Jazz article_ “Jack DeJohnette_ Special Edition” by John ... - Montuno
Jazz article_ “Jack DeJohnette_ Special Edition” by John ... - Montuno
Jazz article_ “Jack DeJohnette_ Special Edition” by John ... - Montuno
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
Home <strong>Jazz</strong> Near You Forum Musicians News Photos Advertise Donate Shop<br />
Jack <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> Edition<br />
By JOHN KELMAN,<br />
Published: January 11, 2013<br />
With drummer/keyboardist Jack <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> entering his eighth decade<br />
on planet earth, he's managed to accomplish what few other drummers<br />
have. Recipient of the 2012 NEA <strong>Jazz</strong> Masters Award, there are few jazz<br />
drummer s alive today who can cite as many recordings as the Chicago-<br />
born <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> can, nor are there many who have been on such a<br />
diverse stylistic cross-section. <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>, now a legend himself, was<br />
picked up <strong>by</strong> a large number of then-high profile musicians in the early<br />
days of his career, artists like trumpeters Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, keyboardists Chick<br />
Corea, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans and Joe Zawinul, and saxophonists Jackie McLean, Sonny<br />
Rollins, Joe Henderson and Charles Lloyd. And, over the years, he's been a member of significant<br />
and long-lasting ensembles, including Lloyd's famous '60s quartet with pianist Keith Jarrett, the<br />
Gateway trio with guitarist <strong>John</strong> Abercrombie and bassist Dave Holland, and, of course, Jarrett's<br />
Standards Trio that, along with bassist Gary Peacock, hits its 30th anniversary in 2013.<br />
But as extensive and stylistically far-reaching as <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s recordings as a sideman/guest have<br />
been, his own discography is equally broad and, at approximately 30 titles, is certainly large<br />
enough to demonstrate his compositional skills and an ability to put together groups to realize his<br />
own ideas. While he'd released a handful of recordings prior to coming to ECM in 1973—first, for<br />
the duet recording with Jarrett, Ruta and Daitya (1973)—from that time until 1984, the vast<br />
majority of <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s output as a leader (and certainly his most significant work) was affiliated<br />
with producer Manfred Eicher's renowned German label.<br />
During those 11 years, beyond Gateway and the Standards Trio, <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> led three groups that<br />
have remained important and influential in the drummer/keyboardist's career. First, Jack<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s Directions, featuring <strong>John</strong> Abercrombie, saxophonist Alex Foster and bassist Mike<br />
Richmond, released two fine albums that remain criminally unreleased on CD—1976's Untitled<br />
(which also included keyboardist Warren Bernhardt, and the even better New Rags, the following<br />
year. Then came New Directions, a quartet that retained Abercrombie, but shifted considerably<br />
with the recruitment of bassist/Bill Evans partner Eddie Gomez and Art Ensemble of Chicago<br />
trumpeter Lester Bowie, releasing New Directions in 1978 and In Europe in 1980.<br />
But it was <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s next group, <strong>Special</strong> Edition, which emerged as his most long-lived group,<br />
with four recordings on ECM before the drummer moved to Impulse! for two more plugged-in<br />
recordings, followed <strong>by</strong> recordings on other labels, culminating in 1995's Extra <strong>Special</strong> Edition<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Articles Daily MP3s Daily Video Future Releases Future Articles Log In Sign Up<br />
Página 1 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
(Blue Note), which featured an expanded lineup and a purview that was, like the previous Music<br />
for the Fifth World (Manhattan, 1993) and Earth Walk (Blue Note, 1991), even more electric and<br />
eclectic.<br />
Three of <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s four <strong>Special</strong> Edition recording on ECM have been available, at one time or<br />
another, on CD. The first, 1980's <strong>Special</strong> Edition, was even reissued as part of the label's budget-<br />
line Touchstone series, which began in 2008 to celebrate the label's pending 40th anniversary in<br />
2009 <strong>by</strong> rereleasing 40 seminal recordings over the next two years, but the others—1981's Tin<br />
Can Alley and 1984's Album Album—have been unavailable for some time, making the four-disc<br />
