Thelonious Monk Palo Alto

Thelonious Monk
Palo Alto
Impulse!

Much has been written about the circumstances that led Thelonious Monk to perform at a California High School while Monk and his quartet were appearing at a San Francisco club. You can look up stories in the New York Times and other sources, or the liner notes for this fascinating 1968 Concert recording that has been released after a short delay. In any event, Monk was with his quartet of Larry Gales on bass, Charlie Rouse on tenor sax and Ben Riley on drums for an afternoon set.

A gorgeous rendition of "Ruby My Dear" opens and the highly underrated Rouse sounds wonderful as Monk lays down his unusual accompanying accents and unique solo. This is followed by a length rendition of "Well You Needn't" that Rouse opens with a lengthy solo. Monk follows with a solo displaying his distinctive note and chord placements while Riley dances with the groove before soloing himself. It is an exhilarating performance followed Monk playing a remarkable solo piano rendition of "Don't Blame Me," that displays his stride piano roots. The full Quartet returns for a swinging, "Blue Monk," the afternoon's lengthiest performance with all the members soloing. A crisply, energetic "Epistrophy" follows before the concert (and this recording) closes with a lovely solo piano rendition of "I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams."

This must have been a wonderful afternoon (the full details are included in the accompanying booklet) and the music still sounds fresh and contemporary 52 years after it was performed. Monk lives.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is the Thelonious Monk Quartet from another performance playing "Round Midnight."

Shabaka & The Ancestors We Are Sent Here By History

Shabaka & The Ancestors
We Are Sent Here By History
Impulse!

The partnership between British-Bahamian saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader, Shabaka Hutchings, and a group of South African musicians has produced one of the most intriguing and gripping jazz recordings of recent years. Besides Hutchings' tenor saxophone and clarinet, other members of the band are Mthunzi Mvubu – Alto Sax, Siyabonga Mthembu – Vocals, Ariel Zamonsky – Double bass, Gontse Makhene – Percussion, and Tumi Mogorosi – Drums. Nduduzo Makhathini and Thandi Ntuli guest on piano, while Mandla Mlangeni contributes on trumpet.

This album is conceptualized as an hour-long sonic poem, with lyrics written and performed by Siyabonga Mthembu and spoken, sung, chanted, and rapped by Mthembu. In Hutchings' words, it is "a meditation on the fact of our coming extinction as a species. It is a reflection from the ruins, from the burning. a questioning of the steps to be taken in preparation for our transition individually and societally if the end is to be seen as anything but a tragic defeat." Further, it is a reflection "[f]or those lives lost and cultures dismantled by centuries of western expansionism, capitalist thought and white supremacist structural hegemony … ."

This recording is a powerful musical statement opening with "They Who Must Die," a mesmerizing African rhythmic vamp over which Hutchings comes off with the energy of an Archie Shepp with Mvubu weaving in and around his muscular lines as Mthembu shouts and chants. Mthembu and Makhene this spellbinding groove, which fades into the relative calm of "You've Been Called,' where Mthembu recites the lyrics about being sent by history and recitation of the crimes committed by colonialism. time seems suspended with Makheme's use of small percussive instruments providing a background before a piano brings the full group in with the two saxophonists playfully dueting as Mthembu sings, "You are here on history's call."

There is much for the listener to take in on what might be described as a spiritual journey. Despite being a meditation on human extinction, listening to "Go My Heart, Go To Heaven," one can't help but fill stirred and have some hopes from ashes of the present the brighter future might come about. There is the jubilant percussion along with Hutchings' woody clarinet and Mvubu's alto sax on "Run the Darkness Will Pass." There are also moments of free jazz, such as the beginning of "Beasts Too Spoke of Suffering," that evokes the ecstasy of Albert and Donald Ayler. Mandla Mlangeni's fiery trumpet makes a deep impression here.

The rest of "We Are Sent Here By History" is equally enthralling. Shabaka and the Ancestors play with passion and personality, resulting in one of the most compelling musical statements of the year.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is a video for "Go My Heart, Go To Heaven."

