For the Record

John Stein- EnCounterPoint

Personnel: John Stein, guitar; John Lockwood, bass;
Koichi Sato, keyboards; Ze Eduardo Nazario, drums
and percussion.
Tracks: Jordu, Line Drive, The Roundabout, Dindi,
Close Your Eyes, Trois, Half-Whole Blues, Só Danço
Samba, You Don't Know What Love Is
John Stein’s latest CD, EnCounterPoint, serves as
a wonderful follow-up to his previous encounter,
Concerto Internacional de Jazz, a thoroughly Brazilian
affair released in 2006.
This time, the musicians convened under fairly unusual
circumstances: they held a two-day marathon
during the fall of 2007 to record the entire set after
traveling from various corners of the world. From Yokohama
came Japanese-based keyboardist Koichi Sato. Drummer and percussionist Ze Eduardo Nazario came from Brazil, while long-time Boston/New York bassist John Lockwood emerged from his native continent of South Africa to make the session. The summit was held in Boston, where both Sato, Lockwood, and Stein had resided at various times while spent paying dues at the Berklee College of Music.
The album starts with a sparkling version of the
Duke Jordan tune, “Jordu,” where Nazario keeps a
chatty snare and ride, while Sato plays a warm electric
piano, and Lockwood walks warmly underneath.
Meanwhile, Stein offers short but effective melodic
gifts in his solo. The next tune, “Line Drive”, is one
of the tastiest cuts on the roster. With a fairly simple
melody and chord progression, Stein’s original tune
is a medium-tempo piece that boasts a care-free flow
that allows each man to get their jollies—especially
John Lockwood, who performs passionately when his
turn comes on bass. “The Roundabout” sounds like it
could have easily been inspired by Modeski, Martin &
Wood, with the funky, hip-hop backbeat provided by
Ze Eduardo Nazario. “Dindi,” one of the more beautiful
(if less popular) tunes by the master Anton Carlos
Jobim, slowly snakes its way through the grooves, with
John performing a dual role as guitarist and overdubbed
acoustic bass— and executed to perfection. Although
three instruments are present, the tune is really a duet
between Stein and Nazario, who creates a warm blanket
of percussive effects, underneath Stein’s luscious chordmelody
lines that would make Kenny Burrell blush.
The following track, “Close Your Eyes,” is the shortest
in length, but doesn’t disappoint. Though it’s another
lesser-known tune—an approach that Stein tends to
enjoy—it still offers the listener several treats, including
Stein’s consistently juicy, Wes-inspired fat guitar tones,
Nazario’s swinging bop drums, and Kochi Sato’s bubbling
Hammond organ effects. The aptly-titled “Trois”
is a bass feature for Lockwood, who wastes no time in
taking what is his. Followed by Sato’s refreshing Fender-
Rhodes solo, the tune bounces along blithely, with Stein
taking the last solo flight before making a smooth landing.
Stein’s Monk-inspired “Half-Whole Blues” is an
extended sixteen-bar blues jam that clocks in at nearly
nine minutes, giving the each guest plenty of room to
explore with jagged lines and unsettling rhythms. Stein
returns to Brazil with Jobim’s light-hearted “So Danco
Samba,” delivered at a quickened pace that cruises
effortlessly. The final track, “You Don’t Know What
Love Is,” comes not as a ballad, but a medium-slow
bossa that works surprisingly well, especially for Kochi
Sato, who get’s the lion’s share of the treat, providing
a Chick Corea-flavored electric piano solo that serves
as the centerpiece for the tune. The whole tune, like
the entire album, ultimately goes down as smooth as a
good bourbon.
All in all, the nine tracks offered on John Stein’s
seventh album definitely ranks as one of his finest outings,
and easily maintains his reputation as a top-shelf
contemporary guitarist of the new century.
—Wayne Everett Goins

D. J. Sweeney
Are You the One?

Personnel: D. J. Sweeney, vocals; Danny Embrey,
guitar and guitar synthesizer; Paul Smith, piano; James
Albright, bass; Tim Cambron, drums; Clint Ashlock,
trumpet on “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues”
Tracks: Are You the One?, Teach Me Tonight, The
Meaning of the Blues, Sweet Georgia Brown, I Only
Want Some, I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues, What
Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, The Lady’s In
Love With You, But Beautiful, Isn’t This a Lovely
Day?, Old Devil Moon.
Recorded at Markosa Studios, Mark Thies, Engineer.
This is D. J. Sweeney’s second outing, and on it
you can hear her growth as a singer, showing comfort with
her material on an ambitious program of standards. While
not everything works here, much does, resulting in a pretty satisfying set.

