SAM BRAYSHER & MICHAE KANAN - Golden Earrings
Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 1007
Sam Braysher - alto sax; Michael Kanan - piano
This is a cross-continental, cross-generational hook-up between young Guildhall graduate Braysher and formidable New York pianist Kanan, known in particular as a duettist with such luminaries and Jimmy Scott, Jane Monheit and guitarists Peter Bernstein and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Kanan is a renowned interpreter of the Great American Songbook and this album presents the pair duetting on ten carefully chosen standards from some of the more unfamiliar corners of the repertoire. “Dancing In The Dark” gets a hushed, reverent reading, the verse stripped down to a spacious counterpoint between sax and right hand until Kanan enters with stripped, unsentimental chords and Braysher embellishes with such restraint that it seems like a natural extension of the composer’s original intention. Charlie Parker’s ‘Cardboard’ has an extended unison passage that showcases the similarities between Braysher and the acid-drop coolness of Lee Konitz - it’s utterly swinging, with the restraint that comes from total self-assurance, and hip as a New York minute.
The sole original is by Braysher - ‘BSP’ is a ringer for the 50s cool school of Konitz or Warne Marsh, and lives up to it’s ambitions well thanks in no small part to an effortlessly poised solo from Kanan. It’s a rich legacy that got somewhat overlooked in the stampede to follow Coltrane, but which now seems to be regaining influence thanks to the championing from players such as Chris Potter and Seamus Blake. Throughout this excellent record both players seem to be seeking to reinvigorate the standards tradition by looking back towards it’s original inspirations in the show tunes and pop music culture that initiated it, rather than by re-visiting existing jazz interpretations - but the restraint, taste and hipness of their musicality not only breathes new life into the material but re-affirms the values that defined some of the classic material of the Golden Era. Kanan has a huge technique at his disposal but uses it sparingly - the magisterial way he evokes the lush Ellington sound on “All Too Soon” contrasting with stark opening voicings on “Beautiful Moons Ago” to show how he effectively he deploys his repertoire.
The mood is subtle and introverted rather tan heart-on-the-sleeve, but nonetheless this very classy and hugely enjoyable recording, produced and released by the Barcelona label that helped launch the careers of Brad Mehldau, Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire and Rosenwinkel himself, should delight traditionalists and might send some others back to check out aspects of the music that they may have neglected. Catch them on tour together in the UK this September.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 1007
Sam Braysher - alto sax; Michael Kanan - piano
This is a cross-continental, cross-generational hook-up between young Guildhall graduate Braysher and formidable New York pianist Kanan, known in particular as a duettist with such luminaries and Jimmy Scott, Jane Monheit and guitarists Peter Bernstein and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Kanan is a renowned interpreter of the Great American Songbook and this album presents the pair duetting on ten carefully chosen standards from some of the more unfamiliar corners of the repertoire. “Dancing In The Dark” gets a hushed, reverent reading, the verse stripped down to a spacious counterpoint between sax and right hand until Kanan enters with stripped, unsentimental chords and Braysher embellishes with such restraint that it seems like a natural extension of the composer’s original intention. Charlie Parker’s ‘Cardboard’ has an extended unison passage that showcases the similarities between Braysher and the acid-drop coolness of Lee Konitz - it’s utterly swinging, with the restraint that comes from total self-assurance, and hip as a New York minute.
The sole original is by Braysher - ‘BSP’ is a ringer for the 50s cool school of Konitz or Warne Marsh, and lives up to it’s ambitions well thanks in no small part to an effortlessly poised solo from Kanan. It’s a rich legacy that got somewhat overlooked in the stampede to follow Coltrane, but which now seems to be regaining influence thanks to the championing from players such as Chris Potter and Seamus Blake. Throughout this excellent record both players seem to be seeking to reinvigorate the standards tradition by looking back towards it’s original inspirations in the show tunes and pop music culture that initiated it, rather than by re-visiting existing jazz interpretations - but the restraint, taste and hipness of their musicality not only breathes new life into the material but re-affirms the values that defined some of the classic material of the Golden Era. Kanan has a huge technique at his disposal but uses it sparingly - the magisterial way he evokes the lush Ellington sound on “All Too Soon” contrasting with stark opening voicings on “Beautiful Moons Ago” to show how he effectively he deploys his repertoire.
The mood is subtle and introverted rather tan heart-on-the-sleeve, but nonetheless this very classy and hugely enjoyable recording, produced and released by the Barcelona label that helped launch the careers of Brad Mehldau, Robert Glasper, Ambrose Akinmusire and Rosenwinkel himself, should delight traditionalists and might send some others back to check out aspects of the music that they may have neglected. Catch them on tour together in the UK this September.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
