Low woodwind ace Brian Landrus - "someone to watch, an
exciting voice" (JazzTimes) - presents The Deep Below, his sixth album as
a leader and the debut recording of his trio with bassist Lonnie Plaxico and
drummer Billy Hart. To be released on June 16 by BlueLand/Palmetto, The Deep
Below finds Landrus playing baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, bass flute and
bass sax with lithe virtuosity; he breathes life into his own
characteristically probing originals, two co-writes with Plaxico and fresh
interpretations of classics by Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, as well as an
intimately affecting treatment of the Sinatra ballad "I'm a Fool to Want You."
The rapport between the leader and the two rhythm veterans is ideal, with
Plaxico and Hart having already paired on Landrus' highly praised 2011 quartet
album, Traverse, where they made sure the tunes "swing with passion"
(All About Jazz). In its four-star review of that album, DownBeat encapsulated
the leader's talents on his various instruments: "Landrus plays with
gentle authority, his pliable, distinctive tone built on expressive devices
like vibrato, multiphonics and pitch blends. He has a way of connecting notes
with subtle slides and graceful glisses, embellishing melodies with turns and
trills that build momentum and scream good taste." Landrus has been voted
a Rising Star multiple years running in the DownBeat Critics Poll, and along with
his work as a bandleader and composer, he has toured the world as part of star
bassist-vocalist Esperanza Spalding's band and contributes to such ensembles as
the Grammy-winning Gil Evans Project.
For Landrus - who is working on a PhD in classical
composition at Rutgers University and finishing a concerto for baritone sax and
another for bass clarinet - the trio album with Plaxico and Hart was a chance
to explore "something more intimate for awhile, music that's sparer and
freer," he says. "I wrote the tunes right on my various instruments,
just trying to create melodies that felt good on the bari sax or bass clarinet
or bass flute or bass sax. I even wrote lyrics to most of my pieces and tried
to sing them through my horn with the goal of making each note really
significant." The big horns came natural to Landrus, as he points out:
"I'm 6'7" - so physically the instruments fit me. But I was also
drawn to these instruments because there are fewer preconceptions on them.
Everyone knows what the good tenor saxophone sounds like - the great examples
are endless. Although there have been some wonderful players of the low
instruments over the decades, there's still more room to express yourself, the
options feel open to me."
There's an extraordinary range of sonic character across The
Deep Below. The weight of sound in Landrus' baritone sax - whether in tune-rich
opener "Fly" or even the quickstep solo version of "Giant
Steps" - is something you can feel as well as hear, reflecting the album's
title. The same goes for his dusky tone on bass clarinet in "Fields of
Zava" or the solo excursion "A Fading Memory." His quiet
lyricism on bass flute aptly evokes the title of "Ancient," while he
evinces a brawny beauty on the rarely heard bass sax in "The
Beginning." For Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady,"
Landrus was influenced by Harry Carney's
"gorgeous" baritone interpretation - "one of my favorite songs
by one of - over -
my favorite players." The interpretation of "I'm a
Fool to Want You" was inspired less by the Sinatra original than by
late-period Billie Holiday. Landrus says: "You can hear the pain in her
Lady in Satin recording - it's raw feeling. I was aiming for emotional
intimacy, really thinking about the lyrics. We learned it right there in the
studio and got it in the first take. Lonnie and Billy love the song, and it
shows."
About his august rhythm partners for The Deep Below, Landrus
says: "With Lonnie and Billy, it's never just a job - they're too honest
and organic as musicians. They've played together for decades, but my album
Traverse was their first recording together, surprisingly. Billy is an amazing
interpreter - he has power but also romance. He likes to keep it loose, but
he's more about playing the music than soloing. He keeps it classy. Lonnie has
this precise articulation that I've always loved, and he grooves so deeply.
He's in my Kaleidoscope band, too, and he is a wise, collaborative help in the
studio. I always like working with players who are way above me - it raises me
up."
Born in 1978 and raised in Nevada, Landrus began playing
saxophone at 12 and was performing professionally by 15. He earned his
bachelor's degree in saxophone performance at the University of Nevada-Reno and
two master's degrees at New England Conservatory, one in jazz composition and
the other in jazz saxophone. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in classical
composition at Rutgers. Based in Brooklyn, Landrus founded his own label,
BlueLand Records, in 2011. His first releases of all original music via
BlueLand were Traverse (a quartet date with Plaxico, Hart and pianist Michael
Cain) and Capsule (by the Brian Landrus Kaleidoscope, with Cain, guitarist Nir
Felder, bassist Matthew Paris, drummer Rudy Royston). In 2013, Landrus released
a second Kaleidoscope album, Mirage, featuring himself on baritone sax, bass
sax, bass clarinet, contra alto clarinet and bass flute alongside Felder,
Royston, Plaxico on acoustic and electric bass, Frank Carlberg on Rhodes/piano
and a string quartet led by violinist Mark Feldman, with Ryan Truesdell
conducting/co-producing. The New York Times praised Landrus and Mirage at
length, pointing out that "the tenderness in his playing feels as warm and
accessible as his writing."
Along with touring the world in superstar Esperanza
Spalding's band (on baritone/tenor saxophones and bass clarinet) and playing in
Truesdell's prize-winning Gil Evans Project, Landrus has played with some of
the world's great musicians: Bob Brookmeyer, Jerry Bergonzi, Rufus Reid, Danilo
Perez, Frank Kimbrough, Gary Smulyan, Ronnie Cuber, Maria Schneider, The
Temptations, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, The Coasters, The Drifters, George
Garzone, Jason Palmer, Rakalam Bob Moses, Louis Nash, Peter Epstein, Nicholas
Urie, Darryl Harper, David Ake, Allan Chase, Francis Vanek, John Lockwood, Ayn
Inserto, Alan Ferber, Omar Thomas, Scott Robinson and Ralph Alessi, among
others. Landrus teaches at the 92Y School of Music in New York City and The
Lagond Music School in Westchester, New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment