recommendations: December 2010 Archives

Alan Broadbent Trio Live At Giannelli Square: Volume 1 (Chilly Bin). No outer space explorer, Broadbent finds in the song form all that he needs for freedom earned through discipline. The technique he has intensified in recent years is evident in the precision and relaxation of his counterpoint in "Lullaby of the Leaves," stunning parallel constructions, speed and independence of hands in "Solar" and in dozens of other demonstrations of his skill. Broadbent's music, however, is not about chops. He concerns himself with beauty. The manifestations of it include his poignant reharmonization of "Embraceable You," called here "You and You Alone." Broadbent's longtime sidemen, bassist Putter Smith and drummer Kendall Kay, are strong and sensitive in support.

Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green, Apex (Pi). Mahanthappa, aged 39, is one of the most visible alto saxophonists of the 21st century; Green, aged 75 one of the least. As a result of this album, Green is gaining the prominence he might have achieved in the 1960s had he not left Charles Mingus for academia. Among the saxophonists he influenced through recordings was Mahanthappa. Together, they are formidable kindred spirits. Throughout, but notably on "Summit" and "Playing with Stones," their singleness of purpose, interplay and energy are remarkable. Pianist Jason Moran, bassist Francis Moutin, and drummers Jack DeJohnette (four tracks) and Damion Reid (six tracks) abet this inspired pairing.

Harold Danko, Oatts & Perry II (SteepleChase). Pianist Danko was a colleague of alto saxophonist Dick Oatts and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band and never got over them—with good reason. This successor album to Oats & Perry (2006) again teams the three with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. It reemphasizes the reasons that Oatts and Perry are admired among musicians and serious listeners for their inventiveness, passion and tonal qualities. In addition, it has plenty of Danko's incisive soloing. They glorify tunes by Danko, Jones, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Richard Rodgers, Johnny Mercer and Miles Davis, whose "Sid's Ahead" is a moody highlight.

Dave Brubeck, Brubeck Returns to Moscow (Koch Vision). This 2005 film about Brubeck's 1997 visit to Russia for a performance of his mass To Hope is a beautifully crafted documentary. It incorporates Brubeck's quartet with a symphony orchestra and chorus performing the mass and a rousing "Blue Rondo ala Turk." We see Brubeck's informal encounters with the Russians, including a spirited impromptu duet with a young violinist, and conductor Russell Gloyd amusingly overcoming the language difference to rehearse the dozens of musicians. There is also footage of Brubeck on a previous Moscow occasion, at the Reagan-Gorbachev summit of 1988, before the wall came down.

Laurie Verchomin, The Big Love: Life & Death With Bill Evans (Verchomin). The "Laurie" of the pianist's song by that name spares nothing in her account of their romance or of the drug use that hastened Evans' death at 51. Love between the pianist and the young woman flared in the year-and-a-half before Evans died in late 1980. Her book is the story of the life-affirming brilliance of his music in the final months, a man resigned to the inevitability of his early mortality and the devotion of the young woman he chose to share the end of his life. The drug ugliness is at odds with the beauty of Evans' music, but Ms. Verchomin illuminates his generosity, consideration and humor.