Steve Gadd Band - At Blue Note Tokyo

Steve Gadd Band - At Blue Note Tokyo - BFM Jazz

This 2019 live recording from the Blue Note in Tokyo showcases the groove-master Steve Gadd. Gadd is, of course, well-known for his presence on many well-known recordings by the likes of Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Al Di Meola, and Paul Simon. While Gadd has produced his share of super-intricate, challenging music throughout his five-decade career, on this live date, he was strictly laying a groove in the pocket. He says, "I just love to groove. It's all about just sharing something that feels good." On this recording, he is joined by his band of Walt Fowler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Kevin Hayes on keyboards and vocals, Jimmy Johnson on bass. David Spinozza replaced Gadd's regular guitarist Michael Landau during the Tokyo engagement. 

One should not be surprised that this is a well-played fusion-tinged recording with some feet tapping music starting with "Where's Earth?" from Hays, Landau, and Duke Gadd. It showcases Fowler's evocative muted trumpet, Hays keyboards, and Spinozza's thoughtful guitar playing. Spinozza contributed a lovely Caribbean-laced ballad which Fowler's lyrical trumpet while Hays contributes a vibes-sounding background. There is more Latin flavor on Fowler's "Timpanogos," which is followed by Spinozza's blues "Hidden Drive," a moody performance benefiting from the unhurried, thoughtful playing from the band members. There is also a marvelously atmospheric rendition of the Crusaders' "Way Back Home," which may be the high point of this recording.

Jimmy Johnson's Latin-jazz composition "One Point Five," is the only performance on which Gadd takes a solo, following solid playing from Fowler and Hays. Hays sings on two songs, including a rollicking treatment of Bob Dylan's "Watching the River Flow," that closes this tasteful and very appealing recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist.com. Here is an earlier performance of "Way Back Home" by the Steve Gadd Band.

Avishai Cohen Big Vicious

Avishai Cohen
Big Vicious
ECM

Speaking of his new album "Big Vicious," Israeli trumpeter Avishai Cohen states that the recording reaches far beyond jazz. "We're all coming from jazz, but some of us left it earlier. Everyone's bringing in their backgrounds, and that becomes part of the sound of the band." Textures from electronica, ambient music and psychedelia are part of the musical blend, as are grooves and beats from rock, pop, trip-hop and more.

The album title also reflects the name of the group heard on this. Joining Cohen, who plays trumpet and synthesizer, and provides effects, are guitarist Uzi Ramirez, guitarist/bassist Jonathan Albalak, drummer Aviv Cohen, and drummer Ziv Ravitz. About this group, Ravitz observed that "In the combination of everything, this is a magical group. It's very special because you would expect it to explode, with total drama. But the music is deep, and very melodic."

There is a mix of repeated grooves and Cohen's inquisitive lyrical trumpet. Guitarist Ramirez (who I assume he takes most of the solos) has his own melodic qualities. "Hidden Chamber" is a fascinating number that also includes Ravitz's sampling of some speeches at the close. "King Kutner" has an album rock groove with the mix of searing guitar lines as well as effects, and Cohen's soaring trumpet quite engaging. Then there is a haunting interpretation of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," with Cohen's melancholy trumpet over the trebly guitar backing. "Fractals" has an intriguing mix of a synthesizer with various effects, including the use of echo that lends an ethereal quality to Cohen's trumpet. The textures the ensemble creates adds to the mesmerizing quality here. The variety of moods is further displayed by the alluring guitar interplay on "The Things You Tell Me," with Cohen adding atmospheric trumpet midway.

The sound of this recording is superb, as one expects with ECM. The music on "Big Vicious" has grown on this listener with repeated listening with Cohen's evocative trumpet, and the mesmerizing background provided that results in some stunning music.

I received a download to review from a publicist. Here is "Teardrop" from Big Vicious.

