JAM: April/May 2000: For The Record

Bradley Allen
BRADLEY ALLEN
(Self produced)

Personnel: Bradley Allen, drums; Tom DeMasters, guitar/vocals; Craig Akin, bass; Johnie Eager, trombone; Phil Brenner, tenor saxophone

Tracks: Itty Bitty Bit; All the Things You Are; Jump, Jive and Wail; St. Thomas; Route 66; Nostalgia in Times Square; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Cherokee

Recorded at the University of Missouri/Kansas City Conservatory of Music Recording Studio; M. Adam Jacob and Bill Dean, producers.

Kansas City drummer Bradley Allen makes a succinct and pleasurable statement on his new self-titled CD. This date has none of the stereotypical trappings sometimes associated with drummer-led projects. There are no extended, self-aggrandizing drum solos. There are no oddly juxtaposed multi-metric gymnastics. There are no abrupt tempo changes ready-made to facilitate certain "drum solo licks." But, there is plenty of in-the-pocket playing by some unassuming, swinging Kansas City jazz musicians.

The disc opens with a unique take on the R&B standard,

"Itty Bitty Bit." Allen and company offer a mellower, more improvisatory version of the tune made popular by hard-nosed bluesmen such as Delbert McClinton.

Next, Allen swings with relaxed strength on his take of the Hammerstein/Kern standard, "All the Things You Are." His tasty drum solos are not over or underdone.

This temperance is also evident on the Louis Prima standard, "Jump, Jive and Wail." Tom DeMasters brings a chops-filled performance to this cut as well as to "Itty Bitty Bit." His guitar and vocals are both solid.

"St. Thomas" is the lone Latin cut on the disc and it serves as a vehicle for some surprisingly melodic solos by Allen. "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Route 66" and "Cherokee" each feature some nice blowing by trombonist Johnie Eager and saxophonist Phil Brenner. And Allen gives bassist Craig Akin some room to roam on an ambitious tip of the hat to Charles Mingus on his "Nostalgia in Times Square."

None of the tunes on this project wear out their welcome. Each arrangement is a concise statement that says what needs to be said, nothing more. Adam Jacob and Bill Dean should also receive kudos for superior production achieved at the recording facilities of the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

This release by Bradley Allen is proof positive that Kansas City is still a stomping grounds for quality jazz musicians. It is a collection of some of the most popular jazz standards, performed credibly by Kansas City's own.

-- Joe Christopher Athon

Paul Hofmann
TOPSY TURVY
MHR Records CD-10

Personnel: Paul Hofmann, piano; Grant Stewart, tenor saxophone; Paul Gill, bass; Michael Melito, drums

Tracks: Hi-Ya; Topsy Turvy; Lush Life; In the Tradition; Listen To My Heart; The Feeling Is Mutual; Ivy; I Will Be Right There; Blue Note Medley (Nicely, A Tribute To Someone); Blues For Red; Bartok; Do Not Disturb; Bolivia; Body and Soul; Bye-Ya

Recorded August 28, 1998 and March 26, 1999 at Acoustic Recording, Brooklyn, NY; Michael Brorby, engineer.

Pianist Paul Hofmann is a prolific and versatile composer who has carefully documented his work over the last ten years in a series of fine recordings and annotations.

Hofmann's connections to Kansas City evolved from his wife and muse, Ivy (who is well celebrated in numerous of his compositions) taking a senior position at Sprint here during the period 1992-95. (They have since relocated to Rochester, NY.)

While in Kansas City, Paul accepted a variety of gigs, including a memorable and sorely-missed midnight jam session at the Club at Plaza III (known then as the City Lights Jazz Club), which he co-led with bassist Gerald Spaits. Within six months of his arrival in KC, he had gone into Soundtrek studio with Spaits and drummer Tommy Ruskin to produce his third CD, Things Are Looking Up. He went on to make more solo and ensemble recordings at Soundtrek with other musicians including guitarist Rod Fleeman, reedman Charles Perkins, and singer Kevin Mahogany.

