Recently Listening - Perry Robinson: Funk Dumpling

Reissued by Fresh Sound, Funk Dumpling (recorded in 1962 for Savoy) was Perry Robinson's debut recording as a leader.
From the little I've heard of Perry Robinson in the past, this album is more conventional yet still personal. Alongside Robinson's bold and distinctive clarinet playing are a young Kenny Barron and the formidable bass and drum pairing of Henry Grimes and Paul Motian. Although Robinson is the dominant soloist the album still has a very unified band sound and individually everyone contributes. Composition duties are split between Robinson and Grimes. It's a very well rounded album with an upbeat and joyful swinging feel plus some lovely ballad work too. The playing sounded surprisingly fresh to my ears and I couldn't help but feel that Robinson has been short changed in the canon of jazz clarinetists. If I had one, I wouldn't hesitate adding this to a "must hear" list of clarinet recordings. A gem and highly recommended - check it out!

James Falzone's Renga Ensemble

L-R Vandermark, Stein, Rothenber, Goldberg, Jackson, Falzone

The Renga Ensemble made its debut last week. An all reed group conceived and led by clarinetist James Falzone. I got to two of the three performances - Wednesday night at The Hideout and Thursday at the Chicago Cultural Center (later that night they played at Elastic but as much as I wanted to go I thought it was better for me to stay at home and fight off the cold I had picked up).
All of the pieces were written by Falzone and each member had a feature piece. Alongside some of Chicago's finest, Falzone also drew on talents from San Francisco (Goldberg) & NYC (Rothenberg)...

James Falzone

Anyway, the full line up was:
James Falzone (Clarinet, Eb Clarinet)
Keefe Jackson (Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet)
Ben Goldberg (Clarinet, Contraalto clarinet)
Ned Rothenberg (Alto Sax, Clarinet)
Jason Stein (Bass Clarinet)
Ken Vandermark (Bari Sax, Bass Clarinet, Clarinet)

The instrumentation ranged from 6 clarinets through to 3 clarinets & 3 saxes with pretty much every combination in between. A very enjoyable couple of performances -  dynamic with sustained interest throughout. Hopefully it's not a one-off and they are able to get together and develop their group sound. Also, it would be interesting to hear compositions from the rest of the ensemble. The group spent Friday in the studio so keep your ears peeled for a future release.

Chicago Cultural Center April 11 2013