Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

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Harold Mabern Mr. Lucky: A Tribute To Sammy Davis Jr. HighNote 7237 HHH For those who don’t remember or are too young to fully appreciate Sammy Davis Jr., the theme of this album may not be clear. All of these songs, with one exception, were associated with the incomparable entertainer, actor, dancer, vocalist, television host and multi-instrumentalist. But maybe before informing themselves about Davis and his legacy, the uninitiated listener might give Mr. Lucky a spin and savor what it offers on its own terms. Every track, regardless of tempo, feels happy. Much of this stems from Mabern’s lightness of touch and Sam Rivers/Dave Holland/ Barry Altschul Reunion: Live In New York Pi 45 HHHH1/2 For Sam Rivers, free-jazz was the apex of an exploration of diverse elements including the blues, bebop and contemporary classical music. His New York loft venue Studio Rivbea was one of free-jazz’s most nurturing environments during the ’70s, and one of the mostloved ensembles to play there was his own trio with bassist Dave Holland and percussionist Barry Altschul. But paths diverge, and they stopped playing together in 1982. This reunion concert took place at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre at the end of a weeklong celebration of Rivers’ music, and the participants honor their past by doing just what they did back in the day. They jump right in, guided by freedom not as a command for music to sound a certain way, but as license for them to play whatever they decided to play in the moment. Sure, there’s bristly blowing led by Rivers’ burly but adroit tenor sax, propelled by Holland’s sturdy and elegant lines, and contoured by Alschul’s light-fingered cym- temperament. There’s a lot of high end in his solos, with licks and lines dancing toward the top of the keyboard. Sometimes the dance is a little overdone; on “The People Tree,” he hangs onto the dotted-eighths of the motif a little too long in some sections. But you can’t really blame him; it’s hard to set aside their skipping, tra-la-la feel. Throughout the album, Mabern’s playing is assured but not terribly adventurous. Certain elements crop up repeatedly—a spare voicing of second, fifth and tonic moving up and down, for instance. Some of his unaccompanied intros seem a little unfocused; there’s no reference to the theme during his rumination at the top of “Hey There,” and the four bars that lead into “What Kind Of Fool Am I?” have a pro forma flavor. Even so, Mabern never loses his agreeable, upbeat feel. Eric Alexander plays with an impressive mix of tunefulness and adventure. On each of his tenor choruses, he references the written material then slides effortlessly in and out of double-time on “As Long As She Needs Me.” On “I Gotta Be Me” he’s even more exciting, with the added touch of ending most of his phrases somewhere other than on the tonic. Mabern’s “Soft Shoe Trainin’ With Sammy,” is actually the closest reflection of the elegance, class and joy that characterized Davis’ terpsichorean style. —Bob Doerschuk Mr. Lucky: A Tribute To Sammy Davis Jr.: The People Tree; As Long As She Needs Me; Soft Shoe Trainin’ With Sammy; Hey There; I’ve Gotta Be Me; Mr. Lucky; What Kind Of Fool Am I?; Night Song; Something’s Gotta Give. (53:48) Personnel: Harold Mabern, piano; Eric Alexander, tenor saxophone; John Webber, bass; Joe Farnsworth, drums. Ordering info: jazzdepot.com bal play. But there’s also a point where Rivers’ piano flows easily from Cecil Taylor-evoking tumult into a cheery Latin dance. Everyone shines; Holland jumps in with a clear-headed lack of inhibition that he would do well to display more in his own ensembles, and Altschul’s exacting touch raises the question of why he hasn’t had a higher profile since this trio parted company in the ’80s. —Bill Meyer Reunion: Live In New York; Disc One: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five (51:52). Disc Two: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four (36:19). Personnel: Sam Rivers, saxophones, piano; Dave Holland, bass; Barry Altschul, drums. Ordering info: pirecordings.com TB4Q Empire Tub Thumper 004 HH1/2 I like the cover art to this CD, but the graphics don’t make crystal whether the band is known as TBQ or TB4Q or in fact TB4Q Empire. It’s even less clear what this band wants to be. The music begins with a doleful New Orleans-klezmer-blues. However harrowing frontman JB Biesmans’ near death climbing accident (mentioned in liners), perhaps a “Funeral March” isn’t the ideal opener here, despite the best efforts of blues guitarist Enrico Crivellaro. Is this an acid-jazz combo? If so, a quixotic one. They remind a bit of The Brooklyn Funk Essentials, but that band was exceptionally good at style-mixing. Biesmans tackles it all: soprano saxophone on “Water Under The Bridge,” sinewy baritone on “Barok In Blue” and breezy flute on “Eighty Six” with its 6/8 undercurrents. “Bird’s Idea” must reference bassist Bird Stevens, because Charlie Parker would want the scrabbly, overlong tenor solo to stop. Plus, can the cat-clapping woodblocks give it a rest, too? With all his focus on horns—and he does have tricks up his sleeve—check the intro to “Five Four” with its echoes of Ben Webster and r&b gasps on “Chillax’n.” It is a shame not to hear more of Biesmans’ vocals, since his Joe Cocker-meets-Bill Withers shtick on “How Long Does It Take?” has character. George Benson-styled guitar licks from Mo Gomez and quacking Rhodes from Dr Basie J help authenticate the retro feel here. The lively descarga of “Mau Mau,” with backing vocals that sound like something Harry Belafonte deployed in the ’50s, suggest this gang are a lot of fun, they could just use a producer to separate wheat from chaff. —Michael Jackson Empire: Funeral March; Water Under The Bridge; Eighty Six; Mua Mua; Five Four; How Long Does It Take?; Roses In Red Water; Chillax’n; Hallowed; Empire; Blossom; Dim Time; Bird’s Idea; Snowfall; Barok In Blue. (50:86) Personnel: JB Biesmans, vocals, flutes, woodwinds, harmonica; Bird Stevens, bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals; Dr Basie J, keys, backing vocals; Mo Gomez, guitar, backing vocals; Marc G, drums, percussion; Franky Gomez, drums, backing vocals, percussion; Enrico Crivellaro, guitar. Ordering info: tb4q.com 88 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012
