BLUE NOTE ALL-STARS - Our Point of View
Blue Note Records (2 Disc Set)
Robert Glasper (keyboards) Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) Marcus Strickland (tenor sax) Lionel Loueke (guitar) Derrick Hodge (bass) Kendrick Scott (drums) with guest appearances by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. No recording dates or details given.
Billed as a Blue Note supergroup this assemblage of contemporary `young lions` build on the label’s venerated tradition and reputation as a purveyor of solid, virile jazz infusing it with their own tricks and licks and rendering it in a brilliant contemporary gloss. Essentially the music is a melange of late Messengers muscularity and the abstractions of the second Davis quintet with World Music allusions wedded to Hip-Hop and High Life beats. Each of the musicians (all Blue Note stars in their own right) bring something original and personal to the enterprise making this one of the most exciting and desirable new releases of the year.
The playlist comprises originals by each of the band members to which are added two Wayne Shorter numbers; an 18-minute version of ` Witch Hunt` from his 1965 release, ` Speak No Evil` and a version of `Masquelero` shorn of its Spanish allusions which are replaced by brooding nocturnal textures that would be perfectly at home as the soundtrack to a film noir. The band are joined on this track by Shorter himself on soprano and Herbie Hancock in a gesture of cross-generational empathy, symbolically emphasising the process of evolution and renewal.
Considering that band is made up of powerful individual voices there is high degree of co-operation and interplay which places the realisation of the musical concept ahead of the desire to project a particular brief. This is not a `blowing` session and although the scores leave plenty of room for solo contributions what is going on behind them is as important as the solos themselves. Loueke’s array of harmonic effects are as intriguing as his glistening arpeggios whilst the crisp, highly accented drumming provides a wealth of inner detail as well as maintaining a tight pulse and rhythmic variety in unison with Hodge and Glasper who’s cleverly crafted ostinato figures produce an often mesmeric, trance like foundation to the soaring horns. Of these Strickland is a scion of the `tough tenor` school whilst Akinmusire with manifold voicings and tongued effects brings to my mind the expressiveness of Lee Morgan.
There is some great music here that is at once absorbing and uplifting, far reaching in its ambition and joyful in its execution. A record of the year, surely.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Blue Note Records (2 Disc Set)
Robert Glasper (keyboards) Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) Marcus Strickland (tenor sax) Lionel Loueke (guitar) Derrick Hodge (bass) Kendrick Scott (drums) with guest appearances by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. No recording dates or details given.
Billed as a Blue Note supergroup this assemblage of contemporary `young lions` build on the label’s venerated tradition and reputation as a purveyor of solid, virile jazz infusing it with their own tricks and licks and rendering it in a brilliant contemporary gloss. Essentially the music is a melange of late Messengers muscularity and the abstractions of the second Davis quintet with World Music allusions wedded to Hip-Hop and High Life beats. Each of the musicians (all Blue Note stars in their own right) bring something original and personal to the enterprise making this one of the most exciting and desirable new releases of the year.
The playlist comprises originals by each of the band members to which are added two Wayne Shorter numbers; an 18-minute version of ` Witch Hunt` from his 1965 release, ` Speak No Evil` and a version of `Masquelero` shorn of its Spanish allusions which are replaced by brooding nocturnal textures that would be perfectly at home as the soundtrack to a film noir. The band are joined on this track by Shorter himself on soprano and Herbie Hancock in a gesture of cross-generational empathy, symbolically emphasising the process of evolution and renewal.
Considering that band is made up of powerful individual voices there is high degree of co-operation and interplay which places the realisation of the musical concept ahead of the desire to project a particular brief. This is not a `blowing` session and although the scores leave plenty of room for solo contributions what is going on behind them is as important as the solos themselves. Loueke’s array of harmonic effects are as intriguing as his glistening arpeggios whilst the crisp, highly accented drumming provides a wealth of inner detail as well as maintaining a tight pulse and rhythmic variety in unison with Hodge and Glasper who’s cleverly crafted ostinato figures produce an often mesmeric, trance like foundation to the soaring horns. Of these Strickland is a scion of the `tough tenor` school whilst Akinmusire with manifold voicings and tongued effects brings to my mind the expressiveness of Lee Morgan.
There is some great music here that is at once absorbing and uplifting, far reaching in its ambition and joyful in its execution. A record of the year, surely.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