The slow opening between Danny and D.J. on
the title track has you thinking ballad, but then the
band comes in and it turns out to be a swinger with
fine extended solos from the whole band, who are all
given a tremendous amount of solo space throughout
the session. D.J. puts many of her tricks on display
here – a little attitude, some bent notes, generally near
the beat, and with nary a bit of vibrato. Her voice is a
bit softer on “Teach Me Tonight”, an easy swinger with,
of course, exemplary solo support from the band.
Embrey’s guitar synth opens “Meaning of the Blues”,
and Sweeney is fine indeed. There are some tough intervals
on this one, and she navigates every one, and captures
its emotion as well. Danny’s guitar synth and a bowed
solo from Tim Albright are featured before D.J. returns
for another chorus. “Sweet Georgia Brown” has worn out
its welcome on these ears, but it is followed by a strong
“I Only Want Some”, with the guitar synth sounding
like a Hammond B-3. This rocker is a highlight of the
set. Check out the Cambron shuffle on this cut. D.J.’s
tendency to fade off a note at the end of a phrase doesn’t
always work, but it sure does here.
Opening “I Ain’t Got Nothin’” with just her voice
and the Cambron brushes took some guts; the voice is
naked without another tone in the air. It didn’t seem to
bother D.J. any, and she pulls it off. Clint Ashlock joins
on this track and has the obbligato behind Sweeney and
a nice solo. Embrey is strong as well. You’ll pick up
a couple of clichés on this tune, like on several others
– Ashlock entering on the word “trumpet” was a little
too cute, for example. (There are other “cute” plays on
other tunes that I could have done without, too).
But then she follows with “What Are You Doing
the Rest of Your Life?”, not an easy song and with a
difficult opening phrase that she nails. She pushes and
pulls the tempo to nice effect as well. Paul Smith’s entry
following Danny’s brief solo is, well, pure Paul, taking
the handoff cleanly and playing a beautiful chorus.
This is one of the strongest tracks on the CD.
Paul opening to “Lady’s In Love” let’s you know
it’s a swinger, the kind of song this band will kill every
night. Sweeney is fine, gliding over the rhythm, but
the band is the show here. I love “But Beautiful”. Listen
to Danny’s octaves behind D.J.’s opening, so nice.
Sweeney generally lets the song sing itself, but lets the
note fall on “fall”, I could have done without that touch.
Tim has a fine chorus, and Cambron’s brushwork is all
about taste. Keep listening to Albright’s line for awhile
behind Paul’s solo, just gorgeous. “Lovely Day” is a
great song, with a fine arrangement. I think I’d like
to hear D.J. do an entire set of Berlin (and Gershwin
for that matter), as she treats the early American pop
songbook with love. “Old Devil Moon” is a hot closer,
and is taken fast and with a lot of busy-ness from the
rhythm section throughout.
D.J. takes chances throughout this set. Most work,
too, and I commend her for trying them. The material
is varied and has some real challenges, and seems
designed to not be stuck in one repetitive groove. And
no one will ever fault her for hiring this great band.
Keep up the work, D.J.
— Roger Atkinson