As of this writing, Hofmann's recording efforts have resulted in nine CDs. This year he formalized his recording enterprise, MHR Records, with the introduction of a web site (www.mhrrecords.com). Surf over there and you'll find a catalogue of MHR recordings, artist biographies, audio clips, and a personal historiography in the form of album notes and essays. You may sympathize or disagree with his various essays, but you'll surely respect that Paul Hofmann is someone with a well-considered idea of who he is and what he is about.

His work encompasses both classical and jazz forms, but his latest CD, Topsy-Turvy, focuses on the "hard bop" style of jazz developed by the followers of pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, such as Sonny Clark (read Hofmann's fine appreciation of Clark on the MHR web site). In liner notes to the disc, Hofmann admits to a "predilection for exploring some lesser-known tunes by jazz's legendary figures," so it's no surprise to find treatments of such seldom-heard tunes by Clark ("Nicely"), Herbie Hancock ("A Tribute To Someone"), Herbie Nichols ("Bartok"), and Duke Ellington ("Do Not Disturb") woven into the playlist. Several more-standard tunes are essayed as well as seven fine originals.

The resourcefulness Hofmann has shown in pacing and spacing earlier programs is again evident. Among the fifteen tracks are three piano solos, a piano-bass duet, three piano-bass-drums trios, five quartets featuring the fine tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, and three piano-drums duets. The bookend piano-bass tracks, Hofmann's witty and epigrammatic "Hi-Ya," and the Monk classic "Bye-Ya," open and close the program in what might be taken as an ingenious gesture of homage to the music's originators and to its continued vitality as a compositional language.

There's solid rhythmic support from bassist Paul Gill (currently with Diana Krall) and drummer Michael Melito (whose MHR recording My Conception figured in the evolution of Topsy-Turvy).
Hofmann's piano-playing demonstrates a certain elegant mastery, both of his instrument and of the bop vernacular. His clean, swinging lines, interesting harmonic twists, and careful programming designs make for enjoyable continued listening; further, his writings and annotations invite literate and intellectual consideration on a variety of topics. If you have not already done so, check out the world of Paul Hofmann and MHR Records right away. The 73 minutes and 59 seconds of jazz on Topsy Turvy is a great place to start.

-- Rich Hill

Jay McShann
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD
Groove Note GRV 1005-2

Personnel: Jay McShann, vocals, piano; Gerald Spaits, bass; Todd Strait, drums; Ahmad Alaadeen, tenor saxophone; Sonny Kenner, guitar

Tracks: Piney Brown Blues; Cherry Red; Just For You; Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You; Crazy Legs and Friday Strut; Rain Is Such a Lonesome Sound; Land of Dreams; Lonely Boy Blues; Hot Biscuits; Blue Monday; What a Wonderful World

Recorded live to two-track, May 3-4, 1999 at Airborne Audio Productions, Kansas City, MO; Michael C. Ross, engineer.

Jay McShann first hit the streets of Kansas City in 1936. Sixty-plus years later, he's still here, and still crankin' out the blues.

Thing is, there's a lot more music in McShann that just the blues. His latest CD, What a Wonderful World, is a marvel of eclectic tastes and extraordinary musicianship.

The blues is what we expect from Jay, of course, and blues lovers will not be disappointed. There's "Piney Brown Blues," "Lonely Boy Blues," and others, and the mood is such that you will feel the presence of Piney Brown himself; you may even feel like cryin' at times. But then there is the gospel shouter "Cherry Red," with all of its risqué lyrics in place, and a slower, perhaps more soulful performance than that of the great Louis Armstrong on the title track "What a Wonderful World."

Eddie Haywood, of all people, is represented with his line "Land of Dreams," a track that dancers at KC's old Pla-mor Ballroom would have enjoyed. And "Crazy Legs and Friday Strut" is an Afro-Cuban romp that features wonderful interplay between Jay and drummer Todd Strait.

McShann's band here is excellent throughout. Saxophonist Ahmad Alaadeen has some exceptional solos, most notably on "Just For You," and guitarist Sonny Kenner is in top form from start to finish. Strait provides a consistently fine groove, as does bassist Gerald Spaits.

It is the playing and singing of McShann, however, that is the feature here. At age 84, Jay just keeps on swinging.

Kansas City is alive with fine young jazz players, and they often appear in live venues and on their own CD projects. But it's the roots of Kansas City jazz that this most excellent CD celebrates.

