NEW YORK BASS QUARTET - Air
Laika Records : 35104002
Martin Wind (leader and acoustic bass) Greg August, Jordan Frazier, Sam Suggs (acoustic basses)
with Lenny White (drums, percussion) Gary Versace (Hammond B3, piano, accordion)
Hot on the heels of `My Astorian Queen`, which I reviewed last month, bassist Martin Wind is back leading a unique all bass quartet of his own contrivance aided and abetted by jazz-fusion ace Lenny White and the resourceful multi-instrumentalist Gary Versace. We are told that the idea for an ensemble of this type came out of a student project initiated by Wind when he was a university lecturer in his native Germany. Transposed to New York and placed in the hands of world class musicians of both jazz and classical proficiencies the musical outcome is far from academic and delivers a set of pieces drawn from the classical, jazz and popular music repertoire that is often breath taking in execution, astonishing in interpretation and profound in expression, defying the expectations of anyone disposed to think of this as a novelty gimmick.
The playlist is bookended by two versions of the air from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major, commonly known as the Air on a G string, the first for bass consort played close to the original score, the second for a trio setting with the leader playing pizzicato accompanied by White’s gentle cymbal strokes and Versace doubling on piano and organ providing harmonic support for the extemporised bass line. Bach’s Air is also the root for the second piece, `Give Me Some’, which quickly morphs into a see-sawing hoe down, the swirling bowing underpinned by percussive fretboard thwacks which invite White to join the fun effecting a transition to a funky hip -hop back beat and a buoyant setting for exciting solos from Versace and Wind.
Matching this in exuberance is their version of Weather Report’s `Birdland` with its slinky Arco textures and a sly, greasy solo from Wind. Then there is Beatle’s melody which weaves four of their tunes into a polyphonic union with Wind the dominant soloist and giving a distinct impression of what the fab four might have been up to if they had been performing in the 16th century. It moves from a pavanne like rendering of `The Long and Winding Road `, ending up with a chirpy, plucked rendition of `Lady Madonna`. Add to these an ecclesiastically sounding take on Charlie Haden’s sombre anthem `Silence`; an elegantly, shimmering waltz and a tango and we have nothing less than a musical tour de force that will blow away any doubts about the viability of such a project and introduce a breath of fresh air into even the most conservative jazz fan’s listening regime.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Laika Records : 35104002
Martin Wind (leader and acoustic bass) Greg August, Jordan Frazier, Sam Suggs (acoustic basses)
with Lenny White (drums, percussion) Gary Versace (Hammond B3, piano, accordion)
Hot on the heels of `My Astorian Queen`, which I reviewed last month, bassist Martin Wind is back leading a unique all bass quartet of his own contrivance aided and abetted by jazz-fusion ace Lenny White and the resourceful multi-instrumentalist Gary Versace. We are told that the idea for an ensemble of this type came out of a student project initiated by Wind when he was a university lecturer in his native Germany. Transposed to New York and placed in the hands of world class musicians of both jazz and classical proficiencies the musical outcome is far from academic and delivers a set of pieces drawn from the classical, jazz and popular music repertoire that is often breath taking in execution, astonishing in interpretation and profound in expression, defying the expectations of anyone disposed to think of this as a novelty gimmick.
The playlist is bookended by two versions of the air from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No 3 in D major, commonly known as the Air on a G string, the first for bass consort played close to the original score, the second for a trio setting with the leader playing pizzicato accompanied by White’s gentle cymbal strokes and Versace doubling on piano and organ providing harmonic support for the extemporised bass line. Bach’s Air is also the root for the second piece, `Give Me Some’, which quickly morphs into a see-sawing hoe down, the swirling bowing underpinned by percussive fretboard thwacks which invite White to join the fun effecting a transition to a funky hip -hop back beat and a buoyant setting for exciting solos from Versace and Wind.
Matching this in exuberance is their version of Weather Report’s `Birdland` with its slinky Arco textures and a sly, greasy solo from Wind. Then there is Beatle’s melody which weaves four of their tunes into a polyphonic union with Wind the dominant soloist and giving a distinct impression of what the fab four might have been up to if they had been performing in the 16th century. It moves from a pavanne like rendering of `The Long and Winding Road `, ending up with a chirpy, plucked rendition of `Lady Madonna`. Add to these an ecclesiastically sounding take on Charlie Haden’s sombre anthem `Silence`; an elegantly, shimmering waltz and a tango and we have nothing less than a musical tour de force that will blow away any doubts about the viability of such a project and introduce a breath of fresh air into even the most conservative jazz fan’s listening regime.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
