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Blindfold Test | By dan ouellette
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Rudresh
Mahanthappa
For his first DownBeat Blindfold Test, alto saxophonist Rudresh
Mahanthappa sat before a live audience at this summer’s North Sea
Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Mahanthappa was a “Carte
Blanche” artist at the festival, performing in his Apex quintet with
Bunky Green, his trio Indo-Pak Coalition with Rez Abbasi and Dan
Weiss, and his new South Indian-jazz fusion band Samdhi.
Greg Osby
“Six Of One” (from Further Ado, Blue Note, 1997) Osby, alto saxophone; Jason
Moran, piano; Lonnie Plaxico, Calvin Jones, bass; Eric Harland, drums.
It’s Greg Osby. It might be Art Forum, or it might be later because it
sounds like Jason Moran on piano. This is very cool. I knew it was Greg
right away. He has a unique sound, and something he played close to the
beginning was trademark Greg. They’re doing interesting things with
the time. It’s really flexible, but it has this tipping, modern swing feel.
Phil Woods & Bill Mays
“All This And Heaven Too” (from Phil & Bill, Palmetto, 2011) Woods, alto saxophone;
Mays, piano.
I have no idea who this is. But it’s someone who listened to a lot of Bird
with a stylized bebop language. It’s interesting how when a fresh voice
comes on the scene, their vocabulary becomes codified. I think of someone
like Sonny Stitt, who in a sense cleaned up Bird. He codified his way
of playing. Then after Coltrane, there were a slew of players who did the
same thing. This tune is cool. I dug it. It was fun. It’s interesting to listen
to how people approach a sax-piano duo. There are just two of you,
so there’s a lot of room for interaction. [after] It’s Phil Woods OK, yes,
there’s that Bird thing.
Henry Threadgill Zooid
“It Never Moved” (from This Brings Us To, Volume II, Pi, 2010) Threadgill, alto
saxophone; Liberty Ellman, guitar; Jose Davila, trombone, tuba; Stomu Takeishi,
bass guitar; Elliot Humberto Kavee, drums.
I knew who this was before the alto sax came in. With that instrumentation,
it could only be one person: Henry Threadgill. Henry is a gifted
conceptualist and an interesting composer. He has a great way of
putting together music and rearranging ideas—turning standard musical
concepts on their side and re-examining them, then deconstructing
and restructuring them and bringing into question what the melody and
harmony can actually mean. It’s quite brilliant. Henry’s saxophone style
is very deliberate, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. He never plays
a line in a traditional way. It’s like an interjection.
Charlie Parker
“Light Green” (from The Washington Concerts, Blue Note, 2001, rec’d 1953) Parker,
alto saxophone; Joe Timer’s Orchestra.
That’s Charlie Parker. I’m trying to figure out what period this is by what
he’s playing, how well he’s playing, how flexible his chops are, how
spontaneous he’s playing. There are times when you hear Charlie Parker
where you feel like he might be relying on what he knows, and then you
hear other recordings where you hear him taking chances. He’s playing
double-time and substituting chords and doing it all on a gut level. It’s
interesting on this piece that is arranged for a big band where the group
comes back in, and there’s a key change. It sounds like it takes Bird by
surprise just for a measure and then he’s right on top of it. He was the
king of playing in any key.
Kenny Garrett
“Giant Steps” (from Pursuance: The Music Of John Coltrane, Warner Bros., 1996)
Garrett, alto saxophone; Pat Metheny, guitar; Rodney Whitaker, bass; Brian
Blade, drums.
It’s Kenny Garrett. I don’t remember what album this is from. At
Berklee, me and my friends worked up an arrangement of “Giant Steps”
kind of like this, but then a year later we heard Kenny do this. It’s nice
to hear him this loose with the rhythm section laying it down for him.
Kenny was probably the most imitated alto player from the late ’80s on.
Paul Desmond
“Wave” (from Pure Desmond, CTI/Masterworks 2011, rec’d 1974) Desmond, alto
saxophone; Ed Bickert, guitar; Ron Carter, bass; Connie Kay, drums.
I don’t know this album, but you know it’s Paul Desmond from the first
note, whether you like him or not. I didn’t particularly like this. I thought
it was cheesy. I was never a Paul Desmond fan. Maybe that’s blasphemy,
but now that I’ve turned 40, I can say this. I never gravitated to his sound.
I like music that’s more in your face and aggressive. But I’m a fan of anyone
who has his own personal approach and style.
Steve Coleman and Five Elements
“Attila 04 (Closing Ritual)” (from Harvesting Semblances And Affinities, Pi, 2010)
Coleman, alto saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Tim Albright, trombone;
Thomas Morgan, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums; Jen Shyu, vocals.
Obviously, Steve Coleman. I’m a huge fan, beginning with Tao Of Mad
Phat back in the early ’90s. Steve has been a great inspiration and influence
on me. One of the great sources of confusion for me was approaching
the music of my ancestry, to find a way to do it without selling my
culture short. I didn’t want to just have a jazz quartet with a tabla player,
and then call it Indian. That’s exoticism, not merging cultures or expressing
bicultural identity, which is what I am, Indian American. Steve had
taken wonderful concepts for West African music and put them in a setting
that had nothing to do with African music. It was very inspirational
to see how he engaged on a cultural level where he was breaking things
down to their fundamental building blocks and then building them back
up. Steve is always thinking of the next thing. He’s committed to seeking
information. I would like to be Steve Coleman when I grow up. DB
The “Blindfold Test” is a listening test that challenges the featured artist
to discuss and identify the music and musicians who performed on
selected recordings. The artist is then asked to rate each tune using
a 5-star system. No information is given to the artist prior to the test.
Jos L. Knaepen
114 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2011