JAM: August/September 2007 Issue: For the Record

Loren Pickford
Arcturus
Eart Spirit Music, ASCAP– 2007.

Personnel: Loren Pickford, alto saxophone (tracks 1-4 and 6-9), flute (tracks 3 and 5), and all keyboards (track 6); Steve Hunt, synthesizers (tracks 1-3); Lucas Pickford, Fender Jazz bass (tracks 1, 2, and 6) and Federa six-string bass (track 3); Mark Simmons, drums (tracks 1-3); Todd Duke, guitar (tracks 2, 4, 5, and 8) and acoustic guitar (track 9); Charlie Miller, trumpet (track 2); Ian McPhail, tenor saxophone (track 2); Brian O'Neill, bass trombone (track 2); Chuck Chaplin, piano (tracks 4, 5, 7, and 8); Peter Harris, bass viol (tracks 4, 5, 7, and 8); Julian Garcia, drums (tracks 4, 5, 7, and 8); Jesse Johnson, vocals and guitar (track 6); Troy Jones, drums (track 6); Erik Jekabsen, trumpet (track 6); and Craig Klein, trombone (track 6).

Tracks: Arcturus, Bayou, Lost Spring, Smarty Jones, Ti Jean, Bridgeport Blues, Flor del Norte, Escapade, Indian Summer.

Tracks mixed and mastered by Richard Bird at Vision Master Studios, New Orleans, LA, and engineered by Bird at Vision Master Studios, New Orleans (tracks 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9); Steve Hunt at the Kitchen Studios, Chelmsford, MA (tracks 1, 2, and 3); and Jesse Johnson at Dinosaur Studio, New Orleans (track 6). Produced by Richard Bird. Arranged and co-produced by Loren Pickford.

Loren Pickford has over forty years of jazz under his belt. The esteemed alto saxophonist has reigned in clubs from San Francisco to Miami , Los Angeles to New York , and Amsterdam to Paris . He has shared stages with the likes of Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles, T Bone Walker, Van Morrison, Frank Rosolino, Billy Higgins, and more. By 1990, Pickford finally decided to settle in New Orleans . Things were going well until Hurricane Katrina hit and Loren and his wife evacuated New Orleans for Kansas City .

In addition to takin g the stage as a jazz artist, Pickford has also worked as a teacher, stage and film composer, race horse handler, truck driver, cabbie, fry cook, packing house laborer, and New Orleans chef. As a recording artist he has been nominated for a Grammy ( Dancing in the Spirit Fires featuring Kei Akagi); scored music for Broadway Shows ( Story Theater ) and PBS specials ( Master of Light ); and is also an active painter, poet, and sculptor. With his most recent release, Arcturus , he has hit a definitive high note in his career.

Arcturus is an extremely diverse and eclectic CD. Completed the week before Hurricane Katrina forced Loren to evacuate, Arcturus explores the fusion genre with a bit of be-bop thrown in. Listen closely and you'll also find the influence of post-bop, funk, and R&B. Pickford is a master of the horn, and his tone, nuances, and ideas are at the forefront of every track.

The opening trio tracks are three of Loren's original compositions (“Arcturus”, “Bayou”, and “Lost Spring”), each featuring Steve Hunt on synthesizers, his son Lucas Pickford, an excellent six-string bassist, and drummer Mark Simmons. Track number six, “Bridgeport Blues”, Loren brings in son Lucas and Prince guitarist and vocalist, Jesse Johnson. The final five tracks feature Pickford's New Orleans-based quintet of Chuck Chaplin on piano, Todd Duke on guitar, Julian Garcia on drums, and Peter Harris on bass. The quintet rolls out three more original compositions (“Smarty Jones”, “Ti Jean”, and Flor del Norte”), one standard (“Indian Summer”), and the Ken ny Dorham tune “Escapade”.

Arcturus is what every jazz release should be. It isn't just a release with some musical genre-generated notes. Each track has a feeling, an aura about it that is distinct and unique. The tunes are not just songs, they're a recording of ideas, feelings, and events. Loren Pickford and his collaborators are giving you a creative and unique release. Pick up the CD when you can, and if you get the chance, go watch “Pick” live—you will not regret it.

