right out of the shoot, karl's sound is robust. the teetering single note is coming from something (the alto?), and i hear the circular breathing. reminds me of that charles lloyd record with lotus blossom, when you can hear billy higgins grinding through the brushwork. the inescapable major third around the two minute mark stabilizes me. the zodiac's fevered shiftiness hearkens to keith's quartet with dewey. stranahan's action ebbs and flows with motian.
man, i'm glad to hear a jazz record that focuses on music music. i mentioned to a couple of my students that - yeah, i like jazz and all, but - i like playing songs and sounds that make me feel good and tame the beast inside my head. three cheers for the carol "lo how a rose e'er blooming". i mean, why not - right? i love rahsaan for playing "balm in gilead" and used to play "what a friend we have in jesus" with nick and ryan (from that bluegrass band).
the same keys could connect the first two tracks. was there a definitive thought to not doing that? the first time i listened to thom yorke's solo effort, i was about five tracks in before i realized it wasn't one big song.
i love the collective phrasing, playing in glenn's first tune as if someone is conducting. and there is nothing in the world like a rhodes. i love mine, just picked up a bright red nord with the best patch out there. the melody in glenn's second tune reminds me of barry sanders stutter stepping through "softly as in a morning sunrise". aaron's solo is peppery, with control obtained with clarinet chops. no licks, man. none of these solos. just phrases, patience, floating. allow karl & colin to anchor you down while they rollick.
here's the tune i remember from the gig, that and "work whistle". aaron sings his original, and karl pizzes the same line 8vb, later offering a harmony before grabbing the root and resuming his post. there is obviously a lot of thought used to construct ensemble timbres through arranging. who plays when, and what should you be doing there? i really really dig this, so refreshing. i'm not sure i'm ready to hear jazz records because, honestly, i don't care about clever ways people turn standards inside out or hard bop tunes that merely serve as vehicles for guys to flex. it's wonderful to play in bands like this where you view the material as an essential component to the world's view of your music.
i dig the filter on aaron's voice in "r.j.g.". i wore out my copy of kronos quartet playing along with a charles ives cassette recording of him singing and playing his own tune, and listened over and over to just the ending of "like someone in love" on the unbeLIEVable django bates album quiet nights. the rhodes solo here settles into quintessential jazz playing, and i am so pleased that they waited this long to program that into my ears. the long tone stuff in the saxophones yearns, pleads. one of my cats just popped down here to check out this part of the record. kareem. he needs to go on a diet, but i doubt that he knows a) what in the hell that is, and b) how to start doing that. now his brother abdul is sitting here, patiently staring at the speakers. there he goes, tip-toeing through the speaker wire like katherine zeta-jones with those red laser lights in that sean connery burglar guy movie.
michael's tunes sound nice. they drive. this book of tunes is diverse, probably tough to practice and keep up yet well worth the effort. how interchangeable are the parts in the zodiac ensemble? can guys sub on this? i doubt it. i wouldn't want that, not willing to trade the camaraderie and trust (falls) earned for a one night stand with a jazz vixen.
and here it is, fitting my ears like my favorite pair of slippers. work whistle!!! i noticed that this is the last cut, so my heart is torn a bit. i'm excited to hear this tune again (and my teeth are aching to play it again) but bummed that this album is not longer tonight. such a cool tune, with the modernism - like the whole record, really - to be found in the personalities dealing with original material replete with the right rhythms, silver melodies, and digestible changes.
kmr - you've got a great band, made a great record, and sorry we never played two repeating Bbs behind your solo.
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