Author Archives: Bill Milkowski

The most potent and impactful tenor saxophonist of his technology, Potter made a giant splash together with his 2020 lockdown album, There Is a Tide, recorded at dwelling with him taking part in all of the devices himself. Here Potter joins bassist Scott Colley, pianist Craig Taborn, and drummer Marcus Gilmore earlier than an energized viewers at NYC’s hallowed Village Vanguard. On the 14-minute opener, a funk-jazz re-imagining of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Got to Move” (famously lined by the Rolling Stones on 1971’s Sticky Fingers), Potter pulls out his technically good Brecker-ian chops in a Herculean show of tenor virtuosity. The intricate and hypnotic 12/8 car “Nozani Na,” an Amazonian people tune transcribed by Brazilian classical composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, offers a launching pad for some heated exchanges between tenorist and drummer. The quartet brings issues right down to a chic hush on Billy Strayhorn’s darkly stunning “Blood Count,” then it’s off to the races on an uptempo swinging rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Klactoveedsedstene.” Potter’s unrestrained wailing right here, together with Gilmore’s rapid-fire exchanges with the chief, is scintillating. The title monitor, a gospel blues from 1929, is one more showcase of Potter’s breathtaking command of his instrument.

The submit Chris Potter: Got the Keys to the Kingdom appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

On the heels of her acclaimed tribute to John and Alice Coltrane, 2020’s Pursuance: The Coltranes, alto saxophonist-composer Lakecia Benjamin delivers one other potent providing in Phoenix, her fourth album as a frontrunner and debut for the London-based Whirlwind Recordings. Produced by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, Phoenix finds Benjamin pushing the envelope on her already expansive scope. Her pungent strains—tonally paying homage to Hank Crawford or Maceo Parker however with the harmonically subversive intent of Eric Dolphy—mix tightly on the frontline with trumpeter Josh Evans on tunes like “New Mornings,” the forcefully grooving title observe, the angular and Dolphy-esque midtempo swinger “Basquiat,” and the up-tempo burner “Moods.” Politically tinged tracks just like the edgy “Amerikkan Skin” (that includes recitation by activist Angela Davis) and “Peace Is a Haiku Song/Blast” (with iconic 88-year-old poet, civil rights activist and Black Arts Movement pioneer Sonia Sanchez) strongly mirror her personal private conscientious beliefs. The modal exercise “Trane” is a holdover from her earlier Coltrane tribute. And the stunning “Mercy,” underscored by E.J. Strickland’s mellow “Poinciana” beat and enhanced by string quartet, options the wonderful and soulful vocals and nimble scatting of visitor Dianne Reeves.

The publish Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

A bona fide tenor titan for these instances, Allen’s brawny tone and assertive assault have fueled 16 albums as a pacesetter since his auspicious debut in 1999, In Search Of. On his eleventh Savant launch, Allen continues looking along with his long-time rhythm tandem of bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. They are joined on this potent outing by guitarist Charlie Hunter, who brings a gutbucket sensibility to bear on bits of Americana like “You Don’t Know Me” (a rustic tune written by Eddy Arnold and popularized in 1962 by Ray Charles) and the normal non secular “This Word Is a Mean World,” which has Hunter dealing in a uncommon show of Delta-flavored slide guitar. Allen’s earthy and evocative originals, “Up South” (a nickname for his hometown Detroit) and “Down South” (a reference to Mississippi), discover the chief unleashing with muscular abandon towards a mesmerizing backdrop. Other Allen originals like “The Werk Song,” “Hammer and Hoe,” and “Irene (Mother)” reveal the depth of the quartet’s bluesy groupthink whereas three stirring trio numbers (sans Hunter)—“Jackie and Johnny,” “Mickey and Mallory,” and the mournful ballad “A Mouthful of Forevers”—showcase the saxophonist stretching in additional meditative environment.

The submit JD Allen: Americana Vol. 2 appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has a manner of casting a spell together with his golden-toned, less-is-more strategy to his instrument. Joining Rava within the studio with pianist Fred Hersch, one other hopeless romantic with a lyrical bent and an adventurous sense of making off the cuff, was an impressed notion. While Rava’s luminous flugelhorn carries the lion’s share of the melody work right here, Hersch animates this duo session with creative orchestration that’s stuffed with humor, grace, and verve. They set an intimate tone with a romantic opener, Jobim’s “Retreat em Banco e Preto,” earlier than delving into extra darkly dissonant territory on the freewheeling “Improvisation,” which includes some playful call-and-response between flugelhorn and piano. The duo’s jauntily swinging rendition of “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” finds Hersch channeling his interior Chick Corea whereas the title monitor, an oft-covered jazz customary that’s typically swung in uptempo vogue, opens with an exploratory, deconstructionist aesthetic earlier than settling into a wonderful balladic studying of the Jerome Kern traditional. Other highlights embrace Hersch’s participating “Child’s Song,” the duo’s extremely impressionistic studying of Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso,” and Hersch’s deeply introspective solo piano rendition of Monk’s “’Round Midnight.”

The publish Enrico Rava/Fred Hersch: The Song Is You appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

This soundtrack to a current documentary on the world’s most recorded bassist finds Carter interacting with Germany’s WDR Big Band, guitarists Bill Frisell and Russell Malone, fellow bassists Christian McBride and Stanley Clarke, and pianists Renee Rosnes and Jon Batiste. Produced and directed by Peter Schnall for his Partisan Pictures, the accompanying soundtrack was issued as a CD/double-vinyl recording by the Germany-based In+Out Records. Most affecting listed below are an imposing interpretation by the WDR of Carter’s “Doom Mood” (titled merely “Mood” on Miles Davis’ 1965 traditional, E.S.P.) and a young efficiency of “Flamenco Sketches” (from 1959’s Kind of Blue) by Carter’s working quartet of Rosnes, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and drummer Payton Crossley. Clarke kicks it on electrical bass with Carter and guitarist Malone on Milt Jackson’s “Bag’s Groove,” and Frisell joins the bass nice for an intimate duet on Gershwin’s “My Man’s Gone Now.” The album closes on a jaunty notice with an impromptu duet studying of “Sweet Lorraine” by the 85-year-old bassist and 34-year-old pianist Batiste. Given the completely different venues between 2014 and 2021, the sound high quality varies from observe to trace. But the spirit is powerful all through.

The publish Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes appeared first on The Absolute Sound.