60 JAZZTIMES SEPTEMBER 2019
JEFF WILLIAMS
Bloom
WhirlwindListening to Bloom reminds me of my
first encounters with Ralph Peterson’s
Tr i a n g u l a r. Both records are drum-
mer-led trio affairs, with an upcoming
pianist busting moves that wax com-
munal while stealing the show a bit.
JazzTimes readers probably recall the
pianist on Peterson’s 1989 jewel: Geri
Allen. Carmen Staaf fans, a growthshould say. The drummer has a way of
spinning his phrases into a web of pro-
pulsion that delivers opportunities for
Formanek and Staaf, whose lines splash
and course like a valley stream over-
flowing from a winter snow melt. On
“A Word Edgewise,” the trio heeds the
theme while toying with its stretching
points. The rhythm section is all about
leeway, and Staaf dazzles by turning a
series of discrete flurries into a keenly
architected solo.
The pianist has earned props from
her other drummer/boss (Allison
Miller) for an unusually deep rhyth-
mic aplomb, and indeed Bloom’s “She
Can’t Be a Spy” finds ways to have Staaf
deliver the thrust while Williams blows
lyrical around the entire trap set. The
hard groove of “Scattershot,” feisty
floating of “Search Me,” and Monkish
punctuation of “Short Tune” allow
the threesome to milk these devilish
switcheroos, revealing that Williams
has built a truly crafty cohort to carry
out his mission of nurturing sponta-
neity. JIM MACNIEG. CALVIN
WESTON AND
THE PHOENIX
ORCHESTRA
Dust and Ash
577With all due respect to Makaya
McCraven, G. Calvin Weston is the
original beat scientist. As a fledgling
teenage drummer in Prime Time,
Weston helped put Ornette Coleman’s
revolutionary harmolodics aesthetic
on the map, and his stretches with
James “Blood” Ulmer, John Lurie,
Marc Ribot, and James Carter have also
yielded much fruit. The quality of his
work as an avant-jazz sideman has long
been recognized, but his wildly eclectic
output as leader shouldn’t be over-
looked: a trio of creatively omnivorous
recordings in 2012 alone, followed by
2015’s Flying Kites (with guitarist Lucas
Brode) and 2016’s solo set Improv Mes-
senger. His latest is a nimble wonder of
a record, a funk/jazz/rock tour de force
that places his bandleader wizardry
front and center.REVIEWS ALBUMS
demographic, will be happy to learn
that this engaging session is where
their hero shines bright. Throughout
a scad of breezy arrangements, Staaf
continuously elevates the music while
bolstering the offhand intricacies of her
mates, bassist Michael Formanek and
drummer/leader Jeff Williams.
One of freebop’s beauties is the
way it can wiggle toward either side
of its equation at a moment’s notice.
Williams encourages his team to run
with this notion, making agility job
one here. Agility and momentum, IR.I.SUTHERLAND-COHENEditor’s Pick
THE OGJB QUARTET
Bamako
TUMOGJB—Oliver Lake, Graham Haynes, Joe Fonda, and Barry Altschul—characterize
themselves as a “leaderless” quartet. In that spirit, the compositions featured here
serve as sketches to be built and elaborated on (and often entirely reconfigured), not
as templates or structural frameworks.
Unison passages are tightly executed, yet with just enough raggedness to their
edge that the individualism of each man’s expression remains paramount, reflecting
the overarching theme of this project: the kind of collective freedom that demands
full trust and faith, both in one another and in the outcome of the journey. Conversely,
even the most unfettered “free” improvisations, in which horns, bass, and drums
skitter, dance, clash, embrace, and pirouette with jubilant abandon, retain their sense
of purpose, often resolving themselves into a final unison statement, as if in celebra-
tion of an inseparable bond.
Lake’s tone on alto and soprano sax resonates with both ebullience and focused
intensity, and his exploratory zeal is unquenchable. Bassist Fonda, though nimble and
dauntingly quick, never sacrifices meaning or coherence for displays of dexterity;
his solos are almost mini-EPs in themselves, each one with its own narrative arc,
each one an inextricable component of the whole. Haynes’ cornet work is likewise
precise and focused even at its freest, his tone full-bodied and resonant. Drummer/
percussionist Altschul creates a soundscape that’s nearly symphonic in its breadth
and depth but never overwhelming.
Especially notable is Lake’s playing; in our age of electronic tweaking and Music
by Frankenstein, he summons an array of textures, tones, distortions, ripples,
abrasive brays, and surrealistic
swashes solely through hard-
earned craft—no electronic
prostheses necessary. As his
tone expands and morphs to
invoke portals opening into new
space, he embodies trumpeter
Donald Ayler’s timeless admoni-
tion: “Follow the sound.”
DAVID WHITEIS“Just enough raggedness to their edge”: (L to R) Oliver Lake, Joe Fonda, Barry Altschul,
Graham Haynes