JAZZ ALBUM REVIEWS IN THE AUSTRALIAN
In September, 2017 Eric Myers commenced reviewing jazz albums in the Review supplement of The Weekend Australian. All reviews in this folder are written by Myers.
JAZZ
SWIRLING
SUN RA ARKESTRA
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Strut Records/Planet
Four stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, October 17, 2020
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Jazz pianist Herman Sonny Blount, born in Alabama in 1914, adopted the name of the Egyptian sun god Sun Ra in the late 1940s. A visionary philosopher, poet and guru, he claimed the planet Saturn as his birthplace, and considered his music painted pictures of infinity. That Sun Ra’s large ensemble Arkestra still exists today, nearly 30 years after his death in 1993, is remarkable. Like the legacy bands of Charles Mingus and Count Basie, which survive under new leadership, the Arkestra strives to keep Sun Ra’s extraordinary music alive. Everything about the Arkestra exudes longevity. Sun Ra appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1969, 51 years ago. Its current leader for 27 years, saxophonist Marshall Allen, joined the band in 1958, and is still going strong 62 years later at the age of 96. The saxophonist Danny Ray Thompson, who plays on this album but died in 2020, served for 53 years. For much of its existence, the Arkestra was considered ahead of its time. With its first studio album in 20 years, recorded in 2018, it now looks back to its great days. Nine of the eleven compositions are by Sun Ra himself, so these are new versions of old music. The album’s single Seductive Fantasy, written by Sun Ra in 1979, features a three-note riff which extends for 12 minutes, overladen with a variety of textures, including horn section phrases, electronic sounds, an excellent solo from pianist Farrid Barron, collective improvisation, plus spoken word and vocals from Tara Middleton. The title track Swirling, Allen’s composition, features an Ellingtonian melody over a mainstream swing-feel reminiscent of the 1950s, plus solos and Middleton’s vocal once again. Otherwise this album borrows from the whole spectrum of black music: the blues, swing, ballads, bop, gospel, soul, R & B, free jazz, even rap. It’s all there. The uniqueness of the Arkestra lies in its being less an orthodox jazz orchestra and more an African American family, attracting young musicians in particular to a cult-like ideology. They believe that black musicians should suppress their egos, and contribute energy to the collective; that music is not a commodity, and need not be popular; and that their mission is to rebel against slick versions of African American jazz emanating from white musicians.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
CHICK COREA PLAYS
CHICK COREA
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Concord Jazz
Four-and-a half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 12, 2020
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This two-hour double-album of solo piano from American Chick Corea has 33 tracks recorded live in concert. Unlike Keith Jarrett, whose works in this genre are totally extemporized, Corea includes written pieces from classical music, compositions of great jazz composers such as Bill Evans & Thelonious Monk, and eight of his beautiful Children’s Songs. He brings the genres together, believing that common harmonic structures offer great potential for musical conversations. A Mozart piano sonata for example leads into George Gershwin’s Someone To Watch Over Me. A Domenico Scarlatti sonata suggests Jerome Kern’s Yesterdays. Similarly he brings together Bill Evans and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and fashions pianistic tributes to musical compatriots as diverse as Paco de Lucia and Stevie Wonder. Corea’s versions of well-known jazz standards are never literal. His vastly impressionistic and highly individual interpretations, with thrilling flights of imagination, will leave many listeners breathless.
Eric Myers
JAZZ
ALL RISE
GREGORY PORTER
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Blue Note Records
Three-and-a half stars
Published in the Weekend Australian, December 26, 2020
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Gregory Porter may be a jazz singer, with one foot in related genres such as soul and gospel, but his recent ascendancy is based on a successful crossover into pop music. With such success in the air, including Grammys in 2013 and 2016, his new fans may lack critical perspective. While most of Porter’s previous hits were lean and hungry, All Rise exudes excess. Does he really need a 10-person choir, and 30 strings from the London Symphony Orchestra? His deeply personal tunes spill over into narcissism; his lyrics are surprisingly literal, and lacking in poetry; and many of the tracks are repetitive. One can look past these deficiencies and luxuriate in Porter’s gorgeous baritone, the greatest African American voice in a generation. But the widely held view that this album is a masterpiece is seriously misguided.
Eric Myers