The spirit of Piney Brown continues to smile.

-- John Leisenring

Pat Metheny
A MAP OF THE WORLD
Warner Brothers 9 47366-2

Personnel: Pat Metheny, acoustic guitars, piano and keyboards; Steve Rodby, bass; David Samuels, percussion; strings and winds orchestrated and conducted by Gil Goldstein

Tracks: A Map of the World; Family; North; Home; Sisters; Childhood; Fall From Grace; Memory; Gone; Flight (from "Komm Susser Tod" by J.S. Bach); Alone; Outcasts; Sunday; Discovery; Acceptance; Realization; Soliloquy; Night; Sunrise; Resolution; Pictures; Patience; Transition; Reunion; Renewal; Homecoming; Forgiving; Holding Us

Recorded February 1999 at Clinton Sound, Effanel Sound and Right Track Recording, New York, NY; mixed at Right Track Recording; Rob Eaton, engineer.

Remember the first time you saw a map of the world? The flash of connection between a spot on the map and where you were at that moment? I was about five, I think, and big questions followed: Why am I here? When can I leave? And some years later, wandering in the homestead hills, hearing in my mind what I would later come to understand were the basic changes of a 12-bar blues -- how does music know?

Now comes Pat Metheny, evoking such revelatory moments with his Warner Brothers release, A Map of the World -- Music From and Inspired By the Motion Picture. A friend sent it home with me one day. He knew it hadn't been an easy winter, and thought it might help. I had no idea of the film's plot. It didn't matter. The score's main theme gathered my fractured emotions and transported me back to the prairie where first I understood the map of my world.

Safely there, the score's opening airs of home, hearth and family washed easily over me, creating a safety zone in which to experience the conflict inherent in "Fall From Grace" and the troubled themes which follow. In the liner notes, Metheny says, "My goal was to create a musical environment that reflected the challenges and lessons learned here by the characters, yet one that somehow hovered parallel to them in a somewhat neutral, almost observational way." He succeeds fully with this, at least for me. The score invited an evaluation of what by then had been months of internal confusion and conflict, and brought me for a time to a place of hope again.

This is Metheny's first film score in which, in addition to composing, he also plays the lead musical voice. His solo and accompaniment acoustic guitar, Steve Rodby's acoustic bass, and a chamber orchestra form the primary ensemble. The film is set in rural Wisconsin, and Metheny includes in the CD's "Special Thanks" section "all my Wisconsin cousins and relatives."

But it could refer to rural anywhere, and be the story of your people. For those of us who grew up in the "wide open spaces" of mid-America and migrated to the city, this music, which paints again those open skies and vistas in our minds, is important stuff. For those who haven't lived out there, I have this suggestion. Let Pat Metheny take you there using his "Map of the World." It is armchair traveling of the sweetest kind.

-- John Jessup
(Ed. note: "A Map of the World" is scheduled to open at the Fine Arts Theater on April 14.)

PAT METHENY TRIO 99-->00
Warner Brothers 9 47632-2

Personnel: Pat Metheny, guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass; Bill Stewart, drums

Tracks: (Go) Get It; Giant Steps; Just Like the Day; Soul Cowboy; The Sun in Montreal; Capricorn; We Had a Sister; What Do You Want?; A Lot of Livin' To Do; Lone Jack; Travels

Recorded August 1999 at Right Track Recording, New York, NY; Rob Eaton, engineer.

I wasn't trying to pick a fight. My friend and I were on the steps of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, discussing the artists who had drawn us to jazz. For me, the magnet was Pat Metheny's debut album Bright Size Life.

A fine album, my friend agreed, but not a jazz album. "It's a New Age album," he insisted.
"There's nothing New Age about an album with Ornette Coleman tunes on it," I countered.
"There aren't any II-V-I's on that album. Not one!" he exclaimed.

Metheny may eschew labels, but that never stopped listeners from dissecting his albums according to their own paradigms. I'm going to do so right here. Trio 99-->00 is a jazz album!
The similarities between this album and the 1976 trio effort with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses are striking. Drawing roots from '60s jazz, the album is free of obvious electronic alteration, and it alternates between the bright and the saturnine. The melodies of both albums stick to you, lingering in your mind long after the stereo has been turned off.

