  |
|
|
 |
|
CD |
|
|
|
| 1. | Split Decision
|
| 2. | Half-Nelson
|
| 3. | Ask Me How
|
| 4. | Reincarnation of a Love Bird
|
| 5. | Skippy
|
| 6. | 2 Bass Hit
|
| 7. | Waseenonet
|
| 8. | Ornithology
|
| 9. | 'Round Midnight
|
| 10. | Be-Bop
|
| 11. | Split Decision
|
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz; Post-Bop
Recorded: Jun 1994
If we should be declined to suppose that Paul Motian has changed sides and decided to become neo-traditionalistic on his old days we will surely be wrong. Reincarnation Of A Love Bird and Bebop might suggest such a conclusion but we just have to look at the line-up of his Electric Bebop Band and will be convinced of the contrary. Besides Steve Swallow (bass) and Don Alias (percussion) the leader put together a band of four young musicians: the "tweny-somethings" Chris Potter/Chris Cheek on saxophone and Wolfgang Muthspiel/Kurt Rosenwinkel on electric guitar play the once so wild bebop themes of Thelonious Monk, Charly Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and Miles Davis like they had been composed just yesterday. The result is far from being a mechanical repetition of historical forms: Motians band unites respect for tradition with the will for contemporary expression.
In the early sixties Paul Motians breakthrough as an important drummer in jazz fell in a time which was rather hostile to bebop idioms. As member of the now legendary Bill Evans trio with Scott LaFaro (1959-64) Motian experienced new ways of freeing himself from the role of a mere time keeper. The quartet with Keith Jarrett, Charlie Haden and Dewey Redman practised new ways of organizing musical communication within a group which are still challenging today. After these important experiences Motian continued to prove ways of innovative jazz music which are most impressively documented by the work of his trio with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell which just celebrated the 12th year of its existence with the album Trioism (JMT 919 067-2).
But besides all interest in progressive form and content Paul Motian never stopped being attracted by the great works of the jazz tradition. Grown up with bebop, he never lost touch with this music and its great personalities. On numerous albums (Monk In Motian, Bill Evans, Paul Motian On Broadway Vol.1, 2, 3 - all on JMT) Paul Motian referred to the history of jazz in a very personal way and on the highest musical level. The formation of the Electric Bebop Band and their debut in 1993 (JMT 919 061-2) added a new quality to his work with tradition. "They transfer the spirit of bebop to modern times" wrote German Audio; "with the Electric Bebop Band the bebop-tunes sound like they had been composed 50 days, not 50 years ago," Body & Soul stated.
A second production with the Electric Bebop Band was so important to Paul Motian that he brought the band together at the Power Station Studio in New York on a few days off from his extensive european tours with his own trio and Charlie Hadens Liberation Music Orchestra. The second album of Paul Motians Electric Bebop Band was recorded in a two days studio session live to two track.
Inspite of some change regarding the personal of his band (on the debut we heard Joshua Redman on saxophone) Paul Motian didn't change the basic concept: Not just being retrospective, no simple deconstruction, but contemporary interpretations of bebop tunes with young musicians and extraordinary instrumentation (2 electric guitars and 2 saxophones) which gives the tunes back some of their original wildness.
And Motians concept works very well. So it becomes a real pleasure to hear the four melody instruments playing around the bebop lines. Unisono passages, duo-solos, constant change of roles in the fore- and background supported by a strong rhythm section with a Paul Motian, whose drumming sounds characteristic even when he is just playing "straight".
On Reincarnation Of A Love Bird we hear great jazz pieces like the title composition by Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop, Waseenonet (a composition by Wolfgang Muthspiel) which are framed by Split Decision, a composition by Paul Motian which appears at the beginning and the end of the CD. If we listen closely, Split Decision turns out to be the best and most personal commentary why Paul Motian still feels so strongly attracted by the tunes of the bebop era - and a musical explanation of a musical decision seems to be the best anyway.
- Original Press Text written in 1994
Paul Motian - drums
Don Alias - percussion
Steve Swallow - bass
Kurt Rosenwinkel - guitar
Wolfgang Muthspiel - guitar
Chris Potter - alto and tenor saxophones
Chris Cheek - tenor saxophone |
|
CD bolt, zenei DVD, SACD, BLU-RAY lemez vásárlás és rendelés - Klasszikus zenei CD-k és DVD-különlegességek |  | | Webdesign - Forfour Design |
|
|
