KENNY GARRETT - Sounds From The Ancestors
Mack Avenue MAC1180
Kenny Garrett (alto saxophone, vocals, piano, electric piano); Vernall Brown Jr. (piano); Corcoran Holt (bass); Ronald Bruner (drums); Rudy Bird (percussion, snare)
With June Baylor, Linny Smith, Chris Ashley Anthony, Sheherazade Holman, Dwight Trible (vocals); Dreiser Durruthy (bata, vocals); Maurice Brown (trumpet); Johnny Mercier (piano, organ, Fender Rhodes); Lenny White (snare); Perdrito Martinez (vocals, congas)
No recording date given
Throughout his career Kenny Garrett has garnered a reputation as being one of the hardest working musicians. His playing has always been uncompromisingly from the heart, and his roots in the music run deep. From his time in the last band led by Miles Davis and his early records for Warner Bros, Garrett has always sort to forge his own path and done so without ever straying far from his origins in the music. This lack of diversity and focus within a specific area has done him no harm and seen him develop and consolidated his playing as to become readily identifiable and one of the finest musicians of his generation.
With his roots firmly entrenched within the hard bop idiom, Garrett has broadened his appeal and audience by bringing his chosen language within a framework of catchy groove based tunes, often with a strong rhythmic presence, and yes, even with a solid backbeat in evidence. His albums of the late 90’s and early 2000s worked a successful blend of hard hitting bluesy alto playing with a more relaxed laid back, lyrical and funky groove. If the albums Trilogy and Pursuance showed that the saxophonist had paid his dues, offerings such as Simply Said and Happy People introduced a more soulful side to Garrett’s music. However, it was with Standard Of Language (ironically his last album for Warner before they dropped him) that the altoist presented his most complete musical statement to date.
Subsequent albums for other labels, including his current imprint Mack Avenue, have been a mixed bag. There has been a trend of late that albums have to have a theme or concept upon which to hang the music, and this can indeed hang it up. Garret has also fallen foul of this, which has led to a lack of identity and consistency in recordings that see fit to bring in additional musicians to fill out the basic quartet or quintet sound with varying degrees of success.
This new album, as fine as it is, also has the odd lapse that draw the attention away from the real action. Tracks such as ‘When the Days Were Different’ and ‘Hargrove’, which includes an interpolation of Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ in its arrangement are pleasant enough, and Garrett seems to get a trapped in a cul de sac of his own making on ‘For Art’s Sake’. The title track, as if in direct contradiction of the above statement, is a wonderful juxtaposition of the past and the present with a superb piano intro and outro played by Garrett on piano that leads into some declamatory playing from the saxophonist accompanied by vocals and additional percussion.
‘What Was That?’ finds Garrett in the company of his core band for the session comprising piano, bass, drums and percussion in an absolute belter of a performance. This is classic Garrett that is assured, concise and utterly compelling. The case for the unenhanced line up is again highlighted on the closing ‘It’s Time To Come Home (original)’, a reprise of the opening version of the same tune but without the contributions of vocalists Jean Baylor and Dreiser Durruthy (who also plays bata) in a lean and lithe reading that brings the leaders soulful alto very much to the fore.
The core rhythm section heard are impossible to fault, and long term collaborator Vernall Brown on piano is finely attuned to Garrett’s modus operandi, and is excellent in his accompaniment as well as taking some exciting solos of his own.
If at times a bit the resulting album again appears a bit of a mixed bag this is another essential purchase for Garrett devotees, and for the rest of us there is much to enjoy with the pros significantly outweighing the cons.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
Mack Avenue MAC1180
Kenny Garrett (alto saxophone, vocals, piano, electric piano); Vernall Brown Jr. (piano); Corcoran Holt (bass); Ronald Bruner (drums); Rudy Bird (percussion, snare)
With June Baylor, Linny Smith, Chris Ashley Anthony, Sheherazade Holman, Dwight Trible (vocals); Dreiser Durruthy (bata, vocals); Maurice Brown (trumpet); Johnny Mercier (piano, organ, Fender Rhodes); Lenny White (snare); Perdrito Martinez (vocals, congas)
No recording date given
Throughout his career Kenny Garrett has garnered a reputation as being one of the hardest working musicians. His playing has always been uncompromisingly from the heart, and his roots in the music run deep. From his time in the last band led by Miles Davis and his early records for Warner Bros, Garrett has always sort to forge his own path and done so without ever straying far from his origins in the music. This lack of diversity and focus within a specific area has done him no harm and seen him develop and consolidated his playing as to become readily identifiable and one of the finest musicians of his generation.
With his roots firmly entrenched within the hard bop idiom, Garrett has broadened his appeal and audience by bringing his chosen language within a framework of catchy groove based tunes, often with a strong rhythmic presence, and yes, even with a solid backbeat in evidence. His albums of the late 90’s and early 2000s worked a successful blend of hard hitting bluesy alto playing with a more relaxed laid back, lyrical and funky groove. If the albums Trilogy and Pursuance showed that the saxophonist had paid his dues, offerings such as Simply Said and Happy People introduced a more soulful side to Garrett’s music. However, it was with Standard Of Language (ironically his last album for Warner before they dropped him) that the altoist presented his most complete musical statement to date.
Subsequent albums for other labels, including his current imprint Mack Avenue, have been a mixed bag. There has been a trend of late that albums have to have a theme or concept upon which to hang the music, and this can indeed hang it up. Garret has also fallen foul of this, which has led to a lack of identity and consistency in recordings that see fit to bring in additional musicians to fill out the basic quartet or quintet sound with varying degrees of success.
This new album, as fine as it is, also has the odd lapse that draw the attention away from the real action. Tracks such as ‘When the Days Were Different’ and ‘Hargrove’, which includes an interpolation of Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ in its arrangement are pleasant enough, and Garrett seems to get a trapped in a cul de sac of his own making on ‘For Art’s Sake’. The title track, as if in direct contradiction of the above statement, is a wonderful juxtaposition of the past and the present with a superb piano intro and outro played by Garrett on piano that leads into some declamatory playing from the saxophonist accompanied by vocals and additional percussion.
‘What Was That?’ finds Garrett in the company of his core band for the session comprising piano, bass, drums and percussion in an absolute belter of a performance. This is classic Garrett that is assured, concise and utterly compelling. The case for the unenhanced line up is again highlighted on the closing ‘It’s Time To Come Home (original)’, a reprise of the opening version of the same tune but without the contributions of vocalists Jean Baylor and Dreiser Durruthy (who also plays bata) in a lean and lithe reading that brings the leaders soulful alto very much to the fore.
The core rhythm section heard are impossible to fault, and long term collaborator Vernall Brown on piano is finely attuned to Garrett’s modus operandi, and is excellent in his accompaniment as well as taking some exciting solos of his own.
If at times a bit the resulting album again appears a bit of a mixed bag this is another essential purchase for Garrett devotees, and for the rest of us there is much to enjoy with the pros significantly outweighing the cons.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