 

Charlie Watts Meets The Danish Radio Big Band

Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts Meets The Danish Radio Big Band
Impulse!/Verve

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts always has a love of jazz and his Tentet's live recording at the famed London club, Ronnie Scott's is just one instance of this. In 2010 he spent several days with the Danish Radio Big Band and presented a concert at the then newly opened Concert Hall of Denmark in Copenhagen that was broadcast on Danish National Radio and now has been made available on CD. The promotional materials I received do not include personnel or identify the various instrumentalists besides Watts and bassist Dave Green.

The performance with "Elvin Suite" that Watts cowrote with Jim Keltner, This two-part tribute to Elvin Jones," opens with a lush, lovely initial part with marvelous arranging of the horns around a deliberately played and paced guitar solo and some marvelous harmonies surrounding short trumpet and trombone leads and a bass solo leads into some growling trombone. The second part picks up the groove as Watts evokes Jones with percussion support before some robust tenor saxophone over percussion before the full band joins in to add to the heat.

Watts leads with a funk-bossa nova groove for "Faction," his reworking of the Stones' signature tune "Satisfaction," with marvelous trumpet with the guitar accompanying with short bursts and chords. It is fascinating how Watts added to the original melody here while keeping its basic structure. There is also another fervent tenor sax solo and husky baritone sax with the very imaginative scoring of the other horns. It is one of three Stones numbers heard here. The Stones original "You Can't Always Get What You Want" had an orchestral and choral setting, so it is not surprising it is transformed into a big band setting with a bit of funk in the groove and greasy organ (with a horn riff in the arrangement that evokes Cannonball Adderly's recording of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.") with strong trumpet and a swirling soprano sax solo. "Paint It Black" becomes a jazz ballad with the guitarist setting for the song, evoking the lyrics as the horns provide varying colors as he snakes his playing through this.

"I Should Care," is a lovely, almost dreamy performance with some wonderful mid-range trumpet and trombone while the closing "Molasses" is a rollicking, high stepping blues in the vein of "Night Train" and similar instrumentals with more sinewy tenor sax (like Jimmy Forrest playing with the 70s Basie Band), growling trombone, and organ trading riffs with the horns with the intensity building before the horns cool things to close out this very striking recording that shows that the Stones' drummer is much more than a rocker.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is a short video of Charlie Watts with The Danish Radio Big Band.

Lee Konitz Frescalalto

Lee Konitz
Frescalalto
Impulse!

This is a stunning new album by Lee Konitz with a stellar rhythm section of Kenny Barron on piano, Kenny Washington on drums and Peter Washington on bass on a collection of standards that allows the alto saxophone legend to display his fruitful improvisatory skills. "Stella by Starlight" opens with Konitz playing briefly unaccompanied before the rhythm enters and both Barron and Peter Washington take choice solos along with the leader's own dry, slightly sour alto. Konitz's original "Thingin'" also allows his band to shine along with his unpredictable and fresh playing, even avoiding cliches when trading fours with Kenny Washington while the performance fades at close.

A trio record of Barron with this rhythm section would be heaven enough, but add Konitz's alto and you have some magic. Unexpectedly, Konitz scats backed by piano to open "Darn That Dream" before taking an alto solo and then scats after Barron's lovely playing on this duet. The Washingtons return on the swinging "Kary's Trance," "Out of Nowhere" provides another showcase for Konitz's ability to take a familiar number and delight us with his unexpected and fresh improvisation and then scats an improvisation between solos from Peter and Kenny.

After a lovely Konitz ballad, "Gundala," where his lyricism is on full display, there is a superb rendition of the Kaper Bronislaw and Paul Francis Webster classic "Invitation" before the album closes with "Cherokee." Rather than the breakneck tempo "Cherokee" usually is played at, Konitz leads the quartet in a medium walking tempo as he hints at its melodic theme before Kenny Barron accelerates things with a fiery break followed by Kenny Washington's explosive drum break and then the pace slows down with Konitz's reentry. This "Cherokee is a fresh, imaginative end to a fabulous recording.

I received a review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the March-April 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 371), although I have made minor changes from that review. Here is Konitz playing "Cherokee" from a few years ago.