Equally striking are the differences in the two albums. Metheny's playing has evolved considerably in two and a half decades. While he hasn't always pleased jazz purists, he has probed many corners of the musical palette since that first album, and the results of those explorations show on the present work. Bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart provide a much more straight ahead backdrop on "(Go) Get It," "Soul Cowboy," "Capricorn" and "What Do You Want?"

The penultimate track, "Lone Jack" is a bossa, but laden with adrenaline and at odds with the dreamy, reverb-saturated Latin-rock on Bright Size Life.

"Soul Cowboy" particularly contrasts the early work: a Monk school blues head provides a vehicle for time-bending polyrhythms and wicked angular lines. And if you've played a bit of guitar, it becomes difficult to comprehend the grace and fluidity with which Metheny executes these gymnastics.

Pat wanders into the ether on "Just Like the Day," "The Sun In Montreal," "We Had a Sister," "A Lot of Livin' To Do," and "Travels." The impressionistic leanings of these selections will probably lead many to label the album outside the "jazz" genre. And "Giant Steps," taken as a lilting, down-tempo Latin piece will drive bebop puritans crazy.

When Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk were pushing their respective envelopes, there were probably cats who didn't catch on to the fact that it was still jazz. Trio 99-->00 bends conventions, but it swings, too. It is improvisational music of substance performed with spirit by virtuosos.

-- Rod McBride

Claude "Fiddler" Williams
SWINGIN' THE BLUES
Bullseye Blues & Jazz CD-9627

Personnel: Claude "Fiddler" Williams, violin, vocals; Henry Butler, piano; Joe Cohn, guitar; Keter Betts, bass; Jimmy Lovelace, drums; Bobby Watson, alto saxophone

Tracks: The Preacher; Things Ain't What They Used To Be; Somewhere Over the Rainbow; A Smooth One; Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You; I'm Just a Lucky So and So; Moten Swing; These Foolish Things; One For the Count; There Is No Greater Love

Recorded April 26-27, 1999 at Nola Recording Studio, New York, NY; Jim Czak, engineer.

On so many CDs, liner notes are boring, and a puffy waste of time. Not so here. On Swingin' the Blues, there is a sketch of Claude "Fiddler" Williams' long life in jazz, from his days with Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy in the 1920s right up to today. I drew two messages from these notes.

First, Fiddler's ascent to his current pinnacle of recognition in the jazz world deserves the attention of a first-rate biographer, one who can extract and relate the many struggles and hardships that come with playing jazz for 75 years. Second, when you've accomplished as much as Williams, and have survived so well for so many years, it is no struggle at all to line up the very best players to record. (Bobby Watson, Keter Betts, Joe Cohn, Jimmy Lovelace and Henry Butler are all players of considerable substance, and in some cases, considerable renown.)

Into the music. On Swingin' the Blues, Fiddler is fronting the essential Kansas City-style rhythm section: piano, bass, drums and guitar. If you listen closely, especially on "There Is No Greater Love" and "One For the Count," you will pick up a pulse that is positively Basie. Which is what so much of Kansas City jazz is all about -- great rhythm players laying down a relentless beat that inspires each soloist to new heights. And on this CD, we have none other than Fiddler Williams himself -- who was there over 60 years ago for the genesis of this homegrown style -- presiding over the session with a solo voice that is still uniquely his own.

To my tastes, Fiddler's finest solo is on "I'm Just a Lucky So and So." At over ten minutes in length, it would appear that the muse took over and the tape was allowed to run.

Alto saxophonist (and KC-native) Bobby Watson guests on two tracks, "A Smooth One" and "These Foolish Things." It's always touching when a leading jazz player drops by to pay proper respect to an elder statesman. Watson fits in perfectly. As do Betts, Cohn and Lovelace, who are known to varying degrees. But it is pianist Henry Butler who is a marvelous surprise. A New Orleans man, Butler makes the stylistic trip to KC with ease, and without sacrificing his musical roots.

A final note in praise of well-chosen tempos. Burners are great fun, for both players and listeners, but relaxed standards at medium speed have a place, too. Especially when rendered by players like these who revere the soul of jazz and who give full value to every note.

