Reviewing Dave Liebman's Big Band live on "As Always"

Review of The Dave Liebman Big Band :  “As Always”

Mama Records MMA 1039

Taking a big band on the road is an awesome undertaking, both financially and logistically. The days of the working big band ensembles, like the Ellington, Basie, Kenton and Herman orchestras, have long since become economically unviable. Once in a while, someone will attempt to assemble a group of talented musicians to do a limited engagement tour. These engagements, for those of us who love the powerful sound and expanded palette that a really fine big band can bring to the music, are rare opportunities to be savored. They provide a glimpse into an era when these wonderful large ensemble groups ruled.

Saxophonist Dave Liebman has long been associated with the progressive music of the post Coltrane era. He was a member of the progressive rock group

"Ten Wheel Drive” before landing a pivotal position with Coltrane drummer, Elvin Jones, in his early seventies group. Later, Miles Davis took notice and hired Liebman from 1970 through 1974. Liebman later formed the progressive group “Lookout Farm” with pianist Richie Beirach. Dave has one of the most emotive voices in jazz on the soprano saxophone.

Now at sixty four, after four decades of mastering his art, comes a “live” album of Liebman's music and featuring the saxophonist as the star soloist.

Arranger Andrew Rathburn, starts with a piece that Liebman calls a “very basic composition”, the ebullient “Brite Piece”  This was one of the his earliest compositions, first recorded in 1972 on Elvin Jones “Merry Go Round” album. I have always been fond of this jaunty and joyful piece from the original album, which featured Liebman and fellow saxophonists Joe Farrell and Steve Grossman. For those who haven’t heard this it is definitely worth a listen. 

On this “live” version, a fairytale like introduction, skillfully arranged by Andrew Rathburn, leads into the catchy vamp and Liebman’s dancing soprano. About a third way into the song, Liebman takes flight in a most expansive way. He emotes voice-like cries, as the band pulses behind him in a powerful performance.

“As Always” is from his days with the pianist Richie Beirach and their group “Quest”. The pensive waltz is well suited to the expansive arrangement that Pete McGuiness's deft use of the multiple horn format allows. Vic Juris’s guitar work is notable for the subtle contributions he adds throughout.

On “Anubis”, arranged by Scott Reeves, the combination of Liebman's  haunting wooden flute and Charles Pillow’s snake charming oboe,evoke the sounds of the Middle East. Juris is able to adjust his guitar sound to almost simulate an ancient Egyptian kithara, the ancestor of the modern guitar.  Jim Ridl’s synthesizer is appropriately exotic before we return to the wails of Liebman’s eerie wooden flute and a nice alto-flugelhorn solo by Reeves.

The contemporary sounding and seriously swinging  “New Breed” ,is another composition that found its genesis during Liebman’s Elvin Jones’ days. The bassist Tony Marino offers a strong intro while Ridl  heats up on piano over drummer Marcinko’s swing, then Liebman soars on soprano. Arranger Reeves, directs his strong reed and brass section into a taught, but sinewy swing throughout. The multiple soprano saxophones give the band an unusual, higher pitched sound and Reeves uses it well. Liebman is at his most freewheeling here and the band responds accordingly.
 
By Dave’s own admission “Phillipe Under the Green Bridge” is one of his more chromatic compositions. Here the interplay between Liebman’s soprano and Pillow’s oboe is like a dance between mythical fairies. Arranger Mossblad's sensibilities are well suited to portray the brooding classical sense of this composition. Liebman winds his way through a circuitous course as his rhythm section keeps time and the horn section builds tension with ever-increasing urgency.

The final tune is titled “Turn it Around” and is arranged by Guri Agmon. Leading off with a rolling tom solo by Marko Marcinko, this composition features some nice synchronous playing between Liebman’s   soprano and Juris’ electric guitar with a decidedly Mahavishnu flavor finding its way into the mix. Liebman pours out his best rapid-fire soprano solo of the set as the band pulses behind him. Juris adds some bluesy riffs for good measure before they take it to the coda.