box set, <strong>Special</strong> Edition, a most welcome addition to ECM's Old and New Masters series.<br />
With detailed liners <strong>by</strong> Bradley Bambarger—whose career includes being staff critic for The Star-<br />
Ledger, Executive Editor at Billboard and contributor to magazines including Rolling Stone and<br />
Stereophile—<strong>Special</strong> Edition brings those three titles back into print, newly remastered; but the<br />
real carrot of the set is the inclusion of 1983's Inflation Blues seeing CD release here for the first<br />
time. While these four CDs saw <strong>Special</strong> Edition, the group, undergo a series of personnel changes<br />
over the course of the five years beginning with the recording of the group's debut in March, 1979<br />
and ending with Album Album's June, 1984 sessions, there was a consistency across the set that<br />
became somewhat diluted when <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> moved to other labels and began to move into a more<br />
electric arena.<br />
Chapter Index<br />
<strong>Special</strong> Edition (1980)<br />
Tin Can Alley (1981)<br />
Inflation Blues (1983)<br />
Album Album (1984)<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
<strong>Special</strong> Edition (1980) comes out of the gate with the strong one-two<br />
punch of "One for Eric" and "Zoot Suite," tributes to reed multi-<br />
instrumentalist Eric Dolphy saxophonist Zoot Sims respectively that<br />
originally comprised the original LP's first side. Two pieces that the<br />
drummer has revisited more than once in subsequent years, bands and<br />
albums, they also demonstrate <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s ongoing strength for<br />
finding and supporting up-and-coming players. David Murray had<br />
already established himself as a force with which to be reckoned as a member of the World<br />
Saxophone Quartet and for a string of albums under his own name, most notably for the Black<br />
Saint label, but the 24 year-old reed player turns in an early career-defining bass clarinet solo on<br />
"One for Eric," a tune that also demonstrates <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s ability to inject a wry sense of humor<br />
into his music. An initially rapid-fire melody, which Murray shares with alto saxophonist Arthur<br />
Blythe (another star on the rise when <strong>Special</strong> Edition was recorded), the tune dissolves into<br />
grooves both defined and free, with <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> and bassist Peter Warren setting up a slow,<br />
visceral pulse for Murray's register-spanning solo and turning more up-tempo for Blythe, whose<br />
solo ends, leaving a bass-drums duo that belie accusations that ECM recordings don't swing.<br />
"Zoot Suite" opens as another swinger, with Murray switching to tenor, with <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> sitting out<br />
completely but showing his compositional chops with a middle passage of rare beauty that utilizes<br />
two horns and Warren, at this point on cello, in a way that suggests a larger ensemble, a quality<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 2 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
that ultimately shows up again and again on this and subsequent records. With the piece's<br />
repeating pattern of 4-4-3-3-4, <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> finally enters near the half-way mark, driving a hard -<br />
edged pulse with Warren that bolsters Murray's gritty tenor and Blythe's frenzied alto—at times<br />
alone, other times together in an absolutely free approach to playing structure that <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong><br />
had already defined on earlier recordings like New Rags.<br />
Warren's two recordings with <strong>Special</strong> Edition make it curious that, while he'd already recorded with<br />
artists as diverse as violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko, after his time with<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> he continued to work but never retained the visibility that his tenure with <strong>Special</strong><br />
Edition provided. A double threat on bass and cello, his arco work is especially lovely on a quartet<br />
version of saxophonist <strong>John</strong> Coltrane's ballad "Central Park West," for two saxophones, cello, and<br />
melodica (played <strong>by</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>). In some ways, placing <strong>Special</strong> Edition on CD alters the mood<br />
created on the original LP <strong>by</strong> making "Central Park" run consecutive to "Central Park West," which<br />
set a completely different mood for the original second half of the album. Another Coltrane piece,<br />
