Music >> Jazz

"Slow Hot Wind" leads it off with some really good jazz sounds(listen to the vibes and piano solos on this one).

I got a new perspective of the beauty of "Moon River" by the quartet doing some interesting things with spacing between the notes. Eddie Gomez does a nice solo as well.

"Whistling Away The Dark" opens with a fine arco bass solo by Gomez.

The less known "Loss Of Love" gets a great late night ballad treatment.

Bottom line, this should be in your collection if you like good vibes and/or the music of Mancini.

With more potholes than the Ike in March, a piano-bass-strings outing presents a way-dicey proposition.

But veteran piano meister and the intrepid lads at ECM are more than up to the task.

First things first.

ECM may be on their most sustained roll since the founding of the company well over three decades ago.

Consider:

Stellar releases from Thomasz Stanko, Arild Andersen (really, as much a Vassilis Tsabropoulos release as one from the putative bassist-leader), Marilyn Crispell, John Abercrombie--and now, Steve Kuhn.

Can anybody else top that? No one, I'm thinking, with the possible exception of Palmetto (Frahm/Mehldau, David Berkman, Fred Hersch, and Medicine Wheel).

But the sheer gorgeousness, musicality, and even chutzpah of ECM trumps Palmetto, if just barely.

What makes the ECM releases so special is their ravishing romanticism, pulled off, one must say, against all odds.

Look.

These discs from ECM are in that category, analogous to some stunningly beautiful women, of you're not allowed to look like that. You know what I mean, you guys out there (and, truth be told, you gals, too).

And Steve Kuhn's disc is the most beautiful of all.

Like I said earlier, this disc is disaster city if it ain't pulled off: cloying, unlistenable, saccharine strings desperately seeking to bolster wimped-out pianisms.

But Kuhn's just too great an artist to let that happen. A composer displaying grit and backbone, as well as ravishing romanticism, in his all-original compositions, he's given himself into the hands of brilliant interpreters here (notably, Carlo Franzetti, arranger, and the incredibly sensitive and responsive string ensemble).

The result is gorgeous melodicism situated in the context of finely wrought structure: like the most carefully crafted Belgian beer set down on lees, coming out of its decades-old aged bottle in finest fettle.

This is what happens when a visionary (in this case, Manfred Eicher, president of ECM) plies his trade, perfects his concept, and then serendipitously encounters magnanimity in his greatest artists--

Genius.

Simply spectacular, and not to be found anywhere else.

Of the prime candidates, Jacky Terrason probably has the biggest discography as leader (although Matthew Shipp may be close; I haven't heard all his stuff), and has also has probably played in the greatest diversity of settings. Combining an uncanny rhythmic sense, a touch which can be either delicate or percussive, depending on what's called for, a brilliant modern harmonic understanding, deep swing, glorious melodicism, and prodigious technique, he brings more to the table than any of the other contenders.

And Smile is his best recording to date. He seems to have found the perfect bandmates in Sean Smith on bass (himself a leader of note) and Eric Harland on drums. Perfectly attunded to their leader's ever-changing rhythmic and harmonic conception, they combine profound history of the music with catlike agility, always providing the near-perfect grounding for Terrason's exalted flights of fancy. Moreover, everything seems completely at ease--from the trickiest single note runs to the funkiest blooze statements. There's not a false note in the bunch.

I raved about Jean-Michel Pilc's astounding album, Welcome Home, and I'm not backing off from that review. But something even more spectacular is going on here: Smile contains all the virtuosity of Welcome Home, but it's a lot friendlier, a lot more accessible, and a lot more fun.

Somebody's going to have to record a monster of an album to top this one in 2003

Quality of the recording is very good, and there are two tracks that talk about Spike, from the point of fellow musicians and the like.

Obviously includes several musical numbers, but is a great humor CD, on par with Jack Benny or Abbott/Costello. If you like Spike at all, this is a must own. Now I need to find more!

Part of what's great about this CD is that the songs represent kind of a sampling of the different artists Roy has played with over the years, starting with Bud Powell, through Birth of the Cool era Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn and Chick Corea, to name a few. Roy has played with just about everybody, and at 70+ years, he's still tearing it up with the best of them.

I just have to shake my head in disbelief at the review a few reviews down that calls this album "really boring", because that's precisely the LAST thing I would call it. Just the playing itself is utterly fantastic, and the arrangements are very exciting too. Perez's interpretations of Monk tunes are particularly invigorating. What jazz pianist, no matter what persuasion, hasn't covered Monk tunes, if not done an entire tribute album to him? These guys know their roots and pay tribute to them with energy, vigor, and incomparable musicianship. You just can't pass up this CD.