JERSEY JAZZ MAGAZINE

May 2010

CD REVIEW

By Joseph Lang

If you are a fan of the music of Billy Strayhorn, then The Strayhorn Project (Premium Music Solutions) by saxophonist DON BRADEN and trumpeter MARK RAPP is sure to catch your ear.

The group that also includes Gerald Clayton on piano, Rene Hart on bass and Doug Gonzalez on drums brings enjoyable freshness to Strayhorn’s melodies.  The arrangements by Braden, Rapp and Clayton are perfect vehicles for the kind of imaginative blowing that each of these cats provides.  Among the selections are some of Strayhorn’s most memorable creations like “Isfahan,” “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” “Something to Live For” and “Chelsea Bridge.”  Vocalist Sachal Vasandani contributes his talent to “Something to Live For,” “Daydream” and a pairing of “Pretty Girl” with “Star Crossed Lovers.”

Braden, a resident of South Orange, is among the brightest saxophone stars in jazz.  Rapp has a growing reputation as one of the most talented of the younger trumpet players.  The chemistry between them and their affinity for the music of Strayhorn makes for an album that engages the listener from first notes to last.

(www.premiummusicsolutions.com)

Ann Arbor: The University Musical Society presents jazz pianist Danilo Pérez in a tribute to his mentor Dizzy Gillespie Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 8 p.m. in Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium (825 North University Avenue).

As the youngest member of Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra, which featured some of the best and brightest young jazz musicians the world had to offer, Danilo learned first-hand how Gillespie embraced musical and personal collaborations throughout the world. Danilo’s new band performs arrangements of classic Gillespie tunes in addition to original group compositions.

WAYNE SHORTER QUARTET
Palais Theatre, March 5

WAYNE Shorter performed with a slightly altered version of his long-running quartet on his last tour here five years ago: Shorter, John Patitucci (on bass) and Brian Blade (drums) were joined by Jason Moran, filling in for regular pianist Danilo Perez.

My overriding memory of that encounter is of Shorter, Patitucci and Blade spinning in a freewheeling orbit, with Moran clinging on for dear life as the centrifugal force of the music pushed him ever outwards.

Last Friday, Shorter took the audience on another trip to distant galaxies - this time with all three of his decade-long collaborators (including Perez) in tow. While the 2005 concerts were fascinating, there is nothing more thrilling than watching four close collaborators who trust one another implicitly, and who can stride fearlessly into unknown places without losing contact with one another.

Friday's concert unfolded like a continuous suite, with no pauses between tunes. Actually, there were very few ''tunes'' as such.

Instead, there were references - some direct, some oblique - to recognisable melodies, themes and meters.

These references nestled within a sonic landscape whose contours were shifting, like desert sands.

Blade's drumming surged in waves that could build to a roar, then drop to an asymmetrical flutter, while Patitucci switched intuitively between keening arco bowing and vigorously plucked bass lines.

Perez's stabbing, suspenseful chords at the piano could dissolve unexpectedly into lyrical glissandi. Shorter himself played with striking economy, measuring each note to give it weight and meaning.

His concise, perfectly judged lines (on tenor and soprano saxophone) sounded unhurried, even when the rhythm section was pitching and tossing.

There was a sense that every phrase contained something essential, and yet eternally fresh.