"India," follows, with <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> switching to piano for the first half of the tune, only moving to<br />
drums partway through Murray's gritty bass clarinet solo, turning even more aggressive during<br />
Blythe's similarly focused yet unshackled alto solo.<br />
The album ends with "Journey to the Twin Planet," initially abstract but then shifting into some of<br />
the group's most scorching passages of collective interplay of the set, building to a potent climax<br />
before being cued to a sudden stop and leading to a coda that's an early example of what<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> referred to, in a 2012 All About <strong>Jazz</strong> Interview, where he said, " The thing about free<br />
jazz, and I explain this to people: people will go sit and listen to classical music—something<br />
written that sounds like free jazz, and they'll listen to it. There's a context—written versus<br />
something played spontaneously which, if it was written, people would listen to in a different way.<br />
It amazes me. 'Oh that's not jazz, it's free jazz; they don't know what they're doing.' And yet, if<br />
someone transcribed it and put it in a classical context and said, 'This is so-and-so, and it was<br />
written <strong>by</strong> so-and-so,' people would sit down and listen to it seriously."<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
While Warren is back for Tin Can Alley (1981), the frontline has changed<br />
entirely, with Chico Freeman and <strong>John</strong> Purcell replacing Murray and<br />
Blythe, respectively. But what each new member brings to the table is<br />
more voices, with Freeman adding flute in addition to tenor sax and<br />
bass clarinet, and Purcell tripling on flute, and alto and baritone<br />
saxophones. Purcell also brings some stability in the frontline, remaining<br />
with the group for the remaining three discs of the set and, at various<br />
times, including soprano saxophone and alto clarinet.<br />
All this doubling, tripling and quadrupling gives <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> a much broader palette, though the<br />
opening title track, which begins with an unaccompanied tenor/baritone duet but ultimately leads<br />
to a knotty, stop-start theme and ambling swing from Warren that leaves <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> plenty of<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 3 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
freedom, even as he effortlessly maintains the pulse, feels like it could easily have been included<br />
on <strong>Special</strong> Edition. "Pastel Rhapsody," however, begins to assert this incarnation's voice, with both<br />
Freeman and Purcell on flute in a trio with Warren's arco bass. What also makes this track<br />
definitive is what comes next: an a cappella piano solo from <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> that, in its gently pensive,<br />
ultimately lyrical nature, is an early indicator of just how talented he is. This is no drummer<br />
doubling on piano; were <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> to, for some reason, be unable to play drums, he'd still have<br />
a strong career available to him as a pianist. It also explains how <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> is able to be so<br />
creative when it comes to composition, and in how he voices the various instruments available to<br />
him.<br />
"Riff Raff" provides another ambling context for some extreme interaction amongst the quartet,<br />
but in particular Freeman, on bass clarinet, and Purcell, on baritone. But, not unlike the closing of<br />
<strong>Special</strong> Edition, Tin Can Alley's closing two tracks help to further demonstrate <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s<br />
ongoing growth. "The Gri Gri Man" is a four-minute, multi-layered solo piece, where <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong><br />
combines drum kit, congas, timpani and organ for an abstract miniature—at just over four<br />
minutes, a far cry from rest of Tin Can Alley's seven-to-fifteen minute tracks. And if that weren't<br />
enough of a variant, the closing "I Know" is a piece of rhythm blues grist that, beyond opening up<br />
into a middle section where the saxophonist's shift seamlessly between the driving riff and some<br />
powerful tenor/baritone interplay, even as <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> and Warren pliantly move into a double-<br />
time swing before coming back to its funky origins. <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> makes his ECM debut as a singer<br />
(though he'd sung on earlier, pre-ECM releases), screaming "I know" repeatedly before taking the<br />
dynamic down and asserting just what it is he knows: "When she holds me close and says,<br />
