Archive for September, 2008
Bill Cantrall
Axiom
Upswing CD
www.billcantrall.com
The old saw that music should constantly strive to sound “new” has been pretty well debunked in the postmodern era. Musicians crossing a wide swath of genres have proven that one can channel a style from a past era and find new things to say in its context without merely troping (not that aren’t a lot of those out there who merely trope!). Still, the concept of novelty as an inherent virtue persists in some areas of criticism. This is particularly true in conversations about jazz, where many wounds from the mod/trad schism of decades past have yet to heal. But among up-and-coming jazzers, a catholicity of styles and flexibility of approaches indicates that an increasing rapprochement.
A case in point is trombonist Bill Cantrall. A New Jerseyan who’s played on both the Chicago and New York scenes, he’s played salsa, avant-jazz, and collaborated with post-rockers such as Rob Mazurek and Jeff Parker; but he’s also worked in traditional contexts. His own CD, Axiom, reflects interest in the latter. It is an excellent septet outing that combines the trombonist’s originals with examples from the American songbook. Joined by an crackerjack horn section – Ryan Kisor, Sherman Irby, and Stacy Dillard – as well as pianist Rick Germanson, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Montez Coleman, Cantrall presents material that hearkens back to hard bop, all the while sounding freshly conceived.
There are a number elements to savor. Germanson’s harmonic choices on the title tune are exquisite. The original “Like I Said” has a sassy refrain with cooking charts that is guaranteed to relieve nearly anyone’s doldrums. Another standout is a lovely rendition of Cole Porter’s “After You;” a solo by Cantrall displays a supple, round tone while Germanson executes delicate filigrees during his too-brief turn. But once again, it is the tutti ensemble that wows, performing as a tight unit in this live-to-disc context. Hopefully, Cantrall can keep the charts flowing and this band together for a long while.
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Bobo Stenson Trio
Cantando
ECM Records (www.ecmrecords.com)
CD ECM 2023
Pianist Bobo Stenson deserves to be a household name in jazz; but he’s not nearly as well known here in the US as he should be. Perhaps his wide stylistic reach and eclectic selection of material have something to do with it. Stenson is a pianist who’s comfortable playing ‘in’ or ‘out,’ ballads or uptempo, traditional tunes and transcriptions of obscure classical repertory.
ECM Records has long been a staunch supporter of the pianist, and his trio CDs have been highlights on the imprint since 1971. Joined by longtime collaborator bassist Anders Jormin and 29 year-old drummer Jon Fält (in his ECM debut), Stenson recorded his latest, Cantando, in the acoustically lustrous Auditorium Radio Svizzera Italiana, Lugano.
The title of the recording, taken from the Spanish word for ‘singing,’ couldn’t be apter. While Stenson’s aptitude for cantabile playing is nothing new, the material he plays here is an imaginatively conceived program from a diverse array of sources. Modern jazz tunes like Don Cherry’s “Don’s Kora Song” and Ornette Coleman’s lively “A Fixed Goal” sit quite comfortably beside a standard like “Love, I’ve Found You” – demonstrating that mod-jazz and trad jazz have more in common than conservative listeners might assume.
The trio creates a beguiling experiment with Second Viennese School composer Alban Berg’s 1907 lied “Liebesode.” Jormin’s questing arco lines and portentous bass notes from the piano are accompanied by Fält’s ominously subdued textural explorations. Stenson eventually takes up a swinging version of the song’s melody, bringing the world of Expressionism into a jazz context.
Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodriguez’s “Olivia” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Chiquilin de Bachin” extend the disc’s geographic reach; the latter is an excellent showcase for Fält. The disc’s most emotional inclusions are two version of the elegaic “Song of Ruth,” originally composed for soprano and organ, by recently deceased Czech composer Petr Eben. The trio imparts a poignancy to both versions that is moving while never verging on overt sentimentality.
“Pages” is a fourteen minute selection culled from free improvisations made by the group. It shows that, even off the cuff and in a more experimental vein, Stenson and company kept the cantando sensibility firmly in mind.
