About Time

On "It's About Time", the first solo disc from Greg Chaisson, the Badlands bassist goes back to his roots and digs deep into a set of 12 outstanding killer blues/rock heavy guitar trax with a way-kool 70's power trio vibe. Greg Chaisson is best known for playing bass in the rather awesome Badlands (featuring Jake E. Lee & Ray Gillen), however he has also laid down the "low-end bottom kool" on discs by Blindside Blues Band, Craig Erickson, Darrell Mansfield, Die Happy & Surgical Steel, to name a few. "It's About Time" finds the bad-ass bassist paying tribute to his musical roots and heroes of the 70's. He also has found his "voice" and handles the lead vocals with a raw, gutsy, bluesy authority on songs that count.

John Denver continued to proselytize for his favorite causes, love, peace, and freedom (in the great outdoors), on It's About Time, but on a personal level he was fending off depression due to the woman who dumped him on his last album, Seasons Of The Heart (presumably his wife Anne, from whom he was divorced in 1983). Then, he had seemed reconciled to the breakup, singing with gentle equanimity about people who just can't get along. By It's About Time, he wasn't keeping up that much of a front.

Hank Williams, Jr. kicks off It's About Time his 2016 debut for Nash Icon, Big Machine's imprint for country veterans by singing Neil Young's "Are You Ready for the Country," a song that in this context functions as a bit of a fanfare for Hank Jr.'s trademark redneck defiance. Despite the appearance of Eric Church, country music's modern-day rocking rebel, this cover doesn't pander to a younger audience, nor do any of the other 11 songs on this album. Even when Hank Jr. dabbles with a bit of a syncopated backbeat on "God Fearin' Man" a song co-written by Chris Janson, a country up-and-comer who had a hit in 2015 with "Buy Me a Boat" there's not a sense of a bro-country sop because this has swagger and, as the man himself says at the song's end, "the band played like they were pissed."

For his album "About Time", pianist and composer Florian Christl has written pieces for piano and string orchestra for the first time. Thematically, he negotiates in his melodic, cinematic-atmospheric compositions the perception of time and the beauty that lies in the awareness of the transience of things "With this album I go in search of the moment, in search of the here and now. Focusing on what is now, it is about the awareness of the inevitable fleetingness and transience of life and the ability to recognize a fragile beauty in this fleetingness," Florian Christl explains Great emotional moments orchestrated with wide-screen string sounds and intimate quiet moments portrayed in piano miniatures combine on "About Time" to create a poetic musical experience. For the recording of "About Time", Munich-based pianist and composer Florian Christl collaborated with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and conductor Ben Palmer. Special guest on the album is violinist Niklas Liepe.

For his album "About Time", pianist and composer Florian Christl has written pieces for piano and string orchestra for the first time. Thematically, he negotiates in his melodic, cinematic-atmospheric compositions the perception of time and the beauty that lies in the awareness of the transience of things "With this album I go in search of the moment, in search of the here and now. Focusing on what is now, it is about the awareness of the inevitable fleetingness and transience of life and the ability to recognize a fragile beauty in this fleetingness," Florian Christl explains Great emotional moments orchestrated with wide-screen string sounds and intimate quiet moments portrayed in piano miniatures combine on "About Time" to create a poetic musical experience. For the recording of "About Time", Munich-based pianist and composer Florian Christl collaborated with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and conductor Ben Palmer. Special guest on the album is violinist Niklas Liepe.

When this music's done right, as it is by two masters like McCoy Tyner (piano) and Jackie McLean (alto sax), almost nothin' can touch it. Too often, though, it's not done by masters, and it's not done right. Even though it may seem to be about chops, dexterity, virtuosity, it's not. It's about feeling and intuition. It's not enough simply to master the moves, as so many young lions have done; you've got to have something to say. Yes, you need to master the idiom, but after you've done that, you need to acquire a unique voice and speak with originality and authority, not just rehash tired old phrases.
It's a mystery to me why this disc isn't better known. Recorded in the late 80s–not especially a stellar time for jazz–perhaps it just fell through the cracks. Or maybe it's because it's under 40 minutes long. And McLean sits out for the last two cuts, so he's only on board for about a half an hour. And half the cuts feature the funkified Jaco-esque e-bass of Marcus Miller (Ron Carter's on the other half), so there's somewhat of a discontinuity of tone and mood. But that shouldn't stop anyone, at least not in my view. When he plays, McLean plays brilliantly, spinning out fresh ideas and gloriously articulated solos. And the compositions, ranging from bop burners ("Spur of the Moment") to sultry ballads ("You Taught My Heart to Sing," "No Flowers Please") to Latin numbers ("Travelin'" and "It's About Time," my favorite tracks) to a bloozy romp ("Hip-Toe"), all by Tyner (except "No Flowers Please"), feature his trademark genius for melodic ingenuity and rhythmic drive.
Tyner sounds as good as I've ever heard him: he's got the savvy and maturity of his later period combined with the restless innovation of his early days. His solo on "Travelin'" absolutely stands out. And if McLean has lost just a bit of his earlier fire, he more than makes up for it with a rich, burnished tone on alto, among the most attractive of any man to ever pick up the smaller horn. John Faddis plays trumpet on two cuts, and it's great to hear him in this setting. He's a player who has always struck me as being better as a sideman than as a leader. Blessed with outrageous chops, he has sometimes struggled to integrate his playing into a group setting, but he does so marvelously here. Al Foster on drums, what with his long stint with Miles through several of his iterations, perfectly fits into this slightly eclectic setting, and he easily and naturally fits in with longtime Miles bandmate Marcus Miller.