Tony Smith-The Window

Tony Smith-The Window

www.tonysmithguitar.com

In a similar way to the ‘Parental Advisory' label seen on many heavy metal and hip-hop/rap albums, Tony Smith's fifth solo album The Window really ought to carry a "Smooth Jazz free zone" label on the jewel case. Recorded live over three days, the three vocal tracks included on Smith's previous release Loyalty have on this occasion been dispensed with entirely. A long-standing featured guitarist with the touring band of US vibes legend Roy Ayers, the guitarists eight-track instrumental collection ranges from the catchy opener ‘Blister' to the oasis of calm provided by The Window, by way of the Zawinulesque chromatic bass line and memorably orgiastic climax of 'suspicious'. The guitarists catholicity of style is impressive. Even within the confines of a single track such as ‘Jekyll and Hyde' he can switch between James Brown style funk to a wailing, take no prisoners rock solo: Jimmy Page, Muddy Waters and Wes Montgomery all inform the Smith sound. Including keyboardist Jason Rebello and drummer Jerry Brown, the hand-picked band seem to revel in their surroundings. Fusing a jazz brain with a dues heart, Smith's coruscating signature sound and passionate intensity continues to impress.

Peter Quinn

Andy Summers/Ben Venlery-First You Build А Cloud...

Andy Summers/Ben Venlery-First You Build А Cloud...

Repertoire Records

Summers has taken a while to find his solo guitar voice, but give the bloke credit, he's taken on projects that reveal no little musical ambition. This collaboration with maverick classical guitarist Verdery bears intriguing comparison to current John Etheridge/John Williams outings, although if you have to pitch it in a niche, its nearer the rock end of the spectrum than even summers' own jazz work outs, like his overreaching Mingus project. First You Build A Cloud is a series of improvisations and meditations rather than through-written compositions, so, accounting for the risks involved in such a process, its no surprise this is a hit and miss affair. Verdery tends to lay down a series of arpeggiated lines and chordal progressions rather than melodies. Against this Summers reacts with textures, rhythms and soundscapes rather than solos. When he does solo, its often with extreme distortion. Sometimes this works - his Stuka dive into `Fez', for example, vividly hits home, coming in on top of the acoustic guitar with all the furore that Renbourne's sudden blitzkrieg's on fuzz guitar would bring to the idyllic calm of a Pentangle concert. Other times the overladen effects add up to little more than fuss and bluster - Summers has never been the happiest of `soloists' as some of his live `jazz' performances attest - but the best tracks are the simplest, like the dark re-visiting of `Bring On The Night, or the bottleneck against harmonics of the quirky 'Stone Town'. Guitarists of various genres, from jazz through rock and classical, will find this outing fascinating as much for its flaws as its high points.

Andy Robson

 

John Scofield-This Meets That

John Scofield-This Meets That

This mutha swings.. maybe it's the change of label, or the feisty youth like Medeski, Martin and Wood that Sco's hung with of late, but the man is currently mining a rich lode, playing again with a vigour, bite and breadth of musical terrain. And he's done that, ironically, by reaching back into his own musical roots. This Meets That (with its echo in the title of East Meets West, his debut, tummy, 30 years ago) puts Scofield back with his top collaborators, Stewart and swallow who know how to follow - and urge on - his every melodic buck and swerve. This is most obvious on the boppish 'Trio Blues', which has lovely breaks from the bass and drums, but also has the three of them weaving and dancing together in that telepathic way only long time pals can achieve. Swallow, of course, has been a mentor of Sco's for 35 years, but even he doesn't go back to `House Of The Rising Sun' and `Satisfaction', the kind of primordial stuff Scofield taught himself while learning guitar as a kid. But these aren't sentimental rehashes: Scofield sets the latter against a bullish horn section (with echoes of Gil Evans and Mike Gibbs in his arrangements), while the former features Mr Frisell on the twangsome theme. The Frisellian vibe crops up too on the affectionate lope through Charlie Rich's country hit `Behind Closed Doors' and even in the title of the genial meditation `Shoe Dog'. But it's those horn punctuations, tight, tough, harmonically enriching that lift up this impressive release, whether counter-pointing the harsh gnash of Sco's axe on `The Low Road', suggestively colouring `Heck Of A Job' and intriguingly doubling the melodies of the free `Pretty Out'. This Meets That is immediately recognisable Scofield, recalling so many of his musical incarnations over the decades, yet it remains fresh, dynamic and urgent.

 Andy Robson

Adonis Rose-On the Verge

Adonis Rose-On the Verge

Criss Cross Jazz 1294

As with Rose's previous two CDs for Criss Cross, the line-up is basically that of the Nicholas Payton Quintet. Usually the pianist was Anthony Wonsey, but, from memory, he was away in Japan with his own trio at the time this was recorded. Why it's taken nearly four years to get a release is hard to justify. And, sadly, it turned out to be one of the last recordings before that group finally broke up. With the ever-improving, versatile Goldberg subbing for Wonsey and the introduction of an outstanding new young vibes player, Warren Wolf (like Mike Moreno and Tommy Crane, a member of Jeremy Pelts experimental 2005 group), who has many of the characteristics of his main inspiration, Bobby Hutcherson, this is a superior session of tasteful quality jazz. Rose's three tunes are very varied. The opener, `Robin in Pink' (an equally good alternative take is also included) is very down-tempo, very relaxed, very enjoyable. His CD title composition, with exciting solos by Goldberg, Warfield and Wolf, is a total burn-out. The other equally free-style track, with effective double-time in places, is an original stop-go treatment of the Jimmy Heath standard, 'Gingerbread Boy'. Then there's an `up' 12-bar ('Liyah's Blues') with a forgettable theme, but storming solos over as swinging a rhythm section as you could possibly wish for, with Rogers' bass lifting everyone. Warren Wolf is wonderful on this one. Towards the end of Warfield's solo, there's a wickedly wild, off-the-wall quote from an early Bird dues theme (is it `Buzzy'?). Warfield's main feature is his own sensuous ballad, `Lies in Beauty', while Goldberg's `Shed' in 5/4 is also strong. Payton is happy to be a stellar sideman and plays inventively throughout, while Rose gives ample evidence of the reasons Payton used him for so long.

 Tony Hall

24 THE WALL (1982)

ROGER WATER'S NIGHTMARE ON FILM

On 14 July, 1982, a select audience of London cinemagoers emerged reeling from the premiere of Alan Parker's The Wall. What did it all mean? It meant whatever you wanted it to. What did Bob Geldof's rock star Pink represent? He represented whatever you wanted him to. A quarter of a century later, it still doesn't pay to think about The Wall too hard. Bar the recurring theme of human alienation, Parker's interpretation of Pink Floyd's 1979 album (with a script by Floyd visionary Roger Waters) is as illogical as an acid trip and - thanks to the nightmarish animation sequences of Gerald Scarfe-as disturbing as any Manga cartoon. As a sensory experience, it's also as powerful as a sledgehammer, although, ironically, that's why bassist Roger Waters felt it failed. "I found it was so unremitting in its onslaught on the senses," he noted in 1988, "that it didn't give me, as an audience, a chance to get involved with it."

Classic Rock