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Neil Welch
Narmada
BELLE 020508
★★ 1 /2
On his debut recording, Seattle-based
saxophonist Neil Welch does not hold
back and is not afraid of wearing his
influences on his sleeve. “The Search”
is dedicated to John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Albert Ayler, and
Welch sounds like a cross between the first two giants as he combines
mysticism with ferocity. He is an impassioned tenor player with a rugged
tone, and his relentless wails induce flows of adrenaline.
Welch can dive head-on into the music, but also let it simmer before
bringing it to a rolling boil, as with his take on Radiohead’s “Paranoid
Android,” which also testifies to his arranging skills. In its conception and
execution, it might be the most original piece of music on Narmada. The
diversity Welch embraces does not detract from the album’s unity, but
forces his cohorts to rely on mannerisms. The most obvious example is
pianist Brian Kinsella’s evocation of McCoy Tyner on “The Search.”
Welch switches to soprano to close the set with an epic version of a traditional
raga performed alongside tabla and sitar as sole accompaniment.
As much as one would love to command Welch for his commitment and
unwillingness to compromise, a few pieces could have benefited from
some editing.
—Alain Drouot
Narmada: Madness In Motion; The Search (For Coltrane, Pharoah And Ayler); Narmada; Paranoid
Android; Neptune; Darker; Raga Kirwani. (72:50)
Personnel: Neil Welch, tenor and soprano saxophone; Brian Kinsella, piano, Fender Rhodes; Luke
Bergman, bass; Chris Icasiano, drums; Tor Dietrichson, tabla, congas, percussion; Pandit Debi
Prasad Chatterjee, sitar.
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Ordering info: belle-records.com
Derrick Gardner
and the Jazz Prophets
A Ride To The Other Side ...
Of Infinity
OWL STUDIOS 00121
★★★ 1 /2
Derrick Gardner and the Jazz Prophets
lay down some funky and soulful hardbop
that hearkens back to the groups of
Cannonball Adderley and Horace Silver. The band tears through eight
tunes that were either written by Gardner or his bandmates, as well as Bill
Lee’s ballad “Be One.” The Prophets are tight: The rhythm section locks
in the pocket, the band executes the charts precisely and every solo is
strong. The funky “Mac Daddy Grip” not only puts on a hard-bop clinic,
but it almost makes the album worth getting on its own. Each soloist
makes a statement, and the background parts that enter about halfway
through each solo add intensity and energy.
Other highlights include Anthony Wonsey’s piano solos on the opener
“Funky Straight” and the burning closer “Of Infinity.” Wonsey’s percussive
touch and sequenced phrases build tension and excitement.
Percussionist Kevin Kaiser adds drive to the Latin-esque “Lazara” and
“Funky Straight.” Although there aren’t any real weak spots, the album
slows down a bit in the middle with the lethargic “God’s Gift.”
—Chris Robinson
A Ride To The Other Side ... Of Infinity: Funky Straight; A Ride To The Other Side; Mac Daddy
Grip; Be One; Bugabug; God’s Gift; Lazara; Just A Touch; Of Infinity. (70:04)
Personnel: Derrick Gardner, trumpet, flugelhorn; Vincent Gardner, trombone; Rob Dixon, tenor
saxophone; Anthony Wonsey, piano; Rodney Whitaker, bass; Donald Edwards, drums; Kevin
Kaiser, percussion.
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Ordering info: owlstudios.com
Ben Wolfe
No Strangers Here
MAXJAZZ 605
★★ 1 /2
Ben Wolfe’s last CD, 2004’s My Kinda
Beautiful, gathered a large ensemble to
explore the bassist’s hybrid of jazz and
classical music. His follow-up scales
down the personnel to essentially a double quartet—half Wolfe’s hard-bop
combo, half a lush string quartet. But the two never mesh their sounds so
much as they stand off on opposite sides of the room, doing their own
thing in similar time, like awkward teens at a junior high dance.
Wolfe, a veteran of bands led by Harry Connick, Jr. and Wynton
Marsalis, employs the same sense of cool retro swing as his ex-employers,
and is at his unassuming best when he gathers a talented batch of burners
and lets them loose on a hard-charging number like “The Minnick Rule,”
the album’s only tune without strings, which features trumpeter Terell
Stafford. His string arrangements too often put quotation marks around the
music, replacing tradition with nostalgia.
My Kinda Beautiful was presented as an imaginary score for a nonexistent
film, and there’s a similar sense of scene-setting on several of
these tracks. There’s a genuine desire to blend genres in Wolfe’s
approach, but too often the sentimental strings recall the “uptowning” of
jazz behind Charlie Parker’s and other “with strings” sessions. He ventures
a slightly more modernist approach on “Rosy And Zero,” but the
chamber sections get out of the way of the jazz soloists, never integrating
the two approaches.
—Shaun Brady
No Strangers Here: The Minnick Rule; No Strangers Here; Milo; No Pat No; The Filth; Circus;
Blue Envy; Rosy And Zero; Jackie Mac; Groovy Medium. (49:56)
Personnel: Ben Wolfe, bass; Marcus Strickland, Branford Marsalis, tenor and soprano saxophone;
Terell Stafford, trumpet; Luis Perdomo, piano; Greg Hutchinson, Jeff “Tain” Watts, drums; Victor
Goines, clarinet; Jesse Mills, Cyrus Beroukhim, violin; Kenji Bunch, viola; Wolfram Koessel, cello.
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Ordering info: maxjazz.com
88 DOWNBEAT September 2008