The Cookers,
the veteran jazz supergroup that The New York Times calls "a dream team of
forward-leaning hard-bop," returns with its fifth and most exhilarating
album to date, The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart. After nine years
together, The Cookers have evolved from a summit of swinging road warriors to
become simply one of the most burning and hardest-hitting bands on the scene.
"At
this point, we've gelled as a band with an original voice, so the goal is just
to be that much stronger each time out," says David Weiss, the
next-generation trumpeter that assembled this gathering of elders. "The
band itself should be the story at this point, I hope, but I think this album
shows off a much stronger spiritual side of the group then previous efforts. I
don't know if that's what happens when such great musicians who share this
common bond spend so much time together, or maybe it's just that some of the
material we chose for this album conveys this spirit so well, but it's
certainly there and is quite powerful."
The Call of
the Wild and Peaceful Heart, due out September 9, marks The Cookers' debut on
Smoke Sessions Records and is the follow up to their critically acclaimed
release Time and Time Again which was the iTunes' Jazz Album of the Year in
2014. Once again, the core of the band consists of five legendary,
long-undersung musicians whose credentials read like a who's-who of classic-era
jazz: tenor saxophonist Billy Harper was a member of groups led by Lee Morgan
and Max Roach and served a two-year stint with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers;
trumpeter Eddie Henderson and drummer Billy Hart were both part of Herbie
Hancock's electrifying Mwandishi ensemble; pianist George Cables played
alongside Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper; and bassist Cecil McBee anchored
Charles Lloyd's famed 1960s quartet with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette.
They're joined by torchbearers Weiss and, in his second outing with the band,
alto saxophonist Donald Harrison.
The new
album's title comes from Harper's opening track, originally recorded for the
saxophonist's 1975 album Black Saint. The "wild and peaceful heart"
was meant to refer to the dueling passions to be found in the soul of the
composer himself, but applies equally well to this ensemble, whose repertoire
can range from the tempestuous force of Hart's "Oceans of Time" to
the wistful soul of McBee's "Third Phase." As Harper puts it,
"The group is set up in such a way that there's a balance of hard drive
and cool expressions."
That balance
can be nimbly struck in the space of a single composition, as on Harper's
album-closing "Thy Will Be Done." The piece begins in the mood of
latter-day Coltrane's spiritually seeking excursions, eventually settling into
a becalmed but vigorous groove that Harper refers to as "a swinging
prayer." Like all three of Harper's contributions to the album, the song
features a new arrangement by the composer.
The unique
septet, Harper says, "lends itself to a wider range of colors. It's like
having the palette of a big band that drives and cooks like a small
group."
As always,
the album's repertoire is plumbed from the members' vast discographies, a bevy
of riches that Weiss says continues to yield surprises. After exhausting what
he calls "David's fantasy list" of the group's compositions on The
Cookers' first two albums, he's consistently discovered new favorites,
embellished by the band's growing camaraderie. "I always think, 'How did I
miss this last time?' But as the band grows and I realize more and more what
they're capable of, certain tunes speak to me differently the next time
through. I think this is our strongest record and top to bottom the strongest
collection of tunes that we've done."
Following
the urgent momentum of Harper's title tune comes the sharp, soulful swagger of
Cables' "Beyond Forever" from his 1994 date of the same name, which
first appeared on Eddie Henderson's 1977 release Comin' Through. The album's
sole debut recording is McBee's "Third Phase," which begins with the
pianist in a contemplative mood before the horns enter to sing the memorable
melody. Hart previously recorded the abstract, dark-hued "Teule's
Redemption" with his own quartet on his 2014 ECM release One Is the Other,
and the song's Ornette-inspired jaggedness is only bolstered by The Cookers'
four-horn frontline.
Though he's
known for his hard-driving approach, Harper contributes the album's most tender
moment with his ballad "If One Could Only See," inspired by a dream
in which a hand reached down from heaven and handed him a cassette tape
containing the song's wounded but steely melody. Native American influences are
obvious in Cables' "Blackfoot," culled from his 1993 SteepleChase
debut I Mean You, while Hart's "Oceans of Time" was the title track
of his 1997 release.
"These
guys should all be considered giants on their own," Weiss insists.
"The idea of The Cookers is to bring them to greater prominence, and a big
part of that is this incredible legacy of compositions."
The Cookers
is unique in the modern jazz landscape, a band that benefits from more than
four decades of rapport and shared experiences, as well as first-hand knowledge
of the seismic shifts in the music that younger musicians only know through
records and stories. "They all come out of basically the same era,"
Weiss says. "They all saw the same things, they were all blown away by
seeing John Coltrane in 1965 - they were all part of something bigger than us.
They were right there when some groundbreaking stuff happened, and they still
approach the music that way."
"The
Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart" was recorded live in New York at Sear Sound's
Studio C on a Sear-Avalon custom console
at 96KHz/24bit and mixed to
½" analog tape using a Studer
mastering deck. Available in
audiophile HD format.
The Cookers'
Upcoming Performances
September
13-17 | Birdland | New York, NY
October 15 |
Angrajazz | Terceira Island, Portugal
October 18 |
Night Town | Cleveland, OH
October 19 |
Jazz Kitchen | Indianapolis, IN
October 20 |
Constellation | Chicago, IL
October 21 |
Musical Instrument Museum | Phoenix, AR
October 22 |
Yoshi's | Oakland, CA
October 23 |
(venue tbd) | Los Angeles, CA
October 24 |
Kuumbwa | Santa Cruz, CA
October
25-26 | Jazz Alley | Seattle, WA
November 5 |
Bologna Jazz Festival | Bologna, Italy
November 7 |
Music Academy Chamber | Zagreb,Croatia
November 8 |
Reigen | Vienna, Austria
November 11
| Szeged Jazz Days | Szegedy, Hungary
November 12
| Moncalieri Jazz Festival | Moncalieri, Italy
November 13
| The Sage | Gateshead, United Kingdom
November 15
| Band on the Wall | Manchester, United Kingdom
November 16
| Turner Sims | Southhampton, United Kingdom
November 17
| London Jazz Festival | London, United Kingdom
November 18
| Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld | Cologne, Germany
November 23
| La Usina del art | Buenos Aires, Argentina
November 25
| Teatro Municipal Bahia | Blanca, Argentina
The Cookers
· The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart
Smoke
Sessions Records · Release Date: September 9, 2016
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