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Gregory Porter/Donald
Smith/Mansur Scott/Paul
Zauner’s Blue Brass
Great Voices Of Harlem
PAO 11210
½
Before closing in early 2011, St. Nick’s Pub was a
stronghold of jazz activity in Harlem dating back
to the 1940s, when stride pianist Luckey Roberts
owned and immodestly called this nightspot Lucky’s
Rendezvous. It’s where in the late ’80s visiting
European trombonist Paul Zauner first heard singer
Mansur Scott and, in recent years, Donald Smith
and Gregory Porter. Duly impressed, he formulated
a plan to record the three singers with his Blue Brass
group back home in Lower Austria. The session took
place in mid-2012, just as Porter’s career was taking
off in a big way behind his second album, Be Good.
Henry Butler, Steven
Bernstein and The Hot 9
Viper’s Drag
IMPULSE 3781279
What began as a reunion run at the Jazz Standard is
shaping up to be the year’s most exciting collaboration.
While capturing the spirit of early 20th century
jazz and blues, primarily from New Orleans, Henry
Butler, Steven Bernstein and The Hot 9 cast historic
material in a progressive (often Butler-centric) light
on the revived Impulse label’s debut release.
As an arranger, Bernstein often takes humorous
liberties; here, his reconstructions are more
reverent. By recasting snippets of Butler’s playing
into new arrangements, Bernstein yoked the
bandleaders’ sounds to their source material;
from there, unexpected interpretations ranging
from cerebral to sexy to funny abound.
The title track opens with a flurry of arpeggiated
chords, propulsive rhythmic switchbacks and tension-courting
horn parts before Butler veers into
Fats Waller’s strut-worthy opening motif with an
extra dose of swagger. When The Hot 9 shifts into
big band swing, Butler’s right hand weaves dexterously
around hair-thin spaces in the music, giving
it a novel edge. The woozy horn parts bookending
Jelly Roll Morton’s “Wolverine Blues” set up a similar
dichotomy between upbeat and edgy.
There’s plenty of bawdiness here, too. A greasy
take on “Gimmie A Pigfoot” boasts multiple layers
of horns sliding over and on top of one anoth-
As a presentation of three worthy singers—
two of them underappreciated then and now—
this album fares well. Porter, Smith and Scott
are the genuine article, jazz for listeners who
value soul and truth-telling as much as technical
prowess. Deep-throated Porter is a wizard of
expression, smoothly interpreting the lazily paced
“Mona Lisa” and the sugary “Somewhere Over The
Rainbow” with utter naturalness. Donald Smith is
no slouch, either. Tapped into the same incantatory
spirit as the late Leon Thomas, he works himself
into a state of screamed rapture on “Expansions.”
He merits praise for the forcible directness of the
sincerity he lends “My One And Only Love” and
for his this-is-hip way with “Watermelon Man.”
Esteemed elder Mansur Scott, who grew up in
Harlem at the same time as Charles Mingus, has
a distinctive musical personality that elevates the
appeal of freshly arranged chestnuts “Days Of
Wine And Roses” and “Stella By Starlight.”
Throughout the album, Zauner and his band
(with pianist Smith) prove they are skillful musicians,
whether playing acoustic or plugged in,
but when the arrangements grant them room to
stretch at the expense of the singers, it’s disappointing.
—Frank-John Hadley
Great Voices Of Harlem: Moanin; Intro Peace; Peace; Expansions;
Somewhere Over The Rainbow; Doing Hard Time; Stella By
Starlight; Watermelon Man; My One And Only Love; Days Of Wine
And Roses; Mona Lisa; Song For My Father. (66:17)
Personnel: Gregory Porter, vocals; Mansur Scott, vocals; Donald
Smith, vocals, piano, Fender Rhodes; Paul Zauner, trombone;
Barney Girlinger, trumpet, flugelhorn; Klaus Dickbauer, alto saxophone,
bass clarinet; Klemens Pliem, tenor saxophone, alto flute;
Martin Reiter, piano, Fender Rhodes; Wolfram Derschmidt, bass;
Howard Curtis, drums.
