Search - Joe Chambers :: Urban Grooves

Hitting on all cylinders

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 09/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's great to see a jazz veteran like Joe Chambers come up with such a fine disc.I don't know what it is--serendipity, the planets aligned, whatever--but 2003 continues to be a banner year for jazz recordings. Sometimes these older guys hit on just the right combination of musicians, experience, production values, and song selection--and it all gibes for them. Certainly Chambers, a venerable and highly respected jazz drummer on the scene for four decades, has produced his finest recording ever.A good deal of the success of this disc is that it finds a somewhat unlikely collection of musicians--Gary Bartz (as, ss), Rufus Reid (ac. bass), Eric Reed (piano), and Bobby Sanabria (congas, percussion, drums)--in absolutely top form and jelling in a way one would never have expected. Reed, esp., on piano, is a revelation. To me, he's one of those players who shines brighter as a sideman than a leader. Bartz's horn work sounds more confident and assurred than ever. And Rufus Reid, who can be too stogily bebop in his concept, comes across as a fluid and engaging musical conversationalist.There's also a fascinating mix of Chambers's orignials, better or lesser known standards, and pure oddities ("Surrey with the Fringe on Top"). Not totally unusual in itself, this mix is rendered perfectly intelligently, with unusual but stunningly logical arrangements. Take that old warhorse, "In a Sentimental Mood." By giving it a Calypso reading (albeit somewhat irreverant) adding some tasty (and slightly idiosyncratic) marimba playing by Chambers, the group transforms it into something entirely engaging and sonically significant. "Stella by Starlight," receives a similarly unique reading. Reed on piano provides tons of brilliant ideas lightly thrown off, including some tasty quotes, and the whole thing, rendered as a piano trio, comes off sounding entirely fresh. Since they're on a roll, they take a similar trio approach to "Surrey," with equally fantastic results. After hearing Reed's pianstic bravado on these stellar pieces, I'm going to have to give him a closer listen.As I write this review, this disc seems barely on the jazz music horizon, and that's a shame. There's such a deep swing and pure musicality about it that it should be as widely heard by as great a diversity of listeners as possible. May it eventually be so."