This recent offering from Gary Burton is an excellent combination of old and new musical forces. Guitarist Julian Lage turns in several tasteful solos, and drummer Antonio Sanchez never overuses his abundant technique. His accompaniment is both extremely imaginative and compelling. Burton is the master whose consistent lyricism combines with an advanced rhythmic approach to transcend his instrument, and his recent and vintage compositions on this CD provide fertile common ground indeed. Finally, this recording has a distinctly organic sound to it, without the slickness of some of Burton's GRP offerings. The guitar sounds partly acoustic and electric, the bass is rich in texture and warm throughout, and the detail in Sanchez' playing is clear at all dynamics.
Charles Tolliver "New Tolliver"
This live quartet recording really has two stars. trumpeter Tolliver, whose fiery and angular solos show how strong and powerful his playing was in 1977, and drummer Alvin Queen, whose relentless energy and copious imagination is vibrantly displayed in every tempo and rhythmic groove he provides. Even though it's a live recording and the mix varies from track to track, the instruments have an immediate presence and energy that makes for exciting listening. A couple of the tunes seem long, but there is enough variety in the solos to allow one to hang on.
Johnny Scott "From Now On"
This gem from the past is the first collaboration between vocalist Scott and Montreal pianist Geoff Lapp, a musical relationship that developed for years on a steady gig at "Biddles." The band here contained some of Montreals' best jazz players at the time; saxophonist Janis Steprans, bassist Ron Seguin and drummer Camil Belisle. The arrangements by Lapp of mostly standards are simple yet effective, and even though the audio quality of this CD is generally poor, there is no denying the richness and power of Scott's vocals, and Geoff Lapp's unique and complimentary piano accompaniment and soloing.
No comments:
Post a Comment