Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

Hot
The
Box
CD Critics
John McDonough John Corbett Jim Macnie Paul de Barros
Chick Corea/Gary Burton
Hot House
★★★★ ★★★½ ★★★ ★★★★
Kurt Elling
1619 Broadway
★★★ ★★★½ ★★★½ ★★★½
Donny McCaslin
Casting For Gravity
★½ ★★★★ ★★★ ★★½
George Cables
My Muse
★★★½ ★★★★ ★★★½ ★★★★
Critics’ Comments
Chick Corea/Gary Burton, Hot House
Tee-off track full of bracing sparkle, and “Hot House” has great close-quarter dialog, especially when the
guys are tweeting twos. Despite some stately interludes, this is a delightful and buoyant reunion. Smart set
list uses familiar tunes as a foil for fresh invention and a road map to where the surprises are buried.
—John McDonough
Pianist and vibraphonist both at places in their lives where they don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
Doesn’t stop Corea from throwing a lot of grease onto the flame, razzdazzling the rococo arrangements.
Burton sounds lovely, his burnished tone and detailed articulation acutely placed against the pianist’s
octane imagination.
—John Corbett
The depth of their interplay can be gauged by the emotion that’s born of their precision. Yep, there’s an
academic vibe to a bit of this, but it’s usually trumped by the joy of the collaboration. —Jim Macnie
Kurt Elling, 1619 Broadway: The Brill Building Project
A loosely enforced license for Elling to tackle 11 pop gumdrops jazz has mostly ignored. A bit of hokum and
much good singing. But there was a reason why jazz and pop split, and these songs help explain why the
divorce papers were signed in the ’60s. “Tutti” is pure vocalese, closest to the singer’s métier, and farthest
from the Brill Bldg.
—John McDonough
As we’ve long known, Elling’s voice is one in a million: buttery, textured, infinitely capable and assured. What
he does with it doesn’t always thrill me, but here, stretching into some funkier terrain and less familiar material,
he sounds very convincing and less unctuous than elsewhere. For the instrument alone, it’s a pleasure.
—John Corbett
Elling is in sterling, stentorian voice for this project, which plays out like a sort of Brechtian radio drama, both
seduced by and alienated from its subject. Audaciously, the singer reinvents familiar tunes like “On Broadway,”
“I Only Have Eyes For You” and “You Send Me,” which dams nostalgia while creating a sense of reverie
and reverence for a commercial hub that was also a clearing house for American creativity. —Paul de Barros
Donny McCaslin, Casting For Gravity
Neo-fusionist McCaslin shouts, bellows and generally fulminates against an often-manic rhythm section
stuck in high gear. The emotional chill of his sound and harsh staccato phrasings become tiresome. Much
heaving, shapeless energy, proving that blowing is to playing as throwing is to pitching. —John McDonough
The macho grooves can be a bit tiresome, but you truly have to give it up to the collective pummel Team
McCaslin brings to this beaut. In some ways it’s Weather Report rocketed into the future, in other ways it’s a
potpourri of math-jazz run amok.
—Jim Macnie
Love the title, but in an ironic way it feels appropriate to this nervous, searching music, which never lands on
serious ground. Except for “Praia Grande,” the rockish beats, chattering, chop-salad tenor saxophone solos
and synthesizer/keyboard curlicues and atmospherics feel forced and tense.
—Paul de Barros
George Cables, My Muse
Cables is an unassuming pianist and leader, but he’s got more to offer than most flashy folk. Even working a
tired tune like “The Way We Were,” he finds a way to phrase the melody that brightens its faded charms. In
the venerable tradition of piano trios, un-reconstructedly conventional, this one’s superb. —John Corbett
Like many, I sleep on him too much. So this nod to his lifelong sweetie is nice reminder of the grace that
marks his playing. Everything is subtle here, the touch, the interplay, and even the tunes are marked by a
pacific feel. It just woos you.
—Jim Macnie
One of the under-sung pianists of his generation, Cables invariably delights, with his singing lines, fluid technique
and quixotic twists of mind. My Muse finds him in a romantic mood, lavishing praise on his late partner,
Helen Wray. Some may find the odd flourish and swell too sweet; to me, it feels just right. —Paul de Barros
DECEMBER 2012 DOWNBEAT 79