The Good-Natured Beast

October 11, 2017October 11, 2017 - Francois Leave a comment

ARI HOENIG QUARTET IN CONCERT – As an old friend from Twin Falls, Idaho always used to say: You can’t become Zappa just by ripping some flesh from a weasel. Meaning, of course, that in music, and this certainly applies for jazz, it is essential to have or find your own voice. Mission accomplished – summa cum laude – for Ari Hoenig. The 44-year old, American drummer, who recorded and performed with, among others, Chris Potter, Mike Stern, Herbie Hancock and Gerry Mulligan, is like a musical sponge. Yet every style Hoenig soaks up comes out Hoenig and 100% jazz, obviously as a consequence of the man’s astounding virtuosity, impeccable taste and striking energy.

So when you’re at a Hoenig performance – on October 3, Hoenig performed with his European quartet consisting of alto saxophonist Gaël Horellou, pianist Ettiene Deconfin and bassist Viktor Nyberg at club Pavlov in The Hague, The Netherlands – you’re bound to be baffled by the hodgepodge of passionate dedication to the roots of Max, Philly Joe, Elvin, Tony, Jack, classic rock drama and avant-leaning tendencies Hoenig provides. The atmosphere is electric, not unlike, you start to imagine, the vibes at The Five Spot several decades ago, when Ed Blackwell spurred on Eric Dolphy and Mal Waldron, and vice versa. Suddenly you’re convinced that Robert Wyatt has a brilliant nephew. And yes, when Hoenig cum suis opt for a relentless, metronomic krautrock beat-section, you feel that one of alt.rock band Wilco’s many interesting assets is incorporated effortlessly into Hoenig’s adventurous jazz conception.

He loves to tackle standards. Hoenig’s melodic drumming in Sonny Rollins’ Pent-Up House, accompanied by bass, is a sound to behold. The quartet’s version also includes breakneck 4/4 swing, fat-bottomed grooves and an old-timey, swing-y beat. Deconstructive beauty. The extremely powerful quartet is sensitive to each other’s needs, on top of its game, flowing smoothly through the complex structures. And joyfully, considering the most winning smiles Deconfin and Nyberg share during their straightforward, unison counterattack of Hoenig’s cross-rhythmic extravaganza of the Hoenig tune I’ll Think About It. The French/Swedish combo also blends well with Hoenig on his vigorous, long-lined ballad Alana, which also boasts exceptional brush-work by the leader.

At regular intervals during the show, there’s an ooh’ or ‘aah’, enthusiastic responses from the audience to a particularly clever or stunning break, roll or solo. Perhaps one or two of the many conservatory students present at the cozy 1st floor of Pavlov. Hoenig is a monster. A good-natured beast deeply involved in his game, full of life and laughter. Stacking rhythm upon rhythm, simultaneously pulling it to the max against the other gentlemen’s differing pulse, simultaneously shifting it with the bombs jazz-minded sixties legends like Ginger Baker or Jon Hiseman threw down, Hoenig’s kinetic performance of his original composition Lines Of Oppression is highly contagious. The skittish, uplifting theme brings to mind both Keith Jarrett’s Spiral Dance and the quixotic jazzy sides of Gong. The piece includes a sweeping pop-classical intermezzo.

It’s the opening tune of the evening and a big bang. The way shows should commence! Hoenig gathers momentum by the minute, alto saxophonist Gaël Horellou throws himself headlong into a tale of incredible force and swiftness, including moans, shouts and furious valve effects in his mind-boggling sax bag. A rare sight to behold, a player who climaxes early yet succeeds to sustain clarity of line, coherence and steam. Horellou’s profusely sweating, happy face regularly turns tomato-red.

The audience occasionally turns red, blue and green, but it’s not from suffocating, instead rather from enchantment. The Ari Hoenig Quartet is something else.

Ari Hoenig

Place and date: Pavlov, The Hague, October 3, 2017
Line-up: Ari Hoenig (drums), Gaël Horellou (alto sax), Ettiene Deconfin (piano), Viktor Nyberg (bass)
Website: Ari Hoenig.
Website: Gaël Horellou.
Find Ari Hoenig’s latest album, The Pauper And The Magician here.

Andrew Hill Grass Roots (Blue Note 1968)

October 10, 2017August 23, 2018 - Francois 2 Comments

One of the most accessible albums of pianist Andrew Hill’s imposing stretch of Blue Note releases in the sixties, 1968’s Grass Roots is still a thoroughly challenging affair.

