Jazz | Pint | Dave Brubeck Octet

 

Earlier in the day I was reading a little on the Gerry Mulligan Quartet over at Point of Departure (here and here), and that may have been on my mind when I pulled the Dave Brubeck Octet recording from the pile tonight. Brubeck is not usually one of my go-to artists but the octet is a pretty fascinating recording from sessions in 1946-1950 that I don’t hear getting mentioned all that often. Not sure why really, I guess it’s not that hip to drop Brubeck’s name, but from a writing/arranging angle it’s worth checking out (more so than the soloists even with the presence of a young Paul Desmond). Dated.... yes, but quite different for it’s time too. Pushing ahead in it’s own way with plenty of signs of what would become known as “Cool Jazz” and/or “West Coast Jazz”. Arranging and composing duties are split amongst about half the group (with saxophonist David Van Kriedt contributing the most... although not all the arrangements are credited). And across the 18 tracks I tend to prefer the standards which all get pretty interesting treatments, although “How High The Moon” suffers a bit as it moves through various styles in conjunction with a corny narration. There’s plenty of counterpoint, colourful harmony, and 5/4 even makes an appearance during “What Is This Thing Called Love”. A number of the octet had studied with composer Darius Milhaud and the classical influences come through across the work as a whole and on the original compositions in particular. The original compositions feel a little more forced than the arrangements of the standards, like they are really trying to do something and it comes off more stilted (there’s a bit of that in the standards too). All that said, listening tonight has made me think it’s a shame that Brubeck didn’t use some of that Time Out money to reform the octet but with all that touring, I guess there wouldn’t have been much time to write material. The listening was washed down with Zest saison from Craftwork.

Jazz | Pint | Always Let Me Go

 

After bit of an odd day it was nice to take out the evening listening with some music. Tonight’s listening was washed down with “Poodlefaker” from Craftwork.

I picked up this two-disc live recording on a whim fairly recently and this was my first listen. And while I have a few albums from Keith Jarrett’s “Standards Trio”, ‘Always Let Me Go’ is the first from the trio that I have that is comprised of free improvisations – and that was my motivation for buying the album (I remember listening to ‘Changes’ many years ago but that’s all I remember from it).

I was surprised by how quickly the music passed. For me, that’s a good sign, especially when the opening track is 32 minutes (moving from the more abstract through to something more spacious and lyrical, before eventually settling into a satisfying mid-tempo swing). The second piece is a brief, lyrical solo feature for Jarrett which works as a nice link into the sparse opening of the third piece. Are free ballads underrated? I really enjoy hearing them, particularly when played by an ensemble with a rapport such as this. And the piece works so nicely towards the fourth piece which rounds things out with some energetic swing. The first disc is well paced with a nice ebb and flow within and between works. And I guess that’s similar to the second disc... which had to wait until the following evening for its first run (note: I would return to both discs over the next week... sometimes listening to a track or two... or a whole disc... but my comments in this post were all taken during the first listen).

The opening is spacious and some romantic bass work from Peacock emerges. By the time DeJohnette enters the piece has taken on a completely different shape with tension increasing until quite abruptly shifting gears. A fine drum solo opens the second piece opens which at times has the feel of hand drums – dynamic playing, great colours, and groove. In contrast to the third piece which is more pointillistic with quick, stabbing phrases from the piano from which powerful drums emerge which morph into a moody bass solo. Across both discs the trio is not compelled to give it all at once – solos, duos, and trios come and go throughout which adds plenty in terms of texture and form. It’s still early days and I’ve only listened to it a couple of times, but ‘Always Let Me Go’ might be my favourite from this trio (or somewhere near the top). It just goes to show what you can do if you’re able to keep a band together (and you happen to be Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Jack DeJohnette!). It left me wondering if this trio’s free improvised recordings been a gateway for fans to explore similar forms of jazz?

Jazz | Pint | a couple from Freddie Hubbard

I thought it was about time I reactivated things (and this series in particular) as I take a listen to a bunch of recordings I have next to my CD player. And while the original plan was to sit down and listen to these accompanied by a beer it ended up being a green tea instead.

I have a handful of Freddie Hubbard’s albums as a leader for Blue Note, but as a general rule prefer his work as a sideman during the same period... Wayne Shorter’s ‘Speak No Evil’, Herbie Hancock’s ‘Maiden Voyage’ and ‘Empyrean Isles’, Eric Dolphy’s ‘Out To Lunch’, and Art Blakey’s ‘Free for All’ come to mind. Maybe it’s not just Hubbard’s playing but these sessions and compositions, seem to full out stronger performances (from all personnel) than on Hubbard's own albums. Or maybe I’m just more familiar with those albums... I don’t know.

Anyway....earlier in the week I was listening to ‘Hub-tones’ but tonight I turned my attention to ‘Here to Stay’ a session from December 1962 (unreleased until 1962) that was new to me. I was drawn to ‘Here to Stay’ by the pairing of Hubbard and Wayne Shorter, but the thing that stood out to me were the standards, “Body and Soul” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms”. Adding “You’re My Everything” from ‘Hub-Tones’ and they’re my favourite tracks from across the two albums. When I gave it a second spin I was getting into it much more than the first time around but then it is hard to beat Hubbard’s combination of tone and time – so full-bodied, expressive, and swinging! Plenty of swagger without going overboard in terms of bravado. Just really strong line playing. To wrap things up I gave a couple of tracks from ‘Hub-Tones’ another spin tonight too... in fact, I gave the entire album another run, I just couldn’t help it. Some things are just unavoidable. And it’s a really solid album, and maybe my favourite of his a leader that I have (I still haven’t managed to check out ‘Breaking Point’... add it to the list). I prefer Herbie Hancock on piano over Cedar Walton, and Clifford Jarvis plays really well on this album making it quite the rhythm section along with Reggie Workman who is on both albums. There’s something to be said about the LP length – it’s nice to be able to give things multiple listens without it taking 160 minutes. All in all it was a fun night of ‘Hub-Tones’ and ‘Here to Stay’, Freddie Hubbard remains one of my favourite trumpeter players (not that that was ever in doubt) and his work as a sideman still holds up as my favourite of his recordings I’ve heard to date but I’m always open to recommendations though.