I wrote an unsolicited article for a jazz web site, it was published and, subsequently, I was offered an opportunity to start reviewing music for the site. Wow! That felt great. My ego floated like a helium-filled balloon up to the ceiling. Slowly the ego started leaking enthusiasm and before long I was back amongst the dust bunnies. I conjured up several reasons for not pursuing the opportunity, however the main reason is that I abhorred the idea of writing a critical review. Who was I to write criticism of music that I didn’t understand or didn’t like? That seemed absurd and unfair to the musicians.
All was not lost. The balloon and the dust bunnies commingled and canoodled long enough to give rise to a new idea, one that would allow me to document and share gems that I stumble upon while exploring and clicking through the internet. So I’ve pieced together a playlist in Spotify as well as this zine, both called Monger.
So, my dear morning glory, that is the backstory. The following pages are mini-reviews as well as thumbnail sketches about my relationships with each of these songs or musicians. While I learned so much reading about these different tracks and artists, I intentionally refrained from naming all of the players, instrumentation or other details that might read like I posing as a knowledgeable expert. My goal is to collect and share songs that speak to me. Read on or look up the Monger playlist on Spotify. Either one is guaranteed to be more fun than sweeping up dust bunnies.
Con Legno
B. Cruse and J. Smith Trio
The playlist starts here because this is the song that started the Monger adventure for me. I’m taking guitar lessons and my teacher casually mentions that he plays in a jazz group and says something about an album. I ask enough questions that I am later able to find it on Spotify. I dig the sounds so much that I bebop my way through the interwebs looking to discover for myself other tunes that catch my attention with their perpetual-motion bass lines, interesting voicings and catchy melodies.
This particular song -- an amazing jam between bass, drums and guitar -- creates a music video in my mind’s eye. I see a skateboarder heading down a road on a bright, sunny afternoon. I see a middle aged man shaving getting ready for the night. And a woman putting on lipstick, adjusting her dress. All of them are at the same club later after the sun goes down, the man and woman dance, the skateboarder sits at the bar drinking beer from a can waiting to see the young woman bring out clean glasses to restock the bar. To me, this song is completely evocative of the space where day and night collide.
Smilin’ Billy
Labragenda Vol. 2
Larri Branch Agenda
A sly groove that ambles with a mischievous grin up to a pinnacle of a piano solo with some great chord voicing and just a dash of atonality coming out of the chords to ratchet up the tension. Larri Branch plays around Richmond but somehow I’ve not made it to a show. Somebody shout at me next time he has a gig in town.
Cantaloupe Island
Cantaloupe Island
Herbie Hancock
I dug around the Herbie Hancock catalog, looking for a perfect fit for this playlist. While my very first memory of Herbie Hancock was when my junior high jazz band played “Watermelon Man.” The only certain about those memories are how vague they are. I played auxillary percussion in that band having earned that spot because I could do the least amount of damage there standing behind the bongos and timbales. For a similar reason I believed that I earned a spot as a right fielder on my Little League team. Right field would have been more fun with timbales and bongos. I skipped “Watermelon Man” for this list and after an exhaustive research delve into the funky Headhunters, “Cantaloupe Island,” with its great melody, was chosen for the first Monger list.
Sonesta
The Best of Errol Dyers and Friends
Errol Dyers
I went cruising on the information superhighway and pulled off in Johannesburg, South Africa. Listening to music by Dyers, the Sheer All-Stars and Pops Mohamed you actually hear that you are in another country. I heard some great music during my virtual stay, including this bright number that pairs well with Cantaloupe Island.
Leave My Head Alone Brain
Wesseltoft Schwarz Duo
Bugge Wesseltoft & Henrik Schwarz
I picked up this souvenir on a cyber trip to Norway looking for jazz. I’m not too proud to say that the first thing that attracted me to this song was its title. The piano drives the beat, the drums and bass add commentary.
Green Dolphin Street
What’s Your Story?
