Latest CD releases reviewed
JOHN PATITUCCI
Rememberance
Concord****
For this celebration of departed inspirations, bassist Patitucci called on drummer Brian Blade, his colleague in Wayne Shorter’s sublime quartet, and Joe Lovano. Perhaps the only tenor up to the task of saluting the likes of Coltrane and Joe Henderson (and Sonny Rollins, still with us), as well as Monk, Hubbard and Ray Brown, also honoured here, Lovano’s poise and jazz grounding are perfect for this trio. He’s supremely capable of dealing with the demands of Patitucci’s music, which range from the blues (Blues For Freddie, Play Ball), the Giant Steps changes (Monk/Trane), funk (Messaien’s Gumbo), Afro-beat (Mali) and even forays into classical (Scenes From An Opera) and a Western take on Middle Eastern exoticism (Safari). It’s intensely focused music, with all three contributing magnificently to the spacious, interlocking, three-way dialogue.
FREDDIE HUBBARD
Without a Song: Live in Europe 1969 Blue Note ****
Hubbard was at a career peak when he made these dates with Roland Hanna (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Louis Hayes (drums). The standards-packed repertoire suggests – and the uncertainties of the opening title track confirm – that it wasn’t a working group. On live recordings excitement sometimes supplants order and, though Hubbard revels brilliantly in the exchanges, his best moments on the faster performances come not in solos, but in briefer stretches such as the codas to Without A Song and A Night In Tunisia, and the 12-bar chases with Hayes on Blues By Five. Elsewhere, the basics of Space Track allow essentially tonal players to essay some unconvincing free playing. But the four stars are for the beautifully paced, lyrical trumpet on The Things We Did Last Summer and Body and Soul, two ballads with Hubbard close to his best.
BOB ALBANESE
One Way/Detour Zoho***
Albanese names Evans, Corea, Jarrett, Hancock and Clare Fischer as major influences, but this distinctive pianist is more than the sum of his mentors. At 52 and making his leader debut on CD, that’s how it should be, and Albanese’s lines, harmonic sense and compositions bear the mark of a definite musical personality. The later Evans trios are echoed in the charged interaction of Albanese, Tom Kennedy (bass) and Willard Dyson (drums), but though they work within mainstream/bop norms, theirs is a contemporary flexibility with time and harmony. The results are a striking example of what happens when fine craftsmen find something personal and vigorously spontaneous to say with a language that’s been around for a couple of generations. Though the veteran reedman Ira Sullivan guests on five tracks, this is really all about Albanese and his trio. www.propernote.co.uk
