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Jon Mayer
Nightscape
RESERVOIR MUSIC 197
AA 1 /2
Nothing satisfies like a
well-executed musical
performance … except,
maybe, a night out for
dinner. Of course, it’s
one thing to celebrate a
special occasion at some
top-of-the-line establishment. Think of these
events as the gustatory equivalent of, say, catching
a young Miles Davis at Newport in 1958.
More often, we’ll settle for comfort and familiarity.
A neighborhood cafe, maybe even part of
a restaurant chain, a burger instead of boeuf
bourguignon—that’s good, too, and usually it’s
enough to send us home with a smile.
That is what Nightscape brings to mind.
Throughout this outing, Mayer, Rufus Reid and
Roy McCurdy dish up several satisfying courses
of post-bop performance, with taste and style.
Each is an outstanding team player, with Mayer
assuming the prominence that traditionally
devolves to the pianist but plenty of room for his
colleagues to step out both in accompaniment
and solo moments, including Reid’s marvelously
fluid lines on “Once I Loved.”
The ingredients balance well: When Mayer
takes his right-hand line a little outside on his
tune “Blues Junction,” Reid and McCurdy fall
back into a straighter groove, a little less free
and interactive than they might be during the
head or recapitulation. When he plays a brief
ascending series of chords during “Rapture,” it
takes the bass and drums only one iteration
54 DOWNBEAT April 2010
before they track his triplet
rhythm together; later in the
same piece, they do it again as
Mayer plays a descending line,
in effect book-ending that segment
of his solo.
This, of course, is how small
groups are supposed to play,
with everyone listening and
locking in on the spur of the
moment. But more is required
to turn a satisfactory performance
into a pièce de résistance, and that extra
something is missing here. Part of the problem
becomes apparent when Mayer blows through a
long series of choruses; the more he digs into
Horace Silver’s “Room 608,” the more apparent
his hesitancies become, with unevenness even in
repetition of a simple 16th-note figure, a few
fudged notes during attempts at faster passages
and a feeling that he’s playing behind the beat
not as a phrasing decision but because that’s
what he can manage. These same issues persist
even at a mellower clip, as on “Dancing In The
Dark,” not to the point of losing the groove but
never driving it to a higher level, either.
In harmonically denser settings, though, and
in his introspective interpretation of Fred
Lacey’s “Theme For Ernie,” Mayer’s insightful
maturity is easier to savor. And taken as a
whole, Nightscape does deliver a pleasing if not
gourmet experience. —Robert L. Doerschuk
Nightscape: The Touch Of Your Lips; Blues Junction; Day By Day;
Nightscape; Rapture; Room 608; Dancing In The Dark; Bohemia
After Dark; Theme For Ernie; Once I Loved; So In Love. (59:06)
Personnel: Jon Mayer, piano; Rufus Reid, bass; Roy McCurdy,
drums.
Ordering info: reservoirmusic.com
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Christian Wallumrød
Ensemble
Fabula Suite Lugano
ECM 2118 2711269
AAAA
The Norwegian pianist and composer Christian
Wallumrød has long explored unexpected and
self-devised intersections of improvisation,
Scandinavian folk and classical music, and with
this latest salvo his creations have never sounded
more bewitching and elusive. Between the wonderfully
peculiar instrumentation of this sextet—
which reflects those three discreet musical
worlds, and now features the superb young trumpeter
Eivind Lønning ably filling the big shoes of
Arve Henriksen—and malleable arrangements
that brilliantly use deeply varied timbral combinations,
the luminescent sound of the group is
practically enough to dazzle the ears for hours.
But Wallumrød’s slippery compositional style
ultimately gives the group its real depth.
His familiarity with and his ensemble’s facility
for various traditions prevents Fabula Suite
Lugano from sounding like a series of glib mashups.
From “Quote Funebre” which nicks terse,
isolated melodic cells from compositions by
Morton Feldman and Olivier Messiaen to sculpt
a meticulously pitched minimalist delicacy, or
the two versions of “Jumpa,” where an improvised
melodic phrase created in rehearsal is built
into a piece suggesting a Swedish folk dance
played by a baroque ensemble, the pieces work
because the various traditions are all treated with
respect, even when they’re deliciously subverted.
A number of short improvisations—solos by
percussionist Per Oddvar Johansen and the
pianist, and duets by Lønning and fiddler
Gjermund Larsen and cellist Tanja Orning and
harpist Giovanna Pessi—fit neatly within the
track sequencing, further complementing the
experiments with scale undertaken in pieces like
“Solemn Mosquitoes” and “Pling,” where vivid
contrasts in density add a subtle layer of drama.
—Peter Margasak
Fabula Suite Lugano: Solemn Mosquitos; Pling; Drum; Jumpa;
Dancing Deputies; Quote Funebre; Scariatti Sonata; Snake; Knit;
Duo; I Had A Mother Who Could Swim; Blop; The Gloom And
The Best Man; Jumpa #2; Valse Dolcissima; Glissando;
Mosquito Curtain Call; Solo. (65:10)
Personnel: Christian Wallumrød, piano, harmonium, toy piano;
Eivind Lønning, trumpet; Gjermund Larsen, violin, hardanger fiddle,
viola; Tanja Orning, cello; Giovanna Pessi, baroque harp; Per
Oddvar Johansen, drums, percussion, glockenspiel.
Ordering info: ecmrecords.com
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