Ralph Peterson 35th Annual Student Music Awards - Downbeat

Chicago
underground Duo
Age Of Energy
NORTHERN SPY 020
★★★
The latest Chicago Underground
Duo venture is a homecoming
and a departure. Not only is it
the first record that Rob Mazurek
and Chad Taylor have recorded in
Chicago in half a decade, it’s the
first that they have made together since Mazurek moved back to the
Midwest after an extended sojourn in Brazil. But it also represents a long
stride away from the open-ended but jazz-rooted improvisational language
that the two men have shared since the mid-’90s. Both musicians
have wielded electronics on other Chicago Underground records, but
the thick textures, cycling arpeggios and stolid cadences they employ
during the first 15 minutes of the lengthy suite “Winds And Sweeping
Pines” have more in common with analog underground outfits like Pulse
Emitter than the Don Cherry-steeped horn-and-percussion exchanges of
yore. There’s nothing wrong with the Chicago Underground giving jazz
the slip; they’ve made some enduring music during their forays on the
uncharted waters between genres. But this record lacks the variety of
their last record (Boca Negra) and the sustained improvisational fire of
Mazurek’s fiery Starlicker ensemble. It could use a few more flare-ups
to balance the passages of colorful but low-wattage atmospherics.
—Bill Meyer
Age Of Energy: Winds And Sweeping Pines; It’s Alright; Castle In Your Heart; Age Of Energy. (42:29)
Personnel: Rob Mazurek, cornet, electronics, voice; Chad Taylor, drums, mbira, electronics, drum
machine.
ordering info: northern-spy.com
Ehud Asherie
Upper West Side
POSI-TONE 8092
★★★★1/2
If an artist is going to explore an
older style that’s been mined
extensively, then he or she had better
be able to work with that style’s
progenitors. On Upper West Side,
pianist Ehud Asherie and tenor
saxophonist Harry Allen demonstrate
that they can more than just hang. Both men have taken certain
aspects from the music’s heavyweights to forge their own approach.
Allen comes out of the Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins school of
husky, swinging and sensual tenor players. Employing a breathy subtone
and subtle vibrato, Allen is an expert balladeer. His first few utterances
of “Our Love Is Here To Stay” are pure butter, and he coos and
caresses the melody, whispering sweet nothings into the listener’s ear.
Allen is at his softest and most delicate on Strayhorn’s “Passion Flower”
and Jimmy McHugh’s “I’m In The Mood For Love,” where he rarely
plays above a whisper. He uses various growls and scoops in an uptempo
and swinging take of “I Want To Be Happy,” which also features
Asherie’s excellent stride playing. Asherie, who has appropriated and
combined elements from Basie, Ellington and Hank Jones, is equally
impressive, whether soloing or backing Allen. His sense of swing and
time are impeccable. —Chris Robinson
Upper West Side: Learnin’ The Blues; It Had To Be You; O Pato; Our Love Is Here To Stay; Have You
Met Miss Jones?; Passion Flower; I Want To Be Happy; Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams; I’m In The
Mood For Love; Love Will Find A Way; My Blue Heaven. (59:39)
Personnel: Ehud Asherie, piano; Harry Allen, tenor saxophone.
ordering info: posi-tone.com