Ralph Peterson 35th Annual Student Music Awards - Downbeat

Ahmad Jamal
Blue Moon
JAZZ VILLAGE 570001
★★★★
If you could illustrate Ahmad Jamal’s latest,
Blue Moon, as a map, it would be a lunar landscape
of mansion-sized mountains adjoining
sudden little outcroppings small enough to
trip over, booming valleys and oases of florid
rain forests. Jamal moves through these attractive
scenic contrasts on roads paved with clear
intentions and a sense of direction.
The selections are pulled from movies, the
stage and the early bebop songbook, as well as
Marlene Rosenberg Quartet
Bassprint
ORIGIN 82604
★★★★
A stalwart member of the Chicago scene,
Marlene Rosenberg has made infrequent trips
to the studio as a leader. Bassprint is her first
CD in a decade, but it’s well worth waiting for,
and perhaps it shows the value of patience and
persistence. Rosenberg is assured at the helm,
nothing to prove, no chip on her shoulder.
Aside from two tasty tunes by Kenny
Barron, all the music is original, showing
the bassist’s interest in oblique, harmonically
intriguing material. Several titles—“Wayneish,”
“Eyes For Shorter”—wink openly at
their source inspiration, the latter a lovely
ballad that reworks Wayne Shorter’s “Infant
Eyes.” Rosenberg knows how to get juices
flowing without using harsh or edgy materials.
“L.J.” is a buoyant, mid-tempo tune with
the leader’s beefy bass and a funky undertow
providing a springboard, urging on Geoff
Bradfield’s probing, prehensile tenor. The
spring-like “Tale Of Two Monk Keys” features
a sweet, lithe, skipping line that’s gleeful
grist for both Bradfield and guitarist Scott
Hesse, a contemplative counter-line casting
things in a darker shade.
Hesse is terrific: great ears and crazy
chops. Comping, he’s inventive, offering sug-
58 DoWNBEAt JUNE 2012
Jamal’s own. But the flashes of familiar melody,
while providing occasional signposts of orientations,
don’t matter that much. Restraint is
only one of his gambits, used mainly to make
more striking the breach of dynamics between
the restrained Jamal and the more magnified
one. “Autumn Rain,” which he recorded in 1986,
begins with an ascending crescendo of chords
that thunder, then atomize into a dewy spaciousness
and make way for the main theme. After a
few bars of quick, sparse chords, the arpeggios
roll out like a lava flow, then stop as Jamal pounds
out a rigid, percussive bass figure and starts mixing
in more swirling right-handed mayhem. That
dissolves into a lyrical reverie, interspersed with
more terse percussion.
His “Blue Moon” introduces a little four-note
riff (C–D–C–E) that becomes an insidiously
catchy recurring refrain, in a way not unlike
the device that made “Poinciana” so beguiling
many years ago. It brings a measure of unity to
the many contrasting moods, all of which are
ambitious but few of which really swing much.
But then that’s not really his purpose. He swings
when he chooses. “Laura” (originally recorded in
1992) is relatively straight-forward and intimate
in its reserve and never becomes unnecessarily
overloaded with ambition. —John McDonough
Blue Moon: Autumn Rain; Blue Moon; Gypsy; Invitation; I Remember
Italy; Laura; Morning Mist; This Is The Life; Woody’n You. (76:02)
Personnel: Ahmad Jamal, piano; Reginald Veal, bass; Herlin Riley,
drums; Manolo Badrena, percussion.
ordering info: jazzvillagemusic.com
gestive and unexpected colors, sometimes spidery,
fingered chords; when he cuts loose, his
lines can be thrilling. Bradfield is one of the
few tenor players who don’t make me cringe
when heading for the soprano. He’s sensitive
without being florid or icy, playing with
grit over the funky, sunny beat on Barron’s
“Sunshower” (marred only by the unwelcome
idea of multi-tracking arco and pizz bass) or
laying a gentle line over the urgent rimshots
of “Spare Parts.” —John Corbett
Bassprint: Tale Of Two Monk Keys; Almost April; Wayne-Ish;
Spare Parts; L.J.; Prelude–Bassprint; Lullaby; Sunshower; Eyes For
Shorter; Thus And So; One False Move. (66:47)
Personnel: Marlene Rosenberg, bass; Geoff Bradfield, tenor and
soprano saxophone; Scott Hesse, guitar; Makaya McCraven,
drums.
ordering info: origin-records.com
Jeff hamilton trio
Red Sparkle
CAPRI 74114
★★★
Don’t give up on the “straightahead” approach
to piano trio just yet. If the trend of ever-shifting
time signatures that has cropped up in the
last few years is feeling a bit too mathy for you,
there’s a refreshing focus found in blues-based
romps and instantly catchy melodies. Usually
crisp, occasionally sassy and often stressing
pith, this is the turf that Jeff Hamilton’s trio
works on a regular basis.
Red Sparkle picks up where 2009’s
Symbiosis left off. Hamilton and associates—
pianist Tamir Hendelmen and bassist Christoph
Luty—arrive with well-polished arrangements
in their pockets, and breeze through them with
a contagious oomph. A certain obviousness
marks the leader’s work: There’s always a bit
of tail-wagging going on in these tunes. But
that has its perks, too. The hard bustle of “Too
Marvelous For Words” may sound a tad anachronistic,
but it generates an entertainment vibe
that deserves cachet forever. Brushing his way
through the piece, the drummer exudes grace
and animation.
The trio also likes to wax clever. Their
romp through “Bye-Ya” alludes to rumba while
keeping Thelonious Monk’s ingenious counterpoint
alive. Hendelman is a facile mechanic
with a nice touch for dynamics. Hamilton
himself knows about texture. His reclamation
of Stephen Bishop’s schmaltzy “On And On”
starts the same way Ed Blackwell’s might: a
tender tom-tom pattern milking pulse for all
it’s worth. The drummer never gets heavyhanded.
A revered brush man, his nuances
speak volumes. The first few moments of “A
Sleepin’ Bee”—a curt exchange with Luty—set
the tone for the entire track. Innovative it’s not,
but when there’s this much finesse in the air,
some kind of ground is being gained.
—Jim Macnie
Red Sparkle: Ain’t That A Peach; Bye Ya; On And On; Hat’s
Dance; Too Marvelous; Laura; A Sleepin’ Bee; Red Sparkle; I Know
You Oh So Well; In An Ellingtone. (57:35)
Personnel: Jeff Hamilton, drums; Tamir Hendelmen, piano; Christoph
Luty, bass.
ordering info: caprirecords.com