The Sons of Brasil
While You Were Out

Personnel: Stan Kessler trumpet, flugelhorn; Doug
Auwarter drums, percussion; Danny Embrey, guitars;
Roger Wilder piano, synthesizer; Greg Whitfield, bass;
Gary Helm, percussion; Luis Orsano percussion (5, 8)
Tracks: João, Partido Alto, Journey, Desafinado,
Salvador, Bala Com Bala, Migration, While You Were
Out, Surfboard, I’ve Got Samba, Tell Me Now, Esso
Bees, If It Feels Good The Sons of Brasil (SOBs) had become a minor
institution on the Kansas City music scene when their
first CD, eponymously titled, was released in 1996. If any
had questioned the viability of a band playing funky electric
jazz based on Brazilian popular music in a place like Kansas City with nary a
white sand beach and few sambistas about, the SOBs
took little note.
Given that the mortality rate for unendowed musical organizations is rather high,
and that it is fairly rare among bands for personnel to go unchanged even
a few years, the fact that the original membership of
the SOBs—Doug Auwarter, Danny Embrey, Stan
Kessler and Greg Whitfield—has remained intact over
the seventeen years since their founding is impressive.
This long period of playing together, of decoding the
complexities, subtleties and nuances of the music they
celebrate, has enabled them to function as a tight
musical unit in which each player seems to “read the
mind” of the others. Obviously, this is advantageous
in any musical situation, but especially in polyrhythmic
“Latin” music where any weakness in the interlocking
of bass and drums can cause unhappy events.
In lieu of essays of each player’s background, it
may help to understand how they have achieved a high
degree of authenticity in their music by considering
several of the players’ bona fides, or key experiences.
During pilgrimages to Rio de Janeiro, Doug Auwarter
was invited to play in the bateria (percussion
section) of the venerable Imperio Serrano escola de
samba in the famed Carnaval parade. His first-person
account of the experience may be read at the Brailmax.
com website (url listed below).
Danny Embrey spent many years based on the West
Coast playing and touring with leading Afro-Cuban and
Brazilian artist such as Clare Fischer and Sergio Mendes.
In the Mendes organization, Danny played alongside
one of Brazil’s greatest guitarists, Oscar Castro-Neves,
absorbing many of the genre’s principal techniques.
This is not to suggest the group could not have
achieved a high degree of authenticity without these
experiences having taken place; yet it seems undeniable
the direct assimilation of seminal drum and guitar styles
and general practice techniques has informed the entire
group’s progress in an important way.
The playlist on their present recording features
four songs by leading Brazilian composers: two by
AC Jobim (“Desafinado”, “Surfboard”), one by Jose
Bertrami (“Partido Alto”) of the funky electric jazz trio
Azymuth and another (“Bala Com Bala”) by the prolific
João Bosco. The other nine tunes are all original:
three from Embrey, four by Kessler, one by Kessler and
Whitfield, and one by Wilder. Again, one might suggest
that good Sons show respect for the past on which the
present is built (covers, tributes), while shining a light
ahead toward the future (re-imaginings, new music).
Consider Stan’s moderately fast samba, the opening
track “João”: In the first sixteen measures, only
flugelhorn, guitar and percussion are heard, giving an
impression of quiet, open space in which events accumulate.
The flugelhorn states a deceptively simple, almost
naive, yet, as it spins out, poetic and lyrical melody.
This plays over a beautifully voiced, finger-picked guitar
rhythm: the “partido alto” so characteristic of Brazilian
jazz samba. In the background the bird-like sound of
the cuica calls erratically, as if answering the horn from
a higher, more distant place. This mix moves through
an interesting harmonic frame, which includes several
unstable, piquant chords (augmented major seventh and
minor major seventh) which impart bittersweet notes
of “saudade”*. Then, BAM!— the rest of the band,
drums, keys and bass land on an off-beat together as if
to say: “Everybody samba!” Over the exuberant rhythm
section in full tilt, the piano doubles the repeated horn
theme which closes in an interesting turnaround section
of new material. Next, solos unfold—several compelling
choruses each by horn, guitar, and piano. The
recapitulation is heard at first in block chords on the
piano; finally, the horn joins the piano in the remaining
theme to the closing fermata. Whew! That was nice!
A few more (of many) highlights: The title tune,
“While You Were Out”, a bluesy baião on a form
similar to the Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”,
features engaging solos (piano, horn, drums). Drum
solos naturally showcase the “independence” of drummers
feet and hands. Here Doug develops rhythmic
counterpoint in patterns on upper drums over a bass
drum ostinato. Does he have a separate brain in his
right foot? One should expect such wizardry from the
author of Essential Latin Styles for the Drumset, yet it
amazes and delights.
The up-tempo “I’ve Got Samba” is a joyful, groovy
excursion on “rhythm” changes akin to Bud Powell’s
“Webb City”.
Danny’s “Tell Me Now”, might be described as
having a prayer-like or devotional vibe. It is the only
ballad, and provides contrasts to the dance-oriented
tunes. Beautiful! As are “Journey” and “Migration”,
his other contributions, and his music all over While
You Were Out.
Roger Wilder’s playing seems to extend the band’s
core energy— exponentially. Is the title of his contribution,
“Esso Bees”, a reference to some maladaption, of the band acronym?
For sure, it is another highlight,
by turns funky and lyrical, of this very fine CD. Check
out the Rhodes sound! Roger is a musician who is, in
the parlance of the street, a “bad, bad man” whose calm,
unassuming, and slightly bemused personal demeanor
seems to belie the urgency of his unique musical utterances.
The stylish version here of Jobim’s many-faceted
gem, “Surfboard” stands up with any that we’ve heard,
including those recorded by Roberto Menescal, Sadao
Watanabe, the Swingle Singers, even Jobim’s. Pleasure
music!
Gary Helm’s percussion always fuels the groove to
higher heat. His congas shine on “Partido Alto”, “Esso
Bees” and “I’ve Got Samba”.
Greg Whitfield’s bass style is musical, always supportive,
always anchoring the flow above precisely. And
the sound of his electric bass here is quite interesting
with deep resonant lows but also clear high overtones
in the twang register.
In summary, Dear JAM reader, the quality of
ensemble playing, individual solos, compositions, and
arrangements on this album is very high. Also, a fine
mix by Luiz Orsano. See this band whenever possible;
their shows are not only exciting but informative as
well—composers and styles of songs, are identified in
erudite introductory announcements. And buy the
CD. It is attractively packaged and will make a quite
nice holiday gift.
Note: Readers are invited to visit the websites listed
below, where more may be discovered about the musicians’
collective and individual journeys, and about the popular
music and culture of Brazil which has inspired the formation
and continuation of the band.
Related links:
http://kcurstream.umkc.edu/KCCurrents/kccurrents_
11-9-2008.mp3
http://www.brazilianhour.org/aboutus.htm
http://www.stantonkessler.com/
http://dougauwarter.com/bio.htm
http://dougauwarter.com/book2.htm
http://www.brazilmax.com/news3.cfm/tborigem/fe_carnival/id/1 http://dannyembrey.com/sounds.html
http://www.musichouseschool.com/html/showcase.php?showcase=2&page=2
http://www.myspace.com/rogerwilder
—Rich Hill