'Daddy, you're the only one for me,' I know, I know...," mixing in some applause from a live<br />
performance in Willisau, Switzerland to bring what originally began as an on-the-spot encore with<br />
made-up vocals that differed each time—and Tin Can Alley—to a fadeout close.<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
Making its first appearance on CD, with 1983's Inflation Blues <strong>Special</strong><br />
Edition continues to move forward with a couple of significant changes:<br />
Freeman and Purcell are back in the frontline, with Warren replaced <strong>by</strong><br />
bassist Rufus Reid; but the big change here is the expansion to a<br />
quintet with the addition of trumpeter Baikida Carroll. Opening in<br />
freedom, with Freeman's extended technique and circular breathing<br />
making his bass clarinet sound more like a didgeridoo, the quintet<br />
gradually coalesces around Carroll's burnished tone and careful choices, as he moves from<br />
plangent, long-form lines to bright, long-held notes. Freeman, a less overtly muscular player than<br />
his predecessor David Murray, nevertheless engages in some empathic interaction with Carroll<br />
before taking over the spotlight. It's a significantly different opener than the previous two discs<br />
which, while relying on the group's ability to freely interact and interpret, worked with more<br />
clearly defined structures.<br />
"Ebony," however, reiterates <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s allegiance to form, a set of five ascending triplets<br />
acting as a melody that opens up into a gentle, Latin rhythm, <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s instrumental choices<br />
even more astute than usual, as he pushes his front line to quickly alternate instruments,<br />
combining flutes, clarinets, saxophones and trumpet in myriad ways to intimate a far larger<br />
ensemble, and with Freeman's first solo, on soprano, introducing yet another texture to the group.<br />
While earlier <strong>Special</strong> Edition recordings utilized overdubbing, here it's much more dominant, with<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 4 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> layering piano over his drum kit to provide clear harmonic movement throughout,<br />
whether it's for Freeman, Purcell delivering an impressive flute solo, or Reid, taking his first solo of<br />
the set and demonstrating that, while more often than not thought of in more mainstream<br />
contexts, his robust tone and clear ability to shape-shift into any context suggests <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong><br />
may well have known something about the bassist that others did not.<br />
While the title of "The Islands," might suggest something more overtly danceable, like a calypso,<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> continues to work more with implication, this bass-less quartet track driven <strong>by</strong> the<br />
drummer's undeniably forceful, celebratory rhythms—informed <strong>by</strong> the Caribbean without being<br />
anything quite so obvious—a foundation for some engaging free play between soprano saxophone,<br />
trumpet, flute...and the occasional wordless vocalizing from <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>, buried deep in the mix.<br />
Ultimately dissolving into a four-minute drum solo that slowly fades out, it's a perfect segue to<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s a cappella drum intro to the title track, another surprise from both the drummer and<br />
the label—or, perhaps, it's time to stop being surprised and accept that, for both <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> and<br />
ECM, there are no boundaries, no hard and fast rules. "Inflation Blues was, in fact, the closing<br />
track to <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s first album as a leader to feature a touring band, both called Compost<br />
(Columbia, 1972), but instead of that album's soul-driven groove with slicker production—even<br />
female backup singers—the title track to this ECM disc is defined <strong>by</strong> a booty-shaking reggae pulse,<br />
with Reid switching to electric bass and <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> overdubbing clavinet. With Freeman, Purcell<br />
and Carroll acting truly, for once, as a horn section (though there are solos throughout), it's an<br />
even better spotlight for <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> the singer than Tin Can Alley's "I Know." And when it comes<br />
to subject matter, it's clear that, with the CD release of Inflation Blues three decades later, some<br />
things change, others stay the same: "A dollar's worth about thirty cents / you're workin' your<br />
behind off and you still can't pay the rent / the more money you make, the more Uncle Sam takes<br />