Ordering info: pao.at
er between punctuating bursts of trombone funk.
After some elegant exchanges between violin and
piano atop Herlin Riley’s funereal drum rolls on
“Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” Butler improvises on the
“funky butt” angle, crooning “dirty butt, stanky
butt/ Take it away” with delectable anguish. The
album closes with Butler’s James Booker tribute, a
fitting finish given the disc’s brilliant blend of virtuosity
and cheekiness.
—Jennifer Odell
Viper’s Drag: Viper’s Drag; Dixie Walker; Buddy Bolden’s Blues;
Henry’s Boogie; Gimmie A Pigfoot; Wolverine Blues; King Porter
Stomp; I Left My Baby; Some Iko; Booker Time. (51:55)
Personnel: Henry Butler, piano; Steven Bernstein, trumpet;
Reginald Veal, bass; Herlin Riley, drums; Charlie Burnham, violin;
Peter Apfelbaum, Michael Blake, tenor, soprano saxophones;
Erik Lawrence, baritone, soprano saxophones; Doug Wieselman,
clarinets; Curtis Fowlkes, trombone; Matthew Munisteri, guitar.
Ordering info: universalmusic.com
Theo Croker
AfroPhysicist
OKEH/DDB 379631
½
Though it’s actually his third release as a leader, Theo
Croker’s AfroPhysicist bears all the markings of a
debut CD. It arrives under the auspices of an encouraging
mentor—Dee Dee Bridgewater, who produced
and co-released the album on her DDB Records
imprint along with singing on three tracks—and
supplements Croker’s core band with a host of special
guests, showcasing the trumpeter-composer’s
vision in an ambitious variety of settings.
The disc is certainly an unveiling of Croker as
a bold new voice, his first recording in six years and
the first since his life-changing move to Shanghai,
China. Ironically, this Florida-born jazz musician,
the grandson of legendary New Orleans trumpeter
Doc Cheatham, had to travel halfway around
the world to find his own voice.
The range of Bridgewater’s vocal contributions
to the album is evidence of its wide lens: She
first croons a smooth, soulful rendition of Buddy
Johnson’s “Save Your Love For Me,” made famous
by Nancy Wilson; reappears for a torch-song
stroll through “Moody’s Mood For Love” featuring
Croker’s nostalgic muted solo; and concludes
with a piquant, Afro-Cuban-inflected version of
Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It.”
Throughout, Croker toes the line between
wide-ranging and eclectic to a fault. The disc
opens with a gutsy solo tribute to his grandfather,
“Alapa (For Doc),” which explores the extremes of
his playing from elegiac breathiness to low moans
and upper-register squeals, providing a hint of
the boisterous playing to come. That’s followed
by the raucous funk of “Realize,” a modern fusion
groove on “Light Skinned Beauty” and antic virtuosity
with “The Fundamentals,” where the core
band’s blistering interplay hints at greater things
to come—with less guest-star clutter to obscure its
sound.
—Shaun Brady
AfroPhysicist: Alapa (For Doc); Realize; It’s Not You, It’s Me (But
You Didn’t Help); Light Skinned Beauty; Wanting Your Love; Save
Your Love For Me; Visions; The Fundamentals; Roy Allan; Moody’s
Mood For Love; I Can’t Help It; Bo Masekela. (55:32)
Personnel: Theo Croker, trumpet, conductor; Sullivan Fortner,
piano, Hammond B-3, Fender Rhodes, background vocals; Karriem
Riggins, drums; Michael Bowie, bass; David Gilmore, guitar; Luisito
Quintero, percussion; Irwin Hall, alto saxophone, alto flute; Andrae
Murchison, trombone; Jumaane Smith, trumpet; Stacy Dillard,
tenor saxophone; Jason Marshall, baritone saxophone; Dee Dee
Bridgewater, vocals (6, 10, 11); China Moses, background vocals;
Stefon Harris, vibraphone (7); Roy Hargrove, vocals (9).
Ordering info: okeh-records.com
76 DOWNBEAT AUGUST 2014