Treats for the Nightwalker
| Treats for the Nightwalker | ||||
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| Josh Roseman studio album | ||||
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Publication |
2003 |
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| Label (s) | Justin Time , Enja | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
70:09 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
Chung King Studios, Kampo Studios, New York City |
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Treats for the Nightwalker ( English for The Joys of the Night Walker ) is a jazz album by the Josh Roseman Unit, recorded in March and September 2002 in New York City . It was released in 2003 in the United States and Canada on Justin Time Records and in Europe on the Munich label Enja .
Music of the album
The Josh Roseman Unit basically consisted of the band leader, Peter Apfelbaum , (tenor saxophone, flute and organ), Barney McAll (piano, keyboards and dub tactics ), Ben Monder (guitar), Jonathan Maron (bass) and Billy Kilson (drums) . There were also 17 other musicians ( special guests ) for the two sessions , including Russell Gunn (trumpet), Chris Potter (tenor saxophone), Liberty Ellman (guitar), Ben Perowsky (drums) and Mark Feldman (violin).
Treats for the Nightwalker , the second album by jazz trombonist Josh Roseman, is, according to Nils Jacobson, in the big band tradition and processes musical components of the experiments of the jazz avant-garde of the 1960s, the funk of the 70s, the fusion music of the 80s, music of the M. -Base movement of the 90s and the urban grooves of the noughties. Rhythmically the music is from a backbeat worn either in a funky or retro - Synthesizer style, strongly emphasized by the drummer of the band, Billy Kilson .
The titles of the album are constructed harmoniously in a series of interconnected units, chord changes are sketched through the range of musicians. In addition to open compositions like Prospect, there are heavily constructed titles like M-Base-Jam by Meera . Apart from the first and last album title, eight to 15 musicians are involved in each, which limits the scope for soloists ; In addition to the band leader, these are especially Myron Walden , Peter Apfelbaum and Jay Rodrigues .
After a short organ Invocation by Peter Apfelbaum, the program begins with Sedate Remix , which superficially, according to William Tilland in a recent smooth jazz could -Radioformat fit, with its easy galloping Latin beat and the gentle ensemble playing. Contrary to routine, however, there are subtle wah-wah effects on the electric guitars by Ben Monder and Adam Rogers , some dissonant flute parts reminiscent of the Gil Evans Orchestra, contrapuntal string passages (including Mark Feldman and Mat Maneri ) and a solo on the alto saxophone by Myron Walden . This “subversion” also runs through the next track LSDN 2.0 , which is driven forward by a reserved but insistent radio rhythm through bass, drums and various percussion, and is noticeable through textural and compositional details. The tracks in the back of the album are stylistically more daring, from reggae- oriented Long Day and Short Night to bitches Brew- like funk in Meera , in which Jay Rodrigues' bass clarinet is reminiscent of Bennie Maupin . In Prospect , Middle Eastern influences are processed with the Douss n'gouni game by Daniel Moreno . In the last track Regression , Roseman's trombone playing is embedded in an arrangement of percussion, flutes, acoustic and electrically amplified guitar. The album ends with a two-minute piano improvisation by Barney McCall.
Track list
- Josh Roseman Unit - Treats For The Nightwalker (Justin Time JENJ 3309-2, Enja Records JENJ 3309-2)
- Organ Invocation (Apple Tree) - 0:56
- Sedate Remix - 9:37
- LDSN 2.0 - 5:49
- Treats for the Nightwalker - 7:29
- Are you there? - 3:27
- Long Day, Short Night ( Burt Bacharach ) - 9:24
- Meera - 11:14
- Prospect - 11:28 am
- Regression - 8:30
- Piano Outro (McAll) - 2:10
Unless otherwise stated, all compositions are by Josh Roseman.
Reception of the album
Roseman's album received mostly positive feedback and was broadcast accordingly on US radio stations; in the jazz charts of the CMJ Network, Inc. the album rose to # 7 in February 2004.
