The Joy of Live Music : Marvin Stamm and Mike Holober Quartet "Live at Maureen's Jazz Cellar"

 

                                       Live @ Maureen's Jazz Cellar Marvin Stamm, Mike Holober, Mike McGuirk and Dennis Mackrel 

It is always a pleasure when a group of musicians possesses that “special sauce," that complementary talent, awareness, and ability to align their individual efforts and perform as one beautifully purposeful unit. It is even more conducive to success when you get a chance to play/record in a welcoming, intimate setting in front of a knowledgeable and appreciative audience. This happened this past December, pre-Covid, in the unassuming jazz venue Maureen’s Jazz Cellar, located on the west side bank of the Hudson River, in the town of Nyack, NY.

The group is comprised of the trumpeter/flugelhornist Marvin Stamm, the pianist Mike Holober, upright bassist Mike McGuirk and the drummer Dennis Mackrel. They brought their alchemy and recorded this new album simply titled Live @ Maureen’s Jazz Cellar. The music recorded, is a collection of five thoughtful and modernly navigated jazz gems from composers like  Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Bronislau Kaper and Jerome Kern, and includes two gorgeous originals written by the pianist, Mike Holober.

Dennis Mackrel, Mike McGuirk, Mike Holober, and Marvin Stamm

My exposure to the trumpeter/flugelhornist Marvin Stamm goes back to the early eighties when I first saw him playing as a guest artist with the house band- drummer Billy LaVorgna and the English pianist Derek Smith- at a little now-defunct club called the Foxes Liar in Hackensack, N.J. Stamm always impressed me with his fluid facility, his sensuous tone, especially on the flugelhorn, and his unerring melodic and harmonic sense. Years later I heard him with pianist Billy Mays’ The Inventions Trio, which included cellist Alisa Horn on a marvelous album titled Fantasy from 2007. This was a musical hybrid, a chamber/jazz crossover, that brought out Stamm’s facile expressiveness, utilizing a classically inspired approach that meshed beautifully with the Mays' piano and Horn's cello.

I discovered the pianist/composer/arranger Mike Holober in 2010, when I attended some big band performances that he conducted with the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. Besides iconic guest artists, the dynamic big band included Marvin Stamm in the trumpet section among a group of NYC's notable section musicians. Apparently, Stamm and Holober’s work together on the WJO sparked a friendship and the two became close collaborators. Holober’s growing stature as a big band composer/big band arranger was recently acknowledged when his Gotham Jazz Orchestra’s release Hiding Out, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2019.

When similar minds, like Stamm and Holober, collaborate over a sustained period and the chemistry is right, a musical empathy develops and a complimentary creative approach to music becomes almost second nature. The two went about enlisting solid and intuitively responsive rhythm section partners to form a working quartet. The drummer Dennis Mackrel and the bassist Mike McGuirk are under the radar journeymen musicians that fit superbly, expanding the conversational possibilities of this potent group.

In the opening cut, listen to how Holober’s smart intro to Horace Silver’s “Out of the Night Came You,” sets the table beautifully before the group slips into the swinging melody. Stamm’s flugelhorn has a warm, welcoming tone and he plays with a fluid inventiveness that surprises and holds your attention. The group never loses the drive carried by McGuirk’s plump bass lines and Mackrel’s sure rhythmic propulsion.

Bassist McGuirk opens with an intriguing pizzicato solo bass lead-in to Bronislau Kaper’s exotic-sounding “Invitation.”  Stamm takes this haunting melody to a new level of sensitivity. It is simply magical to listen to this master horn player take you down the rabbit hole of harmonic possibilities. Holober is similarly engaging with his own explorations of the composition’s captivating moods. McGuirk offers a fleet journey on a poignant bass solo and the music is advanced by a swirling, rhythmic drive by the trap master Mackrel. Almost fifteen minutes of marvelously played music that by itself is worth the price of admission.

On Holober original “Dear Virginia,” a pensive, touching ballad that features some of the pianist’s most expressive work, the interaction between the pianist and both Stamm and McGuirk’s artful contributions, raise cooperative playing to a new level.

