KENNY WARREN QUARTET - Thank You For Coming To Life
Whirlwind WHR 4702
Kenny Warren - trumpet; JP Schlegelmilch - piano; Noah Garabedian - bass; Satoshi Takeishi - drums
This is a highly ambitious, eclectic recording that emphasises yet again how the melting pot of New York’s improvised music scene continues to draw in the fiercest talents from across the US and beyond. All the compositions are by the leader and showcase his clear, pure tone, awesomely accurate intonation and powerful attack across all the registers - and the band are right up with him in terms of technical accomplishment and musical bravado. ‘Stones Change’ has a staccato, serial-music sounding theme that owes nothing to bop vocabulary; the irregular, unpredictable phrasing is picked up by the rhythm section and used as a springboard for the kind of metric experiments that are defining the cutting edge of international contemporary jazz.
Despite the implacably abstract nature of the writing the band manage to convey a lot of joy and enthusiasm due to the sheer gusto with which they tackle Warren’s challenging compositions - ‘Huge Knees’ is a manic grab-bag of different time signatures, all played at full pelt and with equal conviction. Takeishi deserves special mention for his powerhouse contributions, and he and Garabedian nail every change with pin-point accuracy. All the contributors are bandleaders in their own right, and it shows; pianist Schlegelmilch adding neatly compositional improvisations throughout that show how in tune his conception is with Warren, his long-term collaborator and former school-friend. ‘Iranosaurus Rex’ has a more introspective mood, allowing for a lot of inventive colouration behind Warren’s probing, exploratory lines; ‘Hala Hala’ suprises by breaking from a dizzy Ornette/Braxton-style unison line into a a raucous shuffle, and then back again; ‘Cheese Greater’ is a quirkily jaunty as it’s name suggests, again echoing Ornette’s quizzical melodic sense over a bouncing backbeat; album closer ‘Every Moment Is Born Lives And Dies’ sees the quartet exploring a more soft-edged, melodic expression that is delivered with every bit of the same conviction as the rest of the set, but throttles back on the manic energy, and is in many ways the real stand-out as a result.
This is a powerful set of immaculate performances displaying real integrity, good humour and muscular imagination, and a great summary of where contemporary jazz has headed over the last decade, though it demands a level of commitment from the listener as well as the players that may put off anyone who wants a suitably unobtrusive accompaniment for their dinner.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Whirlwind WHR 4702
Kenny Warren - trumpet; JP Schlegelmilch - piano; Noah Garabedian - bass; Satoshi Takeishi - drums
This is a highly ambitious, eclectic recording that emphasises yet again how the melting pot of New York’s improvised music scene continues to draw in the fiercest talents from across the US and beyond. All the compositions are by the leader and showcase his clear, pure tone, awesomely accurate intonation and powerful attack across all the registers - and the band are right up with him in terms of technical accomplishment and musical bravado. ‘Stones Change’ has a staccato, serial-music sounding theme that owes nothing to bop vocabulary; the irregular, unpredictable phrasing is picked up by the rhythm section and used as a springboard for the kind of metric experiments that are defining the cutting edge of international contemporary jazz.
Despite the implacably abstract nature of the writing the band manage to convey a lot of joy and enthusiasm due to the sheer gusto with which they tackle Warren’s challenging compositions - ‘Huge Knees’ is a manic grab-bag of different time signatures, all played at full pelt and with equal conviction. Takeishi deserves special mention for his powerhouse contributions, and he and Garabedian nail every change with pin-point accuracy. All the contributors are bandleaders in their own right, and it shows; pianist Schlegelmilch adding neatly compositional improvisations throughout that show how in tune his conception is with Warren, his long-term collaborator and former school-friend. ‘Iranosaurus Rex’ has a more introspective mood, allowing for a lot of inventive colouration behind Warren’s probing, exploratory lines; ‘Hala Hala’ suprises by breaking from a dizzy Ornette/Braxton-style unison line into a a raucous shuffle, and then back again; ‘Cheese Greater’ is a quirkily jaunty as it’s name suggests, again echoing Ornette’s quizzical melodic sense over a bouncing backbeat; album closer ‘Every Moment Is Born Lives And Dies’ sees the quartet exploring a more soft-edged, melodic expression that is delivered with every bit of the same conviction as the rest of the set, but throttles back on the manic energy, and is in many ways the real stand-out as a result.
This is a powerful set of immaculate performances displaying real integrity, good humour and muscular imagination, and a great summary of where contemporary jazz has headed over the last decade, though it demands a level of commitment from the listener as well as the players that may put off anyone who wants a suitably unobtrusive accompaniment for their dinner.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