Kristin Korb
There are so many fabulous Kristin Korb songs with her trio. I like this one because her bass playing and vocals sound so intimate and dreamy in this love song. Plus her rendition of this standard doesn’t sound like a standard.
Conversations with Christian
Christian McBride
You might want to grab a cigarette or a shower after hearing this vocal duet with nothing but Christian providing accompaniment on bass. If Kristen Korb’s “Green Dolphin” is a song with a dreamy take on love, this is the lusty song. Dee Dee asks, “Can you slap it one more time?” Oh my.
S.S. Golden Mean
Without a Net
Wayne Shorter Quartet
I bumped into this song in one of those suggested playlists that Spotify produces based on your listening habits. While the busy sax playing isn’t my thing, the driving piano and chord progressions are an expressway to my happy place. Also there was something deeply familiar about one of the chords in the intro. Eventually I put my finger on it. My musical memory was recalling one of the beautiful \chords from Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out.” (Hang with me. Some jazz by Joe Jackson is coming up!)
Brian Cruse Presents B-Snap-Tet
Brian Cruse
In this arrangement of Aesop Rock’s “Nightlight,” there’s seduction and power like Ronda Rousey. Both are beautiful and brutal. Neither takes long to kick your butt.
Secret Tears
Dance with Me
Sheer All-Stars
Another find from the Johannesburg cyber-road trip. The sax playing the melody and the guitar comping keep me coming back again and again.
Brown Oxford
The Archie Pelago
Archie Pelago
This one found it’s way to me during a music break in NPR’s All Things Considered. Bass driven and spiced with dissonant horn sounds. I’m down with the drum riffs, the thread of guitar picking sewn across the piece and the effects dropped in.
It Don’t Mean A Thing
Duke
Joe Jackson
A fun, modern take on the Duke Ellington’s classic. I’m a sucker for drum breaks (around 40 seconds in) and driving bass lines (around 60 seconds in). There’s something about the way this song eases in and out of breaks that reminds of Big Audio Dynamite II’s “Rush.”
Message from Abrasive Negro: It is What it is (Y’all Ain’t Ready)
Basic Truths
Barry Stephenson
The family was on a road trip (the real kind, with real highways in the south along the Gulf of Mexico in the Florida panhandle where the number of men selling boiled peanuts along the side of the road far outnumbers the people stopping to buy some) and we went on a car tour through Tallahassee. Our host and guide, George Weatherly, mentioned that Florida State University has an enormous music program. Later, on a trip through a Google wormhole, I found my way to Barry Stephenson, a composer and musician who graduated from FSU. A great ensemble sound and solo breaks. The title is a perfect fit in this era of the Black Lives Matter movement. #ican’tbreathe
Manteca
Free Expression
Weldon Hill
This artist and song came to my attention through Peter Solomon’s nightly jazz program on WCVE. The edgy piano is what does it for me in this arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie song, especially the voicings and feel introduced around the 30 second mark. I like that aggressive feel in a jazz track that smudges my notions of boundaries between musical genres. By the way, Hill is a scholar and leader at Virginia State University.
Future Shock
Herbie Hancock
For the longest time, I had a hard time reconciling the fact that the Herbie Hancock of “Watermelon Man” was the same dude behind this song. It was a crazy juxtaposition for me. In school, my junior high bandmates and I were putting our early adolescent energy into playing “Watermelon Man.” In the neighborhood I watched kids breakdancing to Rockit. And on MTV there was this crazy video of robotic mannequins dancing to Rockit. There was a whole cultural scene that could have this song as part of it’s soundtrack. Recently we were listening to “Rockit” over dinner, when my son Henry wryly observed, “If you listen closely, you can hear the sounds of an extinct subculture.” Exactly! Now when I listen to Rockit, with all of the killer beats and voices -- scratches, vocals, drum machines -- the melody and the beat of the scratching swing in my ear. I still love the composition after all these years and can’t think of a better way to end the first Monger list. Later!
I enjoyed reading this. I hope the spotify playlist will expand :)
ReplyDelete