/ and the union still cries for more dues," <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> sings with an attractive, blues-drenched<br />
voice. Clearly, "Inflation Blues" is a song whose lyrics remain sadly relevant.<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
The final album of the box, Album Album retains <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s decision<br />
to expand <strong>Special</strong> Edition into a quintet, but with Reid and Purcell<br />
remaining onboard, the drummer returns to a largely reed-driven<br />
frontline with the return of David Murray (replacing the departing Chico<br />
Freeman) and, in Carroll's place, baritone saxophonist Howard <strong>John</strong>son,<br />
who occasionally doubles on tuba. But after the broader palette of Tin<br />
Can Alley and Inflation Blues, with their flutes and clarinets, here<br />
Murray sticks solely with tenor, and Purcell plays only alto and soprano saxophones. It takes<br />
things, to some extent, full circle back to 1980's <strong>Special</strong> Edition, in particular with the opening<br />
"Ahmad the Terrible," a dedication to pianist Ahmad Jamal, though it speaks clearly with<br />
<strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s compositional voice, in an unmistakable cousin to "One for Eric," "Zoot Suite" and<br />
"Tin Can Alley."<br />
"Ahmad" is another tune that's survived the years, appearing in the set list of the drummer's<br />
current Jack <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> Group" that delivered two powerful sets at the TD Ottawa International<br />
<strong>Jazz</strong> Festival in the summer of 2012. That group, with keyboardist George Colligan, saxophonist<br />
Rudresh Mahanthappa, guitarist David Fiuczynski and bassist Jerome Harris, toured a repertoire<br />
that also includes "One for Eric"—which also appears on its digital download-only Live at Yoshi's<br />
2010 (Golden, Beams, 2011)—along with other <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> compositions from back in the day like<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 5 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
"Blue," from Gateway 2 (ECM, 1977), proving that <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>, the composer, was every bit as<br />
fresh and relevant as <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> the performer in the year that he turned seventy.<br />
If "Ahmad the Terrible" fits perfectly into <strong>Special</strong> Edition's overall MO of the time, combining form<br />
and freedom, aggression and beauty, deeper lyricism and improvisational extremes, "New Orleans<br />
Strut" represents yet another major shift for the group. Driven <strong>by</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s modified second-<br />
line pulse, the first sign of change comes, during his a cappella intro, when some electronic drums<br />
join the mix. And despite being credited solely on double bass in the credits, there's little doubt<br />
that Reid's thumb-slapping, finger-popping anchor is coming from the electric variant. Far closer<br />
to conventional song form than anything else in the box, <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> also overdubs layers of<br />
synthesizers, with some distinctly Jan Hammer-like, guitar-centric pitch wheel modulations soaring<br />
over his synth chord changes. It's the biggest indicator of things yet to come, when <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong><br />
moved to Impulse! for <strong>Special</strong> Edition albums like Irresistible Forces (1987) and the even better<br />
follow-up, Audio Visualscapes (1988), two recordings which introduced saxophonists Greg Os<strong>by</strong><br />
and Gary Thomas to broader audiences along with bassist Lonnie Plaxico, essentially kick-starting<br />
all their careers.<br />
If anything, Album Album is the bridge that links the acoustic, more free-style <strong>Special</strong> Edition to<br />
later incarnations which, while retaining a certain degree of its defining extemporal aesthetic, also<br />
turned both more electric and, to at least some degree, accessible. Still, despite the aptly titled<br />
"Festival" and pianist Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Mood," with its lush intro of alto, tenor and<br />
baritone saxophones combined with Reid's mix of arco and pizzicato bass, there's still plenty of<br />
idiosyncratic writing and improvisational headroom. "Third World Anthem" may have a singable<br />
melody, but over an irregularly metered foundation, and with <strong>John</strong>son's tuba as fluid and fluent as<br />
anything he'd recorded with everyone from bassists Charles Mingus and Charlie Haden to<br />
