Tuesday, September 09, 2014

NEW RELEASES: CHARLIE HUNTER & SCOTT AMENDOLA - THE CARS / HANK WILLIAMS / COLE PORTER / DUKE ELLINGTON; RICHARD SPAVEN – WHOLE OTHER; DAVE DOUGLAS / JIM DOXAS / STEVE SWALLOW / CHET DOXAS - RIVERSIDE

CHARLIE HUNTER & SCOTT AMENDOLA - THE CARS / HANK WILLIAMS / COLE PORTER / DUKE ELLINGTON

Country music and jazz are often cast as antithetical styles, but the truth is far more complicated. For Hunter and Amendola, a great song is simply a great song, and they find plenty of grist for improvisation in this set - originally released as 4 5-song EPs, which include Hank Williams classics like Cold Cold Heart, and Ramblin Man. They find fertile ground even further afield from typical jazz fare in the music of new wave rockers The Cars, digging into hits like Candy-O, and Let s Go. Also covered are Cole Porter and Duke Ellington classics interpreted only as Charlie and Scott can! "The idea is to do these four [EPs] and see how people respond," Hunter says. "We started thinking why do we keep making 10-song CDs. I don t necessarily want to do 10 Hank Williams songs, but five can work well. As long as the song is good we can put it through the mill, like what we did with T.J. Kirk and the Bob Marley album I made." ~ Amazon

RICHARD SPAVEN – WHOLE OTHER

Sublime spacey sounds from drummer Richard Spaven – a contemporary musician, but one who's got the same sort of an ear for a laidback groove that we love in electric jazz from the 70s! Most tracks here feature prominent Fender Rhodes or guitar – stepping out in this style that's slowly unfolding over Spaven's spacious rhythms – a groove that's funk, but never full-on – and which instead always realizes that space is as important as sound when it comes to making things sound mighty soulful! A few tracks feature vocals, but almost as a second thought – apart from the title track, which features The Hics – and production is ethereal enough to stretch out all the best elements, but without ever sounding sleepy at all. The overall sound is quite 21st Century, yet references great styles from the past – and titles include "Taj", "Whole Other", "Assemble", "The Look Out", "Tribute", "Bianca", "Closure", and "Speedbird".  ~ Dusty Groove

DAVE DOUGLAS / JIM DOXAS / STEVE SWALLOW / CHET DOXAS - RIVERSIDE


A really great project from trumpeter Dave Douglas – a group dedicated to the legacy of reedman Jimmy Giuffre, and which certainly follows the spirit of his smaller combos without any piano! Riverside featuers the trumpet of Douglas and saxes and clarinet of Chet Doxas – a player who's got a sharper edge than Jimmy, but who definitely shares his spirit of sound shaping and rhythmic construction. The quartet also features old Giuffre partner Steve Swallow on bass, plus Jim Doxas on drums – and the music, while in a mode that honors the legacy of Jimmy, also has some of that greater Americanist sensibility that Douglas has brought to his recordings over the years – in a way that does plenty to tie Giuffre's inventions back to a larger jazz tradition. Titles include "The Train & The River", "Thrush", "No Good Without You", "Big Shorty", and "Backyard".  ~ Dusty Groove


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