Cymbal Rolls

The Bad Plus - Blunt Object: Live In Tokyo (2006) {Columbia 82876811242}
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© 2006 Columbia / Sony BMG Music | 82876811242
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / Modern Creative / Piano Trio

The Bad Plus are a much better listen live in concert than they are on their distorted studio recordings. Therefore, Blunt Object should be a defining discographical moment for the darlings of youth-oriented contemporary progressive jazz. What this eight-track collection offers is typical repertoire for the trio, including revamped versions of pop/rock songs, standards, the expected thrash drumming of Dave King, steady acoustic bassist Reid Anderson, and the inspired piano playing of Ethan Iverson. The group succeeds on all levels for this concert performed in Tokyo, Japan.

Secret Story is among the more provocative recordings in Pat Metheny's oeuvre. Combining the relaxed groove of the early Pat Metheny Group recordings, it is full of odd sounds, exotic instrumentation, and the participation of members of the London Orchestra conducted by Jeremy Lubbock. Along with regular group members – bassist Steve Rodby, drummer Paul Wertico, percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, pianist-keyboardist Lyle Mays – numerous guests adorn these tracks as well: bassists Charlie Haden and Will Lee, percussionist Armando Marcal, vocalist Mark Ledford, jazz harmonica legend Toots Thielmans, Gil Goldstein, and Pat's brother Mike Metheny. But what's most notable is that none of these players are constants, as this is most certainly a Metheny solo effort: Secret Story is his own song, so to speak. His acoustic and electric guitars are augmented by synthesizers and samplers, and no matter how lush these proceedings get, they are never overwhelmed by production.

Create (1994). Create is the second of the four collaborations between Namlook and Charles Uzzell-Edwards. It is one of those long, single-track Fax albums, conveniently indexed every five minutes or so. It starts out in a rather dark and sinister fashion, with a lot of rumbling and some extremely distorted voices just about audible in the background. It continues this way for the next fifteen minutes or so with various other clicks and static interference washing in and out of the of the left and right channels. By the time the fourth track rolls around the beginnings of some more atmospheric drones start to make themselves felt and we slowly drift off into deep space territory of the kind found on Shades of Orion 2…

Otis Brown III - The Thought Of You (2014) {Blue Note B002100202}
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© 2014 Blue Note / Revive | B002100202
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Jazz / Drums / Percussion

Drummer Otis Brown III is a well-known, in-demand sideman and the founding drummer in Joe Lovano's Us Five. The Thought of You, his debut as a leader, was co-produced with Derrick Hodge. Pianist Robert Glasper, saxophonist John Ellis, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, and bassist Ben Williams – the only one of these men who was not Brown's classmate at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music – are the core of this lineup. Bilal Oliver (another schoolmate), Gretchen Parlato, and Nikki Ross all make vocal appearances. Hodge and Brown obviously share a love for the classic Blue Note quartet and quintet sounds of the late '50s through the middle '60s: tight, crisp, clean.