Sherman Irby Quartet Live at the Otto Club

I read a review of this album in JazzTimes (hard copy edition), and I found it on eMusic for a cool six credits.  AllAboutJazz has a nice review as well.  Irby plays alto for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Ensemble.  This is superb, swinging, hard bop.  

The material consists of one original composition, named after Irby's wife Laura, and five bop classics: 'Bohemia After Dark' (Cannonball Adderley); 'Depth' (?); Countdown (John Coltrane); 'Four' (Miles Davis); and 'In Walked Bud' (Thelonious Monk). All of the treatments are inventive in the best sense: they honor the masters by demonstrating that each composition is an endlessly renewable source of genius.  Everything on the recording is very fine.  His treatment of Trane's 'Countdown' is astonishing.  

The band includes Irby on alto sax; Nico Menci on piano; Marco Marzola on bass; and Darrel Green on drums.  One ought also to credit the audience, which is very audible on the recording.  

Since this is very new, I hesitate to offer a whole song.  So here is a long excerpt from the first number.  When it cuts off well short of the end, buy the darn thing.  You'll be playing this one over and over. 

Sherman Irby Quartet/Bohemia After Dark/Live at the Otto Club

Evidence of Genius

I find it curious that Thelonious Monk's middle name was Sphere. What was that about? Perhaps no composer in the history of jazz has so often or so accurately been described as "angular." Monk always seems to be coming at the melody from an obscure, if not noneuclidean angle. Monk was one of the founding fathers of bop, and he remained within the compass of that music. But he was the greatest inspiration for the Avant Garde movement, which just couldn't get enough of Monk compositions. The link may be found precisely in his angularity. Avant Garde is distinct from Bop essentially in its abstraction. Every line in a bop number stands for some complex human passion. Avant garde abstracts from the passions to isolate the musical forms. I think Bop remains the greater music, but the jazz catalog would be poorer without the new thing.

Here is an interesting comparison. First, a recording of Monk's 'Evidence' from one of my favorite sets. Behind Monk is Johnny Griffin on tenor, Ahmed Abdul-Malik on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. The setting is the Five Spot.

Thelonious Monk/Evidence/Thelonious In Action

I think that displays all the virtues and passion of bop. Now compare it with this cut by Steve Lacy with Don Cherry (trumpet), Carl Brown on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums.

Steve Lacy with Don Cherry/Evidence/Evidence

Everything I say will be confirmed, whether it is true or not.

Page Three Odds & Ends

Roswell Rudd's ruddy trombone is a big part of the Avant Garde scene, or so I gather. I only recently discovered him, while crawling along the discography of Steve Lacy. I picked up Regeneration, a very interesting album with a very interesting cast. With Lacy's soprano sax on board, you would be expecting Page Four jazz. What you get is pretty straight Page Three bop. It's avant garde only in the squeaky, circus clown orchestra cum Thelonious monk sound of the instruments. I listened to it this afternoon while making out a test for my Constitutional Law students. It's very good jazz. There's a nice interview with Rudd at All About Jazz.

Here is a cut:

Roswell Rudd/2300 Skiddoo/Regeneration

In addition to Rudd and Lacy, the album features Misha Mengelberg on piano (really good piano), Kent Carter on bass, and Han Bennink on drums. Strong Dutch accent. The music is Monk and Herbie Nichols. Nichols, I gather, was a contemporary of Monk's.

As I said, this music is p3 jazz, more akin to actual Monk hardbop than to the free jazz for which these guys are known. For a lark, compare it to this piece by Miles Davis. This is one of Mile's albums that never got the recognition it deserves. Coltrane and Hank Mobley play tenor sax on the disc, with Wynton Kelley on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and both Jimmy Cobb and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

Miles Davis/Teo/Someday My Prince Will Come

Enjoy, and if you do, leave a comment and go on and buy the music. Regeneration is available on eMusic. The Miles disc is easy to come by.

What strikes me is the similar way the two bands explore the music, while doing so with very different sounds and moods.