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Composition Lesson
Robert Johnson’s “Have you Seen the Bright Lily Grow”
One of the pieces I can look at over and over again is Johnson’s “Have you seen the Bright Lily Grow:” a Sixteenth Century ayre for voice and lute. There are plenty of rich songs from that era – indeed, many of Dowland’s and Campion’s are technically superior to this one. But there’s something about the spaciousness its spare accompaniment allows, the sumptuous melodic turns of phrase, and the sweetness of its lyric that prove singularly beautiful. It reminds me that composers often spend too much time filling out their music, particularly accompaniment textures, when just a few notes can suffice, and outdo denser efforts.
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Excerpt from the book project Composition Lessons
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Today is my first day back in classroom for Fall semester at Westminster Choir College. This term, I’m teaching Introduction to Musicianship (the students call it BoBo, don’t ask me why!), Composition, and two versions of a Seminar in Analysis focusing on British Art Songs: one for grads and one for undergrads.
The latter should be a lot of fun. I’ve long been an Anglophile, musically speaking, and a lot of the rep. I’ve tackled as a tenor has been British Song. We’re starting with the Elizabethan ‘Ayres,’ and working our way up to Knussen and Birtwistle. The biggest challenge is winnowing down this rich repertory to a single semester course.
Off to teach lute tablature!
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Rogue Motel
Daylight Breaking
Struggle on Music CD
(www.roguemotel.com)
“RIYL”
One of the ways that PR people pitch music to prospective reviewers is with the RIYL (“recommended if you like”) tag. Many magazines have adopted this to “aid” their readers as well, hoping that an RIYL will inspire them to read the rest of the review! In an era of dwindling attention spans, perhaps its understandable that shorthand tools such as RIYL and numerical rating systems, along with shorter review word counts, are becoming the norm. While requiring pith and specificity of writers isn’t inherently bad, this trend may have a tendency to marginalize thoughtful coverage of music in favor of music reviews becoming a “buyer’s guide” and nothing more.
Recently, Margaret from XO Publicity (www.xopublicity.com) sent along Rogue Motel’s CD for my consideration for review. XO is an outfit that works with artists from a diverse array of genres, often supporting emerging acts that are trying to get noticed in the impossibly crowded fray that is the contemporary music business. There was a sticker affixed to my promo copy, telling me a bit about the band and suggesting particular tracks to my attention. It included a RIYL: Journey, David Gray, Live, R.E.M. I usually consider a tag like this “chumming the waters:” suggesting that you’ll like a release no matter what your listening preferences. But I’ve learned in years of working with XO that they’ve seldom led me astray or misrepresented an artist, despite it being their job to advocate for their clients. They hadn’t here either.
Rogue Motel is an unusually flexible outfit, stylistically speaking. Their music encompasses much of what was suggested by the RIYL. Alt-rock arrangements are abetted a vocalist who shares more than a passing resemblance to Steve Perry from Journey, especially on disc-opener “Hurry Up.” The band channels Peter Buck and Michael Stipe quite effectively on “The Fronts” and David Gray on “Garden.” There’s even a hint of Live’s hook-heavy ambience on “Long Enough.” As students of rockers past, Rogue Motel gets all As.
Of course, this begs the question: is listening to the band too much about playing “spot the influences?” Perhaps its too soon to tell whether Rogue Motel will be able to harness all of these various interests into a distinct sound, but Daylight Breaking demonstrates that they are a strong unit capable of crafting catchy songs. In fact, there’s nary a clunker on the CD, and that’s quite something from a debut.
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Liz Durrett
Outside our Gates
WARM CD WRM 120 CD
(www.lizdurrett.com)
On her third CD, Outside our Gates, Liz Durrett has fleshed out her sound to excellent effect. Enlisting the participation and arranging talents of Erich Bachmann (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers), Durrett adds strings and electronics to her percussive acoustic guitar-playing, creating alt-folk with a pleasing contemporary flavor. The result is an atmospheric, at times lush, soundworld. But the best production values in the world would be meaningless if they abetted tepid songs and lackluster performances. Happily, Durrett is an enchanting songwriter, with an intense, personal delivery. “Wake to Believe,” “We Build Bridges,” and “The Sea is a Dream” are beguiling ballads that have become an intrinsic component of my late-summer playlist.
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