on this outing and the cohesive yet expressive support that he gets from the likes of Barron, Coolman and Nash. As one pundit writes, "hearing James Moody playing so well is an experience akin to having Abraham Lincoln still around to re-deliver the Gettysburg Address with undiminished oratory power."

Indeed, the maestro shows on this disc no signs of ageing, but rather the benefits that accrue from having "been around" and lived to tell. Even on standards like "Take The A-Train" recorded undoubtedly thousands of times, there is clarity. and a knowingness that in and of themselves make the tune fresh.

Of course, Moody and pianist Kenny Barron go back 50 years, to Dizzy Gillespie's legendary quintet, and are amazing together.

Another gem is "Speak Low" beginning as it does with a "St Tomas-style" calypso drum phrase then moving silkily in and out between Latin groove and swing. The rhythm men, Todd Coolman and Lewis Nash, make their own sterling contributions, Nash in particular with his deft brushwork.

But this is clearly the master's show.Much has been made -rightly so - of fellow sax legend Sonny Rollins' entry into the octogenarian ranks. Here, as he did with 4A, Moody proves that his own combination wit, energy and intelligence remain undiminished. Age really is just a number.

Multiple reviews coming

Coming Soon reviews of new CDs by Greg Lewis; Joyce Cobb, James Moody and more.

Sonny @ 80....almost

Is this the look of an 80-year old?

Testament to the endduring power of jazz' "Saxophone Colossus" Theodore Walter 'Sonny' Rollins, who turns 80 on September 7, 1930.

To great acclaim and adoration, but with little fanfare of his own, Sonny Rollins has built a jazz iconography as instrumentalist, composer, bandleader and thought-leader over a career that spans 7 decades.

Born in New York City (to parents who had emigrated from the Us Virgin islands),he grew up in Harlem not far from the Savoy Ballroom, the Apollo Theatre, and the doorstep of his idol, Coleman Hawkins. After early discovery of Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, he started out on alto saxophone, inspired by Louis Jordan. At the age of sixteen, he switched to tenor, trying to emulate Hawkins. He also fell under the spell of the musical revolution that surrounded him, Bebop.

Still Bitchin' (That Means Great) After all these years

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From my former writing home, Jazz Times

"Four decades have passed since Bitches Brew was released in 1970, and Columbia/Legacy Records is marking the occasion with a new box set, Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition. The set includes two CDs containing the landmark recording in its original eight-track studio mix plus alternate takes and single versions, a 180-gram vinyl replica of the original double-album, a DVD of a 1969 Copenhagen concert, an audio CD of a 1970 Tanglewood performance, a booklet and more memorabilia"

http://jazztimes.com/articles/26369-miles-davis-forty-years-of-freedom

As the Smoke Trails upward

Farewell to a great jazz photographer

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/arts/music/18leonard.html?_r=1

His Dexter Gordon Pic (shown here) is one of my all-time faves

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

THERE WERE three musicians on stage before a near full house at RedBones the Blues Café, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, on Friday evening - one bass guitarist, one drummer and one keyboard player.

However, the music Maurice Gordon, Deleon 'Jubba' White and Harold Butler respectively made was more than their number, the last especially being the focal point of the evening billed as 'Harold Butler and Friends'.

And near the end, before the encore of What's Going On, Gordon, who did almost all the talking that night, said: "the Butler himself, Mr. Harold. He did it. He did it."

And he had, rocking and smiling on Fly Me to the Moon in the first segment of the concert, mouth open as he played, then sitting quietly and looking at Gordon and White in turn as they took solo turns.

Excellent playing

Butler started off Feel Like Making Love, playing very softly near the end of Gordon's solo run on bass, then compressed his lips as he played lower and lower notes, leaning in the direction of his right hand as it moved away from his body and then returning to an upright position as the song ended.

