Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

Kurt Elling
1619 Broadway: The Brill
Building Project
Concord Jazz 33959
HHH1/2
Two memories from this summer’s Newport
Jazz Festival: Kurt Elling bending the shape
of “Come Fly With Me” into something personalized
and provocative, and Elling beaming
through the wry lines of Kenneth Pachen’s
“Job” while onstage with the Claudia Quintet +
1. The singer is a nimble actor. He has to be; a
large part of his job is storytelling.
Something similar happens on 1619
Broadway, Elling’s stroll through tunes overtly
and tangentially associated with the Brill
Building and its myriad writers. The nuances
he’s been honing throughout the course of
Donny McCaslin
Casting For Gravity
Greenleaf 1028
HHHH
On Casting For Gravity, saxophonist Donny
McCaslin develops the approach he explored
with a similar band on Perpetual Motion in
2011, combinging his own accomplished postbop
horn and an electric/electronic matrix.
“Stadium Jazz” seems to put some of the
ambition directly on the table—a quest for a
music that can muscle its way into the hearts
of an audience raised on the enormous, rather
than the intimate. That it works as well as it
does is due mainly to McCaslin’s great band.
Mark Giuliana is extraordinary at pumping
pneumatic beats without losing subtlety. The
brontosaurian sound of bassist Tim Lefebvre,
fuzzed out or slapping, adds a live dub element.
Largely in the background, but constantly
changing the atmosphere, Jason Lindner
chooses synthetic sonorities that can create
friction or slickly decorate. McCaslin’s tunes
have range. “Losing Track Of Daytime” is
a Rhodes-driven funk with an abrasive hiccup.
On “Bend,” the most aggressive track, the
rhythm section creates tension against a halt-
11 albums are not only in play, they’re right
up front. And in some cases, he’s chosen pieces
that are tough to claim. Designs have to be
just so with non-jazz jewels like Paul Simon’s
“An American Tune” and Carole King’s “So
Far Away,” or things start to sound hokey real
quick. Elling refracts the originals but in doing
so brings a novel charm to the fore.
Those acting skills arise in a handful of
performances. A spin on Sam Cooke’s “You
Send Me” conjures Brian Eno producing an
M-BASE track, and in moments along the way
Elling seems to be interpreting the lines of a
script, like he’s seducing his honey in shadows
of a barroom. The album opens with a
spin through “On Broadway” that carries
the emotional oomph of an onstage soliloquy.
One sacred text is left as is, and that too
is a smart move. On the Coasters’ “Shopping
For Clothes,” as Elling rolls through the herringbone
suit repartee with his salesman pal
Christian McBride, those thespian chops are
front and center.
Revoicing classic chord changes, injecting
new perspectives into ancient material, 1619
Broadway takes a few listens for its strategies
to unfold, and some arrangements work better
than others, but its imagination is irrefutable.
—Jim Macnie
1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project: On Broadway;
Come Fly With Me; You Send Me; I Only Have Eyes For You; I’m
Satisfied; A House Is Not A Home; Shoppin’ For Clothes; So Far
Away; Pleasant Valley Sunday; American Tune; Tutti For Cootie.
(56:59)
Personnel: Kurt Elling, voice; John McLean, guitar; Laurence Hobgood,
piano; Clark Sommers, bass; Kendrick Scott, drums; Christian
McBride, voice (7); Joel Frahm, tenor saxophone (4, 7); Ernie
Watts, tenor saxophone (5, 8); Tom Leur, alto saxophone (11), tenor
saxophone (2, 4, 11); Key Palmer, trumpet (11), flugelhorn (2, 4, 11).
Ordering info: concordmusicgroup.com
ing theme played in tandem by McCaslin and
Lindner. Sometimes the slick elements and the
rough ones sit together uncomfortably, but that
seems deliberate, as if to make them comment
on one another.
—John Corbett
Casting For Gravity: Stadium Jazz; Says Who; Losing Track Of
Daytime; Alpha And Omega; Tension; Praia Grande; Love Song For
An Echo; Casting For Gravity; Bend; Henry. (63:51)
Personnel: Donny McCaslin, tenor saxophone; Jason Lindner,
electric and acoustic pianos, synthesizers; Tim Lefebvre, electric
bass; Mark Guiliani, drums; David Binney, vocals, synthesizer (1).
Ordering info: greenleafmusic.com
George Cables
My Muse
High Note 7244
HHH1/2
George Cables is a journeyman pianist who has
never been less than a dependable sealant and
anchor behind such presiding leaders as Art
Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper. He
always pulls his own weight with a smart, wellobserved
refinement.
The mix of originals and standards is not
unlike Cables’ previous trio CDs for Steeple-
Chase and other small labels, except that the
occasion here is in remembrance of Helen
Wray, his longtime friend and soulmate. This
perhaps explains the cluster of pieces dedicated
to her. “Helen’s Song” has been a pillar of
his repertoire since 1984 and an evident favorite.
It unfolds in flowing, subtly sloped chord
movements that reflect deep examination and
authority. “Lullaby” is a reflective and tranquil
pool of chords that ripple with a whisper but
no clear melodic center. The most engaging of
the Wray tunes is the title track, “My Muse.”
It sways from the first note with funky gentility
that sustains a simple but elongated theme of
charm and surprise.
Like a really good midnight piano-bar player,
Cables takes his time roaming the classic
standards. There is a romantic, out-of-tempo
spaciousness at first. He pauses to stretch out an
extended arpeggio here or linger over some privileged
harmony there, then catches up a few bars
later. After the first chorus, he drops into tempo,
most of which are lingering and lonely. “You’re
My Everything” is the brightest of the evergreens.
After a couple of sly front choruses separated
by a brief repeated refrain, it slips into 4/4
drive, letting Cables break into a straightahead
swing that’s like a rush of fresh air.
If Cables has a distinct signature, he writes
here in invisible ink but with a lovely anonymity.
—John McDonough
My Muse: Lullaby; You’re My Everything; You Taught My Heart To
Sing; Helen’s Song; My Muse; My One And Only Love; But He
Knows; The Way We Were; My Old Flame; Hey, It’s Me You’re
Talkin’ To; I Loves You Porgy. (61:18)
Personnel: George Cables, piano; Essiet Essiet, bass; Victor
Lewis, drums.
Ordering info: jazzdepot.com
78 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012