saxophonists Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders, it was clear that neither <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> nor ECM<br />
were making any compromises; if anything, it clarified both artist and label refused to be shackled<br />
<strong>by</strong> any kind of limitation.<br />
Beyond the sound of "Ahmad the Terrible," Album Album brings <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> and <strong>Special</strong> Edition<br />
full circle even further <strong>by</strong> ending with an abbreviated version of "Zoot Suite," taken at a faster clip<br />
and—barring some short but visceral solos first from Murray, then Purcell (on alto) and, finally, on<br />
baritone, <strong>John</strong>son—sticking largely to form. Still, it demonstrates that even as <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> was<br />
stretching his purview—stylistically, sonically, aesthetically—it was, indeed, about expansion, not<br />
elimination.<br />
While <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> would continue to record as a guest/sideman for ECM and, in some cases, as a<br />
co-leader—for example, when Gateway reconvened at the end of 1994 for the recording sessions<br />
that yielded the composition-based Homecoming (1995) and more spontaneously composed In the<br />
Moment (1996)—Album Album would be the drummer/keyboardist's final recording as a leader for<br />
the label until 1996, when he returned for Dancing With Nature Spirits and continued, the<br />
following year, with Oneness (1997). He came back, once again, in 2004, for Saudades, his tribute<br />
to drummer Tony Williams—a relative contemporary who died too young in 1997, at the age of 51<br />
—in a trio with guitarist <strong>John</strong> Scofield and keyboardist Larry Goldings.<br />
While recent recordings including Music We Are (2009) and Sound Travels (2012), are on his own<br />
Golden Beams label and E1 Entertainment respectively, <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> continues to record for ECM as<br />
a member of Jarrett's Standards Trio—most recently with 2009's Yesterdays. Still, with this<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 6 de 8
<strong>Jazz</strong> <strong>article</strong>: <strong>“Jack</strong> <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: <strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition”</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>John</strong> Kelman<br />
<strong>Special</strong> Edition box, ECM has, <strong>by</strong> collecting the drummer's four recordings under the <strong>Special</strong><br />
Edition moniker, delivered a powerful reminder of <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>'s emergence as a bandleader and<br />
composer. For those already familiar with <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> and <strong>Special</strong> Edition, <strong>Special</strong> Edition will, no<br />
doubt, have no shortage of appeal for its inclusion of Inflation Blues; for those new to this group,<br />
it's an even greater treasure trove of superb writing, stellar collective interaction and individual<br />
solo prowess, and an identity that, 30 years on, remains as undeniable, irresistible and thoroughly<br />
recognizable as ever.<br />
Track Listing: CD1 (<strong>Special</strong> Edition): One for Eric; Zoot Suite; Central Park West; India; Journey<br />
to the Twin Planet. CD2 (Tin Can Alley): Tin Can Alley; Pastel Rhapsody; Riff Raff; The Gri Gri<br />
Man; I Know. CD3 (Inflation Blues): Starburst; Ebony; The Islands; Inflation Blues; Slowdown.<br />
CD4 (Album Album): Ahmad the Terrible; Monk's Mood; Festival; New Orleans Strut; Third World<br />
Anthem; Zoot Suite.<br />
Personnel: Jack <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong>: drums, piano (CD1-3), melodica (CD1), organ (CD2), congas (CD2),<br />
timpani (CD2), vocals (CD2-3), clavinet (CD3), keyboards (CD4); David Murray: tenor saxophone<br />
(CD1, CD4), bass clarinet (CD1); Arthur Blythe: alto saxophone (CD1); Peter Warren: double bass<br />
(CD1-2), cello (CD1-2); Chico Freeman: tenor saxophone (CD2-3), flute (CD2-3), bass clarinet<br />
(CD2-3), soprano saxophone (CD3); <strong>John</strong> Purcell: alto saxophone (CD2-4), baritone saxophone<br />
(CD2-3), flute (CD2-3), alto clarinet (CD3), soprano saxophone (CD4); Baikida Carroll: trumpet<br />
(CD3); Rufus Reid: double bass (CD3-4), electric bass (CD4); Howard <strong>John</strong>son: baritone<br />
saxophone (CD4), tuba (CD4).<br />
Record Label: ECM Records | Style: Modern <strong>Jazz</strong><br />
Jack <strong>De<strong>John</strong>ette</strong> Related<br />
Photos<br />
View more photos<br />
Videos Articles Artists Fans Links Calendar<br />
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/<strong>article</strong>.php?id=43721#.UP_D5hz34xA<br />
23/01/13 12:06<br />
Página 7 de 8