Rahsaan Barber - Mosaic

Rahsaan Barber - Mosaic - Jazz Music City

Nashville native Rahsaan Barber brings us over an hour and a half of straight-ahead hard bop on his Jazz Music City label. Barber, an educator, composer, and an authoritative saxophonist on tenor, alto, and baritone horns, leads a rhythm section of pianist Matt Erdahl on piano, Jack Aylor on bass, and Derrek Phillips on drums. Barber's twin brother Roland Barber is added on trombone for five of the sixteen tracks and plays conch shell on one other. Trumpeter Nathan Warner is added for six tracks.

This is quite an impressive double CD album, mainly in the manner of some of the classic Blue Note and Riverside albums of the late fifties through the early seventies. Of note is the quick tempoed "Catch as Ketch Can" with Warner and Barber evoking such bands as Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers or Louis Hayes-Woody Shaw with Barber's sterling tenor sax. Pianist Erdahl is impressive here as well. "The Pink Pirahna" has a prancing groove with Barber displaying his command playing this blues on the baritone. His playing is complemented by brother Roland's equally arresting trombone, with the rhythm section providing a relaxed pulse. "Down in My Soul" sounds like a Ray Charles instrumental with Barber takes us to church, evoking Hank Crawford with Roland's growling trombone recalling Tricky Sam Nanton. Erdahl is a bit spare here, but his deft use of chords in his accompaniment and his short, spare solo is marvelous. Another track in the same vein is "Sunrise Service," with Roland again in a gut-bucket vein. 

Other notable selections include "Just Jack," a brief bass solo that leads into the lovely ballad, "Koala," with Warner displaying his bright, warm tone with a mesmerizing solo from Barber. Brother Roland plays the conch shell adding to the serenity engendered by "Jambo Rafiki." "Swang That Thank' is a spirited hard bop burner with Warner followed by the calm, dreaming "The Mountain and the Clouds" with Roland Barber again singing with his trombone. Barber plays alto and tenor simultaneously on the short "Newdayrocks." "NaDJe And The Snow" is a gorgeous ballad showcasing pianist Erdahl. 

"Mosaic" closes with the elegiac "Breonna Taylor (How Many More?)." It is a haunting quartet performance whose title should be self-explanatory. It is a coda to an outstanding recording by a first-rate saxophonist-composer and a terrific band.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a video for "Panic Point" from this album.

Jontavious Willis Spectacular Class

Jontavious Willis
Spectacular Class
Kind of Blue Music

I became familiar with Jontavious Willis on a blues forum on Facebook. Initially, I watched videos of him performing songs from Frankie Lee Sims and Willie Baker that was astonishing to see someone so young perform and sing with such skill and expressiveness. He is also as much a scholar of the blues as he is a person who is creating his own vision of traditionally rooted blues. His self-produced recording "Blue Metamorphosis" was found to be the Outstanding Self-Produced Blues Album by the Blues Foundation. In the interim period, he has become more prominent and came under the wing of Taj Mahal and Keb Mo with whom he has opened shows. In fact, Taj Mahal is the Executive Producer and Keb Mo the producer of this recording.

As a preface to this review, I did not share the enthusiasm that many had towards Blue Metamorphosis. While enjoying his performances, I was not enthused about the songs and lyrics on most of that. That is not the case with this release. Perhaps it is result of the mentoring and production by Taj Mahal and Keb Mo. Whatever the reason, his song lyrics here strike me as more developed and stronger. This release also has a variety of musical settings for Willis, with some backing him with an ensemble and a couple find him solo. A variety of individuals are heard backing him. The most significant of these are Andrew Alli on harmonica, 'Keb 'Mo on electric guitar, Eric Ramey on bass, Phil Madeira on keyboards and banjo, Martin Lynds or Thaddeus Witherspoon on drums, Roland Barber on trombone and Doug Mosher on clarinet.

The opening "Low Down Ways" is a solid small ensemble blues making use of the "44 Blues" riff with nice organ behind him. "The Blues Is Dead" opens with Madeira's piano before Willis enters on slide guitar as he talks about scratching his head about people saying blues is dead singing that blues ain't going nowhere so long as people have situations and problems on their mind. In addition to a nice piano solo, and Willis' rhythmically charged slide Alli adds some nice harmonica in the tight small group performance. "Resting On My Mind" is another song where he wraps his lyric around a traditional blues musical groove. It is a heartfelt blues lament that is warmly sung with a lovely, clean guitar solo.

Willis takes us to the Delta for "Daddy's Dough," singing about a woman who took his dough and now soured on poor Jontavious. His playing here evokes Willie Brown and there is fine harmonica backing. "Country" is a superb acoustic blues in the manner of Blind Boy Fuller and Buddy Moss in which he celebrates the pleasures of country living. "Long Winded Woman," is a gently swinging performance change of pace with its relaxed pace in the manner of some 40s Bluebird recordings. Mosher's clarinet and Barber's tailgate trombone in the accompaniment contribute to this feel.

"Friend Zone Blues," a lament about a woman who won't take Willis' advances, is spoiled by a heavy-handed drummer who plays with the nuance of a drum machine. This is the only blemish on what is otherwise a terrific recording by a bluesman who may be traditionally rooted but taking the music into the present.

I received as a download from a publicist.  Here is a video of Jontavious and Andrew Alli.

An d here Jontavious performs Frankie Lee Sims' Lucy Mae Blues.