Ralph Peterson 35th Annual Student Music Awards - Downbeat

Linda oh
Initial Here
GREENLEAF MUSIC 1024
★★★★
The sophomore disc from bassist/bassoonist
Linda Oh features a tight quartet including
in-demand drummer Rudy Royston, rangy
saxophonist Dayna Stephens and Cuban pianist
Fabian Almazan, whom Oh met at the
Manhattan School of Music.
Oh is equally strong on acoustic and electric:
Check her ferocious thrust on Leonard
Bernstein’s “Something Coming,” then her
nimble plugged-in playing on “Little House.”
Oh’s compositions are affecting, with convincing
narratives. “Desert Island Dream” relives
her family’s emigration from Malaysia to
Australia. After a queasy sea voyage, the mel-
Jake Saslow
Crosby Street
14TH STREET RECORDS 1101
★★★1/2
Crosby Street runs from Howard north to
Bleecker Street, through Manhattan’s SoHo
neighborhood. Tenor saxophonist Jake Saslow
lived in SoHo as a young boy, before it became
a high-rent district, but spent the rest of his
childhood on Long Island. From its title to
cover painting, Saslow’s debut album finds him
reaching back to see what he can grasp of a
world that no longer exists.
He does it mostly through the lens of winding
original compositions that make subtle use
of unusual meters and inventive phrasing to
knock the cadence of his melodies slightly off
balance. The technique is most effective on the
effervescently reflective pair of songs that close
the album, “How Things Were” and “Until
Next Time.” He and his band weave through
the open spaces of these compositions, threading
melodies together in sensitive interplay as
drummer Marcus Gilmore exhibits his impressive
textural range. At the other end of the LP,
faster tempos make this delicate balance harder
to achieve, but Saslow’s strongly written
74 DoWNBEAt JUNE 2012
low haven of Perth beckons, Stephens’ tenor
gliding over Almazan’s bouyant Rhodes—a
kite in the wind. The writing cuts across a wide
emotional range with fine pace, ebb and flow.
“Thicker Than Water” is a haunting tribute to
the leader’s Chinese forbears, Jen Shyu recalling
the vocal purity of Esperanza Spalding
when English lyrics kick in over Oh’s harmonizing
bassoon, perfectly in synch with overdubbed
arco bass. “Mr M” is too balmy to conjure
the turbulent Charles Mingus (Oh sounds
more like Mingus on the Duke Ellington standard
“Come Sunday”), but elsewhere, during
“No.1 Hit” and “Deeper Than Sad,” the propulsive
time and ideas of bassist Avishai Cohen
spring to mind. Royston splashes polyrhythms
before the fade of “No.1 Hit” and contributes
hip cymbal placements on the gloriously doleful
closer.
Weary melismas from tenor and bowed
bass over a shackled, spent piano figure on
“Deeper Than Sad” set the tone, pendulous
backing vocals the oarsmen on a slave ship.
Stephens pipes through up top with the intense
gravitas of Jan Gabarek and goes textural,
inspiring bristling atonality from Almazan,
interspersed with melodica. It’s a powerful
diminuendo, bearing a heavy weight and a
heavy heart, an a propos contrast to the playful
sister track “Deeper Than Happy.”
—Michael Jackson
Initial Here: Ultimate Persona; Something’s Coming/Les Cinq
Doigts; Mr M; No.1 Hit; Thicker Than Water; Little House; Deeper
Than Happy; Desert Island Dream; Come Sunday; Deeper Than
Sad. (56:03)
Personnel: Linda Oh, acoustic/electric bass, bassoon; Dayna Stephens,
tenor sax; Fabian Almazan, piano, Rhodes, melodica; Rudy
Royston, drums; Jen Shyu, vocals (5); Christian Howes, strings (6).
ordering info: greenleafmusic.com
bass patterns move things along when they get
too thick in the middle.
It’s interesting that Saslow chose to make
most of his debut with a guitarist and pianist,
given his club experience in a bass/drums/saxophone
setting, but he only tries that approach
on one song, rather boldly choosing Horace
Silver’s “Lonely Woman.” —Joe Tangari
Crosby Street: Early Riser; Taiga Forest; Lonely Woman; Lucky
13; Crosby Street; How Things Were; Until Next Time. (52:07)
Personnel: Jake Saslow, tenor saxophone; Mike Moreno, guitar;
Fabian Almazan, piano; Joe Martin, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums.
ordering info: jakesaslow.com
Eric Alexander/Vincent herring
Friendly Fire
HIGH NOTE RECORDS 7232
★★★1/2
Friendly Fire, the new live recording from saxophonists
Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring,
sounds like it could have been placed in a time
capsule that was buried in the late ’50s. Joining
the saxophonists on this excellent hard-bop
date are pianist Mike Ledonne, bassist John
Webber and drummer Carl Allen. Recorded in
August 2011 at New York’s Smoke, Friendly
Fire is aptly named, given that the soloists
bring out their big guns, but rather than point
them at each other they aim their sights toward
making a scintillating and fun spirited album.
Herring has an amazing and powerful alto
sound, and his approach is soulful and bluesdrenched.
He sounds a bit like Cannonball
Adderley, but his tone has a little more edge,
it’s a little grainier, and his phrasing is slightly
more relaxed and laid-back than Adderley’s.
Alexander has a somewhat bright tenor
sound, amazing technique, and rips off virtuosic
lines at will. McCoy Tyner’s “Inception”
is a perfect vehicle for Alexander’s Coltraneinspired
pyrotechnics, which Herring complements
nicely with long lyrical phrases.
The tuneful “Sukiyaki,” which has a quasitwo-beat
feel, is one of the disc’s highlights,
as are Hank Mobley’s “Pat ’N’ Chat” and
“Dig Dis.” Each saxophonist has a brief ballad
feature where they are the only soloist—
Herring on “You’ve Changed” and Alexander
on “Mona Lisa.” Friendly Fire concludes with
Herring’s “Timothy,” the album’s lone original.
Beginning with a tender ballad section
by Herring, the tune goes to a medium swing
for the solos and features Alexander slaloming
through the changes. The rhythm section
is solid and Ledonne contributes nice solos
throughout, but Friendly Fire’s focus is placed
almost solely on Herring and Alexander.
—Chris Robinson
Friendly Fire: Pat ’N’ Chat; Sukiyaki; Inception; Dig Dis; You’ve
Changed; Here’s That Rainy Day; Mona Lisa; Timothy. (60:44)
Personnel: Eric Alexander, tenor saxophone; Vincent Herring, alto
saxophone; Mike Ledonne, piano; John Webber, bass; Carl Allen,
drums.
ordering info: jazzdepot.com