The Art of the Saxophone
| The Art of the Saxophone | ||||
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| Bennie Wallace's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Denon | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
32:18 |
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| occupation |
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Christine Martin, Bennie Wallace |
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Studio (s) |
Skyline Studios, New York City |
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The Art of the Saxophone is a jazz album by Bennie Wallace . It was recorded on February 7th and 8th, 1987 in New York City and released on the Japanese Denon label.
The album
After a series of albums for the German Enja label, on which Wallace had already worked with guitarist John Scofield , bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Dannie Richmond , The Art of the Saxophone was the second release on the Denon label after the Monk album Brilliant Corners with the pianist Yōsuke Yamashita . For the current album, Wallace added four different saxophonists as guest musicians to the rhythm section from Scofield, Gomez and Richmond. The "ambitious project" (All Music Guide) meant that Bennie Wallace adapted flexibly to his various playing partners and moved fluently from swing, blues to free jazz . In addition to the jazz standard " You Go to My Head ", Wallace played six original compositions and two Duke Ellington pieces, " Prelude to a Kiss " and "All Too Soon".
By choosing Harold Ashby , Jerry Bergonzi , Lew Tabackin and alto saxophonist Oliver Lake , Bennie Wallace expressed his personal admiration for the various musicians: “I chose Harold Ashby because I have always admired his playing in the Duke Ellington Orchestra . I love Harold's sound and his ballad style. It comes very much from Ben Webster ; I think he's a great musician. "
Oliver Lake and Wallace had played together in Paul Jeffries' rehearsal band : “I later heard him play unaccompanied several times and noticed that he had a very special quality in his playing. Lew Tabackin is an old friend of mine with whom I have played many times; and I chose Jerry Bergonzi because he manages to bring warmth and personality together with a Coltrane influenced game. There is no imitation of what Coltrane might have played. I knew that with Jerry I would be able to play all the difficult melodies I had written for this project. "
The album begins with one of those tracks that Jerry Bergonzi was involved in; the bubbly composition " Edith Head " is reminiscent of the legendary costume designer Alfred Hitchcock . Guitarist Scofield has a solo here. Bergonzi and Wallace then play together again in "Chester Leaps Again"; Wallace dedicated the difficult piece with frequent changes of time to his teacher in the high school big band, Chet Hedgecroth. "He really is the reason I and many other students became musicians," Wallace said of him. Bergonzi also plays on “Thangs”, Wallace's own composition, in which Gomez has a solo and Scofield shines with chord accompaniment.
"Monroe County Moon" is a slow blues number ; the title refers to the region where Bennie Wallace's family farm is located. A few years earlier he had recorded the piece with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones for Enja ( Big Jim's Tango , 1983). This piece highlights the expressive blues playing of guest musician Harold Ashby and John Scofield. “Rhythm Head”, on the other hand, highlights the alto Oliver Lake; the piece begins with an on Ornette Coleman reminiscent rubato - a throwback to the title of "Peace" from the album The Shape of Jazz to Come from the 1960th
The swing ballad “ You Go to My Head ”, one of the highlights of the album, features bassist Eddie Gomez as a soloist; The guest saxophonist is Lew Tabackin. As the piece progresses, the rhythm section suddenly stops ; Wallace and Scofield play a sensitive duet on the melody; the band eventually returns, and Wallace and Tabackin perform a musical cat-and-mouse game that ends the piece.
The Ellington track “All Too Soon” is interpreted as an unaccompanied duo by Bennie Wallace and his guest Lew Tabackin, “pure improvisation on a topic”. The second Ellington number " Prelude to a Kiss " is characterized by Harold Ashby's emotional ballad play. The melancholy mood, accompanied by Scofield's chord playing, is reminiscent of Billie Holiday's interpretations of the song .
The last track, Wallace's own composition “Prince Charles” with an open-blowing character, is dominated by a more aggressive playing by guitarist John Scofield and the playing of the two saxophonists Oliver Lake and Bennie Wallace. This commented on the complicated piece: “We were practicing the piece when we wanted to record it; so it took us five takes. We look further now and play it every night to see how it evolves. "
Rating of the album
Ian Carr highlights the album among Wallace's early releases; The authors Richard Cook and Brian Morton, who gave the album the second highest rating in the second edition of their Penguin Guide to Jazz , consider The Art of the Saxophone and the previous album Brilliant Corners to be two extraordinary and poorly known albums. Cook and Morton particularly emphasize the duet by Wallace and Tabackin (“All Too Soon”), Ashby's masterful interpretation of “Prelude to a Kiss” and Wallace and Scofield's ability to integrate the different musicians into an overall context. The All Music Guide also gave the album the highest rating.
Track list
- Bennie Wallace - The Art of the Saxophone (Denon 33 CY 1648 (CD), PG 6011 (CD-Gold-Edition))
- Edith Head (Bennie Wallace) - 7:07
- You Go to My Head (Haven Gillespie - Fred Coots) - 6:56
- Rhythm Head (Bennie Wallace) - 6:39
- Monroe County Moon (Bennie Wallace) - 6:25
- Thangs (Bennie Wallace) - 7:07
- All Too Soon ( Duke Ellington / Irving Gordon / Irving Mills ) - 4:10
- Chester Leaps In (dedicated to Chet Hedgecroth) (Bennie Wallace) - 6:56
- Prelude to a Kiss (Duke Ellington / Irving Gordon / Irving Mills) - 7:45
- Prince Charles (Bennie Wallace) - 7:32
literature
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Bill Milkowski : Liner Notes.
Web links
- Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved April 30, 2012.