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Two of the
most wonderful things about jazz are its expessive range and its
geographical reach. The first you will hear on this debut CD by
Richard Nelson and his stellar bandmates bassist Chris Van Voorst
Van Beest and drummer Steve Grover.The second needs a bit of explanation
and will serve to introduce these fine players.
New York may still be the Apple
of some musicians' eyes, but many more ply their artful trade
in regional scenes throughout these United States (and around
the world). This has been true for most of the past century so
it is little wonder that excellent players abound all over the
map. This trio hails from New England and its individual members
are active from Boston to Maine. In fact, they all serve on the
University of Maine at Augusta jazz faculty where they pass along
their knowledge of the music to
the next generation and bring swinging sounds to jazz lovers in
that area. In and around all of this activity, these three have
managed to work individually with artists of the first rank. Bassist
Chris Van Voorst Van Beest is active on the Boston jazz scene
and has played with Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Brad Terry,
and Greg Tardy. His sensitive playing can also be heard on albums
by Steve Grover and Maine guitarist Tony Gaboury. Drummer Steve
Grover's performance credits include work with Lenny Breau, Dizzy
Gillespie, Buddy Tate, Jay McShann, Eddie Gomez, John Blake, Roswell
Rudd, and George Garzone. Steve won the 1994 Thelonious Monk Institute
of
Jazz/BMI Composers Competition and was one of a dozen winners
of the 1996
JAZZIZ Magazine Percussion on Fire talent search.
Richard Nelson, guitarist, composer,
and leader of this trio, richly deserves the wider exposure this
debut CD affords. His resume is chock full of enough jazz and
classical experience for at least two people. Early years were
spent in the San Francisco area where playing in the UC Berkeley
Big Band found him backing guest artists Joe Henderson, John Handy,
and George Duke while small group gigs from the Keystone Korner
to the Concord Jazz Festival provided an entirely different kind
of perspective. A move to the Midwest brought him under the tutelage
of Donald Erb as he pursued compositional studies at Indiana University.
There he also assumed the
guitar chair in the IU Big Band, directed by the legendary David
Baker, and performed with this band in Manhattan's Symphony Space
with guest artist Slide Hampton. Shortly after this, New York
became the next formative locale for Rick, as he did doctoral
work in composition with Mario Davidovsky at Columbia while studying
with Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam in the BMI Jazz Composers
Workshop. His modern classical pieces have been performed by Speculum
Musicae, ALEA III, and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra while
his jazz work has been heard in myriad settings.
One of these settings has been my
own Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, of which Rick has been a mainstay
since 1988. With Aardvark, Rick has shared his exceptional musicality
as part of the rhythm section, in his imaginative solo flights,
and through his creative compositions. Aardvark is no ordinary
band, and since Rick is no ordinary guitarist, the fit is perfect.
His has been a pivotal, shaping influence in dozens of live performances,
many of them captured on Aardvark's five CDs which have already
brought Rick's guitar sound to listeners around the world. His
eclectic influences
range from Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Pat Martino, John McLaughlin,
and Jimi
Hendrix to the blues Kings--B.B., Albert, and Freddie--and on
to the saxophone pantheon of Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman,
and John Coltrane. Not all of these influences will be heard on
this initial recording; we'll just have to wait for the next one
and the ones after that. But more importantly, what will be heard
is not derivative because Richard Nelson has what years of seasoning
and honest creative exploration produce--his own distinctive sound
and style.
The nine pieces on this album offer
a most rewarding and engaging introduction to his deft lyricism
and to the understated intensity of the trio concept presented
here. This is an approach which evokes the trios of Jimmy Giuffre
with Jim Hall and Ralph Pena or of Bill Evans with Scott LaFaro
and Paul Motian or of the Miles Davis rhythm section with Herbie
Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. Rick, Chris, and Steve
don't consciously imitate any of these but they certainly bring
the same kind of
disciplined listening and group interplay to their work.
The opener is a Nelson original,
Dark Side, with suspended time, chordal effects, subtly propulsive
percussion and dancing bass fills alerting us to the particular
sound world to be encountered. Pedal points alternate with walking
bass lines as fluid guitar lines propel this medium-up tempo tune
along. All the while, thoughtful and tasty drumming underpins
the whole enterprise. I Love You is given a fresh interpretation
as boppish blowing abounds, but with room to breathe, while Chris
takes a fine motivic,
horn-like solo on bass. Next up is a Steve Grover tune, I Know
Noble Accents, part of the composer's award-winning Blackbird
Suite. This is a fourteen-bar form into which Rick pours a liquid,
singing, blues-inflected potion, followed by Chris' bass solo,
then guitar and drums trade off before returning to the head.
Nelson's Figurations proves once again the inexhaustibility of
the blues with its angular lines and three-way scoring
making this a most intriguing composition. Everyone solos and
they all pay attention to this particular tune, following out
its implications rather than just covering blues changes.
Angel Eyes is the other standard
on the disc, here cast in a light Latin feel. Rick and Chris both
play to the tune's bluesy nature, with Rick's arcing solo lines
and interpretive phrasing making this an especially striking performance.
A much different outlook is presented with the trio's version
of Wayne Shorter's Infant Eyes. Vaporous, Debussyian cloud-like
chordings frame the opening segments, giving way almost imperceptibly
to linear playing and then back into the cloudscape. Due Respect,
another Nelson original, begins with a quietly intense samba-styled
vamp counterpointed by a wash of sound, all of which lends a certain
air of mystery to the proceedings, and moves into a sinuous melodic
line further developed by the soloists. Ornette Coleman's mobius-band
piece Congeniality provides the springboard for the trio's most
energetic playing as it evokes the spirit of the Haden/Higgins
band. The playing is exciting, especially from Steve Grover who
plays around and across all the available time. And it is another
of Steve's originals which closes out this very fine disc. The
Seventh String returns us to the light Latin groove heard earlier,
this time with a lyrical melody set to intriguing harmonies. As
the drum solo percolates over an extended chord vamp, the CD program
comes to an end but not really to a conclusion. It's as if the
trio were just taking a break and leaving us all wanting to hear
much more of their wonderful music, especially the multifaceted
figurations of guitarist/composer Richard Nelson.
--Mark Harvey
Mark Harvey is a trumpeter/composer and music director of the
Aardvark Jazz
Orchestra. He writes and lectures on jazz nationwide and teaches
jazz studies at MIT.
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