Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Beat street
The Definitive Chet Baker
Verve and Blue Note/Sony Music, CD, Rs. 295
According to the liner notes of this CD, the great Charlie "Bird" Parker warned Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis that the new kid on their trumpet block, Chet Baker, was going to give them sleepless nights. In fact, a well-known jazz encyclopaedia mentions that Baker, one of the leading lights of the cool jazz movement of the 1950s, played under Parker at the beginning of his career, so Bird must have been impressed by him. The liner notes suggest that Baker was a victim of inverted racism: with the black inventors of jazz at last getting their due, he, as a white, was underrated.
The truth is perhaps somewhat different. Certainly, the baker's dozen of tracks here show flashes of the brilliance Baker was capable of, both on the trumpet and its close cousin, the flugelhorn. But his singing on about half the tracks contains part of the answer to why his status in jazz wasn't firm at the top. Baker's romantic voice, more suited to pop, and his Hollywood looks gave him a popular image that probably made him ambiguous in his approach to the music.
"Freeway", a fast-paced number where Baker and the baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan — a white who suffered no disadvantage in being recognised as great — take turns at scorching solos, starts this record off to offer value for money. "Happy Little Sunbeam", where he shares solos with the pianist Russ Freeman with some brilliant backing by Larry Bunker on drums, keeps up the good work. And the closing number "Stella by Starlight", where again Baker and Stan Getz — another white who had no difficulty getting his due — on tenor sax share very satisfying solos, too is worth a big share of the price.
In fact, Baker's tone on trumpet and flugelhorn is beautiful right through. But on tracks where he sings (on some of which he lays his instrument aside) there is very little solo improvisation, whether by him or others. The songs seem chosen deliberately for pop appeal, and these tracks can't be taken seriously as jazz at all. The entirety of evidence here suggests that Gillespie and Davis must have slept like babies despite Baker.
The Best of Bill Evans Live
Verve/Universal, CD,
Rs. 295
Like Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz, Bill Evans was a white whose immense jazz talent was never underrated. He was recognised for his brilliant piano work with Miles Davis on "A Kind of Blue", but later found his true place as a solo pianist and in trios with bass and drums.
Recorded during 1964-68, these 11 tracks feature Evans in such trios and show him at his innovative best. Except for one little known composition by Davis and one of his own, Evans chose standards from pop music to showcase his skill. Make that virtuosity. Better still, genius.
Most of the numbers are ballads, the kind of material that could've been cloyingly sentimental in the hands of pop musicians or even jazz talents with a less firm commitment to their art. It goes without saying that Evans works them over thoroughly with jazz improvisation, quite often starting the exercise off even with the basic melody, where even the merest hint of sentimentality is untraceable.
What he does from the start is prepare us for the radical improvisation that is to follow. Particularly endearing is his penchant for starting off at an ambling pace, softly, often playing solo or with very quiet bass and drums behind him, and frequently as an intro. As the main theme kicks in, the tempo picks up, bass and drums get an equal share of the action, and then everyone is in full cry on the solos, most often on piano. Variations include "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams", featuring a drum solo intro and, after the mandatory piano solo, a bass solo, followed by a series of solo exchanges between piano and drums.
Other numbers with bass solos are "Nardis", "Emily" and, especially long and satisfying, "How Deep is the Ocean". Also notable is the bass solo followed by fireworks on drums and then a series of exchanges between bass and drums on "Walkin' up". At Rs. 295, this album is a steal.
JAZZEBEL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
