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Tim Hagans
The Moon Is Waiting
Palmetto 21512
HHH½
Trumpeter Tim Hagans has been around the
corner. His playing has been associated stateside
most often with saxophonist Bob Belden,
beginning with Belden’s large aggregate
ensemble and continuing on with their co-op,
trip-hop jazz band Animation. He’s also served
as artistic director and featured soloist for
Sweden’s Norrbotten Big Band.
Now comes The Moon Is Waiting, featuring
cohorts Rufus Reid on bass, guitarist Vic
Juris and drummer Jukki Uotila. The program
of all-Hagans tunes plays like a live set, and for
fans of Hagans’ trumpet playing, the disc does
not disappoint. The intricate arrangement of
“Ornette’s Waking Dream Of A Woman” may
seem clogged as a CD starter, but it still manages
to set the mood for what’s to follow, Hagans’
horn blaring from the start. Likewise the title
track, where the rubato outside feel takes over
as if the band were in a fever dream, Reid’s
playing surprisingly unconventional, Juris not
far behind with his effects. And Hagans sounds
outlandish, blaring, exposed.
But what makes this new “focus on small
group performing and recording” unique for
Hagans is the way the CD tracks from song to
song, unpredictable, the band seemingly trusting
that the audience will be there every step
of the way. In that sense, The Moon Is Waiting
is an artistic success, not settling for anything
other than a personal statement from its leader.
Roughhewn more often than not, the music
does lack a certain staying power overall. Still,
“Get Outside” finds Hagans on mute trumpet,
surrounded by a subdued, simple 10-note pattern
just waiting to go outside, as if Hagans
would eventually throw down his mute to blare
and scare. “What I’ll Tell Her Tonight” and
“Boo,” alternately, are a smooth ballad and a
backbeat bounce, filling out the profile. The
album is filled with moments like these.
—John Ephland
The Moon Is Waiting: Ornette’s Waking Dream Of A Woman; The
Moon Is Waiting; Get Outside; First Jazz; Boo; What I’ll Tell Her
Tonight; Wailing Trees; Things Happen In A Convertible. (61:36)
Personnel: Tim Hagans, trumpet; Vic Juris, guitar; Rufus Reid,
bass; Jukkis Uotila, drums.
Ordering info: palmetto-records.com
96 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2011