While nothing can replace witnessing  the power, excitement and precision generated by a really good big band first hand, The Dave Liebman Big Band “live” performances on “As Always” is as close as you can get to actually being there.

Recorded: “Live” The King Center at University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado October 13, 2005  and Doermann Theatre at The University of Ohio. Toledo, Ohio. April 7, 2007

Musicians:

Dave Liebman ( featured soloist on all tracks soprano saxophone, wooden flute and composer)

Saxophones: Gunnar Mossblad (director, alto, soprano, flute and clarinet); Charles Pillow (alto, oboe and flute); Dave Rickenberg (tenor, clarinet); Jay Brandford (baritone, bass clarinet); Chris Karlic( baritone, bass clarinet)

Trumpets: Danny Cahn; Bob Millikan; Dave Ballou; Patrick Dorian

Trombones: Tim Sessions; Scott Reeves (including alto flugelhorn); Sam Burtis; Jeff Nelson (bass trombone).

Rhythm Section: Jim Ridl (piano and synthesizer);

Vic Juris (guitar); tony Marino (bass); Marko Marcinko (drums).

Review of The Dave Anderson Quartet's "Clarity" : Making Modern Jazz Accessible

Artist: Dave Anderson

CD: “Clarity” (Pony Boy PB 50163-2)

Seattle based saxophonist Dave Anderson’s debut album “Clarity” offers an example of well-played, accessible modern jazz. It is infused with a sense of joy and confidence that allows for musical richness and melodic complexity without  abrasiveness or extended, self-indulgent musical detours. Anderson’s arrangement of Joe Henderson’s “Y Ya La Quiero”, the opening track, is a case in point. Anderson’s lyrical soprano and the band’s deft rhythmic comping, sustains interest by maintaining a friendly groove, offering succinct yet  interesting solos played with a generally light feeling, while still retaining the music’s integrity.

Anderson brings his tight ensemble into the studio after honing their skills playing local Seattle venues and the familiarity shows. Anderson’s self-penned jazz waltz “Wabi-Sabi” has some sensitive flugelhorn work by Tom Marriott and his own lilting soprano work. John Hansen’s piano solo unobtrusively leads you in unexpected directions without straying too far from the theme.

“Stablemate” has a fleeting melody line that negotiates a quick chicane of twists and turns spelled out by Anderson’s clean, economical alto lines. Chuck Kistler’s bass is allowed some room to solo behind Adam Kessler’s trap work and John Hansen’s delicately placed piano chords. Hansen again shows a penchant for presenting musical ideas in a logical but unpredictable way that holds your interest. He is a player to be watched.

On Anderson’s “Troubled Angel” the slow ruminative intro is accentuated by Kistler’s bowed bass before it breaks into a quick paced jaunt featuring Hansen’s fine two fisted piano solo work. When it is Anderson’s turn to solo, his alto is smooth, facile and free flowing, a style with roots in Konitz and Desmond. Raspy, bitingly sharp-tongued sounds are not in this man’s vocabulary.

“The Aviator”, an impressionistic song Anderson wrote as a dedication to his father’s pilot days, finds the leader’s soprano taking to the air in graceful flight, free of any turbulence. This beautiful duet, between Anderson’s gently soaring soprano and Hansen’s classically tinged piano, transports you high above into the world into the clouds as is one of the highlights of this cd.

Anderson’s alto on “Osby-an” has a clear decisive tone as he articulates his message with a straightforward Clarity that is both harmonically interesting and refreshingly spare in his approach. Anderson refuses to overplay even when it sometimes feels like he could go on for a few more bars. Kessler’s drum solo offers interesting rhythmic variety in a tightly conceived package that true to the group's ethos doesn’t overextend.

The blues based “Free” is loose, swinging number that features Anderson’s dancing soprano work, the horn he seems to favor, in this extended format. “Beautiful Love” is a sensitive but predictable and unadventurous ballad, where Anderson’s sensuous soprano sound nonetheless works effectively.

