Devil May Care Jamie Cullum’s on the air

SPRING 2015 D isplay until JULY www.jazziz.com Jackson’s and Pelt’s respective solos bristle with nervous energy, which is picked up on by the rhythm section. Chesky’s sly solo also sounds slightly unhinged, giving way to Drummond’s exhilarating freefall, which comes clos- est to the primal-scream concept.

Vibraphonists on the South Florida jazz scene are as rare as drivers who employ their turn signals, and just as welcome. So, it’s always a treat when mallet mas- ter Errol Rackipov plays a gig, his or someone else’s. A pro- fessor at Florida International University and Florida Memorial University, Rackipov hails from Bulgaria and studied under vibes great Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Doubling on marimba, Rackipov weaves song forms and colors of his native land into the jazz fabric of his evocative new recording Pictures From a Train Window (First Orbit Sounds). He also recruited a first-rate multi-ethnic ensemble, who are perfectly capable of fulfilling his musical vision. Cue up the jubilant “Folk Dance,” included here, for an example of the group’s dynamic. Rackipov’s lively marimba-bopping is undergirded by a Saxophonist Jimmy Greene experienced the unimaginable horror of losing a child scintillating rhythm section of bassist during the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School Josh Allen and drummer Rodolfo Zuniga. in December 2012. The Connecticut-based jazz artist honors his The leader gives plenty of solo space to daughter, Ana, by celebrating her all-too-brief existence — just San Francisco Bay Area guitar ace and more than 6 1/2 years — with the deeply heartfelt compositions fellow Bulgarian Hristo Vitchev and the and performances on his latest recording Beautiful Life (Mack outstanding pianist Martin Bejerano, Avenue). Joining Greene, who plays tenor and soprano saxes and before he takes over the proceedings flute, is an all-star guest list including guitarist Pat Metheny; with alternating runs on vibes and ma- pianists Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Renee Rosnes; rimba. Saxophonist/clarinetist Lubomir vocalists Kurt Elling, Javier Colon and Latanya Farrell; and a rhythm section of bassist Gospodinov, also from Bulgaria, brings Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash. Adding layers of poignancy are the additional flavors of home. sweet voices of Ana’s classmates from the Linden Christian School Early Years Choir, and Ana herself, heard briefly on the opening gospel track. Solidly in the pocket, the A cornerstone of the Palmetto label, pianist music throughout — while wistful, tender and at times catch-in-the-throat emotional and composer Frank Kimbrough celebrates — is hardly dreary or elegiac. On “Seventh Candle,” our selection, Greene’s soprano sax his 10th year with the imprint by releasing expresses the quiet joy of imagining Ana at her next birthday, as he glides gracefully the simply titled Quartet. But the content atop the rhythms laid down by Rosnes, McBride and Nash. OnDisc

42 spring 2015 jazziz Photo by Jimmy &Dena Katz JAZZIZ OnDisc Spring 2015

Spring 2015 Early Evenings and Late Nights Vol. 6

Disc 2 TRADITIONS

qjimmy greene wRudresh Mahanthappa eDanny green rChamber 3 tRez Abbasi yjean-Michel Pilc ujeremy Pelt iDavid Chesky & jazz in the new Harmonic oErrol Rackipov group aFrank Kimbrough sBilly Hart Quartet dMarc Cary

On their latest recording, Intents and Purposes (Enja), the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet (RAAQ) salute the decidedly unacoustic music of the fusion era. Disc 2 Traditions Guitarist Abbasi admits he had a negative view of the genre, having built his tastes upon a straightahead-to-modern-jazz founda- q Jimmy Greene “Seventh Candle” Beautiful Life [Mack Avenue] tion. However, when he recently delved into the fusion canon, he w Rudresh Mahanthappa “Chillin’” discovered memorable compositions just ripe for the picking. Of Bird Calls [ACT Music] e Danny Green “End of the Block” course, Abassi, who plays steel-string, fretless and baritone acoustic after the Calm [OA2] guitars, and his quartet — vibraphonist Bill Ware, bassist Stephan r Chamber 3 “Tattooed by Passion” Grassroots [OA2] Crump and drummer Eric McPherson — bring a unique perspective t Rez Abbasi “Red Baron” to their interpretations of fusion classics. In deconstructing tunes such as Joe Zawinul’s Intents & Purposes [Enja] “Black Market,” Pat Martino’s “Joyous Lake” and Chick Corea’s “Medieval Overture,” they y Jean-Michel Pilc “Duke” What Is This Thing Called? [Sunnyside] allow listeners to hear them anew. Drummer Billy Cobham’s slinky groover “Red Baron,” u Jeremy Pelt “Harlem Thoroughfare” from his 1973 LP Spectrum, is a case in point. Where the original burbled with the stinging tales, Musings, and Other Reveries [HighNote] i David Chesky “Jazz in the New Harmonic: electric textures of guitarist Tommy Bolin and keyboardist Jan Hammer, the RAAQ’s read, Primal Scream” included here, is a mysterious and nuanced reinvention. Drummer McPherson keeps the Primal Scream [Chesky] o Errol Rackipov Group “Folk Dance” slink in the song’s backbone, and Abbasi and Ware inject plenty of blues. However, the song Pictures From a Train Window [First Orbit Sounds] veers in intriguing directions, especially during Abbasi’s steely, discursive solo. Rather than a Frank Kimbrough “November” Quartet [Palmetto] simplifying the funk out of the song, they add a few layers of complexity. s Billy Hart Quartet “Yard” One is the Other [ECM] taking “Favorite Things” to India, jazz What Is This Thing Called? (Sunnyside). d Marc Cary “Spices and Mystics” Rhodes Ahead Vol. 2 [Motéma] has been built Alone at the piano, the French-born jazz upon melodic and adventurer takes apart and reconstructs harmonic reinven- Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called tion of songbook Love?” in various ways throughout a set standards. Just how of musical miniatures. While often play- much milage could ful, Pilc never denies the emotional core an artist get out of of the song — in fact, he frequently adds one particular tune? layers to it — which has been performed Enough to fill an album? That’s the intrigu- both blithely and dramatically ever since ing premise of pianist Jean-Michel Pilc’s Porter penned it for the 1929 musical

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