(Probably the highest visibility project they had was the Herbie Nichols Project, which took Nichols' compositions and arranged and performed them for a jazz group with horns, whereas Nichols only ever recorded them with his piano trio.)
The members have had full careers since then, but I haven't always kept up with them. So I was curious to hear two new CDs, Michael Blake's "Tiddy Boom" and Frank Kimbrough's "Quartet." Both of them are excellent.
"Quartet" features Kimbrough on piano, Steve Wilson on alto and soprano sax, Jay Anderson on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. Wilson has a supple sound and the rhythm partners are eloquent and highly interactive. The songs have lovely melodies, often creating a bittersweet mood. It's a beautiful, sophisticated set with roots in bebop and some of Keith Jarrett's quartet music, and with a touch of Ornette's plaintive sound and phrasing in the alto here and there. Wilson is particularly impressive with his great control and his passionate delivery.
"Tiddy Boom" also has Kimbrough at the piano, with Ben Allison on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. The title no doubt refers to the steady swing rhythm that Lester Young preferred, "tiddy boom" as opposed to the irregular, surprising bass drum accents beboppers called "dropping bombs." ("Don't drop me no bombs," he is said to have requested of drummers, "Just give me some tiddy boom.") And indeed the album clearly pays hommage to both Young and Coleman Hawkins with Blake's own compositions. But whereas Blake mines the tradition convincingly, he has a freewheeling personality of his own and so this is not a tame rehash by any means. He's a virtuoso tenor player and serves up exciting, sensual playing on compositions the quartet can dig into.Statistics: Posted by Tom Storer — November 3rd, 2014, 5:57 am
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