Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
BEATSTREET
Modern Jazz Quartet: This One’s for Basie
Original Jazz Classics/Universal Music; Rs. 295 (CD)
The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), comprising Milt Jackson on vibraphone, John Lewis on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Connie Kay on drums, endured as a regular functioning unit for two decades, and even after going their ways this foursome came together
for occasional concerts and recordings. This album, dating from mid-1985, is poignant in its dedication to Count Basie just a little over a year after his death.
Basie was the leader of the swingingest big band of the golden age of swing jazz and after, and at first sight – or hearing – MJQ’s music might sit oddly with the Basie tradition. But the essence of the Basie band was the perfect timing of its sixteen members, a timing set by the rhythm section of piano (Basie), guitar, bass and drums. MJQ, despite the fact that its quiet music was often called “chamber jazz” in contrast to the riotous sound of the Basie band, was also a perfectly timed machine. The difference was that here was a rhythm section that was the whole band, so that its members had to improvise solos in contrast to Basie’s rhythm section, whose chief function was to lay down the beat.
Five of the eight pieces played here were written by Lewis, one by Jackson, and only one (“Topsy”) originated from and was often played by the Basie band. Like many of the others it has a medium tempo. The theme is played by Lewis and Jackson and only Lewis takes a solo.
Jackson and Lewis both improvise solos on most of the other tracks, of which the slow-paced “Nature Boy” is played almost entirely by Jackson alone, until the last note, when the rest of the band kick in dramatically. In contrast, on the brisk-paced “Milano” Jackson is totally absent until the final note. For my money “Reunion Blues”, written by Jackson specially for the first reunion of MJQ, a haunting tune, is the pick of the album, but only a first among equals.
Count Basie and His Orchestra: Warm Breeze
Original Jazz Classics/Universal Music; Rs. 295 (CD)
After an album recorded in honour of Basie, how about the real McCoy, an album recorded by the Basie band? This was 1981, some days after his 77th birthday and within three years of his death. But the famous Basie sound, built on a perfectly timed rh
ythm section, is intact. Basie himself, whose interventions used to be less than sparse during most of the middle of his career, gives us plenty of evidence of his skills on the piano with long and meaty solos on several numbers. The rest of the rhythm section – Freddie Green on guitar having been with Basie for nearly half a century, plus a younger bassist and drummer – are strictly in the background right through, as they were all through the Basie years.
Most of the personnel in the band are relatively young, but some of them had enjoyed integration into this great swing big band for quite some time, and knew what was expected of them well. Eric Dixon and Kenny Hing on tenor saxes, Danny Turner and Bobby Plater on alto saxes, Dennis Wilson on trombone, and Willie Cook and Bob Summers on trumpet turn in excellent solos, in addition to the Chief, as Basie was known to the band. Harry “Sweets” Edison, who had been a great trumpet soloist in the late 1930s edition of the band, takes a nostalgic turn on one piece, “How Sweet It Is”, alternating with the ensemble on the theme at the beginning and the end and sharing solo improvisation time with Basie and Turner.
One might regret the absence of a flute solo on the album, this having been an occasional feature of the Basie band’s work in the ’50s and ’60s in the hands of Frank Wess, who otherwise wielded alto or tenor sax. For the record here, the liner notes show that Turner, Plater, and Hing all turn to the flute occasionally on this album, although none solos on it. But the rare presence of Edison here and Basie’s extensive piano solos more than compensate for this perceivable lack.
JAZZEBEL
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
