Ornette, Or Not

Here are two  bands, each peopled by musicians who all have their own ensembles and whose sonic palette is influenced by that of the Ornette Coleman quartet of the late 1950s-early 1960s that recorded for Atlantic Records. The group featured Ornette (alto saxophone), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), Charlie Haden (acoustic bass), and either Billy Higgins or Ed Blackwell on drums.  

Kind Folk features (from left to right) Colin Stranahan (drums), John Raymond (trumpet, flugelhorn), Noam Weisenberg (bass), and Alex LoRe (alto saxophone). The quartet takes its name from a Kenny Wheeler piece and his spirit certainly can heard throughout their 2018 debut "Why Not" (Fresh Sound New Talent). In June of 2021, the group reconvened, each member bringing in new material. Stranahan, having worked with guitarist/pianist Kurt Rosenwinkel, suggested to his compatriots one of his tunes ("Mr. Hope") as well as bringing in an arrangement of Elliot Smith's "Between the Bars". Perhaps it was the time in lockdown and all the lost gigs (plus the worries of surviving the pandemic) but there is an extra urgency to this music.

"Head Towards The Center" (FSNT Records) is the album's name and also the final track.  The nine-song program opens with a group improvisation, "Where Am I", a veritable sonic and physical centering piece that introduces listeners to the quartet's leanings towards melody.   The bassist strums the band in on Raymond's 'Power Fall", a piece that reminds this listener of the music of Booker Little (1938-1961). LoRe's solo rises out of the unison theme and he partakes in an exciting push/pull with the bass drums.  Raymond hovers in the background until he steps into his spirited, crisp-toned, exploration of ideas.  He switches to flugelhorn for his other tune "Sweet Spot".  The bassist introduces the melody while the brass and alto murmur in the background.  One hears a tinge of Lee Konitz in the clear-tones of the alto sax lines. There's a hint of melancholy in the flugelhorn solo that picks up intensity as it rolls forward.

LoRe, Weisenberg, and Stranahan dance "Mr. Hope" in with Raymond joining on the last part of the theme. The song really swings with the fast-paced waking bass line and the drummer's hearty swing.  More strummed bass chords followed by a slow bass melody opens the Smith track, a deliberate, sweet, blues-soaked ballad. The combination of soft alto sax lines with Raymond's emotional flugelhorn phrases in the solo section is a highlight of the program, especially when Stranahan responds to their growing urgency.

As I wrote above, the title track closes the album. The throbbing floor drums beneath the intertwined reed and brass opens the song in a somber fashion. As the music moves forward, the contrapuntal lines pick up intensity, freeing up the drummer while the bass holds down the bottom.  LoRe and Raymond continue to feed off each other until a drum solo over strummed bass chords brings the music to a close.

 "Head Towards the Center" is an album built around the love of music and melody, the excitement of exploration and interaction, and the need to push away the darkness of daily life. Kind Folk does listeners a kindness by playing with integrity and passion, not settling for easy solutions. Give them a good listen!

For more information, go to www.kindfolkband.com. 

Here's the quartet's version of Elliot Smith's "Between the Bars":

Way North, the collaboration of three Canadians––tenor saxophonist Petr Cancura, trumpeter Rebecca Hennessey, and bassist Michael Herring––with American drummer/percussionist Richie Barshay came together in 2014 (same year as Kind Folk above) through their love of music.  There's a New Orleans-inspired looseness to their music but don't get the idea they are lazy. They like melody, harmony, danceable rhythms, mixing it all together in a delightful gumbo.

"New Dreams, Old Stories" (Roots 2Boots Recordings) is the quartet's third album and continues their adventures into jazz, blues, funk, and more. The title of the album is a nod to Old & New Dreams, the quartet that featured saxophonist Dewey Redman, Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell, and Charlie Haden (all alumni of Ornette Coleman's ensembles). Bassist Herring, in fact, penned the ballad "If Charlie Haden Couldn't Write a Song to Bring World Peace , What Hope is There for Me?", the lovely ballad right in the middle of the 12-song program. Outside of that, much of this music will keep you tapping your feet.  The album opens with Ms. Hennessey's "Play"––listeners  can ravel in the playful melody, in the delightful dance of the rhythm section, and in the sweet solos.  The tempo seems to be doubled on Cancuras's "I'm Here To Stay" with Barshay's thundering drums pushing Herring into a "running" bass line.  

Several tracks include group vocals including the bluesy ballad "Come Over to Our House". Composed by Herring, there are short vocal refrains wrapped around the soulful tenor sax solo, the sweet trumpet spot, and a sparkling bass solo.  Ms. Hennessey's "Dr. Good" has a raucous New Orleans feel, a snappy vocal chorus, a growling tenor sax spot, a clarion call from the trumpet, stomping drums, and a thick bass line.

