NZ Jazz: Broadbent/Chisholm/Brown/Gibson - Fine and Dandy

Fine and Dandy (Ode) 

Alan Broadbent (p) George Chisholm (trpt/flugel) Andy Brown (b) Frank Gibson Jr. (d)

A couple of months ago a friend of mine caught Alan Broadbent playing in New York. Following a conversation with him about the gig, I decided Broadbent was due for a spin. Initially I was going to go with his solo album in the Maybeck Recital Hall series but for whatever reason Fine and Dandy (Ode) was chosen instead. 

Considering his stature, I haven't listened to a bunch of Alan Broadbent – a couple of duo albums with Lee Konitz, his duo with Irene Kral, the solo album mentioned above, and a smattering of others (bits and pieces from a couple of trio albums, some Quartet West) - and I'm yet to hear him live. This album features his line playing more so than his harmonic work (check out the Kral album Where Is Love for some great work as an accompanist). Some words that come to mind are classy, elegant, refined, melodic, swinging, and clarity. I have really enjoyed the fleetness of his playing on the title track - the phrase starting at 1:30 always seems to grab my ear. I also hear the Lennie Tristano influence in his phrasing most clearly on this track. Another favourite is his comping and solo on “We'll Be Together Again” (probably the track during which I scribbled down those half a dozen adjectives) – tasty playing.

I mentioned back in September's post (Space Case Retrospective) that I would be hearing more from the classic pairing of Andy Brown and Frank Gibson Jr. I'm guessing that by the time this album was recorded they would have been playing together for over 20 years. The title track features Brown walking as Gibson solos. It's a texture you don't hear all that often but I like it (from memory I first heard it via Sonny Dallas and Elvin Jones on Lee Konitz's Motion). And I particularly enjoyed his brush work behind Broadbent on “We'll Be Together Again.” I know there's a least two or three albums on the shelf featuring these two but I'll try and share the air(ear)time with the other Kiwi rhythm section stalwarts of Paul Dyne and Roger Sellers and Kevin Haines and Tony Hopkins as well.

Of the quartet, George Chisholm is the player I am least familiar with (I have his album, Lend an Ear, but it's been ages since I listened to it). I feel he is at his best when keeps things concise and melodic as when he gets into double time, his lines can lose focus and the notes lose vitality. The album opener, “Have You Met Miss Jones,” is a pretty good example. He starts off in a melodic mode, from the second chorus he starts interspersing double time lines which for the most part seem a bit forced. However the double time lines on “We'll Be Together Again” flow more naturally. On “Limehouse Blues” he stays clear of the double time and I think it suits him better. 

Overall, Fine and Dandy is a clean, solid, all-standards outing. Perhaps it's a little too clean for me, but the playing is high quality playing and it's definitely one for the straight ahead fans to check out.

In 1992 Fine and Dandy won Jazz Album of the Year. Last year I created a list compiling the winners and finalists (here) - it's still a work in progress so drop me a line if you have any correction or information to add (there are a few holes that need filling).

NZ Jazz: Jason Jones – Subspace

Jason Jones – Subspace (Scoop de Loop)

This month I've been catching up for lost time. Jason Jones' Subspace was the winner of NZ jazz album of the year in 2000, but I'm sorry to say that when this album was released I was completely unaware of its existence. I've mentioned this before (and likely will again...sorry) that around the time this album was released I wasn't very aware of the NZ jazz scene outside my immediate vicinity. When I got to music school you would hear some names of people from the Auckland or Christchurch scenes (let alone anywhere else) but hearing their music was another matter. During my time at school there was little emphasis on NZ jazz or NZ saxophonists (but perhaps that was my responsibility to seek it/them out). Good news is that lack of awareness seems to have changed (although my understanding is NZ jazz still doesn't feature much at school). My first exposure to Jones' playing was probably 6 or 7 years after the release of Subspace via the 1994 album Urbanism.

Aside from Subspace and Urbanism plus his sideman work on Kim Paterson's Impending Journey, I haven't heard his name mentioned much over the years. Oh... and I think he's on Jazz in the Present Tense but it's almost impossible tracking down those albums on Tap Records. A quick search led me to the Jazzlocal32 blog where you can watch a video of Jones playing “Everything Happens to Me” with Dixon Nacey from a 2013 gig (keep up the good work John!).