The reviewer of the CMJ New Music Report points out the frequent stylistic changes of the album;
- using his forward-thinking-M-Base grooves as a launching pad into spacey Jazz fusion , Afrobeat and African music , the album is at its strongest when Roseman makes some very interesting forays into reggae, twisting his electric Jazz and funk with dubbed-out production and slow steady reggae beats. Rarely has a fusion of this kind worked, but it has never sounded better. All this and a loose, soulful, partylicious vibe carried on by a ounchy horn section make Treats somenthing that is both very unique and quite fun.
In his review of the album for the BBC, Peter Marsh highlighted Josh Roseman's impressive abilities not only as a trombonist (for example with Oliver Lake , Don Byron , Joey Baron, and especially in Dave Holland's big band), but also as a band leader and composer. The music on the album alludes to M-Base in such a way that Roseman expands and compresses radio elements with constantly changing time indications . Keyboardist Barney McAll is partly responsible for this, whose glowing chordal design harmoniously complements Roseman's bubbling riffs. Marsh praises Roseman's trombone playing, which makes "fantastic sounds"; his electrifying solo in the “eight-armed grooving” Are You There? is a "great mixture of smeared phrases and painful wah-wah lines". In doing so, Electronics Roseman's natural tone was enhanced rather than obscured. The author also highlights the solo performances of the wind players Chris Potter, Peter Apfelbaum and Myron Walden; Marsh notes in summary:
- " Treats for the Nightwalker marks Roseman as a bandleader and composer with a lot of promise; music made with this much intelligence and passion is definitely worth your time. "
Dan McClenaghan thought in his review of All About Jazz Treats for the Nightwalker for "one of those uncategorizable works": it was simply "cross-border". Roseman created a sound that was “ orchestral in its range”, but not in the conventional sense. The sound of Josh Roseman Unit pour out "the Sensilibität of turntablism , funk grooves , M-Base notes", interrupted by old-fashioned straight-ahead jazz . The author sees parallels in the productions of Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy ; "But where Bowie's group explored modern sounds with a classic instrumentation, " Roseman mixed electronic and acoustic grooves. The author sees another parallel in Miles Davis ' work with Marcus Miller [in the 1980s]; he also highlights the use of the Mark Feldman, Mat Maneri, Dana Leong, and Rufus Cappadocia string quartet , creating "a pastel-like current" behind the wah-wah guitars and trombone. The sound of the title track with its "dangerous atmosphere and the muffled sound" is reminiscent of Phil Spector . The album is an "extensive, factet-rich excursion"; it would therefore take a hundred runs to process this completely. "If it were a novel , its breadth would be compared to Dickens (or better still, to Pynchon )."
William Tilland rated the album in Allmusic with 4½ (out of 5) stars and especially highlighted Josh Roseman's achievement for having gathered this impressive group of musicians who execute his sophisticated arrangements with perfect precision and empathy, without going on ego trips tend. In terms of their effect, some of these open compositions are "a kind of hyper-smooth jazz - smooth jazz turned upside down, or nudged into a parallel jazz reality, where restraint and courtesy are not equated with boredom ". In this way, Roseman's own game also fits into it; although he has a prominent voice on the recording, he never isolates himself from the intent of the ensemble and does not assume the pose of the enraptured soloist.
According to Nils Jacobson, the album is very well constructed; nevertheless there is enough space for solo development. Roseman's CD is a "statement of the state of the art" and it deserves recognition for the risks that have been taken with the composition, performance and production. Ultimately, it is a very ambitious work and so heavy that it " fluctuates in postmodern complexity". Still, Josh Roseman should be taken seriously whatever you think of the album. It will be "an indelible milestone for jazz of the 21st century".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Nils Jacobson: Review of the album (2003) in All About Jazz
- ↑ a b c Treats for the Nightwalker at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Josh Roseman Unit - Treats For The Nightwalker at Discogs
- ^ At position 1 was Dave Douglas ' album Strange Liberation ; see. CMJ New Music Report dated February 23, 2004
- ↑ CMJ New Music Report Oct. 27, 2003
- ↑ Peter Marsh: Review of the album on the BBC
- ^ Dan McClenaghan: Review of the album at All About Jazz