Jazz Police - Bringing New Music to Detroit: Festival Artists Celebrate Recordings

Bringing New Music to Detroit: Festival Artists Celebrate Recordings

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Wednesday, 29 August 2012

Tia Fuller©Andrea Canter

The upcoming 33rd Annual Detroit Jazz Festival (August 31-September 3) offers more music and a more celebrated line-up than ever before. And among the many stellar artists are a large handful with recently released recordings. Saxophonist Tia Fuller has even dubbed her festival set as her CD release party. I don’t have access (yet) to every new recording represented in Detroit, but can comment on a number of releases that I hope to sample live over Labor Day Weekend. Saxophone is well represented, both on the bandstand (including Wayne Shorter and Joe Lovano) and on recordings, particularly, and not surprising, from Mack Avenue Records, one of the festival’s chief sponsors.

Chick Corea/ Gary Burton, Hot House (2012, Concord Jazz).

Gary Burton©Andrea Canter

The Corea/Burton partnership dates back 40 years, most notably to their 1973 recording, Crystal Silence. Reprised in 2008 as The New Crystal Silence, it prompted a reunion duo tour. They’re on the road again to celebrate Hot House, their 40th anniversary commemoration recorded in Corea’s home “studio” and featuring arrangements (largely handled by Corea) of nine works by favorite composers of the 1940s-1960s, as well as a new composition from Corea. Highlights include a prancing opening with “Can’t We Be Friends,” a version of Lennon and McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby” that highlights the beauty of the melody and previously unexplored harmonic possibilities; an elegant exchange on Bill Evan’s “Time Remembered” and on Brubeck’s “Strange Meadowlark”; a jagged homage to Tadd Dameron on the title track; the playful, obscure Monk tune, “Light Blue;” and Kurt Weill’s “My Ship,” which seems to travel in new directions with Corea and Burton exquisitely sharing the helm. They close with Corea’s “Mozart Goes Dancing,” initially planned as a duet but recast with the Harlem String Quartet and recorded at Avatar in New York. The strings add a layer of orchestral excitement that helps make this track the most powerful statement of the set and a stirring finale. With strings, they perform in Detroit September 1st. (See full review)

Alfredo Rodriquez, Sounds of Space (2012, Mack Avenue Records)

Alfredo Rodriguez©Andrea Canter

I first encountered Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez at the 2009 Detroit Jazz Festival, where he surely earned the unofficial title of “Best Surprise Artist.” Unlike any Cuban pianist I had heard, the then- 23-year-old Rodriguez seemed more a melding of Bill Evans, Kenny Werner, and Fred Hersch. He flashed touches of Thelonious Monk in conception if not execution, as well as hints here and there of his Cuban heritage. Knowing Alfredo was working with mentor/producer Quincy Jones, I impatiently awaited the release of his first recording. Fortunately that wait is over, with the release of Sounds of Space on Mack Avenue. Sounds of Space showcases not only the astonishingly mature technique of Alfredo Rodriguez but also his savvy as a composer, as he contributes the entire set list. He’s joined by cross cultural cadre of musicians, including Gaston Joya and Peter Slavov on bass, Michael Olivera and Francisco Mela on drums and percussion, Ernesto Vega on clarinet, bass clarinet and soprano sax, and the four-horn Santa Cecilia Quartet on the final track. In Detroit, Alfredo appears with a Mack Avenue showcase “Superband” (September 1) and with his trio (September 2). (See full review.)

Kenny Garrett, Seeds From the Underground (2012, Mack Avenue Records)