Beyond | By john mcdonough Dean Martin Cultivated A Personified Cool No one has a monopoly on cool, which comes in many faces and forms, all fleeting in their passing particulars but immutable in their consistent message. To be cool is to have mastered the art of indifference. Dean Martin: The Collected Cool (Universal 001681900; 51:18/48:27/50:07 HHH) invites us to consider the easygoing singer as an avatar of a particular cool, circa 1960. Not the Beatnik Cool of Bleecker Street or the Village Vanguard, but the upscale Establishment Cool of Madison Avenue and the Copa, now fashionable again through “Mad Men,” which has transformed William H. Whyte’s once dowdy and conforming “Organization Man” into dapper Don Draper. Perhaps Martin was the organization man’s secret alter ego. He cultivated indifference early as protection against the small-time Mafioso of Steubenville, Ohio, then fashioned it into art. This collection gives glimpses of that evolution in the ’50s, and then its leisurely drift into self-parody by the ’70s. Martin’s relaxed, baritone croon was straight out of Bing Crosby, but with a slight Southern slur that seemed to imply a flippant wink that mocked its own lazy charm. But as long as he played romantic relief hitter and straight man to Jerry Lewis, he was eclipsed as a singer by his partner’s manic mayhem. By the time they split in 1956, he had logged just two major hits (“That’s Amore,” “Memories Are Made Of This”) and had only two albums in the catalog. The first of four discs in Collected Cool covers Martin’s Capitol years and reflects the feverish hunt for a hit single. It’s an inconsistent pastiche of movie songs, duets (one each with Lewis and Nat Cole), novelties and Italian pasta like “Volare” and “An Evening In Roma.” It leads with a limp series of canned announcements that offer nothing. If the intent was a private peak behind the scenes, why not the hilarious Martin-Lewis promotional blurbs for the 1953 film The Caddy, which give a sense of their rhythms as a team? After floundering as a single, Martin understood that being a singer wasn’t enough. He had to find a stage persona that would define a public Dean Martin and wrap everything he did in a believable, character-driven appeal. He didn’t have to look far. For years friends who saw behind the Martin-Lewis act found Martin the really funny one—a smooth, smart, subtle, detached, irreverent, lovable rogue. To that he added bandleader Phil Harris’ pose as the amiable drunk. Thus emerged Dean Martin, coolest of the cool in a haze of J&B. “Direct from the bar,” became his standard intro. It worked. Dean Martin The second CD covers his years with Reprise starting in 1962 and continues in the greatest-hits mode. By then Martin’s post- Lewis nonchalance had ripened to a peak. I saw him that year with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Not only was he the comic engine of the trio; I thought I heard in the legato silkiness of his phrasing something of Lester Young. The problem was he had grown too cool for his own music. The songs themselves became targets of his immaculately tailored apathy, props to be mocked in his couldn’tcare-less act. “When You’re Smilin’” became “When You’re Drinkin.” He would break off a song after half a chorus, as if bored with it. This was the Martin that thrived on a nightclub floor nestled before an audience of 500 and that is perfectly caught on disc three in a Lake Tahoe show where nothing is played straight. But if such self-mockery blocked any chance of him being taken seriously as a singer, the magnificent bel canto baritone on the combo version of “Everybody Loves Somebody” reminds us that was his free choice, not a sealed fate. The Martin who continued recording a mix of ballads, novelties and later country tunes for Reprise seemed to exist in a decidedly less cool parallel universe where he duets with Conway Twitty. Too bad the collection overlooked Martin’s 1962 witty pairing on “Sam’s Song” with Davis. The fourth disc is a DVD—Martin in London in 1983, still with that wayward gleam in his eye and moving with blasé grace across the stage. Now he only had to mumble a lyric to get a hand. Fans will enjoy the DVD and the Tahoe gig, each showcasing Martin in high solo flight. As for the Capitol and Reprise material, you have to dig deep to find the promised cool. Worse still, the lack of any liner commentary, dates or personnel is a major defect. Given the expensive packaging, it’s also very un-cool. DB Ordering info: umusic.com universal music DECEMBER 2012 DOWNBEAT 89
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Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding Decem
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DECEMBER 2012 On the Cover 30 Diana
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Chords Discords Drummond on Drummi
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Riffs Poncho Sánchez Latin Love:
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Miche Braden (left) and Keith Lofti
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Joe Locke (left) and Romero Lubambo
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Sara Gazarek A Musician’s Singer
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Stian Westerhus Nonlinear Approach
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RON CARTER ferent concepts, 16 diff
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Asked to express his feelings about
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DIANA KRALL So when Krall entered N
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Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

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