Ron Carter Esperanza Spalding - Downbeat

Jessica Williams
Songs Of Earth
Origin Records 82619
HH1/2
It takes guts to walk out onstage with nothing
but a piano, your imagination and trust that you
can bring the two together in fruitful combination.
On Songs Of Earth, Jessica Williams
takes up this challenge, which was recorded
live over several nights at the Triple Door
in Seattle. The album overall casts a mood of
somewhat sad reflection. Minor keys predominate.
Certain technical devices crop up again
and again—tremolo octaves in the left hand, a
sus-four lick that scampers quickly toward the
top of the keys. But the more engaged you get
with Williams’ improvisations, the more problematic
the experience becomes.
Ratchet Orchestra
Hemlock
Drip Audio 00820
HHH
The odd and mostly lovable Montreal-based
Ratchet Orchestra defies easy-does-it categorization.
This “orchestra,” with roving compositions
and improvisation-lined game plan, is
unequal parts new music chamber ensemble,
avant-garde little big band, free-range amblescape
by noted Montreal “out” cats and some
X factors as-yet defined. Bassist Nicolas Caloia
is the principle creative culprit, devising scores,
mixing musical models and leading the massive,
30-plus member orchestra, with horns,
strings and rhythm section denizens. Quality
control isn’t always what might be hoped for,
but the feeling and idealism are infectious.
On Hemlock, Caloia’s games begin with
the opening cracked fanfare of “Winnow,” a
restless yet somehow peaceable piece based on
ascending motifs. The epic numbers include
the self-deconstructing mini-suite “Dusty,”
the languid impressionistic lay of “Safety”—
whose harmonic sense of safety arrives at the
final, almost uncomfortably normal resolving
In her liner notes, Williams describes
“Poem” as “one piece that I actually notated.”
She also came up “very sketchily” with “Little
Angel” and devotes the one non-original track
on Songs Of Earth to John Coltrane’s “To Be.”
It’s interesting, then, that “Poem” and “To Be”
especially come across as very extemporaneous.
“Poem” is anchored on a 3/4 left-hand
minor ostinato, which Williams plays kind of
mournfully.
“To Be” feels invented on the spot.
Williams encourages this impression by starting
with a left-hand drone and modal scatterings
in the right hand, both of which she uses
liberally on the other tracks. We settle into a
triplet left-hand ostinato and an increasingly
minor-key feel. There are a few majors here
and there, but the entire 10-minute performance
is colored by the inevitability of a switch to the
minor. An unexpected major five-and-a-half
minutes in leads to a more complex tapestry of
expression.
Despite its ambitious length, “To Be”
exposes the same range of expression Williams
employs throughout Songs Of Earth. She does
sometimes add extra flavoring, most noticeably
on “Montoya.” Yet she also mirrors much of
what she does elsewhere through liberal rubato,
another left-hand octave tremolo. Even her
appropriation of modal elements identified
with Spanish music harks to “The Enchanted
Loom,” where the device feels almost self-consciously
applied. —Bob Doerschuk
Songs Of Earth: Deayrhu; Poem; Montoya; Joe And Jane; Little
Angel, The Enchanted Loom; To Be. (54:18)
Personnel: Jessica Williams, piano.
Ordering info: origin-records.com
chord. The album’s compact teasers—toying
palate-cleansers, if you please—range from the
Ornette Coleman-meets-marching band and
waltz-time feel of “Yield” and the conceptual
confection of the one-minute “Kick,” built
around the convoluted recitation and twist-ups
of beat poet Brion Gysin’s hepcat haiku, “kick
the habit, man.” —Josef Woodard
Hemlock: Winnow; Dusty; Yield; Wish Part 1 and 2; Kick; Safety;
Hemlock, Part 1 and 2. (52:55)
Personnel: Nicolas Caloia, bass; Ratchet Orchestra, ensemble.
Ordering info: dripaudio.com
Michael Feinberg
The Elvin Jones Project
Sunnyside 1325
HHH
Bassist Michael Feinberg’s The Elvin Jones
Project started out as an exploration of
Feinberg’s favorite bass players, but ended up in
Jones’ lap, or drum chair. While Feinberg is a
talented player, and his crew here is equally up
to the task, the overall effect is one that suggests
an inside knowledge of the drummer’s story.
Starting off with “Earth Jones,” one gets the
feeling that this might be a more impressionistic
release—more experimental ’70s
than straightahead ’60s with Leo Genovese’s
dreamy Rhodes and the tune’s gentle if insistent
pulse, furthered along by Feinberg’s simple
yet eloquent lines. But then “Miles Mode”
is a kindly slap and we’re back in the 1960s,
with a true-to-form rendition of that classic, featuring
Genovese again, this time invoking the
spirit of McCoy Tyner even as he lays down
his own imprint. Billy Hart’s playing, while
echoing his friend Jones, remains his own. In
the end, the drummer’s more nuanced playing,
while similar, works better with this varied
material than Jones’ robust and potentially
explosive style might have. On “Taurus People,”
Feinberg and Hart forgo pulse, the bass interacting
with the drums freestyle as Genovese’s
acoustic piano seems to steer the music further
into straightahead territory. Without a solo, per
se, this may be Feinberg’s best moment on The
Elvin Jones Project, the format open enough to
let his playing run things even as he remains
the bottom-end driver. The funky Frank Fosterpenned
“Unknighted Nations” is the lone rockoriented
blues piece here, the highlight being a
tuneful Hart drum solo. From here on out, the
CD continues with visits to a more balladic
style with “It Is Written” and “Nancy,” the former
featuring guitarist Alex Wintz along with
what became trumpeter Tim Hagans’ best contributions
to the project. —John Ephland
The Elvin Jones Project: Earth Jones; Miles Mode; Taurus People;
It Is Written; The Unknighted Nations; Nancy With The Laughing
Face; Three Card Molly. (49:00)
Personnel: Michael Feinberg, bass; George Garzone, tenor saxophone;
Tim Hagans, trumpet; Leo Genovese, piano, Fender
Rhodes; Bill Hart, drums; Alex Wintz, guitar.
Ordering info: sunnysiderecords.com
94 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2012