Infinite Spirit Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band

Infinite Spirit
Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band
FMR Records

Pianist Bob Gluck authored "You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band” (University of Chicago Press, 2012), and in the course of writing the book had conversations with the members of this legendary band. This was inspiration for Infinite Spirit, a quartet that includes Gluck on piano and electronics, Christopher Dean Sullivan on bass, and members of the Mwandishi Band, Eddie Henderson on trumpet and Billy Hart on drums on three songs from that band, one number that is interlaced with a Gluck original and an original from Sullivan.

There have been a number of recent recordings that have reexamined similar music of this period in an acoustic manner. This release is partly (and most successfully) in that manner. Hancock played an electronic piano (Fender Rhodes) on some of the originals from this period, while Gluck adds to this an array of electronic sounds. It is a combination that to my mind is not completely successful. I mean listening to the wonderful development of Hancock's motif's on "Sleeping Giant" from Gluck on piano along with the haunting playing of Henderson as well as Hart's superb drumming (and Sullivan is a rock on bass) gets mesmerizing until about three/fourths of the way through one is assaulted with electronic effects that overwhelm the listener. Much better is the poignant performance of "You'll Know When You Get There," as well as "Quasar" in which there are sound effects layered among the performance, but do not overwhelm Henderson's marvelous playing over the ostinato bass, Gluck's chords and Hart's shifting groove. The electronics sound more integrated into the opening of "Spirits Unleashed," another display of Henderson's ability to paint a mood, and then some musical fireworks between him and Gluck with the electronic effects at the end again not overwhelming the musicians. And while the original "Water Torture" employed electronics, it was employed more successfully on the original where it was employed like an instrument and not simply sonic effects.

An intriguing recording but the electronics at times is a distraction and even unlistenable, particularly on the first of the five tracks. This is unfortunate because there is much here that is compelling.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the March-April 2016 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 365). Here is a promo video for this album.

Ricardo Bacelar Concerto Para Moviola

Ricardo Bacelar
Concerto Para Moviola
Bacelar Produções

This new album by the Brazilian pianist, composer, and arranger Ricardo Bacelar, puts jazz fusion of the 1970s and 1980s in the spotlight as it documents a performance specially produced for the traditional Guaramiranga Jazz and Blues Festival, held annually in Guaramiranga, Brazil, during the renowned Carnival celebration. Recorded at the Via Sul Theatre, "Concerto para Moviola" showcases Bacelar’s deep fascination with ’70s and ’80s jazz fusion, as he is heard on a blend of analog synthesizers, Brazilian music, and acoustic piano with his band that included guitar, saxophones and flute, violin along with a rhythm section and percussion. Mixed in are classics from the jazz-fusion sphere from Joe Zawinul Pat Metheny and Bob Mintzer of the Yellowjackets, several jazz standards from Benny Golson and Horace Silver, along with several Brazilian gems from Jobim, Egberto Gismonti and Ivans Lins and several original compositions from the leader.

Its a pretty varied and lively program and Bacelar and his ensemble transverse his brief lively warm-up number "Cordillera," which leads into a driving rendition of the Weather Report classic "Birdland." Benny Golson's classic "Killer Joe," employs Quincy Jones' arrangement and receives a funky reworking with Marcio Resende ripping a hot tenor sax solo.There is a dreamy feel to the treatment of Metheny's "So May It Secretly Begin," which is followed by the strident Mintzer composed "March Majestic," with some bluesy tenor followed by the soft fusion take on Michel Legrand's "The Windmills of Your Mind" with Resende almost whispering on the sax while Marcus Vinicius Cardoso's violin is quite striking, and is followed by an intriguing "Senor Blues," with percolating percussion on an adaptation of David Sanborn's arrangement.