— Tristan Smith

Peter Bouffard and Rusty White
Contrafactum
Personnel: Peter Bouffard, guitar; Rusty White, bass.

Tracks: Nervous Sheep, Prelude in E minor, Insensatez, Trois Petit Pas, Channeling, Skylark, Mood Swings, Gisella, It Could Happen to You, Contrapunctus.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Tom Larson.

Contrafactum refers to the long-time practice of creating a new melody over the harmonic structure of another composition. The practice has been prevalent in jazz; Charlie Parker, for example, developed many new melodic lines for the chord progressions of standard popular tunes, many of which are as well known as the original tunes. We could go on for years summarizing the melodies created on the changes to “I Got Rhythm.”

There are no “rhythm changes” on this recording, but you will find an earful of new melodies on standards such as “Embraceable You” (“Nervous Sheep”), “Giant Steps” (“Trois Petit Pas”), “Alone Together” (“Channeling”), the blues plus “Summertime” (“Mood Swings”), “The Days of Wine and Roses” (“Gisella”), and “Autumn Leaves” (“Contrapunctus”). The results make the new compositions sound comfortably familiar.

The setting helps with the comfort. The acoustic guitar and bass duo produces an intimate, soft sound, a pillow of sorts for the ears. It's a sound you can stick with, it does not intrude, and the Lincoln-based Bouffard and White prove to be adept in the setting. With no rhythm instrument, and minimal chord support (especially during the single-note guitar solos), there is a lot that has to be implied. The pulse is there, and White will occasionally add a walking bass to make the beat more obvious. But it is mostly complementary contrapuntal lines in this recording.

This is most prominent in the standards where the melody was kept intact, “Skylark” and “It Could Happen to You”, where the duo asks us to allow the harmonic structure be implied as they play complementary melodies.

Also included is Chopin's “Prelude in E minor” followed by Jobim's “Insensatez”, which Bouffard's notes state have harmonic connections that he claims may not be coincidental. They do sound similar, but I hardly care, as both are quite enjoyable.

I liked this recording quite a bit. I often refer to such intimate recordings as Sunday Morning Music, as they work so well in the quiet of a morning. The CD is available from CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com).

—Roger Atkinson

Bobby Watson
Live & Learn
Palmetto Records – 2002

Personnel: Bobby Watson, alto and soprano saxophone; Orrin Evans, piano; Curtis Lundy, bass; Gregg Skaff, guitar; Montez Coleman, drums.

Tracks: Stanky P, Faith in Action, We Fall Down, Thank You, Why Not, Live & Learn, River Jordan , Postlude, Landmarks Lost, I've Gotta Be Me.

Tracks mastered by A. T. Michael MacDonald at AlgoRhythms, New York City , NY . Recorded at Maggie's Farm on September 25, 26, 2001.

Saxophonist Bobby Watson consistently tops the critics' music polls. Why not? With an extremely unique and individual sound, amazing jazz credentials, a Grammy nomination, an outstanding curriculum vitae, and the recently awarded “William and Mary Grant/Missouri Professor of Jazz”, he commands every style of music he touches from free jazz to swing and big band to hard bop. Watson, one of the greatest living jazz musicians and among the best in history, however continues to be one of the most underrated.

Born in Lawrence , Kansas , Watson began playing the clarinet in his church prior to switching over to the alto sax at age thirteen. He began branching out during high school where he began arranging and composing for school bands. After graduating from the University of Miami , where he studied along with the likes of Danny Gottlieb and Bruce Hornsby, Watson moved to New York and joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. From that point, Watson steamrolled through the 1970s and 1980s. He worked with Max Roach, George Coleman, Lou Rawls, Charles Mingus, Joe Williams, Wynton Marsalis, and many others and quickly garnered a reputation throughout the industry as one of the best-kept secrets in jazz. Watson is not so much a secret anymore and part of this is his spectacular output during the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Live & Learn , his 2002 release and his first through Palmetto Records.