-- Bill Fogarty

RETURN TO APRIL 2000 MAIN INDEX

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	Search our site:		Bradley Allen BRADLEY ALLEN (Self produced) Personnel: Bradley Allen, drums; Tom DeMasters, guitar/vocals; Craig Akin, bass; Johnie Eager, trombone; Phil Brenner, tenor saxophone Tracks: Itty Bitty Bit; All the Things You Are; Jump, Jive and Wail; St. Thomas; Route 66; Nostalgia in Times Square; Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Cherokee Recorded at the University of Missouri/Kansas City Conservatory of Music Recording Studio; M. Adam Jacob and Bill Dean, producers. Kansas City drummer Bradley Allen makes a succinct and pleasurable statement on his new self-titled CD. This date has none of the stereotypical trappings sometimes associated with drummer-led projects. There are no extended, self-aggrandizing drum solos. There are no oddly juxtaposed multi-metric gymnastics. There are no abrupt tempo changes ready-made to facilitate certain "drum solo licks." But, there is plenty of in-the-pocket playing by some unassuming, swinging Kansas City jazz musicians. The disc opens with a unique take on the R&B standard, "Itty Bitty Bit." Allen and company offer a mellower, more improvisatory version of the tune made popular by hard-nosed bluesmen such as Delbert McClinton. Next, Allen swings with relaxed strength on his take of the Hammerstein/Kern standard, "All the Things You Are." His tasty drum solos are not over or underdone. This temperance is also evident on the Louis Prima standard, "Jump, Jive and Wail." Tom DeMasters brings a chops-filled performance to this cut as well as to "Itty Bitty Bit." His guitar and vocals are both solid. "St. Thomas" is the lone Latin cut on the disc and it serves as a vehicle for some surprisingly melodic solos by Allen. "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Route 66" and "Cherokee" each feature some nice blowing by trombonist Johnie Eager and saxophonist Phil Brenner. And Allen gives bassist Craig Akin some room to roam on an ambitious tip of the hat to Charles Mingus on his "Nostalgia in Times Square." None of the tunes on this project wear out their welcome. Each arrangement is a concise statement that says what needs to be said, nothing more. Adam Jacob and Bill Dean should also receive kudos for superior production achieved at the recording facilities of the University of Missouri at Kansas City. This release by Bradley Allen is proof positive that Kansas City is still a stomping grounds for quality jazz musicians. It is a collection of some of the most popular jazz standards, performed credibly by Kansas City's own. -- Joe Christopher Athon Paul Hofmann TOPSY TURVY MHR Records CD-10 Personnel: Paul Hofmann, piano; Grant Stewart, tenor saxophone; Paul Gill, bass; Michael Melito, drums Tracks: Hi-Ya; Topsy Turvy; Lush Life; In the Tradition; Listen To My Heart; The Feeling Is Mutual; Ivy; I Will Be Right There; Blue Note Medley (Nicely, A Tribute To Someone); Blues For Red; Bartok; Do Not Disturb; Bolivia; Body and Soul; Bye-Ya Recorded August 28, 1998 and March 26, 1999 at Acoustic Recording, Brooklyn, NY; Michael Brorby, engineer. Pianist Paul Hofmann is a prolific and versatile composer who has carefully documented his work over the last ten years in a series of fine recordings and annotations. Hofmann's connections to Kansas City evolved from his wife and muse, Ivy (who is well celebrated in numerous of his compositions) taking a senior position at Sprint here during the period 1992-95. (They have since relocated to Rochester, NY.) While in Kansas City, Paul accepted a variety of gigs, including a memorable and sorely-missed midnight jam session at the Club at Plaza III (known then as the City Lights Jazz Club), which he co-led with bassist Gerald Spaits. Within six months of his arrival in KC, he had gone into Soundtrek studio with Spaits and drummer Tommy Ruskin to produce his third CD, Things Are Looking Up. He went on to make more solo and ensemble recordings at Soundtrek with other musicians including guitarist Rod Fleeman, reedman Charles Perkins, and singer Kevin Mahogany. As of this writing, Hofmann's recording efforts have resulted in nine CDs. This year he formalized his recording enterprise, MHR Records, with the introduction of a web site (www.mhrrecords.com). Surf over there and you'll find a catalogue of MHR recordings, artist biographies, audio clips, and a personal historiography in the form of album notes and essays. You may sympathize or disagree with his various essays, but