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Diana Krall
Quiet Nights
VERVE B0012433
AAA 1 /2
Jazzmob
Flashback
JAZZAWAY 042
AAA
This high-energy combo
led by Norwegian alto
saxophonist Jon Klette
cuts against the grain of
much of the country’s
jazz scene by making its
allegiance to American
post-bop clear. In his
liner notes, Klette insists that album title refers to
the group revisiting some of its own tunes from
the past, but it’s hard not to see its application to
the band’s affinity for unabashed, hard-charging
bop. Still, the frontline improvisations usually
ditch any temporal fidelity to the ’50s and ’60s,
nonchalantly making use of musical developments
from the subsequent decades.
Jazzmob’s fourth album was cut live at the
Molde Jazz Festival in 2006, and the variation
of the original material—most penned by
Klette and tenor saxophonist Gisle Johansen—
nicely represents the sextet’s stylistic focus.
The title track blasts off at breakneck speed,
palpably in thrall of classic bebop progressions
and fearless displays of dexterity. But the
You either love Diana
Krall’s special gifts or
you don’t. If you relish
her small, dry
voice and tiny range,
you can hear the
entire world in a word
from her. Jazz singing
has never been defined by the size of the vessel
(Billie Holiday and Blossom Dearie defied that
yardstick), or exhibitionism (which Lee Wiley
and Etta Jones always skirted) of any kind. Krall
isn’t a blues-based artist, but that’s never disqualified
a singer, either.
Krall has dialed all of her virtues down in this
program of bossas and bossa treatments. She’s
singing just above a whisper throughout. A
word at the end of a phrase will be drawn out or
staccato phrase will be leavened by a legato
turn. On “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His
Face,” she phrases it, “like breathing ouuuuut or
breathing in.” This is where Krall channels her
improvisation. It’s subtle and requires attentive
listening. She falls into the trap of gender transposition
on “The Boy From Ipanema,” which
diminishes the song.
Krall’s celebrated piano—so musical and
right for her that even her harshest critics can’t
carp about it—is sublimated, or doled out in parsimonious
measures. A chorus
of single-note filigree in “Too
Marvelous For Words” is as
much as Krall indulges in. A
barely insistent set of chords
underpins “You’re My Thrill,”
which practically require a
stethoscope to discern.
Her great rhythm section is
stalwart throughout. Anthony
Wilson’s discreet guitar will
periodically step forward and
tastefully raise the ante. Jeff
Hamilton, even at a low dynamic, can add a hint
of kick on a ride cymbal, as on “Walk On By.”
Claus Ogerman has provided luxurious
orchestral arrangements that never call attention
to themselves. They’re like large bodies of
water: no beginning or end, just different
degrees of rising and falling. Krall seems to be
turned this way and that by the silky backgrounds,
and if she can be faulted, it’s for a lack
of authority as a singer and player. As nice as it
is for an artist to be swaddled by surroundings, if
your name is on the product, self-assertion is
required.
—Kirk Silsbee
Quiet Nights: Where Or When; Too Marvelous For Words; I’ve
Grown Accustomed To His Face; The Boy From Ipanema; Walk
On By; You’re My Thrill; Este See Olhar; So Nice; Quiet Nights;
Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry; How Can You Mend A
Broken Heart; Every Time We Say Goodbye. (55:02)
Personnel: Diana Krall, piano, vocals; Anthony Wilson, guitar;
John Clayton, bass; Jeff Hamilton, drums; Paulinho Da Costa,
percussion; Claus Ogerman, arranger; orchestra.
Ordering info: ververecords.com
»
album improves when the
combo allows some air into
the performances.
The brief “Major Walk,”
which opens with a muscular
bass solo by Per Zanussi,
leaps from a sequence that
had me thinking Weather
Report into wild and woolly
collective improvisation. It
sets the stage for the intense
“Crossbreed,” where electronics
distort Klette’s ferocious
alto solo and pianist Anders Aarum
moves over to synthesizer, stoking the free-jazz
momentum with pointillistic abstractions.
“Segments Of Bird” provides some respite
with its more moderate tempo, but Johansen’s
intensity is unfaltering. The final cuts reflect a
’70s fusion bent, but never at the expense of
the swing groove meted out by drummer
Andreas Bye.
—Peter Margasak
Flashback: Pathfinder; Don’t Mess With Miss 1; Flashback;
Bass Interlude/Major Walk; Crossbreed; Segments Of Bird; Fifth
Horizon; Just Like That. (47:11)
Personnel: Jon Klette, alto saxophone, electronics; Gisle
Johansen, tenor saxophone; Anders Aarum, keyboards; Kåre
Nymark, trumpet; Per Zanussi, bass; Andreas Bye, drums.
Mark Colby
Reflections
ORIGIN 82520
AAA 1 /2
Any jazzman who sees fit to record
“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” is clearly of
a romantic persuasion. But this track, though a
nice trio feature, is less arresting than Chicago
tenor saxophonist Mark Colby’s own
“Reflections.” The title track alludes to David
Raksin’s “Laura,” and elsewhere there are
sprinklings culled from jazzlore of yore. “Myth
Mary’s Blues” suggests a conflation of Sonny
Rollins’ “Tenor Madness” and “Blue Seven,”
and “Caroline’s Romp” has flavors from Joe
Henderson’s “Recorda-Me.” Then there is
Colby’s unabashed tribute to Stan Getz,
“Desafinado,” a brave, or foolish, choice akin
to exhuming “Take Five,” which the core
group boosted by guitarist Mike Pinto give a
springy retread, the shadow of Henderson beating
out Getz during Colby’s outro.
An unexpected inclusion, Ornette Coleman’s
“Blues Connotation” gives notice that
Colby can be more than the consummate
craftsman; listen to his fearless final notes.
The leader has fine support here. Jeremy
Kahn kicks the CD off with a Bill Evans-like
intro to “Close Enough For Love,” and his
piano architecture is poised and reliable
throughout. Colby’s larger ensemble experience
is marked with a closing sextet cut with
Phil Woods and Bob Lark, and props should go
to Steve Weeder for a nice mixing job. No
question Colby puts it all together with ears,
technique, tone (nice vibrato) and timing, but
the emotional pool he enters at the beginning of
“Reflections” and Cole Porter’s “So In Love”
hint at deeper reserves of feeling.
—Michael Jackson
Reflections: Close Enough For Love; Myth Mary’s Blues;
Reflections; Desafinado; Like Someone In Love; Blues
Connotation; So In Love; Caroline’s Romp; Somewhere Over
The Rainbow; Squires Parlor. (56:32)
Personnel: Mark Colby, tenor saxophone; Eric Hochberg, bass;
Bob Rummage, drums; Jeremy Kahn (1, 3, 7, 8), Ron Perillo
(10), piano; Mike Pinto, guitar (4, 6); Bob Lark, flugelhorn (10);
Phil Woods, alto saxophone (10).
» Ordering info: jazzaway.com
» Ordering info: origin-records.com
June 2009 DOWNBEAT 73