GARBO TALKS!! BLUE NOTE RELEASES JAZZ!!
Yes! The label that has recently brought you Jeff Bridges doing country and Norah Jones going Janis Ian has finally put out a disc that USED to have written on its logo: “The finest in jazz since 1939.” To the credit of their honesty, they removed that moniker, but this release shows that they at least have a memory of their halcyon days.
Co-produced by Ravi Coltrane and Joe Lovano, this release has the leader on tenor and soprano with a rotating rhythm secion that includes Luis Perdomo-Geri Allen/p, Drew Gress-James Genus/g and Eric Harland-EJ Strickland/dr and guest appearances by Lovano and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. The material wavers between disjointed post-bop like “Roads Cross” and choppy “Cross Roads” to gentle rubato ballads like “Yellow Cat” and “The Change, My Girl.” Coltrane’s tenor is molasses thick and rich, and while he can handle the tricky material like the “Klepto” with ease, the experience is more of an intellectual rather than visceral experience. There is a technical agility here that lacks a warmth, which is common in this present day of improvisation. Lennie Tristano once complained that the music was “Emotions without feelings.” I wonder if we’ve gone to the other spectrum.
Blue Note Records
www.bluenote.com