you'll surely respect that Paul Hofmann is someone with a well-considered idea of who he is and what he is about. His work encompasses both classical and jazz forms, but his latest CD, Topsy-Turvy, focuses on the "hard bop" style of jazz developed by the followers of pianists Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, such as Sonny Clark (read Hofmann's fine appreciation of Clark on the MHR web site). In liner notes to the disc, Hofmann admits to a "predilection for exploring some lesser-known tunes by jazz's legendary figures," so it's no surprise to find treatments of such seldom-heard tunes by Clark ("Nicely"), Herbie Hancock ("A Tribute To Someone"), Herbie Nichols ("Bartok"), and Duke Ellington ("Do Not Disturb") woven into the playlist. Several more-standard tunes are essayed as well as seven fine originals. The resourcefulness Hofmann has shown in pacing and spacing earlier programs is again evident. Among the fifteen tracks are three piano solos, a piano-bass duet, three piano-bass-drums trios, five quartets featuring the fine tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, and three piano-drums duets. The bookend piano-bass tracks, Hofmann's witty and epigrammatic "Hi-Ya," and the Monk classic "Bye-Ya," open and close the program in what might be taken as an ingenious gesture of homage to the music's originators and to its continued vitality as a compositional language. There's solid rhythmic support from bassist Paul Gill (currently with Diana Krall) and drummer Michael Melito (whose MHR recording My Conception figured in the evolution of Topsy-Turvy). Hofmann's piano-playing demonstrates a certain elegant mastery, both of his instrument and of the bop vernacular. His clean, swinging lines, interesting harmonic twists, and careful programming designs make for enjoyable continued listening; further, his writings and annotations invite literate and intellectual consideration on a variety of topics. If you have not already done so, check out the world of Paul Hofmann and MHR Records right away. The 73 minutes and 59 seconds of jazz on Topsy Turvy is a great place to start. -- Rich Hill Jay McShann WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD Groove Note GRV 1005-2 Personnel: Jay McShann, vocals, piano; Gerald Spaits, bass; Todd Strait, drums; Ahmad Alaadeen, tenor saxophone; Sonny Kenner, guitar Tracks: Piney Brown Blues; Cherry Red; Just For You; Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You; Crazy Legs and Friday Strut; Rain Is Such a Lonesome Sound; Land of Dreams; Lonely Boy Blues; Hot Biscuits; Blue Monday; What a Wonderful World Recorded live to two-track, May 3-4, 1999 at Airborne Audio Productions, Kansas City, MO; Michael C. Ross, engineer. Jay McShann first hit the streets of Kansas City in 1936. Sixty-plus years later, he's still here, and still crankin' out the blues. Thing is, there's a lot more music in McShann that just the blues. His latest CD, What a Wonderful World, is a marvel of eclectic tastes and extraordinary musicianship. The blues is what we expect from Jay, of course, and blues lovers will not be disappointed. There's "Piney Brown Blues," "Lonely Boy Blues," and others, and the mood is such that you will feel the presence of Piney Brown himself; you may even feel like cryin' at times. But then there is the gospel shouter "Cherry Red," with all of its risqué lyrics in place, and a slower, perhaps more soulful performance than that of the great Louis Armstrong on the title track "What a Wonderful World." Eddie Haywood, of all people, is represented with his line "Land of Dreams," a track that dancers at KC's old Pla-mor Ballroom would have enjoyed. And "Crazy Legs and Friday Strut" is an Afro-Cuban romp that features wonderful interplay between Jay and drummer Todd Strait. McShann's band here is excellent throughout. Saxophonist Ahmad Alaadeen has some exceptional solos, most notably on "Just For You," and guitarist Sonny Kenner is in top form from start to finish. Strait provides a consistently fine groove, as does bassist Gerald Spaits. It is the playing and singing of McShann, however, that is the feature here. At age 84, Jay just keeps on swinging. Kansas City is alive with fine young jazz players, and they often appear in live venues and on their own CD projects. But it's the roots of Kansas City jazz that this most excellent CD celebrates. The spirit of Piney Brown continues to smile. -- John Leisenring Pat Metheny A MAP OF THE WORLD Warner Brothers 9 47366-2 Personnel: Pat Metheny, acoustic guitars, piano