Search - Will Calhoun :: Native Lands (W/Dvd)

Will Calhoun and Pharoah Sanders . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 07/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . a very potent brew. Calhoun, who hasn't always played in contexts that enable him to exhibit his jazz chops (e.g., his Living Colour gig)--despite the fact that he's a graduate of Boston's Berklee School of Music--here pairs with Pharoah Sanders for a pretty spectacular outing.



Sanders appears on five cuts for nearly forty minutes (more than half the disc's total time), and he's in fine voice. Anyone who's been following his late career developments will immediately recognize this world-jazzy context as one very familiar to Sanders. Not everyone agrees, but my own feeling is that this kind of session is ideal for him. Not only does he get to show off his considerable chops in a very congenial setting, his late-career sax moves seem entirely attuned to a jazz-beat vibe.



Over the years, through a combination of natural talent, countless hours of practice, and innumerable bandstand appearances, Sanders has perfected a tone and concept that are not only completely his own, but represent one of the more distinct approaches to the tenor sax in the history of jazz. He possesses a depth of tonal richness, a power and dynamism, few others have ever been able to approach, let alone achieve. Moreover, he has such complete command of his instrument that he's able to naturally incorporate into his playing all kinds of extended techniques, from circular breathing, to split tones, to smears, to intervallic leaps. There are many others who do such things, but none so naturally or with such ease of execution, or in such close organic relationship to the music being played. In addition, he has a very quirky yet amazingly congenial sense of time. His lines float, dance, and weave, always related to the beat, but most often in rhythmic counterpoint to it. Consequently, any late-Sanders session is at least worth hearing. This one just happens to be one of his very best. He seems completely locked into the jazz-inflected world music vibe laid down by Calhoun, and he nails the mood and feeling of each piece.



Calhoun, too, seems uncommonly energized. I'm not familiar with his Living Colour gig, but here he displays a huge variety of drum, percussive, and other moves, playing everything from traditional drum kit to pandiero to several varieties of udu drum to Indonesian flute to acoustic flange drum to loops to pianos to acoustic guitar to bells, harmonica, keyboards, shakers, hand drums, various indigenous percussions, and bass.



Things start out with a huge burst of energy in a highly charged rendition of the Mongo Santamaria classis, "Afro Blue." The rest of the first half of the record--the part that Sanders plays on--has a suitelike feel, the tunes seeming to explore variations on themes of the African Diaspora, with, specifically, a North African feel ("Afro Blue," "Pyramids," "Nefertiti," "Umoja"). These are what set this disc apart. The second half, which visits a wider variety of native lands, has a looser feel (partly because of the inclusion of several short fillers), and though it doesn't make quite as strong an impression, it is still very much worth hearing. Highlights include a very energized Stanley Jordan playing on "Push," "Three Card Molly," featuring Wallace Roney's younger brother, Antoine, on soprano sax (who, by the way, acquits himself quite nicely, thank you very much) and the killer bass of John Benitez, and the title cut, featuring a dizzying variety of percussion from guest Nana Vasconcelos and from the leader.



All in all, this represents some of the very finest world jazz, right up there with Omar Sosa, Egberto Gismonti, Safa, Dhafer Youssef, and Yusef Lateef. And that's about the highest praise I can give a disc."

Wonderful offering

Kenny b Natural | 08/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had the same reaction, wow Pharoah Sanders is sounding great. The deeper i get into this disc the more i like it. Right now it's Buster Williams' bass solo on Umoja. Sweet! And thank God for Wallace Roney. Everyone here is the cream of the crop. i really like the direction of Calhoun's fine acoustic drumming blended with electronic grooves. The accompanying dvd is a great trip into the world of will calhoun one of the most interesting and well rounded drummers out today. Exquisite. 10 thumbs up!"