Motian Sickness

Today I received a CD from Jeff Cosgrove, whom I mentioned in an earlier post.  Jeff is a drummer and, I gather, the founder of the quartet Motian Sickness.  The CD is called For the Love of Sarah.  It features Cosgrove on drums, Mat Maneri on viola, John Hebert on bass, and Jamie Masefield on mandolin.  

I will quote here from Jeff's letter:

The group plays all of Paul Motian's music which Paul was helping me with over the last three and a half years.  He was able to listen to the recording before he passed which helped me with some closure on the project. 

Paul Motian passed away last November.  His fame rests mostly on his work with Bill Evans in the late fifties and early sixties.  Evans, Motian, and bassist Scott LaFaro literally invented the modern jazz trio. 

For the Love of Sarah is brilliant.  The lineup looks and sounds more like a classical string quartet than a traditional jazz combo.  Cosgrove's drums alone manage to keep the existential line firmly rooted in jazz.  I have to say, and this is not intended as a criticism, the sound reminds me more of the work of my hero William Parker (and especially Parker's small ensembles) than the work of Motian or anything else.  

The sound is string-heavy and, as you might expect, it is dominated by Maneri's viola and Masefield's mandolin in that order.  This is dense, moody, and moving music.  The real tribute to Motian here, and it is genuine and worthy of that master, is the marvelous dialogue between the musicians.  This is what a Renaissance painting would be if four masters were stroking at the same time, each paying close attention to the other three.  

I don't think I have ever heard a better expression of the harmony between the continuous slide of a bowed instrument and the discrete flutter of the plucked mandolin and bass.  And all this rests on the heart of the percussion.  This is music worth spending time with.  

If you like my jazz station or this blog or both, show your gratitude by purchasing this CD.  If you are in the mood for some more deep dig strings, try Mat Maneri's Sustain. 

Finally, in honor of Motian I am posting 'Blue in Green', by the Bill Evans Trio, from Portrait In Jazz.  Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass, an Paul Motian on drums.  Evans was my first great love as I came to know jazz.  'Blue in Green' is my second favorite jazz composition.