Moving right along, then, we discuss three more recent CDs.
Andy Martin-Jan Lundgren, How About You? (Fresh Sound). When virtuosos meet, they sometimes shed more competitive heat than creative light. Trombonist Andy Martin and pianist Jan Lundgren listen to one another, interact and produce thoughtful music even when, like their version of “Yesterdays,” it is at a tempo few metronomes can track. The results were gratifying on their previous encounter, It’s Fine…It’s Andy!. They are even more rewarding in this venture in co-leadership. Lundgren, Martin, bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Joe La Barbera are on equal virtuosic footing and the same musical wave length. Inspired by Frank Rosolino, the trombonist has range, finesse and power to match his hero’s, but legato quality, full sound, phrasing and humor that are his own. Lundgren, who sometimes expends his energies in blander projects, is at the crest of his artistry here, quite simply one of the most complete jazz pianists at work today. Their repertoire, a dozen classic songs, could hardly be in greater contrast to the modal and other outside forms that dominate much of today’s improvised music. Their succinct expressions of creativity within the song form are unlikely to be surpassed, no matter how many choruses may be devoted to the effort.
Soweto Kinch, A Life In The Day Of B 19: Tales Of The Tower Block (Dune). The music connects, disrupts or merges with–depending on your point of view–episodes of an ironic hip-hop drama about ambition and fame in the world of rap. The production is well done, as is the music, which has a supporting role. Young British alto saxophonist Kinch and trumpeter Abram Wilson are impressive in their playing and their acting. BBC newswoman Moira Stewart is a knockout as the narrator. When the final track, “The House That Love Built,” ended, I was left wishing that there had been more of that piece’s astringent instrumentalism. But Kinch’s avowed goal is to take jazz to the hip-hop generation, an admirable plan. Jazz listeners may find something of interest in his cross-pollenization.
Dick Johnson, Star Dust & Beyond: A Tribute to Artie Shaw (Crazy Scot). In 1983 when Artie Shaw organized his first big band in three decades, he left his clarinet in retirement and hired Dick Johnson to be the front man. Johnson was not another Shaw–no one has equaled Shaw’s brilliance–but he was an accomplished clarinetist, a thoroughgoing musician and a good leader. He headed the Shaw band for twenty-four years. In this CD, he is featured with seventeen top Boston-area sidemen and two sidewomen, splendid new arrangements by Robert Freedman and Jay Branford, and a vintage Sonny Burke chart, “Anniversary Song,” from the 1940s Shaw book.
Freedman wrote ten of the fourteen arrangements, including a revision of the classic Shaw treatment of “Star Dust.” It includes an orchestration of Shaw’s clarinet chorus from the original, in all of recorded music one of the greatest solos on any instrument. The “& Beyond” of the album title is an indicator that this is not a ghost band rehash. Bill Evans’s “Waltz For Debby” and Blue Mitchell’s “Fungii Mama” are on the menu along with standard songs, and originals by Johnson. I should mention the high quality of soloing by all hands. The CD was produced as a labor of love by a small foundation, but in every respect–production, sound and packaging–it is a first-class project. It even departs from common album practice and identifies the musicians in the photographs.