“Morning Hope,” another Holober original, musically builds from tranquility to expectation. Mackrel’s subtle drum work is like a symphony of rhythms, perfectly suited to accompany whoever is soloing, while always steadfastly propelling the music forward. Holober raises the level with a rewarding and touching solo. 

A rousing rhythmic treatment on Jerome Kern’s jewel “All the Things You Are” keeps this well-worn song fresh and interesting. Solos by Holober, Stamm, and McGuirk are all top-notch and raised again by an impressive drum solo featuring Mackrel’s graceful skills.

Holober’s opening to Horace Silver’s tranquil “Peace” is masterful and moving. His piano work is elegant in songs like this, songs with a message that deserves a player who can be creative and still maintain the composer’s intention. Stamm’s impressionistic flugelhorn lines follow exploring the genuine pathos that flows through this music. His horn also offers a yearning hopefulness to the message that peace can in fact be attained, which in today’s day is a powerful aspiration. 

The set ends with the more rambunctious Bill Evans’ funky “Funkallero,” one of the few times Evans took up the electric piano.  Mackrel’s drums set the pace with a boisterous drum entrance. The members robustly trade ideas with an overall feel of gusto. Maintaining the song's drive, Holober plays with an aggressive attack, Stamm’s horn is at his most excitable and jubilant, McGuirk gives a plucky bass solo and Mackrel lets loose with his own punctuated drum highlight. The crowd at Maureen’s are left with unfettered appreciation, offering enthusiastic applause.

If you, like me, miss that “live” experience then get Live @ Maureen's Jazz Cellar and play it till your heart's delight, its the next best thing to being there.

 Follow this link to hear the group play "invitation"

https://youtu.be/Eh3oaStfGVQ

Scott Robinson's Doc Savage Suite "Bronze Nemesis"

Bronze Nemisis The Scott Robinson Docette:Doctone -01

The multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson is a first call musician for many of today’s finest and most contemporary of big band ensembles. He has graced the reed section of Maria Schneider’s Orchestra as well as played in the ranks of the Mingus Big Band and as a member of Mel Lewis’s Village Vanguard Orchestra to name just a few.

As a noted collector of rare musical instruments, Scott has made it his mission to preserve these most specialized of artifacts. He has actively learned the intricacies of playing many of these unusual instruments which include the C melody saxophone and the enormous contrabass saxophone, all in an effort to preserve their use in modern music.

On his latest, most unusual, project Bronze Nemisis, Robinson uses his fertile imagination and the pulp fiction character of Doc Savage as his source of musical inspiration. A masterful musical adventure, Robinson’s  spot on use of an arsenal of sounds from his vast array of instrumentation and gadgetry makes, the recording  a theatrical and musical triumph.

Joined in following Robinson’s muse are the pianist Ted Rosenthal, the trumpeter Randy Sandke, the bassist Pat O’Leary, and the drummer Dennis Mackrel.

The “Man of Bronze” starts out ominously enough with thunderous rolling toms and a front line of tenor and trumpet. The large looming presence of the Man of Bronze, arch enemy of evil, is portrayed by Robinson’s clever use of ascending lines using the deeply resonant sounds of his euphonium and bass saxophone and topped off by a bowed bass cadenza by O’Leary that drips with tense anticipation as to what is next.

Robinson's multi-reed facility is essential as he employs the woody tones of the bass clarinet intermingled with Sandke’s trumpet to introduce the next tune. “The Secret in the Sky” is at first a homage to the soundtracks of detective stories from another era, then Robinson’s science fiction brain takes over with his eerie use of the modulating, voice-like sound of the Moog theremin, complimented by little bell noises and some electric harpsichord. He creates this strange unsettling scene; you find yourself facing the unknown, then, suddenly, you are given a brief respite from danger as a more familiar, inviting rhumba-influenced break in the music lures you into a momentary sense of tranquility, only to return to the sounds of lurking treachery that hangs over you  like some unsettling cloak of darkness.

  

On the ominous sounding “He Could Stop the World” Mackrel’s shimmering cymbals sets the stage as Sandke’s trumpet and Robinson’s overdubbed bass and tenor saxophones climb a wall of intensity, a suitably dramatic entrance for the crazed evil genius that emerges from his secret place in the sky, declaring “If necessary I can stop the world on its axis!’.

