Steve Hobbs Tribute To Bobby

Steve Hobbs
Tribute To Bobby
Challenge Records

Marimba / vibes veteran Steve Hobbs has dedicated this new recording to Bobby Hutcherson who mentored him as a young player. The dedication came after Hutcherson's recent death shortly after this program of mostly originals by Hobbs that encompass modern mainstream examples of post bop, Latin, Funk, Calypso, and the such. Emphasis on this date is on the woodier marimba. He is joined by a terrific band including Adam Kolker on saxes, Bill O’Connell on piano, Peter Washington on bass and John Riley on drums. Hobbs himself in the booklet elaborates on the renditions of ten originals and three covers.

On the opening "The Craving Performance," one observes how tight the rhythm section is as Washington's firm bass anchors this lively swinger. Kolker's tough tenor solo is followed by Hobbs on marimba on a solo displaying imagination as well as precision. "Into the Storm" opens with Riley's drums and a short period of controlled chaos between marimba and piano. It transitions to a 5/4 on an animated performance with several metric changes and superb piano from O'Connell. On the wonderful interpretation of "Besame Mucho," Hobbs states that he "wanted a West African Naningo feel … ." This is a quartet performance with his marimba lending more of a Caribbean than Afro-Cuban flavor. Both O'Connell and Hobbs are spectacular while Washington and Riley are superb throughout. Kolker returns with authority on the vibrant, driving "New Creation," followed by Hobbs who states Hutcherson's influence on him is perhaps most evident here. Washington also solos on this selection.

The breezy latin-flavored "Tres Vias" has Kolker on soprano with a serpentine solo, followed by the lovely "Millie," with nice brush work from Riley and then, "Thelonious Funk," which has a playful, funky tone. "The Road to Happy Destiny" is a a gospel-rock-R&B flavored song having lyrics about hope and service where the backing track was recorded first and the vocals added later (including a brief scat solo). Then comes a reflective rendition of Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind," a punchy latin-flavored "El Sueno de Horace Silver," with hot mallets and tenor sax. "In From the Storm," is a pop-flavored composition  having a light bossa nova groove, and vocals. It is followed by an ebullient calypso romp, "Let's Go To Abaco!"

The quartet has a brisk take on the Rodgers and Hart standard "Where or When," that is kicked off by Riley, before Hobbs' sterling marimba solo with Riley taking a crisp, drum solo. It concludes this recording in an impressive manner.

I received from my review copy from a publicist. I have edited, for clarity, the review that appeared in the November-December 2017 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 375).
 

Brooklyn Jazz Underground Ensemble's Fond Portrait Of Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is a cooperative association of jazz artists who aim to build a greater awareness of original music emerging from Brooklyn, NY. Five of the members have collaborated on a new recording A Portrait of Brooklyn on the association’s sister company, Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. The members forming the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Ensemble are David Smith (trumpet), Adam Kolker (tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute), Dan Pratt (tenor sax, clarinet, flute), Anne Mette Iversen (bass) and Rob Garcia (drums). In addition to being excellent musicians, instrumentalists and band leaders, each contributed two compositions to this recording. While the compositions are inspired by Brooklyn, this recording does not attempt to define the Borough.

Listening to the performances here, one is impressed by not simply the compositions and playing, but also the ensemble work. One might suggest several influences of the overall sound including the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet, and such post-Ornette influenced groups as Old Dreams and New Dreams. Ornette's influence perhaps is most evident on Kolker’s JV, a selection that evokes Ornette’s classic groups (and Kolker’s alto saxophone here echoes Coleman’s blues-infused tone). Smith’s trumpet provides a nice contrast while Pratt plays in a bit more gutbucket fashion. If not sounding like a previously unrecorded Coleman composition, Smith’s Starr St. is a lively original in the post-Ornette vein. Kolker is strong on alto here (not sounding like Coleman) and also adds bass clarinet to the ensemble passages. Garcia’s playing is especially strong here, including during Smith’s solo.


Garcia’s “King” is a strong free-bop performance with a solo from Pratt along with nice supporting riffs by the other horns. Iversen provides a firm anchor as Garcia propels the performance along. Pratt’s Buttermilk Channel is built upon an intriguing motif stated by Kolker on bass clarinet. Garcia’s other original is the lovely, wistful 1898 (the title referrs to the year the City of Brooklyn became part of the City of New York), with thoughtful and lovely playing by Smith as Pratt provides embellishments under the solos.

Iversen’s Osgood in Brooklyn has imaginative interplay between the horns while Garcia’s The Hill is a toe-tapping performance with excellent playing by him as well as from Kolker on tenor. Pratt’s The Cyclone (named after the famed Coney island roller coaster) closes this recording in a hard bop vein, conjuring up some of Woody Shaw’s compositions and recordings. A Portrait of Brooklyn is an excellent collection of first-rate original compositions and terrific playing.

For more information visit http://www.bjurecords.com/artistsBJU.html. I received my review copy from a publicist.

Brooklyn Jazz Underground's Diverse Modern Jazz

I had been listening for several months to “Brooklyn Jazz Underground, Volume 4.” This is one of several compilations of performances by some of today’s modern jazz performers who call Brooklyn home. BJU is a collective of composers and musicians who operate in a similar manner to Chicago’s AACM, and other similar groups, enabling BJU to showcase their own music. In addition to producing recordings, they have produced festivals to showcase the BJU performers.

This sampler provides a sample of the musical range within the BJU. The collection opens up with “Cataldo One” by Danish bassist Anne Mette Iversen, a rousing hard bop number with some tenor sax from Jerome Sabbagh and piano from Danny Grissett. It is followed by Adam Kolker’s strutting “Flag Day,” from a new Sunnyside album, with a band that includes John Abercombrie and drummer Paul Motion. Kolker’s dry tenor sax is very appealing to these ears and complemented by Abercombrie’s chords and single note runs. Just these two numbers one provide the listener with a sense of the variety to be heard. I am not going to run down all eight selections, but simply mention three more. Sunny Jain Collective is led by drummer and composer, Sunny Jain, and the track “Avaaz,” from the album of the same name mixes the sounds of his native India including sitar guitar and the vocals of Samita Sinha, with Steve Welsh’s emphatic tenor saxophone creating a wonderful blend of sounds. Another drummer, Rob Garcia, contributed the fascinating “Little Trees,” opening with some free sounding piano from Dan Tepfer, before tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger engages in some call and response with Tepfer as drummer Garcia and bassist Chris Lightcap answer and provide a responsive foundation.“After,” by tenor saxophonist Dan Pratt, is composition that evokes some of Abdullah Ibrahim’s ballads. The group that includes trombonist Alan Ferber, organist Jared Gold and drummer Mark Ferber, and opens with the leader’s bluesy saxophone and there is strong interplay here between Pratt and trombonist Alan Ferber.

“Brooklyn Jazz Underground, Volume 4” is a marvelous introduction to these independent and inspired musicians. BJU also has a series of podcasts where the musicians discuss their music at length from influences to their present objectives. This can be downloaxded from their website, www.brooklynjazz.org, and this writer has them on his itunes. Also listening to this sampler, has led to the purchase of several albums by these performers. More information on the artists and the recordings can be found on the BJU website and many of these artists have recordings available on cdbaby.


The review copy (or downloads) was sent by the publicity firm for the Brooklyn Jazz Underground.