Paul+smoker

The odd title of this album is taken from the lyrics to a Minutemen song, but the listener will hear a lot more Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell in Randy McKean's work than any punk band. Indeed, the recording is dedicated to the former and includes two pieces by the latter. McKean's compositions tend to be knotty, post-bop structures with an underlying sense of swing and good humor, much in the manner of his mentors…

The CIMP label has documented trumpeter Paul Smoker well through the years. He appeared as either a sideman or leader on nine other recordings on the label before this one. Like his groundbreaking album Healing Song, the trumpeter focuses on deconstructing melodies, although this time they are mostly ones contributed by him or his colleagues, and insofar as they are unfamiliar, the results are somewhat less compelling…

As is so often the case with music this adventurous, reactions are likely to be extreme: most probably will either love it or hate it. Both CDs from this set were recorded live at Rochester, NY's appropriately titled Bop Shop, a venue that has excelled at hosting the best artists on the radical fringes of jazz. Each CD features the sinewy trumpet of Paul Smoker with a different acoustic string bassist, Ed Schuller on the first and Dominic Duval on the second…

Trumpeter Paul Smoker leads his quartet through six standards in characteristic deconstructive fashion, crushing and compressing harmonies while reinventing the entire nature of the song. You would hardly recognize "You Better Go Now" or "Speak Low" under Smoker's scalpel, but the results are exquisite, if not classic…