Personnel

Andrew Hill (piano), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Booker Ervin (tenor saxophone), Ron Carter (bass), Freddie Waits (drums)

Recorded

on August 5, 1968 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Released

as BST 84303 in 1968

Track listing

Side A:
Grass Roots
Venture Inward
Mira
Side B:
Soul Special
Bayou Red

Hill, who had one foot in the avantgarde, one foot in the mainstream, never received the kind of recognition like pianists Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner but was highly acclaimed by serious jazz fans and critics. Though more under the radar, the pianist, who passed away in 2007, tread a similar path of the creative elder statesman who’s admired for legendary recordings on Blue Note in the sixties. Mention Black Fire, Point Of Departure or Judgment to any self-respecting, avant-leaning jazz fan and goosebumps will start to pop up on his/her arms like ants on a smashed lollypop on the sidewalk. 24-carat classics in which rhythm, harmony and melody are altered extremely in order to find fresh ways of expression. Hill doesn’t buy the method of discarding them for the sake of freedom, which turns out to be illusionary anyway, but favors a bottom-up approach: change through evolution. In this regard, the title of Grass Roots is telling.

Cerebral, introspective. Call his style what you like, at any rate, Hill’s notes cannot but have a strong pull on the listener. If notes are words, Hill is describing a descent into the mysterious abyss of the mind. A labyrinth of ephemeral sensations, a place Hill searches and researches like a child a playground. The playground isn’t necessarily dark and damp, the search is intense but strangely uplifting. For Hill, life is sweet, sour, a ‘dance macabre’. And his yearning to explore it is the essence of his art.

A ‘pianistic’ intellectual? Certainly not. Hill’s longing is also firmly focused on rhythm, the root of his trade – jazz. Hill’s beats are clever, complex constructions that nonetheless often remain surprisingly close to the toe-tappin’ sounds commonly flowing out of a Harlem BBQ joint. His penchant for playing against the rhythm is evident in Bayou Red, a modal piece with majestic solo statements by the bandleader. Hill’s other modal tune, Venture Inward (yes, do!) boasts sparse, dense chords that are accompanied by meandering lines which are spiced with, sometimes sliced by, clusters of seemingly jangling but remarkably precise notes. How nice to be ‘out’, ‘in’, ‘in’, ‘out’, ending up with the best of two worlds, like the kid daughter with a dollar who said ‘no’ to daddy when he asked her if mom’d given her the pocket money.

The concise, hip line of Grass Roots has a circular nature, like a viper who keeps biting his tail. The compositions has a sly groove and finds Hill in elegant form. Soul Special’s a boogaloo, Hill-style, the measures slightly differing from the standard blocks of eight. The bunch that gathered at Van Gelder Studio on August 5, 1968 proves sensitive to Hill’s needs. It’s a major league crew. Ron Carter and drummer Freddie Waits, a versatile drummer who, for instance, played on both Ray Bryant’s 1966’s soul jazz gem These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ and Richard Davis’ deconstruction of Bird and Monk, the 1973’s Muse album Ephistrophy/Now’s The Time, are obviously enjoying the extended chord of Bayou Red’s A-part, hanging on to it like a windsurfer to his sail, subsequently relishing the release with booming, sizzling fills. Carter would continue his collaboration with Hill, playing on the subsequent albums Lift Every Voice and Passing Ships.

Lee Morgan attunes nicely to the repertoire. Generally heated, Morgan alternates his fiery approach with subdued toyings with the beat and measured valve effects, particularly in Soul Special. His bright ensemble playing with Booker Ervin lingers in the mind. Booker Ervin’s lines in Bayou Red make up the musical equivalent of a snake that dances in the basket of a Punjabi snake charmer. Ervin, Mr. Blues Wail, the roaring, advanced player who came into prominence with Charles Mingus in 1959, is relatively subdued, perhaps under the influence of the bandleader’s organic jazz menu. Bon appetit, this dish is the bomb.

Boss Guitarist

October 3, 2017October 3, 2017 - Francois Leave a comment

WES MONTGOMERY – Following the review of Wes Montgomery’s debut album on Riverside, Wes Montgomery Trio: A Dynamic New Sound, reader Toine Metselaar sent YouTube footage of an interview that the late great guitarist gave with Jim Rockwell of People In Jazz. It’s a delight to hear the laid-back, good-natured Montgomery talk candidly about his career, unique style and talented, unknown colleagues, among other things. The self-effacing Montgomery is overruled persistently by the talkative Rockwell, but it’s a revealing little interview nonetheless. Montgomery also performs with his brothers Monk and Buddy. The interview took place in 1968, meaning shortly before Montgomery’s tragic, premature death by a heart attack on June 15.

See Part 1 here.

And Part 2 here.

Wonderful additions to the familiar footage with Pim Jacobs Trio in The Netherlands and Montgomery’s delicious Full House on British television. British, thus as a logical consequence including a typically humorous intro.