"Moviola" is a lovely original named after an cinema editing machine and has a lovely waltz-like feel. Several Brazilian classics include the somber rendition of the Buarque-Jobin "Sabiá"; the lovely Gismonti-Carneiro composition "Palhaço," with lovely violin as well as piano; the breezy "Setembro" from Ivan Lins/Vitor Martins/Gilson Peranzzetta; and "Água de Beber," one of the greatest of all of Jobim's songs (co-written with Vinicius de Moraes) with marvelous flute and violin along with the crisp, bouncy ensemble playing. Bacelar's "Apartheid Blues," is a nice blues interpretation with guitarist Ronaldo Pessoa takes off on a blues-rock solo that suggests John Scofeld before Bacelar adds his own jazzy take on the blues.

Chick Corea influenced Bacelar and an energetic take on Corea's "Blues Miles" closes this document of one night's performance with Bacelar on electric piano and solos from Resende and Pessoa. It concludes a live recording mixing a variety of material with a certain freshness in approach and performance.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the July-August jazz & Blues Report (Issue 367). Here is "Killer Joe" from this performance.

Global Noize Reimagines Sly and the Family Stone

The music of Sly and the Family Stone was innovative and has influenced so many artists. Sly Stone's music's impact can still be heard today. Reflecting this influence is an extraordinary release by Global Noize, Sly Reimagined on the Zoho Roots label that shows how Sly and the Family Stone remain contemporary. 

Jason Miles is the instigator (along with DJ Logic) behind Global Noize and this release.  Jason came to notice with his groundbreaking synth programming for Miles Davis’ ‘80s recordings Tutu, Music from Siesta and Amandla, and later contributed to a genre-crossing array of artists as well as a variety of legacy-based dedications to Marvin Gaye, Ivan Lins, Vandross, and Grover Washington. Miles, a visionary conceptualist, producer, arranger, composer and keyboard wizard, has organized this tribute to the legendary Sly and the Family Stone with a remarkable group of contemporary singers and musicians including, but not limited to) (b DJ Logic; vocalists Nona Hendryx; Roberta Flack; Fatu; Maya Azucena; and Mike Mattison; guitarist Will Bernard; trumpeters Ingrid Jensen and Barry Danielian; saxophonists Jay Rodriguez and Ron Holloway; bassist Amanda Ruzza; and drummer Greg Errico (Sly’s original drummer).

Miles first saw Sly and the Family Stone opening for Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and has been listening and playing their music over the past 40 + years. As he writes in the liner notes “Making an album of Sly’s music has been on my mind for over a decade. I saw the opportunity to reintroduce this great music and re-imagine Sly’s music for 21st century sensibilities.” Sly’s original music itself transcended categories while contributing to the development of funk and fusion. His original recordings still have a freshness to them. What Miles has done here is to provide a broad musical palette in rendering some of the classic songs that Sly left us, fusing, funk, jazz and hip hop for the stirring musical results.

What one hears is Sly’s music that captures the spirit of Sly’s originals without imitating them. Perhaps it is the presence of Errico on the opening Time who sets forth the groove as Nona Hendryx handles the vocal. Ingrid Jensen channels Miles Davis with her trumpet behind the vocals of Roberta Flack (mostly repeating the title) and James D Train Williams on It’s a Family Affair, while Jay Rodriguez takes a couple of tenor sax breaks. This performance is one of two presented here in two separate mixes, and in both cases illustrate the skill Jason Miles has in mixing the various musical elements together. I was not familiar with Maya Azucena, but her vocal on Fun set against a tough funk groove really got my attention, and her vocals on You Can Make It If You Try, (shared with James D Train Williams) and Stand, are equally outstanding. Rodriguez does some serious bar walking on his sax during You Can Make It If You Try, on which Jensen is heard playing without a mute. 

I don’t want to slight the leader’s keyboards either. Not only did he organize this and create the arrangements of the songs, but his playing also is an integral part of these terrific performances.  Sly Reimagined shows how contemporary Sly and the Family Stone's music remains today. Just like Sly's original recordings, this is serious musical fun for listening and partying..

I received my review copy from a publicist. I note that today (when this is posted) will be a CD release event at Joe's Pub in New York City.