Everybody Wants to Get This CD (Or Should)
Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 11/17/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a really fine cd. Some issues on Naxos Jazz, a generally reliable discount label, seem thrown together, more like jam sessions. The difference here is that everyone playing on this cd is thoroughly steeped in a variety of jazz traditions from mainstream, to funk, to outside. Plus, Mike Nock, that sly old New Zeelander, has developed into quite a composer.This, their sophmore effort as a group, following the pretty amazing I Don't This World Without Don Cherry, reaches new heights. Replacing Frank Lacy (himself a fine player) with Ray Anderson was a brilliant move. Anderson brings to the foreground a down-and-dirty funkiness that, while not altogether lacking on their first disc, comes fully out into the open here. And James Zoller, taking the place of the great Baikida Carroll on trumpet, impresses mightily.The songs pretty much cover the modern jazz waterfront from vaguely Afro/Latin numbers like Somnium and Nata Lagal, my two personal favorites, to the elegiac Soliloquy, with its majestic stateliness and harmonic sophistication, to the emotive 2nd Class Sleeper featuring some wicked sounds from Ray Anderson, to the deceptively hip shuffle, Elvin's Exit, to the off-kilter waltz, Homage, which sounds like it might've come from Horace Tapscott.With incredibly tight ensemble playing, edge-of-your-chair timing, very tasty soloing, especially by leader Nock, this cd has all the earmarks of a working band. Really, the more I listen, the more I'm pretty much bowled over by these guys. And at this price, it's a steal. If I were you, I'd snatch this baby up pronto."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1