Ralph Peterson 35th Annual Student Music Awards - Downbeat

Michael Veal & Aqua Ife
Michael Veal & Aqua Ife, Vol. 1
NEKTONIC NKCD 001
★★★1/2
Michael Veal’s Armillary Sphere
Anyscape
NEKTONIC NKCD 002
★★★1/2
Fascinating is the best way to describe the musicality
of Michael Veal. On these two distinct
discs, he plays mostly electric bass and guitar
on one then showcases his skills on the soprano
saxophone on the other. More revealing, though,
is his knack for writing evocative compositions
that contain a wealth of global perspectives.
With the two-song EP, featuring Aqua Ife,
Veal delves into Ghanaian music, bolstered
Mary Stallings
Don’t Look Back
HIGHNOTE 7224
★★★★
These days the jazz audience seems to have a
bottomless appetite for female jazz singers—seemingly
the younger, the better. Mary
Stallings is a senior whose professionalism
and assurance affirm a place for elders. She’s
secure in who she is and what works for her,
with unshakable comfort.
She has a scoped contralto whose timbre
brings to mind Carmen McRae. But where
McRae often isolated her words on slow tempos,
Stallings always retains the connective
tissue of the music in her phrasing. They also
share the ability to find out-of-the-way material.
Stallings also cleverly conjoins two great
pieces: Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say
Goodbye” and Gordon Jenkins’ “Goodbye.”
Her faithful pianist, Eric Reed (who produced
the album), is so spare in his accompaniment
that they must communicate telepathically.
He suggests with a chord, waits for her to
sing and underlines or maybe rests. Then he’ll
play a discreet comment on her phrase.
Would-be jazz singers should know there’s
64 DoWNBEAt JUNE 2012
by polyrhythmic grooves, marked by ease
and oomph. The bassist and electric guitarist—along
with two other guitars, a drummer
and Ghanaian percussionists—lays danceable
bedrocks while various horn players, including
the incomparable soprano saxophonist
Sam Newsome and baritone saxophonist Alex
Harding, blow passionate improvisations. At
times, Aqua Ife recalls David Murray’s excursions
into the music of Guadeloupe and Senegal,
but somehow Veal’s music yields fresher, less
over-cooked results.
Veal not only effectively switches gears on
Anyscape by playing just soprano saxophone;
with his comparatively scaled-down Armillary
Sphere, he ventures into realms mapped out by
Sun Ra and George Russell. The music often
takes on celestial cinematic qualities as Veal
powers his coiling saxophone lines through
soundscapes that sometimes hint at electronica.
Yet the music retains the bristle of hands-on
acoustic instrumentation. Like the other disc,
Veal also displays a smartness to inch away
from his obvious influences. —John Murph
Michael Veal & Aqua Ife, Vol. 1: Djerma New Drum Chant; Late
General (Chief Odapa). (20:34)
Personnel: Michael Veal, electric bass, electric guitar, talking
drums; Mike Rodriguez, trumpet; Albert Leusink, trumpet; Brad
Mason, trumpet; Sam Newsome, soprano saxophone; Matthew
Clayton, alto saxophone; Avram Fefer, tenor saxophone; Lauren
Sevian, baritone saxophone; Alex Harding, baritone saxophone;
Steve Lantner, rhythm piano; Bennett Paster, electric organ; Trevor
Holder, drums; Felix Sanabria, congas and percussion; Kwaku
Kwaakye Obeng, Ghanaian hand percussion.
Anyscape: HLB-SR (short version); Impluvium; Curls; Dune; Angelus
Novus; Oculus I. (26:11)
Personnel: Michael Veal, soprano saxophone; Bennett Paster,
electric piano; Nika Workman, 5-string electric bass; Trevor Holder,
drums; Rene Akhan, electric guitar (4); Chris Lightcap, acoustic
bass (4).
ordering info: cduniverse.com
not a note of scat on this album. Stallings
invests the songs with feeling, avoiding histrionics.
A held note here, a behind-the-beat takeoff
there, a little sassy blues feeling, or a judiciously
placed octave jump—she knows just
what each song needs and where to place it.
—Kirk Silsbee
Don’t Look Back: When Lights Are Low; The Way You Love Me;
Night Mist Blues; Goodbye Medley: Every Time We Say Goodbye/
Goodbye; Is That...? (This Love); Don’t Look Back; Love Me Or
Leave Me; Don’t Misunderstand; Key Largo; Soul Eyes; Nappy’
Blues; People Time (Forever Mine). (55:13)
Personnel: Mary Stallings, vocals; Eric Reed, piano; Reuben Rogers,
bass; Carl Allen drums.
ordering info: jazzdepot.com
Jeff Parker trio
Bright Light In Winter
DELMARK 2015
★★★★
It had been six years since the remarkable trio
that produced Jeff Parker’s now-classic 2003
debut Like-Coping had played together, but on
Bright Light In Winter it’s clear that they’ve
lost none of their intuitive connection. The
group reunited for a concert in the 10th anniversary
series of Chicago’s Hungry Brain last
November, and Parker decided to use the occasion
to take bassist Chris Lopes and drummer
Chad Taylor into the studio.
All three musicians brought compositions
to the sessions, but there’s a stunning cohesion
and group identity to the album, with its lean,
deceptive simplicity: Each track is sparked by
an air of spontaneity, whether the trio is riding
out a preset plan or shape-shifting on the fly.
Taylor’s “Mainz” features a typically beautiful
melody, deeply etched by Parker within
several discrete groove schemes, with the guitarist
shifting from elegant, cleanly articulated
single-note melodies to effects-controlled tone
masses sculpted like clay to splatters of nicely
dubbed-out pointillism.
A piece like Parker’s “Freakadelic” is more
indicative of the general course, where the
rhythms stick to a relatively consistent feel with
subtle yet steady accents and pattern tweaks
supporting masterfully constructed solos by
Parker, which build not only as melodically
sophisticated marvels but also as ingenious
narratives. On “The Morning Of The 5th,”
Lopes sets aside the bass and shapes his pretty
melody on the flute, as his partners deftly cradle
his gentle lines, while on “Istvan” he subs in
a Korg MS-20 synthesizer. While the trio may
have convened as if it was a pickup gig without
a lot of preparation or planning, there’s nothing
boilerplate nor conventional about the way
they rip through each piece. —Peter Margasak
Bright Light In Winter: Mainz; Swept Out To Sea; Change; Freakadelic;
The Morning Of The 5th; Occidental Tourist; Bright Light
Black Site; Istvan; Good Days. (48:25)
Personnel: Jeff Parker, electric guitar and effects, Korg MS-20
monophonic synthesizer; Chris Lopes, acoustic bass, flute, Korg
MS-20; Chad Taylor, drums.
ordering info: delmark.com