Search - Tony Malaby :: Adobe

A HUGE surprise

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 09/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tony Malaby is someone you should hear, if you haven't already. With this new disc, his third, I believe, as leader, he comes fully into his own.



Choosing the difficult trio format (sax, bass, drums), with no guitar or piano providing a chordal safety net, only adds chutzpah to an already uniquely developing voice on tenor sax. The revelation here, for me, at least, is Paul Motian. Long a drummer of note, having lead numerous bands including such players as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joe Lovano, and Chris Potter, he brings something special to this music, at once grounding it and setting it free (howzee do that??). Malaby's approach would seem to favor a younger, more adventurous, downtown-ish player, such as Jeff Ballard or Jim Black or Kenny Wollesen (who was on his last disc). But Motian's minimalism, wrapped in staggeringly brilliant rhythmic tropes, lends this music such quotidian brilliance as is seldom heard in the world of jazz--or any other music, for that matter.



Drew Gress proves the perfect complement/foil on bass. Quickly becoming one of the very finest younger jazz bassists, he fits in perfectly on this session. Possessed of a deep, very woody tone (a la Charlie Haden, whom he vaguely resembles here, sans the sometimes annoying eccentricities), he adds an entirely apposite bottom to what, with Malaby's somewhat heady conception, could've turned into cloying abstraction. Note also his double stopping and advanced harmonic concept.



One thing that surprised me very much about this disc is how unrelentingly melodic it is. Malaby, known for his avant chops, seems to play it somewhat closer to the vest here, opting for a ravishing, burnished tone, often accompanied by the slightest, most subtle vibrato instead of the virtuoso, note-heavy approach that has more typically been his MO in the past. Indeed, he almost seems to have totally reconfigured his playing. Yes, he can still get cerebral (e.g., "No Brainer" and "Gone," although even here he clings to a melodically oriented approach), but he usually opts for melodicism over against abstraction. What it amounts to, I guess, is an entirely apposite emotionalism mapped onto (and rather seamlessly and brilliantly, I might add) his already chops-heavy approach. Not the easiest thing to do, but pretty amazing, if you can pull it off, as he does, magnificently.



A must-hear disc from and emerging sax giant."

A classic? Maybe too soon to tell...

Philip | United States | 08/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. I'm not given to hyperbole, but this really might be the best sax-bass-drums trio of the last decade. It's that good. Malaby is consistently engaging and adventurous, and Paul Motian is at his best. If I could write the Penguin Guide review of this, I just might give it a crown. At first I was really reminded of Joe Lovano (and this compares quite favorably to "Sounds of Joy", one of Joe's best), but now find Malaby a bit more nimble and adventurous. There are hints of avant, but this is totally straight, and although Malaby otherwise doesn't sound like him, I haven't heard such confident, on-the-mark improvisations since Sonny Rollins. A master at work! Mandatory purchase for all jazz fans."