All seven tunes come from Jones and the stylistic/feel variety keeps things moving - uptempo swing, laid back pieces, funk(ish), waltz, and straight 8ths. There is some nice textural variety too – electric and acoustic bass, the addition of flugel horn for two tracks and percussion (with Kojo Owusu added to the ensemble) on two others. Just a few little things that help keep the ears fresh. Another nice touch is the solo tenor intro on “Banyan Tree” and then changing it up to have percussion and sax take the out head. But I can't say I'm a fan of the fade-outs on three of the tracks.

Although the he's leader, Jones leaves plenty of room for his bandmates. Piano duties are split between Kevin Field and Aron Ottignon. Field sounds more confident and rhythmically more assured of the two pianist - not all that surprising considering Ottignon must have only been 16 or 17 when the album was recorded. These days Ottignon is based in Europe and this recording was a nice reminder of someone I had completely forgotten about. The piano tuning in the upper register is a bit off and it grated on me during the initial few listens but then subsided. However every now and then it really sticks out (I've been listening to a bit of Monk lately and a piano with questionable tuning in that context doesn't bother me nearly as much as it does here).

McBride and Gruebner are very solid throughout. “Reflections” features the only bass solo on the album while McBride gets some solo space with bass/piano accompaniment on “Crystal Cave” and “Subspace.” The latter features subtle shifts and variations from McBride and Gruebner during the horn/piano solos that keep things interesting without overplaying. Although the solos and accompaniment on this track largely follow the same arc with the building up and dropping back down (not uncommon by any means) becoming a little predictable.

Kim Paterson makes a welcome appearance on “Mandela” and the title track. I do enjoy the sound of flugel horn (particularly in the upper register), and there is a nice blend between the tenor and flugel horn when they come together for the melody statements. His playing didn't strike me at first but as the month progressed I got into it. There's plenty of spark on “Mandela.”  The hard bop(ish) intro to the title track had me thinking  there was going to be more of the same, but the tunes turns into a light funk thing that isn't really my thing, even if his playing (and the others) is solid throughout. However, the tune just bring variety to the set. I have some more from Kim Paterson lined up for this series and I'm looking forward to it.

Jones' tone is warm throughout the range with some brightness in the upper register and there's a pinched quality to the tone in the upper register (more so than I remember from Urbanism). There are some “Brecker-isms” - mostly in the upper register and a mandatory false fingering lick. But at his core Jones seems to have melodic concept with lyrical/melodic phrases dispersed throughout his solos.The opening of his solo on “Dolphin Girl” keeps in the vein of the melody without really stating or paraphrasing it. He doesn't rely solely on strings of notes and isn't afraid of a little space to let his lines breath. “Mandala” is a nicely paced solo and at times, like on “Crystal Cave,” he can generate quite an up beat feeling.

A little digging around on Sounz led me to leadsheets for three tunes featured on Subspace available for free download - “Reflections,” “Cloud Nine” and “Dolphin Girl” (I caught myself humming the latter a number of times lately).

I was happy giving Subspace some airtime this month and as this series continues I hope to lay my ears on plenty more music that I missed along the way or is not really music I would normally reach for all that often. Up next there's a new release lined up for my December listening.

New Zealand Jazz Album of the Year

I recently updated the blog to include a couple of pages regarding New Zealand Jazz (see navigation bar towards the top left of the page). The first an index of my New Zealand jazz posts - the NZ Music Month posts, the NZ Jazz series I started a couple of months ago, and a few others from the blog.

The second page lists the New Zealand Jazz Album of the Year winners and finalists, and the more recent APRA Best Jazz Composition winners and finalists. I wasn't able to find all of the winners in a single list, and I thought it could be useful to have them in one place.

It's a work in progress, but things are pretty well covered going back to 1981. I only have the winners for 1981 and 1982 (and I'm not totally confident '81 is correct). I have not been able to find anything for 1989-1991 and I'm thinking that there was no jazz award during those years. Also, I find results listing the same winners for 2010 and 2011. So I could be missing a years' results or there were no awards for one of those years (or it was a combined 2010/11 award?).

I'll try and keep the pages updated and I'm always open to suggestions, corrections and additions, so please drop me line if you have any information to share.