Drummer Barshay, who now teaches in Boston and also performs with The Klezmatics, offers up the sprightly Venezuelan traditional "Pajarillo Verde", replete with delightful rhythm changes, splendid bass work, and short but pithy solos all around.  Barshay also arranged Jackie McLean's "Dig" for the quartet––it's a playful romp that features powerful solos and on-the-dime tempo changes. 

"New Dreams, Old Stories" closes with the lilting ballad/lullaby "When You Say Goodnight to Me"––composed by Ms. Hennessy and Herring, the music feels likes a hymn and, at the same time, a love song. Sweet and satisfying, it's just the right song to finish a program that is so inviting, so much fun, and so well-played.  Way North is not about technique, it's about how one can have a good time in the midst of a crazy world creating music from the heart and soul. Enjoy!!

For more information, go to http://waynorthband.com/.  To hear more of the album, check out the band's other two albums, and to purchase any or all of them, go to https://waynorth.bandcamp.com/. 

Here's the title track:

Attractive Opposites

Even before one hears the music, there's the fascinating cover of "The Terror End of Beauty" (Sunnyside Records). It's looks like the negative image of a black hole, the phenomenon that occurs throughout the known (and unknown) universes. Then, listen to the music on this recording, the fifth from Harriet Tubman, the trio of Melvin Gibbs (electric bass), J.T. Lewis (drums), and Brandon Ross (guitars). It's a fascinating blend of funk, hard rock, r'n'b, noise, dance music, electronics, the songs hard-edged melodies propelled by the thundering bass and drums that shakes the speakers. Seven of the 10 tracks are credited to the trio plus producer/engineer/sonic shaper Scotty Harding, who takes the often-raucous material and helps to clarify and even muddy the sonic waters.

Listen to "The Green Book Blues", the tune named for "The Negro Motorist's Green Book", a compilation of articles published annually (and then sporadically) in one volume that helped to guide African Americans on vacation trips initially in 1936 for New York State travelers and, one year later, for journeys  throughout the United States. This modern blues tune builds off the rock-hard drums and fundamental bass lines, how Ross's processed guitars rails, rants and roars.

The album opens with the rhythmically charged "Farther Unknown" - one of two songs penned by bassist Gibbs, the piece dances in on delightful and hypnotic drums while Ross rises over the band with searing sounds.  Still, the tune quiets down for a gentle guitar melody over the composer's chordal bass lines. Gibbs also contributed the title track. Opening as a soulful ballad, the music slowly builds upon the bass and quiet drums for the first few minutes until the intensity levels rises; then, in a manner reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix, the thrumming bass, the rampaging drums, and the soaring guitar lines that roar even as they convey the melody, the music careers forward only to suddenly return to the opening melody before the sustained guitar chords fade away.

The album's one song from outside the band is a powerful reading of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."  The various guitar lines and fuzz bass intro leads to a plaintive reading of the melody, originally recorded as an acoustic ballad. Ross's elongated notes slowly move forward until Lewis's drums (seemingly at the bottom of the sound spectrum) fade in and out threatening to upset the proceedings but never take over.

"The Terror End of Beauty" is Harriet Tubman's third album since signing with Sunnyside Records.  If you listen back to the band's 1998 debut recording "I Am A Man", you can hear that band's vision was fully firmed at that time. Two decades later, that vision has been been expanded while its focus has sharpened. Like the indispensable "...Green Book", Harriet Tubman (The Band) visualizes the pitfalls and dangers of the road ahead without offering panaceas but by being honest, open, and "in your face", all the while the music is in your ears and mind.

For more information about the trio, go to www.mmmusicagency.com/harriet-tubman-the-band.html.

One gander at the cover of "The Stylings of Champian", the new  self-released double-disc set from pianist/vocalist Champian Fulton, and it's summer again.  One listen to this breezy album, decked out with standards and jazz favorites, and you'll be bopping your head. tapping your feet, wishing you were on the beach. She's in the company of her "New York Band" - the rhythm section consists of bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka with her father Stephen Fulton bringing the dusky sounds of his flugelhorn to many, but not all, of the tracks. Listen to how Dad swings on "I Only Have Eyes For You" and it's easy to hear Ms. Fulton learned how to swing. Thanks to her father, her first paying gig was the 75th Birthday celebration for his friend Clark Terry - she was 10 years old at the time.