and keyboards; Steve Rodby, bass; David Samuels, percussion; strings and winds orchestrated and conducted by Gil Goldstein Tracks: A Map of the World; Family; North; Home; Sisters; Childhood; Fall From Grace; Memory; Gone; Flight (from "Komm Susser Tod" by J.S. Bach); Alone; Outcasts; Sunday; Discovery; Acceptance; Realization; Soliloquy; Night; Sunrise; Resolution; Pictures; Patience; Transition; Reunion; Renewal; Homecoming; Forgiving; Holding Us Recorded February 1999 at Clinton Sound, Effanel Sound and Right Track Recording, New York, NY; mixed at Right Track Recording; Rob Eaton, engineer. Remember the first time you saw a map of the world? The flash of connection between a spot on the map and where you were at that moment? I was about five, I think, and big questions followed: Why am I here? When can I leave? And some years later, wandering in the homestead hills, hearing in my mind what I would later come to understand were the basic changes of a 12-bar blues -- how does music know? Now comes Pat Metheny, evoking such revelatory moments with his Warner Brothers release, A Map of the World -- Music From and Inspired By the Motion Picture. A friend sent it home with me one day. He knew it hadn't been an easy winter, and thought it might help. I had no idea of the film's plot. It didn't matter. The score's main theme gathered my fractured emotions and transported me back to the prairie where first I understood the map of my world. Safely there, the score's opening airs of home, hearth and family washed easily over me, creating a safety zone in which to experience the conflict inherent in "Fall From Grace" and the troubled themes which follow. In the liner notes, Metheny says, "My goal was to create a musical environment that reflected the challenges and lessons learned here by the characters, yet one that somehow hovered parallel to them in a somewhat neutral, almost observational way." He succeeds fully with this, at least for me. The score invited an evaluation of what by then had been months of internal confusion and conflict, and brought me for a time to a place of hope again. This is Metheny's first film score in which, in addition to composing, he also plays the lead musical voice. His solo and accompaniment acoustic guitar, Steve Rodby's acoustic bass, and a chamber orchestra form the primary ensemble. The film is set in rural Wisconsin, and Metheny includes in the CD's "Special Thanks" section "all my Wisconsin cousins and relatives." But it could refer to rural anywhere, and be the story of your people. For those of us who grew up in the "wide open spaces" of mid-America and migrated to the city, this music, which paints again those open skies and vistas in our minds, is important stuff. For those who haven't lived out there, I have this suggestion. Let Pat Metheny take you there using his "Map of the World." It is armchair traveling of the sweetest kind. -- John Jessup (Ed. note: "A Map of the World" is scheduled to open at the Fine Arts Theater on April 14.) PAT METHENY TRIO 99-->00 Warner Brothers 9 47632-2 Personnel: Pat Metheny, guitar; Larry Grenadier, bass; Bill Stewart, drums Tracks: (Go) Get It; Giant Steps; Just Like the Day; Soul Cowboy; The Sun in Montreal; Capricorn; We Had a Sister; What Do You Want?; A Lot of Livin' To Do; Lone Jack; Travels Recorded August 1999 at Right Track Recording, New York, NY; Rob Eaton, engineer. I wasn't trying to pick a fight. My friend and I were on the steps of the Mutual Musicians Foundation, discussing the artists who had drawn us to jazz. For me, the magnet was Pat Metheny's debut album Bright Size Life. A fine album, my friend agreed, but not a jazz album. "It's a New Age album," he insisted. "There's nothing New Age about an album with Ornette Coleman tunes on it," I countered. "There aren't any II-V-I's on that album. Not one!" he exclaimed. Metheny may eschew labels, but that never stopped listeners from dissecting his albums according to their own paradigms. I'm going to do so right here. Trio 99-->00 is a jazz album! The similarities between this album and the 1976 trio effort with Jaco Pastorius and Bob Moses are striking. Drawing roots from '60s jazz, the album is free of obvious electronic alteration, and it alternates between the bright and the saturnine. The melodies of both albums stick to you, lingering in your mind long after the stereo has been turned off. Equally striking are the differences in the two albums. Metheny's playing has evolved considerably in two and a half decades. While he hasn't always