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Beatstreet

This week at Planet M

Monty Alexander:

Caribbean Circle

Chesky/Music Gallery, CD, Rs. 600

Despite being one of the major population centres of the African diaspora in the Americas, the (British) West Indies don't figure prominently in the evolution of jazz, not even on a par with the Latin jazz streams of Brazil and Cuba. These islands have their own rich musical traditions, from calypso to reggae and ska, and a few mainstream jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington (whose tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves came from the West Indies) and Sonny Rollins (whose family came from the American Virgin Islands) did occasionally dip into calypso rhythms for some of their compositions. But Monty Alexander (born on D-day in Kingston, Jamaica) is unique in working in mainstream jazz, mostly be-bop, while infusing much of his work with West Indian rhythms.

Caribbean Circle, recorded in 1992, is soaked in Alexander's dazzling piano-playing together with excellent percussion work from Herlin Riley on the drums, Robert Thomas Jr on the hand drums, Marjorie Whylie on percussion, and Othello Molineax on steel drums.

A brass section consisting of trumpet, trombone and tenor and alto saxes pitches in to add full body and tone to the music, especially during the themes on some of the tracks, but although they're all wielded by American jazzmen of renown, their role is subordinated to those of Alexander, the drummers and the bassist. Except for the New Orleans traditional "When the Saints Go Marchin' in", to which E. Dankworth contributes a scorching trumpet solo, the improvisation is mostly in the hands of Alexander.

This number is preceded by a minute or so of Alexander talking about Louis Armstrong's visit to Kingston, when the young Alexander discovered the greatness of jazz. There are a couple of other such passages, during all of which Alexander's lilting Jamaican accent is backed by the gentle rhythms of the percussionists and he ends with a whistled melody. All in all, a treasure-house of jazz served up with West Indian culture.

The Fred Hersch Trio Plays

Chesky/Music Gallery, CD, Rs. 600

Fred Hersch is a contemporary jazz pianist with an eclectic style that borrows liberally from free jazz improvisation techniques without sounding discordant like much of that genre does. On this album, he plays compositions of many giants of jazz, all named after the ellipsis of the title, and one of his own, a tribute to the pianist Bill Evans, after whom he has modelled elements of his style.

Despite his debt to Evans, though, Hersch is a robust individualist, no imitator, as is evident from his extremely soft keyboard technique and his ferocious improvisation. He works here in a trio made up by Drew Gress on bass and Tom Rainey on drums. Gress's technique is if anything even softer than Hersch's, and at times one is hard put to it to discern his sound. Rainey, on the other hand, is fairly vigorous, but as befits someone having to keep time to such a quiet pianist, he depends almost entirely on cymbals, sometimes switching to brushes on the drums.

Hersch's improvisations, described above as "ferocious", are so radical that quite frequently one has to work hard to discern the outlines of such famous themes as Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" and Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo". The sizzling piano solo on John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice" is one of the picks of a consistently sparkling album. Billy Strayhorn's "Day-dream" is the most contemplative item in a menu that consistently induces reflection, even during brisk-paced pieces. The Evans tribute, "Evanessence", with its rare bass solo, shows Gress at his best.

JAZZEBEL

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