Meanwhile back at Doc Savage’s secret “Fortress of Solitude” the fictional hero is pondering his next move. This icy Arctic retreat of Savage’s was later absconded by Superman in the nineteen fifties. The group coolly grooves on this number with a nice jaggedly, obtuse piano solo by Ted Rosenthal and a menacing bass saxophone solo by Robinson that really swings. Robinson handles this large horn without lumbering; instead he floats lightly above the hip groove created by O’Leary, Rosenthal and Mackrel.

“Mad Eyes” is a playful creation that would make a great soundtrack for a Halloween movie. Robinson’s simultaneous use of the slide saxophone and the Moog theremin creating the eeriest of sounds. A gravelly Sandke shows he too can make his horn emit a series of shivering voice-like utterances. Coupled with the groups moaning  this one can that can make you feel like you are truly going mad.

“The Metal Master” is another of Savage’s arch enemies, a mad scientist who has discovered the ability to destroy the molecular integrity of any metal. Leading off appropriately with a Chinese gong and some scraping metal noises, this piece includes a sawtoothed line played by Sandke on trumpet and Robinson on tenor. The tune uses contrapuntal lines between the two horns to lead us on this circuitous path. Robinson’s  tenor voice is boisterous and brash as he navigates the chicane. Sandke’s trumpet is raucous as he climbs on crescendos of notes in the high register with an easy fluidity. The piece ends with a cacophony of clanging tubes, chimes and singing metal plates.

The late Denis Irwin, the original bassist for Scott’s Doctette, is featured on a unaccompanied bass solo from “The Mental Wizard” recorded at a concert from 2001 and is here labeled “The Golden Man.”  Sadly Irwin died two nights before the band went into the studio to record this album.

The “Land of Always Night” is the most moving piece on the album. Rosenthal and Robinson play a wonderful duet that has a  poignant quality with classical grace and soulful sonority. Scott’s sound is pensive and pure, with a breathless, whistling cadenza. The song was taken from his “Lagomorphic Concertino" and was written for his wife Sharon. He should play flute more often.

“The Living Fire” is a musical representation of the living flame within and it sears with Mackrel’s sizzling cymbals, Sandke’s searing trumpet and Scott’s scorching tenor. Too hot to handle.

“The Man Who Shook the Earth” opens with the earth-trembling sounds of the large treme terra, a refrigerator sized drum from Brazil. Robinson uses a wind machine and his own rare contrabass saxophone to create the deep rumbling feel to this musical collage.  After a brief flurry from drummer Mackrel, we are treated to the mind boggling swing of Robinson’s gigantic contrabass. With some brief references to Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” hidden in the deep, blustery low register of Robinson’s solo, it is a rare treat to hear this instrument played with such confident swagger.

The evocative “Weird Valley” features another of Robinson’s rare instruments, in this case the mezzo-soprano saxophone. The snake charming-like sound of this instrument has an air of the exotic and is mildly intoxicating, especially when complimented by the muted trumpet of Sandke. Pianist Ted Rosenthal is given some room to create his own special corridor in this weird valley and he does so with surprise. The two horns joined by the Moog Vanguard theremin raise their level of intensity at the rising coda as they intertwine their sinuous sounds like two mating cobras in ecstatic bliss.

The final piece of this theatrical suite is “The Mental Wizard” a difficult composition, with no repeating parts and a testament to the groups seasoned interplay.

Bronze Nemisis  is a thoroughly enjoyable recording for anyone who wants to transport themselves into another, less complicated world of science fiction and mystery. Emblazoned with authentic Doc Savage images from original illustrator James Bama and packaged with extensive notes on the recording process and instrumentation by Mr. Robinson, this is surely one of the most creative musical offerings of the year.

Musicians:

Scott Robinson, various saxophones, clarinets, flutes, euphonium, Moog theremin, wind machine, bells, chimes   and various instruments/gadgets; Ted Rosenthal, piano and electronic harpsichord; Randy Sandke, trumpet and euphonium; Pat O’Leary,bass; Dennis Mackrel, drums, tubes  and treme terra, Dennis Irwin , bass on track 7.