Return of the Guitar Man - The New York City Jazz Record

the new
school for
jazz and
contempo-
rary music
25th
anniversary
celebration!
Join us for special
programs and
performances through
spring 2012.
saturday, october 15, 8:00 p.m.
new school for Jazz and
contemporary music alumnus
Brad mehldau in concert with
Joshua redman
tishman auditorium
66 West 12th streeet, nYc
admission: $55.00 ticket
Wednesday, october 26, 8:00 p.m.
Jazz presents:
trombonist chris stover’s group plays
the caetano Veloso songbook
Jazz performance space
55 West 13th street, 5th floor, nYc
admission: $10; free to all students
and new school faculty, staff, and
alumni with id
www.newschool.edu/jazz
An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution
26 October 2011 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
Balloons (Live at the Blue Note)
Kenny Werner (Half Note)
by Graham Flanagan
Rarely does a live album capture the uncanny spirit of
a carefully and meticulously recorded studio album.
Kenny Werner’s Balloons is a bonafide example of this
rare happening. Recorded over two nights at the Blue
Note in April 2010, the pianist and his formidable
ensemble take the live audience on a four-song journey
that feels less like an intimate evening in a famous jazz
club and more like a high-concept LP that Wayne
Shorter or Herbie Hancock might have led in the late
‘60s. Werner called on some frequent collaborators for
the date: fronting the group are Randy Brecker
(trumpet) and David Sanchez (tenor sax), along with
bassist John Patitucci and drummer Antonio Sanchez
anchoring the rhythm section.
To say that the musicians get the opportunity to
‘stretch out’ would be a vast understatement; the
shortest of the album’s four tracks clocks in at just
under 12 minutes. The longest runs just shy of 18.
However, don’t expect your attention span to be tested
during this album. All of the musicians play with a
consistently inventive and exciting level of creativity
throughout.
The album begins with the moody midtempo
“Sada”, which builds from a basic horn-based theme
into an explorative exercise in improvisation that
brings out the best in all of the participants. Werner
and company brighten the atmosphere somewhat with
the more upbeat “Siena”, which features inspired work
from the frontmen as well as nimble playing from
Werner that recalls Vince Guaraldi. The title track
moves back into the more introspective realm created
by “Sada”, but never fully drifts into outright
melancholia. The more uptempo “Class Dismissed”
concludes the proceedings and is punctuated by a
memorable drum solo.
On the heels of his ambitious Guggenheim
Fellowship Award-winning work No Beginning, No
End, Kenny Werner continues - in the wake of a
devastating personal tragedy - to use the power of his
music both to heal and entertain. Balloons is one of the
year’s must-listen jazz albums.
For more information, visit halfnote.net. Werner is at The
Kitano Oct. 7th-8th and Tutuma Social Club Oct. 13th and
27th. See Calendar.
Blue Moses
Randy Weston (CTI-Masterworks Jazz)
by Joel Roberts
Blue Moses, originally released in 1972, is Randy
Weston’s best-selling album and his lone date for
Creed Taylor’s legendary CTI label. Inexplicably
unavailable on CD until now, it’s finally being reissued
as part of CTI’s 40th anniversary celebration. The disc
is an anomaly both for Weston, who ceded some
creative control to Taylor, including agreeing to play
electric piano for the only time in his long career, and
for the label, which departed from its highly polished
and enormously popular fusion-jazz base to capture
Weston’s distinctive African-themed brand of jazz.
Although Weston had mixed feelings about some
of the record’s CTI touches, listening to it four decades
later it hardly sounds like a commercially motivated
endeavor. Weston is backed by a large ensemble
featuring a bevy of CTI stars including Freddie
Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr., Hubert Laws, Ron
Carter, Billy Cobham and Airto, as well as an
unobtrusive but swinging horn section imaginatively
arranged by Don Sebesky. Despite the somewhat lush
production, Weston’s African rhythms are always at
the forefront, even if his highly percussive Monk-goesto-Morocco
piano often takes a back seat to solos by
Hubbard, Washington and company.
The CD is just four tunes, all superb takes on
Weston compositions, with no alternate versions or
newfound material to pad the original LP’s 37 minutes.
“Marrakesh Blues”, with wordless vocals by Madame
Meddah, is a sort of North African modal blues while
the ethereal “Night in the Medina” is highlighted by
exciting interplay between Weston and Washington.
Most rewarding of all is the 13-minute track “Ganawa
(Blue Moses)”, which evokes the mysterious,
percussive trance of the Gnawa musicians of North
Africa, with whom Weston spent considerable time in
the ‘60s and ‘70s. It’s a successful marriage between
East and West that fulfills the label’s commercial
concerns while respecting Weston’s artistic vision.
For more information, visit ctimasterworks.com. Weston is
at Barnes and Noble Oct. 7th and Saint Peter’s Oct. 9th,
where he will be honored at All Nite Soul. See Calendar.