Some facts and a curmudgeon's suggestion
greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 02/01/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"First, a few facts about this session. The group listed would actually be a nonet comprising of Tim Hagans on trumpet, John Clark on French horn, Gary Bartz on alto sax, Billy Harper on tenor, Gary Smulyan on baritone, Ray Drummond on bass, Andrew Cyrille on drums, Dave Woodley on trombone and Grachan Moncur III on the trombone.
For some reason, the CD sleeve insists that it is an octet for which I have no explanation other than the general degradation of math skills in this country (feel free to imagine an old curmudgeonly gentleman shaking his cane as you read that).
The main point though is that this session is the brainchild of, was produced by, the arrangements were done by and the music conducted by Mark Masters. I think that is important as will come clear. All of the songs are from the Blue Note LPs or New Africa with one song that GM3 wrote earlier.
But first my suggestion. This CD is not the place to start for those who are new to the music of Mr. Moncur III. Leave this page of Amazonia immediately and go to the listings for New Africa, Some Other Stuff, Evolution or, best of all, the Mosaic box set of the Blue Note recordings.
What follows is personal opinion. GM3's recordings that came out in the sixties were a unique body of work. Like some of Jackie McLean's work in the mid-sixties, Moncur's music suggested an inclusive middle ground between the hard bop mainstream of the time and the emerging free jazz and avant garde alternatives. As such, Moncur's music is both exploratory and wide-open to the music of others. Part of what made people like McLean and Moncur so wonderful at that time was the sense that I had that it would appeal to both Marion Brown and Sonny Stitt. Moncur was creating a musical vocabulary that everybody could use.
Those early recordings remain unchallenged. They have a muscular beauty that the present CD lacks. A lot of that has to do with the size of the group and the arrangements. Everything is very well done but it only occasionally sounds like Moncur to me in the arrangements.
However, please note that it is evident that GM3 himself seems to have really appreciated the arrangements by Masters and to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The solo work by all is quite good. It is nice to hear Moncur's work being explored by Harper, Bartz and Smulyan. Hagan (again with the personal opinions!)is technically superb but I rarely connect with his work. As for Moncur, if anything, his solo voice is as terse as ever and driven by his own melodic logic.
So if you own the other CDs, by all means pick this one up. Moncur's oeuvre is not large but it is very worthy and it is very sweet to (somewhat) hear his vision again after all these years. I only hope that this CD leads to one of new material with his own arrangements. Then the curmudgeon will be dancing.
"
One Of The Year's Best
blue note fanatic | southwest usa | 12/05/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's been far too long since we've heard from Grachan Moncur. For his first album as a leader in nearly 3 decades Moncur revisits his compositions of the 60's with an all-star lineup, including Billy Harper, Gary Bartz, Andrew Cyrille, Ray Drummond and Tim Hagans. Mark Masters' arrangements are swinging and tight and there's passionate playing all around. One of the top three or four albums of the year, in my opinion."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1