pleased jazz purists, he has probed many corners of the musical palette since that first album, and the results of those explorations show on the present work. Bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Bill Stewart provide a much more straight ahead backdrop on "(Go) Get It," "Soul Cowboy," "Capricorn" and "What Do You Want?" The penultimate track, "Lone Jack" is a bossa, but laden with adrenaline and at odds with the dreamy, reverb-saturated Latin-rock on Bright Size Life. "Soul Cowboy" particularly contrasts the early work: a Monk school blues head provides a vehicle for time-bending polyrhythms and wicked angular lines. And if you've played a bit of guitar, it becomes difficult to comprehend the grace and fluidity with which Metheny executes these gymnastics. Pat wanders into the ether on "Just Like the Day," "The Sun In Montreal," "We Had a Sister," "A Lot of Livin' To Do," and "Travels." The impressionistic leanings of these selections will probably lead many to label the album outside the "jazz" genre. And "Giant Steps," taken as a lilting, down-tempo Latin piece will drive bebop puritans crazy. When Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk were pushing their respective envelopes, there were probably cats who didn't catch on to the fact that it was still jazz. Trio 99-->00 bends conventions, but it swings, too. It is improvisational music of substance performed with spirit by virtuosos. -- Rod McBride Claude "Fiddler" Williams SWINGIN' THE BLUES Bullseye Blues & Jazz CD-9627 Personnel: Claude "Fiddler" Williams, violin, vocals; Henry Butler, piano; Joe Cohn, guitar; Keter Betts, bass; Jimmy Lovelace, drums; Bobby Watson, alto saxophone Tracks: The Preacher; Things Ain't What They Used To Be; Somewhere Over the Rainbow; A Smooth One; Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You; I'm Just a Lucky So and So; Moten Swing; These Foolish Things; One For the Count; There Is No Greater Love Recorded April 26-27, 1999 at Nola Recording Studio, New York, NY; Jim Czak, engineer. On so many CDs, liner notes are boring, and a puffy waste of time. Not so here. On Swingin' the Blues, there is a sketch of Claude "Fiddler" Williams' long life in jazz, from his days with Andy Kirk's Clouds of Joy in the 1920s right up to today. I drew two messages from these notes. First, Fiddler's ascent to his current pinnacle of recognition in the jazz world deserves the attention of a first-rate biographer, one who can extract and relate the many struggles and hardships that come with playing jazz for 75 years. Second, when you've accomplished as much as Williams, and have survived so well for so many years, it is no struggle at all to line up the very best players to record. (Bobby Watson, Keter Betts, Joe Cohn, Jimmy Lovelace and Henry Butler are all players of considerable substance, and in some cases, considerable renown.) Into the music. On Swingin' the Blues, Fiddler is fronting the essential Kansas City-style rhythm section: piano, bass, drums and guitar. If you listen closely, especially on "There Is No Greater Love" and "One For the Count," you will pick up a pulse that is positively Basie. Which is what so much of Kansas City jazz is all about -- great rhythm players laying down a relentless beat that inspires each soloist to new heights. And on this CD, we have none other than Fiddler Williams himself -- who was there over 60 years ago for the genesis of this homegrown style -- presiding over the session with a solo voice that is still uniquely his own. To my tastes, Fiddler's finest solo is on "I'm Just a Lucky So and So." At over ten minutes in length, it would appear that the muse took over and the tape was allowed to run. Alto saxophonist (and KC-native) Bobby Watson guests on two tracks, "A Smooth One" and "These Foolish Things." It's always touching when a leading jazz player drops by to pay proper respect to an elder statesman. Watson fits in perfectly. As do Betts, Cohn and Lovelace, who are known to varying degrees. But it is pianist Henry Butler who is a marvelous surprise. A New Orleans man, Butler makes the stylistic trip to KC with ease, and without sacrificing his musical roots. A final note in praise of well-chosen tempos. Burners are great fun, for both players and listeners, but relaxed standards at medium speed have a place, too. Especially when rendered by players like these who revere the soul of jazz and who give full value to every note. -- Bill Fogarty RETURN TO APRIL 2000 MAIN INDEX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.