Scenes: Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival

Straightahead / Mainstream Jazz
premiera polska: 2023-07-07
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Gatefoldowe etui
opis:
Editor's info:
Over the course of 30 years of friendship and playing music together, much is revealed. Since Scenes' debut recording in 2001, saxophonist Rick Mandyck, guitarist John Stowell, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop always seemed to find new and unique destinations every time in the studio. It as well translated night to night on the bandstand as revealed here on their first live recording. Coming as it did after a year and a half of lockdown and few live performances, there was a palpable sense of connectedness between audience and band, each needing the moment and accepting the unanticipated wash of emotions. The band performs originals from Mandyck, Stowell and Johnson, along with Mandyck's masterful reading of the classic "It's Easy to Remember," and closes with Jim Pepper's well-traveled "Witchi Tai To," derived from a Native American Church healing chant.

…quietly stunning interplay…each musician establishes his identity firmly through melodic, conversational playing that is the epitome of modern, eclectic jazz.
ALL MUSIC GUIDE

JAZZSTEPS
Guitarist John Stowell's liner notes to this recently released CD makes Scenes sound almost serendipitous. He writes that "I suggested that we make a little music and turn on the tapes if we liked the chemistry…We did a couple of gigs in Seattle and went into the studio for a couple of sessions."
Stowell and drummer John Bishop produced the two sessions recorded at Seattle's Ironwood Studios.
They showcase the quartet's very democratic approach on a repertoire including Tom Harrell's "Scene," McCoy Tyner's "Blues On The Corner," Tom O'Donnell's "Psalm," John Scofield's "The Beatles," Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti," and Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays" as well as originals by saxophonist Rick Mandyck and bassist Jeff Johnson.
Mandyck's "New Beginnings" kicks-off Scenes with a fluid, four-way conversation driven by Bishop and Johnson's supple support and Stowell's propulsive chordal colors. Mandyck and Stowell each contribute well-shaped solos, but it is the band's interplay that is most impressive on this and subsequent cuts. They are all masterful players and even better listeners.
Their version of "Scene" is an introspective gem featuring one of Johnson's loveliest solos-he contributes several on this recording. The title track also offers a succinct, breathy statement from Mandyck, and another of Stowell's beautifully crafted abstractions. "Blues On The Corner" swings with a juicy, jaunty swagger; Mandyck and Stowell finishing each other's musical thoughts with spookily intuitive insight. Stowell produces a playful weave of single note runs followed by Johnson's equally mathematical bass braid, and Bishop adds a tasty series of drum pyrotechnics punctuated by Stowell's guitar before returning to Tyner's bluesy theme.
by Joseph Blake

muzycy:
John Bishop - drums
John Stowell - guitar
Jeff Johnson - bass
Rick Mandyck - sax

utwory:
01. Tilbury Hill 07:46
02. Trudge 08:37
03. When Jasper Grows Up 08:27
04. Companions 05:26
05. Lonely Blue Angel 07:22
06. Variable Clouds 07:31
07. It's Easy to Remember 05:32
08. Studio City 09:05
09. Witchi Tai To 07:36

wydano: 2023-05
nagrano: Recorded by Dave Dysart, live at Town Hall, Seattle, WA, October 29, 2021

more info: www.originarts.com