Monthly Archives: October 2013

There is something positively exuberant about Worlds Put Together, the debut album by Matt Parker.  It’s the kind of thing that, as spectacle, one can’t help but smile while witnessing it.  The effusive boisterousness is heaped on in large portions, and just when it seems like the train will jump the tracks, the floor drops away and leaves behind a skittering piano solo or a harmonic interlude… all before the cacophony returns at full tilt.  This is the drama of the theater, playing out one scene at a time.

Your album personnel:  Matt Parker (tenor & soprano sax), Reggie Quinerly (drums), Alan Hampton (bass), Jesse Elder (piano), Julio Monterrey (alto sax), Josh Mease (guitar), and guests: Mikkel Hess (drums), Jimmy “Taps” Sutherland (tap dance), and Zeynep, Noah, Bora, Ezra, Charney, Sharon, Shana Bromberg (vocals on one track).

The “Eye of Rico” opens the album with the skronking of saxophones, piano that leaps off a cliff, and a rhythm section that treats percussion like a wall built to crash through.

“I Can’t Help It” is a conversational aside, a tangential discussion carried out by Parker’s sax and Mease’s guitar.  Elder makes an entrance on piano, and steers the song to a cheerful conclusion.

The tone does a full reverse on third track “Lists,” which has an ominous presence played out as a moody piece.  Quinerly’s drums sulk and crash in equal measure as the saxophones of Parker and Monterrey hum nervously.

“WPT” and “New Bossa” return to the album’s boisterous persona of the first act, but whereas the the former track can barely contain itself, the latter proceeds with a resolute patience.

“Up and Down” is a chorus line raging on amphetamines that gets swept up in the tornado that is “Alien Baby,” a song that begins with fury and ends with brooding.  This leads to the one cover, that of “Darn That Dream,” a song that Parker recalls from his time performing with the Maynard Ferguson Big Bop Nouveau Band.  Parker’s rendition has a low center of gravity, but a high dispersion rate.  This differs from the up-tempo “Full Sun,” a song that hustles straight ahead, with melody riding on the shoulders of Hampton’s bass and Quinerly’s drums.

The album ends with, first, with the whimsical “Zeynep’s Piano,” a song with the cheerful celebratory nature of a spiritual jazz tune, with a sing-song melody, the rattle of percussion, and a children’s chorus.  The finale is “New Bossa (Reprise),” a (slightly) pared-down version of the album’s fifth track.  It gives the sense of the band walking off stage, still playing their instruments, and marching right out of the theater.

Released on BYNK Records, which appears to be Parker’s own label.

Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.

The cool album cover designed by Lauren Webster.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | CDBaby CD/Digital | Amazon CD/MP3

*****

Other Things You Should Know:

Parker’s drumer on this session, Reggie Quinerly, has a wonderful album of his own, which Parker contributes to.  Music Inspired By Freedmantown very nearly made my Best of 2012 list, and I still think fondly of it.  Read the review HERE, on this site.

Tiny Reviews edition!

Featured album:  Drye & Drye Open Letter.

Plus:  Busk Nur Eins, Cirrus Meli Melo, Ale Möller & Bohuslan Big Band Pegasus, Bill Carrothers Love and Longing.

*****

Drye & Drye – Open Letter

An enjoyable bop session from the father-son team of Howard and Brian Drye, who each bring an equal share of compositions to the table… all original, and all themed around the influences in their lives, both musical and personal.  Tunes possess a driving force, a definitive linearity, regardless of whether they’re speeding right along or taking a casual stroll through the countryside.  While this is a straight-ahead jazz recording, some tracks, like “Blues for Jimmy” are straight out of the past, whereas a track like “Ossification” has a tone that’s clearly modern, yet never endangers the album’s cohesion.  Strongest moments are when melodies spring from the heart of lovely harmonic development.

Your album personnel:  Howard Drye (baritone sax), Brian Drye (trombone), Jeff Hermanson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mike McGinnis (clarinet, alto & soprano saxes), Dan Fabricatore (bass), and Vinnie Sperrazza (drums).

Released on NCM East.

Available at:  Bandcamp | eMusic | CDBaby | Amazon: CD/MP3

Other Albums of Note: 

Busk – Nur Eins

Trio of Anders Filipsen on piano, Thomas Rehling on bass, and Lasse Ehn on drums.  Released on the ILK Music label, and this is exactly the kind of piano trio session one would expect them to release… an uneasy serenity, strategic utilization of silences, and moments of spontaneous acerbity.  Sunday morning music for the avant-garde fan.

Released on ILK Music.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3

Cirrus – Meli Melo

Cirrus is the quartet of Eva Haugen (vocals), Inge Breistein (saxophone), Stein Inge Brækhus (drums), and Theodor Onarheim (bass).  Quiet tunes for quiet rooms.  Out of Norway, so there’s gonna be some expectation of serenity, but this album has got some bite to it from time to time… but it’ll get its teeth into you very calmly.  An album with some personality.  Neat stuff.

Released on Norcd.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

Ale Möller & Bohuslan Big Band – Pegasus

Multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller and the Bohuslän Big Band straddle the dividing lines between big band jazz and European folk and throw in little electronic eccentricities here and there.  Music that’s more often to stretch out for a sweeping grandeur, even when the moments are quiet and reserved.  Music that will keep a listener’s interest, either via its beauty or its differentiation from conventional big band albums.  Plenty of nice sections, but especially those contributions of trombonist Karin Hammar.

Released on Prophone Records.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

Bill Carrothers – Love and Longing

Bill Carrothers has a quiet energy on piano, one which often expresses itself like a firefly… a tiny light that can be seen from far away, enchanting in the way it dances through the air.  On his newest, Carrothers presents a set of solo tunes, including a few where he adds vocals (with some dramatic effect at times, not unlike the evocative effect of a Tom Waits love song).  It’s a nice laid-back affair, an informality that increases the intimacy of the recording.  For an alternate facet of Carrothers’ music, try his trio recording To the Moon, reviewed on Bird is the Worm.  Also, there’s a nice interview of Carrothers on NPR’s A Blog Supreme.

Released on La Buissonne.  Available at:  eMusic | Bandcamp | Amazon MP3

*****

The Drye & Drye review is original to Bird is the Worm, but portions of the other reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ “New Arrivals Jazz Picks,” and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks,” reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2013  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.