Grandes Exitos Del Tango

There are people who are passionate about hearing, playing or performing music who strive for an authenticity. Before passing judgment on whether a piece/ensemble/artist passes mustard in achieving this, a distinction should be made. Is it music which merely (loosely) incorporates elements of a genre or does it have loftier ambition of being part of a style's family tree, a blood relative? 

Music rich in improvisation such as jazz or tango now posses a canon but also a dichotomy in how aficionados regard new elements. Jazz and tango from their earliest days were ever in flux, the new things which were added being sometimes considered false or shocking, yet each generation of the old guard had at one point been the young lions, bringing their own components to the art form. With all music available worldwide to anyone who cares to listen, a type of music started in one place but passionately taken up somewhere else is no less authentic, but merely another link in the sonic chain.  

Indelicate

Think “Dave King” and you immediately think “Bad Plus” or “Happy Apple,” the Twin Cities-based drummer’s main gigs for the past decade and more. Known for his wide ranging arsenal of percussion tools (from traditional snare drums to walkie-talkies and rattles) and versatility in keeping time for jazz ensembles like The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, and FKG as well as rock bands like Halloween Alaska and Gang Font, King has always been a man of surprises on the bandstand. With the release of his solo album Indelicate (2010, Sunnyside), King proves to be full of surprises in the studio as well. For starters, this is arguably a solo project as there are two distinct musicians playing two different instruments on this recording. Surprise, they are both named Dave King. Bigger surprise, he plays piano as well as percussion, and it’s the piano that takes center stage. It’s not easy to play duets with yourself but Dave and the team at Fur Seal Studios have managed to seamlessly merge Dave and… Dave with a set of 12 intriguing original compositions.  

On his blog, Bad Plus cohort Ethan Iverson describes the opening track,  “The Werewolf and the Silver Bullet” as “irrational rhythms and fanfare melodies.” And indeed, it sounds a bit like what my cat would play if she bounced around the keys. Simply put, it is “indelicate.” But it builds interest from the bits of melody that jump out between the rhythmic implausibilities. The piano is the main sound here but there are percussive accents, ribbons of cymbal static. At times it sounds like the full Bad Plus but more so, especially as it comes to a conclusion (of sorts) with a majestic thundering that yields to a simpler line. “Homage: Young People” includes segments recorded on an old dictaphone suggesting a horn in need of repair. With the feel of a 60s rock band, the piano/drum exchange repeats nearly to tedium. But not quite, an air of intrigue remains. 

Live in Paris

Son of a New Orleans saxophonist and raised in Houston, Walter Smith III has been gaining attention since receiving as string of awards and scholarships as a high school student. The accolades continued through studies at Berklee, graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music and a fellowship to the Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz in Los Angeles, where he worked with Terence Blanchard. Still under 30, the tenor saxophonist has toured with Sean Jones and now with Mose Allison and mentor Blanchard. His debut recording as leader, Casually Introducing Walter Smith III (Fresh Sound/New Talent, 2006), received critical acclaim, and more should follow his sophomore release, Live in Paris (2009, Space Time Records). 

This recording (live at Sunside in Paris) was made during a summer 2008 European tour with five musicians who had worked together in varying combinations but never in full as a quintet. Joining Smith are Thelonious Monk Trumpet Competition winner Ambrose Akinmusire, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Smith notes that "Ambrose and Matt are guys that I have done a lot of touring with and are usually my first calls for any gigs [Akinmusire appears on 3 tracks of the first CD]. I've played with Marcus Gilmore in a few different situations and he is really easy to work with and always sounds great...Aaron Goldberg [replacing Smith’s usual pianist Gerald Clayton] was available to do all of the gigs. I hadn't played with him in a couple of years but he has been a friend since my first week in college at Berklee." 

Into the Light

Drummer.  Composer.  Professor.  Doctor (to be).  A musician worthy of many titles, Dana Hall has firmly situated himself in the thick of jazz music as it stands in 2010.  A Brooklyn native, Hall is currently living in the Chicago area where he remains active as a clinician and educator in addition to his performance schedule. The former aerospace engineer boasts a resumé that includes a virtual “who’s who” of jazz.  Collaborations with Branford Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Wycliffe Gordon, and Russell Malone represent only a handful of Hall’s bandmates through the years.  His latest release, Into The Light (Origin Records), features a solid lineup including Terell Stafford (trumpet), Tim Warfield, Jr. (tenor and soprano saxophones), Bruce Barth (piano and fender rhodes), and Rodney Whitaker (acoustic bass). Of the album’s nine compositions, six are penned from the drummer’s hand.  Whitaker and Warfield each contribute a tune, and the opening track is from Herbie Hancock.   

After the Rain

Alberta native, Los Angeles-based pianist/vocalist/composer Gaea Schell was undecided as to the instrument that would become her primary emphasis as a musician--she had studied flute, saxophone and harp as well as piano by the time she graduated from high school. She settled on piano, and recalls that "once I heard and understood ‘swing,’ I was hooked." Today, she not only understands 'swing,' she infuses it into every composition, every lyric, and particularly into her third recording, After the Rain. But there's a lot more than swing here, as there is in the music of her primary muses, Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland and Bill Evans. 

Retta Christie

Jim Goodwin's (1944-2009) life would make a great movie. While it would not feature any defining moment apparent to the viewer and required in bio-films, it would be episodic, full of ups and downs, but always interesting.  

The usual blessing and curse conferred upon interesting characters when describing them, Jim was a “musician's musician.” He was known primarily for his cornet playing, inspired by Wild Bill Davison (1906-1989) and Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931), but he could also play piano, drums and vibraphone. Jim was a self-taught virtuoso, never wanting to formally study for fear of losing some of the power that came from the freedom and spontaneity of his creative process. Freedom was a reoccurring motif echoing throughout all aspects of Jim's life.