WARREN WOLF - Reincarnation
Mack Avenue Records: MAC 1169
Warren Wolf (vibraphone) Brett Williams (Fender Rhodes & piano) Richie Goods (electric and acoustic basses) Mark Whitfield (guitar) Carroll “CV” Dashiell 111 (drums & percussion) Imani-Grace Cooper (vocals & background vocals) Marcellus “Bassman” Shepard (vocals) Recorded June 25-26 2019.
It seems like only yesterday that Gary Burton was being hailed as `The New Vibes Man in Town` and now his stellar career having transitioned into retirement we are looking for a new virtuoso to fill his celebrity status. There are several contenders and of them, Warren Wolf, though a different type of player with, no doubt, different artistic ambitions, is fast becoming the most talked about talent on the most mellifluous of jazz instruments.
With two previous releases as leader for the Mack Avenue label at his back and sideman credits with Rodney Green and Ted Nash, to name but two, he has revealed himself to be an all-purpose, straight-ahead jazzman coming out of the Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson tradition but with a taste for soft-focus soul of the type purveyed by Grover Washington and often heard in Gary Burton’s collaborations with guitarists of the Pat Metheny stripe. In this latest release, however, he gives his talents over, almost wholly, to the business of melding the hip-hop vibe that permeates the contemporary soul/R&B scene with the `in the pocket` directness of the timeless bop idiom.
The playlist is made up entirely of Wolf’s originals except for a cover of the Isley Brothers hit `For the Love of You`: incidentally Warren isn’t the first vibes-man to be attracted to this tune – the excellent and highly prolific Joe Locke has a version on his album of the same name which features singer Kenny Washington. The theme of the album being life and love , the overall orientation favours the song form and utilises the talents of two singers, a lilting soprano voice with a smoky vibrato in the Minnie Rippington manner and a warm toned, baritone who doesn’t so much sing as declaim pithy asides, serving as a sort of master of ceremonies introducing the leader in a brief `Soul Intro` and commenting throughout on the narrative of the recital which is a celebration of all the things and people that make Warren feel good about his life.
In this sense it is a rather personal document and listeners may feel, at times, that they are intruding on a personal space more properly reserved for family and friends. I’m probably being over sensitive but I have to say that at times I felt a bit voyeuristic and found the slinky eroticism of `In the Heat of the Night`, with Mr Shepard’s suggestive interjections, positively toe curling. That apart the music is great and its execution impeccable. Wolf has assembled a great team with guitarist Mark Whitfield added to the core instrumental quartet to provide some funky touches on two of the tracks. He proves an asset in the tension building ride out finale to the Isley Brothers song which drummer Dashiell stokes furiously, breaking out of the prevailing somnolence of what is essentially a ballad. One or two of the pieces end in this type of climactic finish and it certainly helps to dilute the occasional tendency to lard on the schmaltz.
Of the purely instrumental tracks `Vahybing` offers an opportunity for the quartet to stretch and cook and features a deliciously insinuating bass line as a motive factor. Warren really fires up on this one whilst he displays his lyrical side on the floating waltz time `Come and Dance With Me`, dedicated to his ballerina wife. The album closes with a final assessment of the leader’s talents from the lugubrious “Bassman” and an exhortation to spread the word. With this release, which Wolf characterises as a stylistic reincarnation he will undoubtably attract an audience from outside the strict jazz fraternity but those who have followed his career so far and have found much to like in his more straight-ahead output, won’t look askance at a veneer of soul inspired gloss.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Mack Avenue Records: MAC 1169
Warren Wolf (vibraphone) Brett Williams (Fender Rhodes & piano) Richie Goods (electric and acoustic basses) Mark Whitfield (guitar) Carroll “CV” Dashiell 111 (drums & percussion) Imani-Grace Cooper (vocals & background vocals) Marcellus “Bassman” Shepard (vocals) Recorded June 25-26 2019.
It seems like only yesterday that Gary Burton was being hailed as `The New Vibes Man in Town` and now his stellar career having transitioned into retirement we are looking for a new virtuoso to fill his celebrity status. There are several contenders and of them, Warren Wolf, though a different type of player with, no doubt, different artistic ambitions, is fast becoming the most talked about talent on the most mellifluous of jazz instruments.
With two previous releases as leader for the Mack Avenue label at his back and sideman credits with Rodney Green and Ted Nash, to name but two, he has revealed himself to be an all-purpose, straight-ahead jazzman coming out of the Bobby Hutcherson, Milt Jackson tradition but with a taste for soft-focus soul of the type purveyed by Grover Washington and often heard in Gary Burton’s collaborations with guitarists of the Pat Metheny stripe. In this latest release, however, he gives his talents over, almost wholly, to the business of melding the hip-hop vibe that permeates the contemporary soul/R&B scene with the `in the pocket` directness of the timeless bop idiom.
The playlist is made up entirely of Wolf’s originals except for a cover of the Isley Brothers hit `For the Love of You`: incidentally Warren isn’t the first vibes-man to be attracted to this tune – the excellent and highly prolific Joe Locke has a version on his album of the same name which features singer Kenny Washington. The theme of the album being life and love , the overall orientation favours the song form and utilises the talents of two singers, a lilting soprano voice with a smoky vibrato in the Minnie Rippington manner and a warm toned, baritone who doesn’t so much sing as declaim pithy asides, serving as a sort of master of ceremonies introducing the leader in a brief `Soul Intro` and commenting throughout on the narrative of the recital which is a celebration of all the things and people that make Warren feel good about his life.
In this sense it is a rather personal document and listeners may feel, at times, that they are intruding on a personal space more properly reserved for family and friends. I’m probably being over sensitive but I have to say that at times I felt a bit voyeuristic and found the slinky eroticism of `In the Heat of the Night`, with Mr Shepard’s suggestive interjections, positively toe curling. That apart the music is great and its execution impeccable. Wolf has assembled a great team with guitarist Mark Whitfield added to the core instrumental quartet to provide some funky touches on two of the tracks. He proves an asset in the tension building ride out finale to the Isley Brothers song which drummer Dashiell stokes furiously, breaking out of the prevailing somnolence of what is essentially a ballad. One or two of the pieces end in this type of climactic finish and it certainly helps to dilute the occasional tendency to lard on the schmaltz.
Of the purely instrumental tracks `Vahybing` offers an opportunity for the quartet to stretch and cook and features a deliciously insinuating bass line as a motive factor. Warren really fires up on this one whilst he displays his lyrical side on the floating waltz time `Come and Dance With Me`, dedicated to his ballerina wife. The album closes with a final assessment of the leader’s talents from the lugubrious “Bassman” and an exhortation to spread the word. With this release, which Wolf characterises as a stylistic reincarnation he will undoubtably attract an audience from outside the strict jazz fraternity but those who have followed his career so far and have found much to like in his more straight-ahead output, won’t look askance at a veneer of soul inspired gloss.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