Seeds From the Underground

On his second release for Mack Avenue (and first studio recording in six years), Detroit native Kenny Garrett offers all original compositions dedicated to his diverse “seeds” of inspiration. His core ensemble of pianist Benito Gonzalez, bassist Nat Reeves, and drummer Ronald Bruner is augmented by percussionist Rudy Bird and vocalist Nedelka Prescod, with one track featuring a choir that includes Prescod, Bird and co-producer Donald Brown. Overall the music unites Garrett’s fiery acoustic post-bop with his more global influences. The set begins with the catchy melody and swaying rhythm of “Boogety Boogety,” slightly washed in Latin and Eastern colors; “J. Mac” has a more distinctly bebop-and-beyond thrust. Bass and percussion vamp through the intro to the very funky “Wiggins,” while the melodic lines of “Haynes Here” somehow suggest an amalgam of the great drummer’s favorite covers of recent years. Intentional vinyl-like crackles distract from an otherwise reverent tribute to Marcus Belgrave on “Detroit;” was recorded with additional old vinyl-like crackles, perhaps to recall the pre-CD era, but mostly it serves as a distraction from an otherwise reverent tribute to Motor City jazz guru Marcus Belgrave. “Du-Wo-Mo” finds Garrett in playful explorer mode, while “Ballad Jarrett” is sweet, solemn, almost classical in the simplicity of the lines and harmonies. Three tracks bring East to West, Garrett’s soprano reaching above percussive frenzy on the title track; the expansive “Whole Earth Song” with vocal ensemble conjuring a communal spirit that carries over to the relatively brief, joyful finale, “Laviso, I Bon?” In sum, this is Garrett at his best, in the company of his most complementary, cohesive ensemble to date. Live, in Detroit or on any bandstand, the music will only soar even higher. (See full review)

Tia Fuller, Angelic Warrior (2012, Mack Avenue Records)

Tia Fuller returns to Detroit following her blazing 2010 festival debut with the same tight quartet-- sister Shamie Royston on piano, Mimi Jones (aka Miriam Sullivan) on bass, and brother-in-law Rudy Royston on drums. Special guests include bassist John Patitucci on 6 tracks (electric, piccolo and acoustic), drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and percussionist Shirazette Tinnin on 3 tracks each, and vocalist Dianne Reeves on “Body and Soul.” Tia penned ten of the thirteen tracks and carefully selected a few standards to celebrate the “angels” in her life – family and friends. Her compositions range from the celebratory “Royston Rumble” and the drum-driven beat and soprano sax antics of “Ralphie’s Groove” to the tropical energy of “Descend to Barbados” and soulful funk of “Tailor-Made.” “Core of Me” highlights Tia’s melodic and reverent side, while “Simpli-City” contrasts relaxed melody and more frenetic exploration. The addition of Reeves’ vocals gives “Body and Soul” a more prayerful sound, the final verse a glorious collaboration of sax and voice. There’s a decidedly African undercurrent to “Cherokee” while the spare arrangement of Tia’s merger of two Cole Porter tunes (“So in Love With All of You”) puts a fresh emphasis on the melody while providing a Monkish rhythm. The glorious title tune was inspired by Carrington, Fuller’s model of the “angelic warrior.” On her first release since leaving a long and productive tenure with Beyoncé, Tia Fuller wastes no time reminding us that she is first and foremost an energetic, expressive “warrior,” one of the top performers of her generation, and a rising star composer as well. (Full review coming soon!)

Fred Hersch Trio, Alive at the Vanguard (2012, Palmetto)

Alive at the Vanguard

Near death and comatose for two months in 2008, pianist/composer Fred Hersch not only recovered, but went on to compose, perform and record with a renewed creative energy. With his working trio of the past few years (introduced on Whirl in 2000), featuring bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson, Hersch returned for a week-long run at the Vanguard last winter, yielding the new two-disc set, Alive at the Vanguard. Highlights include Fred’s ominous opening,“Havana,” like a melding of Granados and Chopin, often suggesting a much larger ensemble than a trio. “Dream of Monk” is filled with Monk fragments and Monkish rhythms; Hébert’s solo filled with playful, raggedy lines while Hersch executes one delightfully twisted idea after another. The lumbering gait of “Jackalope” is enhanced by McPherson’s wide-ranging commentary, while “Sartorial” is an elegantly tipsy tribute to Ornette Coleman and his “snazzy” attire. Standards include a bouncing tumble through Charlie Parker’s “Segment,” an obtuse reading of “Softly As in a Morning Sunrise,” and a slow blues shuffle through Sonny Rollins’ “Doxy.” For the extended closing, Hersch marries Hammerstein and Kern’s “The Song Is You” (transformed as a delicately slow ballad) with Monk’s seldom heard “Played Twice,” which suggests a songbook standard turned inside out.

As a finale, this pairing reflects the essence of the recording, a perfect balancing of the elegant and the quirky, serious musings and playful energy. Hersch has never seemed more alive. (See full review)

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