Big Four Live
| Big Four Live | ||||
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| Live album by Max Nagl , Steven Bernstein , Noël Akchoté , Bladley Jones | ||||
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Publication |
2007 |
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| Label (s) | HatHut Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
8th |
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running time |
57:44 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Studio (s) |
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Big Four Live is a jazz album by Max Nagl , Steven Bernstein , Noël Akchoté and Bladley Jones . It was recorded as a joint production by the Swiss Radio DRS and the Swiss jazz label HatHut Records on September 5, 2005 at the Willisau Jazz Festival and released in 2007.
The album
Max Nagl's project Big Four came about when the producer Werner X. Uehlinger introduced him to the 1940 recordings of the original Big Four , with Sidney Bechet on soprano saxophone , Muggsy Spanier on cornet , Carmen Mastren on guitar and Wellman Braud on double bass . The band consisting of Max Nagl (alto saxophone), Stephen Bernstein (trumpet), Noël Akchoté (guitar) and Bradley Jones (bass) recorded a first album for Uehlinger's label HatHut in 2002 (hatOLOGY 585).
The original Big Four , which only made a few recordings on March 28 and April 6, 1940 - including jazz standards such as China Boy, Sweet Lorraine, Squeeze Me, Sweet Sue, Just You and That's a Plenty - were with their drums - and Piano- less instrumentation is the model for the compositions by Max Nagl and Steven Bernstein, which touch on swing , tango and blues . Five of the new tracks come from the Big Four 's first album of the same name (Hat Hut, 2002).
Max Nagl said of his motives:
- “I wanted to do something with trumpeter Steven Bernstein again anyway. That was the opportunity for it. I knew he was very knowledgeable about traditional jazz . It was clear to me that he too should write pieces for this band. I was more interested in the cast than in the music of Bechet. "
Track list
- Nagl, Bernstein, Akchote, Jones - Big Four Live (hatOLOGY 637)
- Eraser (Nagl) 6:15
- Artie Shaw (Bernstein) 1:56
- Monx (Nagl) 5:37
- New Viper Dance (Bernstein) 10:26
- Teahouse Tango (Bernstein) 5:20
- Big Four (Nagl) 6:44
- Ring A Ring (Nagl) 6:06
- Muddy (Amber) 10:00
- Muggles 2000 (Bernstein) 5:14
reception
Max Nagl's Big Four succeeded in creating an “unbalanced” quartet tribute to Sidney Bechet's Hot Four , wrote Signal to Noise magazine .
Chris May was in All About Jazz believes the album get a Eureka same-moment "simultaneously witty and swinging, without losing the feel for the game, characterizes the Bechet group shots is Nagl's band light years of sterile Revival removed. Rather, it is an overwhelming confirmation of the creative potential of a postmodern wealth of ideas. ”[...]“ Be it the thematic counterpoints and improvising duets by Nagl and Bernstein, the always imaginative comping and solo play by Akchoté, or the sense of humor that these There is a lot to enjoy here, you get your money's worth here. "
For the author, the “rich mix of history and genres” is the central moment: the group's task is increased by the individuals involved. Nagl himself, who comes from less traditionally inspired projects than this, is “convincingly familiar” with the material from New Orleans jazz , blues and New Thing - impressionisms . Bernstein balances Nagl's instinctive penchant for art house with a growling and gutbucket style that gives his horn the characteristics of a New Orleans Tailgate trombone in the lower registers . Guitarist Noel Akchoté, whose stylistic influences ranged from Derek Bailey to Muddy Waters , managed to create an “impressive blend” here; his playing is warm, full and resounding, even in the sharpest splintered sounds. "His improvisations are inexhaustibly melodic, often nice, and his lines are long and architectural." Bassist Bradley Jones, "who has to heat the kettle without the help of a drummer," does this and much more; he is another melodic soloist who makes his instrument sing.
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Concert announcement at Jazzatelier Ulrichsberg
- ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed October 18, 2013)
- ↑ Program announcement (2009) at Alte Feuerwache (Mannheim)
- ^ Tom Gsteiger: Liner Notes
- ↑ Information about the album at Allmusic at Allmusic (English). Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- ↑ Signal to Noise - Issues 40–43, 2006 - page 77
- ↑ In the original: Simultaneously cerebral and swinging, and never losing the sense of play which runs through the Bechet group's recordings, Nagl's band — light years away from sterile revivalism — is a resounding affirmation of the creative potential of the post-modern imagination.
- ↑ a b Review of the album in All About Jazz