HomeMusic Jazz All About Jazz-New York New York at Night New York @ Night: April 2010

New York @ Night: April 2010

April 1, 2010 By dev Comments are Off

In the new All About Jazz-New York:

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One of saxophonist Myron Walden’s four new albums this year is called To Feel, and indeed, if a single quality stands out in Walden’s music, it is deep and palpable feeling, a big emotional sweep carried off with great finesse by his quintet In This World. In their second set at Jazz Standard (Mar. 9), Walden and the group drew on music from the ballad-centric To Feel and its sister release, What We Share, which offers a bit more juice in terms of tempo. Known for years as a scorching altoist in the Brian Blade Fellowship and other bands, Walden has reasserted himself as a tenor player, and his rich, unhurried voice on the instrument suited this music’s enveloping harmonic warmth, brought out by Fellowship bandmate Jon Cowherd on Rhodes and Mike Moreno on guitar. “In This World,” a tone poem with no solos, opened the show and set a prevailing mood of contemplation. Bassist Yasushi Nakamura struck a powerful rapport with the drummer — none other than Brian Blade — and introduced “Tama,” an affecting minor-key waltz, with a huge bluesy intro. Moreno did not loom large as a soloist, but his acoustic guitar on “I Believe” and “Gone But Not Forgotten” (the latter a duo with Walden on bass clarinet) added dimension to the set. Two soprano sax features, including “In Search of the Lost City,” pushed the improvising to a higher level. When Walden got going, his pockmarked, battle-scarred sound contrasted vividly with the music’s overriding cushiony texture.
(David R. Adler)

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The “hyperpiano” music of Denman Maroney requires a bit of explanation, which is why Maroney prefaced his quintet gig at Roulette (Mar. 11) with a word on the meaning of Udentity, the title of his latest release on Clean Feed. Coined by Harry Partch, the term relates to the inverse of overtones, or “undertones,” a descending series that generates its own rhythmic implications — what Maroney calls “pulse fields.” From this, Maroney has derived a compositional method, a language of intricate criss-crossing rhythms, daunting tests of concentration but far from dry-sounding exercises. The loping counterintuitive flow bore some resemblance to recent Henry Threadgill. Complicating things further was the hyperpiano, a discipline in which the piano interior is not simply “prepared” but actually played, using various implements of metal, rubber and plastic. When reedist Ned Rothenberg, trumpeter Dave Ballou, bassist Reuben Radding and drummer Michael Sarin reached full volume, the subtler hyperpiano sounds had to fight to be heard. But in quieter passages one could hear a vocabulary reminiscent of horns and bowed instruments — false-fingering effects, bent notes, infinite ringing sustain (conventional piano played a role as well). Despite the abundance of prescribed material, this was no doubt an improvising band, with an array of woodwind and brass colors on hand and an eagerness to take Udentity’s seven movements and stretch them out.
(DA)

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