On Live & Learn , Watson and his cohorts Orrin Evans on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, Greg Skaff on guitar, and Montez Coleman on drums, have produced a highly entertaining release. Within these ten tracks you will find a meld of hard bop (“Stanky P”, “Why Not”, and “River Jordan”) with a bit of soul (“We Fall Down” and the title track “Live & Learn”). Classic in its overall sound, Skaff gives the tracks a more contemporary bent with his guitar licks. Highlighting Skaff, there's the mournful “Postlude” which is a duet between Watson and Skaff who then switches over to an acoustic sound for “Landmarks Lost”—a tribute to the World Trade Center , an attack which came less than a year prior to this album's release.

Three definitive tracks that should become classics are the traditional “Thank You”, the cover of Sammy Davis, Jr.'s “I've Gotta Be Me” and “Faith in Action.” In “Thank You” Lundy and Coleman offer up a jumpin' swing tune which Watson blasts through. Wrapping up the CD is “I've Gotta Be Me”, which Watson and the rest give a 12/8 beat to. “Faith in Action” is great and it will trip you up. Evans gives us a solo theme which, just as it is becoming familiar to the listener, changes abruptly into something completely different and only occasionally returns to the original theme, and even then it only sounds vaguely familiar.

You can call any of Bobby Watson's releases great, entertaining…whatever adjective you'd like to throw in there. Add it to Live & Learn as well. But, I'm going to go you one better. Live & Learn is accessible and strong. You can't always say that about a jazz (or any genre for that matter) release. Each track is relatively short with only one being over seven minutes. The entire release is not only highly entertaining but it's easy to digest, mull over, and let melt into your mind and body. Bobby Watson's entire body of work deserves wider recognition; start with Live & Learn and you will see why.

— Tristan Smith

Ben Markley
Spealio
Markley Music

Personnel: Ben Markley, piano; Evan Gregor, bass; Jordan Perlson, drums; George Garzone, tenor saxophone (tracks 3, 6, 10).

Tracks: Spealio, I'll Take It, What's to Come, Broad St. , Take a Little More #1, I'm Not from the Midwest, Shades of Bill, Take a Little More #2, The Girl from Atlantic City , or Loved Ones.

Recorded December 10, 2006 , and February 23, 2007 , at Benny's Wash & Dry, Brooklyn , by Bennett Paster. Mixed and mastered by Paul Wickliffe.

Pianist Ben Markley, currently a member of the jazz faculty at New York University , graduated from Fort Hays State , and studied with the late master Frank Mantooth. This appears to be his debut recording, at least as a leader, and is modern mainstream at its best, both from a compositional and performance perspective.

The ten tracks are all Markley originals, and range from hard-bop strutters to tender ballads.

The opener and title track is a burner, with bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Jordan Perlson providing on-the-beat momentum. The changes in rhythm provide much of the interest here, a quality I enjoy in some of Cedar Walton's work. “I'll Take It” is a freer composition; the freedom comes from occasional suspension of harmony and rhythm, but it is not “out” by any means, as the structure provides good space for bass and piano solos. A bossa nova rhythm from Perlman introduces “The Girl from Atlantic City ”, and Markley weaves his melodic magic into his solo statement.

“What's to Come”, the first of three tracks with the fine George Garzone on tenor sax, is again fast-paced and filled with tension and release. More of the same is on “I'm Not From the Midwest”, a tune that lingers after finishing the CD, with its stop-time catchiness; this is an ideal set-closer, the one that will leave the customers sh akin g their heads and laughing.

The ballads are also highlights. “Shades of Bill” must mean Evans, a waltz that will remind of a classic Evans outing. Perlson's brushwork is outstanding here. “ Broad Street ” starts with Markley unaccompanied, before moving into its episodic, possibly sad, melody. As Markley's solo builds, the sadness seems to leave. The closer “For Loved Ones” utilizes the recurring four-note phrase that Bill Evans employed in many ballads, like “Some Other Time”, setting up some beautiful playing by Garzone and Markley.

I much enjoyed Ben Markley's recent set at Jardine's, and recommend this introduction to a talented new jazz voice. The disc is available from CD Baby ( www.cdbaby.com ).

— Roger Atkinson