The trio went into Reggae with Money Maker, which started off with drum and bass, Butler first playing with his left hand only, then his right, then both. He rocked in his seat as Gordon rocked back on his right leg, poised on the ball of his left foot, closed his eyes and let the bass go and, in the end, White tinkled on the cymbals, Gordon laid down the bassline and Butler's fingers danced as they took the volume down and down and down.

Gordon announced a special tune and there was applause as Love Me Forever, Butler's composition, originally sung by the late Cynthia Schloss, was recognised instantly.

The music intensified from its calm beginning and, as it hit a peak, Butler swept the keyboard from the high notes down and then the low notes up, then came the calm playing again.

Intermission song

After a half-hour intermission, the trio returned with Gordon lodging a complaint about the difficulty in opening a bank account for Butler, what with the bank's requirements for a Justice of the Peace and accounting for the source of funds.

It was back to music with The World Is A Ghetto, Butler's tongue sticking out on the second post-intermission song. He sat with his hands in his lap, watching Gordon and White as they combined bass, hi-hat and rimshot, his hands darting up and forward intermittently to play a few notes.

On Blue Velvet Butler swept his hand across the keyboards from the higher notes once, then twice, thrice and then a fourth time in succession, then the trio went very slow on Midnight in Vermont.

A diner from Norway ditched her cutlery and took to the microphone for Summertime, her little black dress serving both activities nicely.

She started out high and the applause came after the second line, her hands moving from their hanging position to more expressive positions as the song progressed.

But there was someone in the audience who was not satisfied.

Good ol' summertime

"When you play Summertime uptempo you know what's what!" he shouted.

Gordon shaded his eyes against the stage lights and demanded who was speaking.

"Every time we play somebody is shouting about Sunmertime," he said good-naturedly and, without announcement, the three duly delivered the uptempo version of the song.

"OK? OK?" a smiling Gordon demanded of the shouter when it ended.

"We're going to take one step ahead on the next song," Gordon said and the Butler composition, sung by Beres Hammond was duly delivered the reaction from the audience did not indicate recognition of the outstanding song.

Woman No Want No Bangarang and Kiss Me Once kept the Jamaican flavour going and, on the uptempo closing note, the shouter became the dancer, literally talking to the floor in front of a large fan whirring against the summer heat.

"Never you on the floor while ago? What happened? You had a seizure?" Gordon asked before the encore.

"The Butler Did It" again on VP

Our second HB entry for the day, comes courtesy of the Gleaner and VP Records

THE BUTLER Did It, the 1978 album, featuring troubled keyboardist Harold Butler at his creative best, will be reissued next month by VP Records. This marks the first time the set will be released on compact disc.

A release from VP said The Butler Did It will be released on August 28. It is part of the Queens, New York company's extensive reissue roster, which also includes titles from producers Joe Gibbs and Henry 'Junjo' Lawes.

The new-look, The Butler Did, It has 13 songs, some written or arranged by Butler and performed by artistes who recorded mainly rhythm and blues-type reggae.

Among these artistes are Cynthia Schloss whose Love Forever is on The Butler Did It. Other songs include Beres Hammond (One Step Ahead), Ernest Wilson (Let Love Be Your Right-hand Man) and Pam Hall and Orville Wood (Book of Life).

Those songs were released in the late 1970s when Butler was an in-demand session musician, arranger and producer. The Butler also contains, Crying In Soweto, Butler's moving tribute to the South Africa township which was a hotbed of activity during the years of apartheid in that country.

Harold Butler is from a musical family. His older brother, Leslie, was also a noted keyboardist who played at the prolific Federal Studio in the 1960s and 1970s.

Leslie's younger brother followed in his footsteps, recording and touring with Bunny Wailer, Dennis Brown, Jimmy Cliff, Culture and Judy Mowatt. Harold Butler played on some of the seminal reggae albums of the 1970s and early 1980s, including Culture's Two Sevens Clash and Mowatt's Black Woman.

In recent years, Butler has recorded and performed with guitarist Maurice Gordon at jazz events, including Jazz In The Garden, and at the Red Bones Blues Café.