Shut down the streets, it's time for a Block Party! The
latest album from saxophonist and clarinetist Dan Block is a joyous event fully
in keeping with the warm spirit of its namesake: a time to join together with
other families, meet with your neighbors, and enjoy a timeless tradition. In
this case, the tradition spans several generations of jazz, the neighbors are
fellow transplants from Block's native St. Louis to the jazz mecca of New York
City, and the family is, well, family - in this case, brother and guitarist Rob
Block.
Block Party (due out January 19 from Miles High Records) is,
at heart, a celebration of the Block siblings, recording together for the first
time in their lives. Their collaboration shows off an easy camaraderie laced
with a fiery competitive spark natural to brothers. The pair combine with the
kind of unspoken communication that can only come from shared roots, qualities
that many musicians spend decades working together to achieve but which comes
naturally from two artists who've grown up in the same household.
"We have a certain chemistry when we play
together," Dan Block says of working with his brother. We fell into it
much later. "We're very different people but he brings something
intangible out in me, and vice versa. You're completely free to be yourself
when you're sharing the stage with your brother."
Sharing a bloodline with your sidemen is a rare opportunity,
but sharing a hometown may be the next best thing. That explains why St. Louis
native Neal Caine provides such a strong backbone for the band; best known as
the longtime bassist for Harry Connick Jr.'s band, Caine's path paralleled Rob
Block's, detouring through New Orleans on the way to New York City. Tokyo-born
pianist Tadataka Unno and in demand drummer Aaron Kimmel don't share those same
roots but they do have a common sensibility, one that doesn't get hung up on
one era or style of jazz.
"We're all conversant in the whole history of the
music," Block declares, an attitude that has endeared him to the similarly
all-embracing Wynton Marsalis, with whom he performs regularly in the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Orchestra. Block feels comfortable expressing himself in
traditional Dixieland jazz bands as well as bop, modal jazz and beyond. That
wide scope is reflected in the repertoire on Block Party, which draws from
several decades' worth of source material while maintaining a cohesive sound.
Block's lyrical clarinet provides a welcoming tone to being
the album on the somewhat obscure standard "Dinner For One Please,
James," a favorite of singers like Nat King Cole and Eartha Kitt. It's
followed by the Latin rhythms of "No, No, No," an unknown piece by
nonagenarian songwriter Phil Springer, with whom Block has forged a close
working relationship and friendship. Best known for "How Little We
Know" and the perennial "Santa Baby," Springer was thrilled that
Block wanted to interpret a different tune from among his stacks of sheet
music. "Phil's a really fine songwriter and a brilliant musician," Block
says. "He's one of the few people left who still writes in the tradition
of the Great American Songbook."
Block wields the clarinet for a wistful, relaxed take on the
Thelonious Monk classic "Light Blue," but the pace picks up via
Kimmel's propulsive beat for Gigi Gryce's "Smoke Signal," highlighted
by some delightful back and forth between the brothers Block. The pace is
maintained for an update of composer Ferde Grofe's "Wonderful One,"
originally recorded in the 1920s by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra but gien a several-decade
refresh in Block's bristling arrangement.
Block also dips back into the early decades of the 20th
century for two Walter Donaldson compositions, both of which were recorded by
one of the saxophonist's most powerful influences, legendary corentist Bix
Beiderbecke. The first, "Beautiful Changes," is transformed into a
time-shifting burner that sounds more like something found on a mid-60s
Impulse! LP than an antique 78. "Ain't No Land Like Dixieland," on
the other hand, retains a sense of burnished nostalgia without forsaking its
modern pulse. All of these choices highlight the fact that Block finds
inspiration from throughout the jazz timeline, recognizing fertile ground for
exploration regardless of how long it's been abandoned.
"So many things were tried and left behind back
then," he says. "There was a lot of experimentation at that time,
influenced by impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel, but those
influences haven't been returned to very much since. But it's still rich
territory to explore and use as a point of departure."
"By the Fireside," on the other hand, traverses
more well-worn ground, a classic, gritty blues. The angular theme of Block's
sole original contribution, "Option Click," reflects the nervy
tension the composer feels when confronted with modern technology. Finally, Dan
and Rob pair off for a lovely ballad of brotherly love on the album's closing
track, the Harold Arlen classic "It Was Written in the Stars."
You can go home again, if the warm and wonderful sounds
captured herein are to be believed. And when you do, hope to be received with a
celebration as lively and lyrical as Block Party.
Saxophonist/clarinetist Dan Block has a dual reputation in
the jazz world: he is well-regarded mainstream player, yet is best known as a
specialist in traditional jazz. He's a diverse talent, fitting like a chameleon
into a host of musical genres on a variety of instruments. He has worked as a
sideman with Toshiko Akiyoshi, Frank Wess, Richard Wyands, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Harry
Allen, Jerry Dodgion and Howard Alden. In the more traditional jazz vein he has
worked frequently with Vince Giordano, Marty Grosz and Judy Carmichael. Quite a
bit of his work has been with singers, performing and recording with the likes
of Michael Feinstein, Natalie Cole, Anne Hampton Calloway, Bobby Short, Linda
Ronstadt and Rosemary Clooney. Block's clarinet and saxophone have been heard
in a number of motion pictures including The Aviator, The Good Shepherd,
Revolutionary Road and most recently the critically acclaimed HBO series
Boardwalk Empire. He has also played on countless radio and television
commercials. He won the 2016 Charlie Parker Award as part of the BMI Jazz
Composer's Workshop. Block has recorded
numerous CDs including his most recent, the Duke Ellington tribute From His
World To Mine and the duo project Duality, both on Miles High. Dan Block has
the kind of musical focus that onlycomes with real experience. Classically
trained at Juilliard, he has played nearly every style and genre of music from
Salsa to Caribbean to, Klezmer, which have all come together to form a unique
sound: his own.
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