“Juror Number 2” is the most angular song on the album and finds Anderson playing alto again. Anderson composed the song after he served on jury duty in New York City. It is representation of a particular character he met on that jury. Juror #2 must have been a bit vociferous, for Anderson is at his most talkative on this song. He plays a series of fluid ideas with his horn pouring out more notes here than on any other song on the album, interacting  conversationally with Kessler on drums.

The ending composition “Moving On” is barely over a minute and a half long but a tight little gem. Starting with a brief musical statement, Anderson’s joyous alto swings into a carefree solo before he and the band returns back to the introductory line that quickly resolves to a brief ending that leaves you hanging.

"Clarity" is a  refreshingly accessible well played effort with few surprises. It will be interesting to see where Dave Anderson goes from here.



Recorded at Robert Land Studios June 16, 2009 and Studio X July 2, 2009
Seattle, Washington

Musicians: Dave Anderson (alto and soprano saxophones), John Hansen ( piano), Chuck Kistler (bass, Adam Kessler (drums) Thomas Marriott ( flugelhorn on Wabi-Sabi only)

A Quest for Identity : Review of Sam Newsome's "Blue Soliloquy"

Artist : Sam Newsome (Solo Soprano Saxophone)

CD: Blue Soliloquy

Few artists have created a piece of solo music that could be used as a virtual study guide of the possibilities on the instrument, as Sam Newsome has with the soprano saxophone on his “Blue Soliloquy”. This is more than an exercise in accomplished technique; it is a search for individuality of expression with the culmination of that search being discovered identity. After touring the world with the Terrence Blanchard Quintet in the early nineties, Newsome took the daring step of abandoning his then dominant instrument the tenor saxophone. Newsome felt unrealized, burdened by the history of the many great players that came before him on the tenor. His solution was to take up the difficult and less celebrated soprano saxophone. In 1996, with renewed vigor and an eye on carving out his own place on this instrument, he made the switch to soprano. For several years he explored the nuances of non-Western music with influences absorbed from the Middle East, North Africa and Japan, predominantly while working with his aptly named band “Global Unity”.

On this adventurous solo effort “Blue Soliloquy”  Mr.Newsome uses the blues idiom to demonstrate the expansive musical palette he has mastered on the soprano saxophone. Using atonality, multi-phonics, circular breathing and sophisticated “pitched slap tonguing” techniques Mr. Newsome has created a virtual sonic tour of the possibilities that can be had on this exotic sounding instrument.

This is a daring album that exposes the artist to careful scrutiny of his technique all without the aid of accompaniment. It is a rousing success. Mr. Newsome gives a studied explanation of each of his sonic explorations in the liner notes, which helps the uninitiated understand what he is trying to achieve. The breadth of his accomplishments is impressive. Made up of fifteen songs, only one of which is a cover (the last song “Blue Monk”), Mr. Newsome incorporates his non-western musical influences on such songs as “Blue Bejing”, “Bansuri Blues” or “Blue Bamboo” to magical ends. His work with Tuvan throat singers of Siberia was the inspiration for the multi-pitched work on “Throat-singing Blues”. The traditional call and response of Gospel is the influence behind “Blue Pulpit”. The drone sound of sustained eastern religious chanting seems the basis for his “Blue Hum of the Holy Breath”. He mimics the sounds of the African thumb piano (the mbira) by his use of pitched slap-tonguing” on “Blue Mbira”. Throughout the recording he explores nuances within and outside of the twelve bar blues form.

While clearly not a recording that is designed to purely entertain, “Blue Soliloquy” is an important statement of resolve by an artist who has embraced his instrument and made it an inseparable part of his being. Newsome has single handedly expanded the horizons of soprano saxophone placing him in the pantheon of important players on this instrument. It will be interesting to see how he incorporates his hard worked virtuosity and global influences into more traditional musical offerings that can reach a wider, less esoteric audience