Not only can Ms. Fulton play piano but she has a delightful, distinctive, voice. Listen to the vocal-bass duet on "Body and Soul" - she moves through the lyrics like a saxophonist, embellishing the melody like a saxophonist.  The interaction of that voice and the rich tones that Tanaka creates plus the fact that the song is a compact 3:14 and it's a true winner.  Throughout, the musicians create an intimate feeling on every song. Even when there's swinging with a purpose, the focus is on playing together and making older songs sound fresh and ones that the listener may not remember or even know (such as "Martha's Prize" from the pen of Cedar Walton) fascinating adventures.

One can hear echoes of Fred Astaire on Irving Berlin's "It's a Lovely Day" - the great dancer was also a delightful interpreter of popular songs.  Father Fulton's flugelhorn dances along gracefully leading to a sly and sweet romp by his daughter. Her vocal on "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" (from the team of Rodgers and Hart) is supported by the dancing drums and highly melodic bass. When Ms. Fulton moves into her solo, the three musicians move as one. Her reading of "Lonesome and Sorry" (first recorded in 1926 by Jean Goldkette's Orchestra as well as Ruth Etting) leans a bit closer to the 1962 version by Nat "King" Cole yet still has a playful "swing" to it.

The album closes with a quartet reading of "All the Things You Are", an energetic reading that opens with a high-powered flugelhorn solo as the rhythm sections dances underneath. Ms. Fulton with an understated romp before the bassist struts her stuff. The song also features drummer Tainaka trading fours with father and daughter before the song closes on a coda that suggests the opening.

"The Stylings of Champian" is a treat from start-to-finish, filled with strong songs and excellent musicianship.  Champian Fulton is both a delightful pianist and an evocative, assured, singer, never just "going through the motions" to show off her "chops" but making each song her own.  This, her 10th album, is well worth exploring and enjoying!

For more information, go to www.champian.net.

Here's her take on the Irving Berlin tune:

Way North is a quartet (three Canadians, one American) who organized in Brooklyn NY, in 2014. Composed of Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet), Petr Cancura (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Michael Herring (acoustic bass), and Richie Barshay (drums), they are each so busy as musicians, teachers, and festival organizers (Cancura is the Programming Director of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival) that they only get together sporadically to play. When they do, the music they create is a delightful amalgam of early jazz, gospel, and blues influences played with a sweetness and dedication that is truly "soul-deep".  The member's choice of material, original songs to interpretations of early jazz classics, will remind some of the classic Chicago trio Air; especially because the two "classic tunes" are Jelly Roll Morton's "Buddy Bolden's Blues" and "King Porter's Stomp", both of which appeared on the 1979 album "Air Lore." 

"Fearless and Kind" (self-released) is the band's second release and the connection to Air's (Henry Threadgill, Fred Hopkins, and Steve McCall) classic work cannot be denied. The lack of a chordal instrument (although, like Hopkins, Herring is a melodic bassist), the active yet sensitive drummer, and the desire to show jazz is an ever-changing river of sounds are what connects them. It's such a treat to hear tunes such as "You Know A Song" and how Hennessy wraps her brash trumpet sounds around the buttery, bluesy, tones of Cancura's tenor while Herring and Barshay dance beneath them. Dance is a major component of many of the songs. "Boll Weevil" opens the proceedings - with its "second-line" drums and bouncing bass, the songs jumps forward with powerful solos from both tenor sax and trumpet. I dare you to sit still.  The muted trumpet introduces the title track, a ballad that moves ever-so-slowly. Listen to how Ms. Hennessy interacts with the bass and drums during her sweet solo. Then, the tenor sax rises up "testifyin'" as the rhythm section "drags" the beat.  

The quartet is not stuck "in the tradition" but expands upon the various possibilities. The raucous and highly-charged "Airport to Knowhere" barrels forward on a head of percussive steam while "Birds for Free" has a sweet Caribbean feel in its rhythmic drive yet moves in numerous directions throughout the hardy tenor solo and high-powered trumpet spot.  Kudos to Mr. Barshay - his "stop on a dime" reflexes give the piece such its playful feel (with a subtle nod to the classic Atlantic Records Ornette Coleman Quartet).  The sweetness of the melody on the closing track,"The River's Flow", the intelligent interactions (such fine counterpoint throughout from Herring), and the splendid musicianship fills this observer with wonder. The four musicians try listen to each other. This music is not about "showing off" but about communal creativity.  The little touches on the track - the saxophone and trumpet without the rhythm section for 30 seconds, Barshay's "dancing hands" that support the bass solo - is so joyous.

I know consumers want music that fits their expectations but "Fearless and Kind" with its endless possibilities, really should opens one's ears to the delight of creative interactions. Yes, there's plenty of rhythmic fun,  numerous strong solos, but Way North is a true band, a honest collaboration of like minds, whose spirit and musicianship brings this listener such bliss.

For more information, go to waynorthband.com.  

Here's a cut to savor: