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| 4.270 Ft
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| 1. | Gone
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| 2. | Christina
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| 3. | Tanktified
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| 4. | Shake It For Me
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| 5. | Minor March
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| 6. | They Won&
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| 7. | The Afterthought
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| 8. | For You
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| 9. | Blues for Denial
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| 10. | Langston&
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Jazz
Stefon Harris - Arranger, Marimba, Producer, Vibraphone
Anne Drummond - Flute (Alto), Guest Appearance
Ben Williams II - Bass
Casey Benjamin - Arranger, Sax (Alto), Vocoder
Chris Dunn - A&R
James Frazee - Assistant Engineer
Jay Rattman - Clarinet (Bass), Guest Appearance
Joe Ferla - Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Larissa Collins - Package Design
Marc Cary - Arranger, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Piano
Mark Vinci - Clarinet, Clarinet (Bass), Guest Appearance
Mark Wilder - Mastering
Rigdzin Collins - Guest Appearance, Violin
Terreon Gully - Drums
Y.C. Laws - Guest Appearance, Percussion
Famed vibraphonist-composer Stefon Harris returns with his Concord Jazz debut, Urbanus; a spectacular piece of work sparkling with optimism, ingenuity and emotional immediacy. Special guests on the album include Y.C. Laws (percussion), Anne Drummond (alto flute), Anna Webber (flute), Mark Vinci (clarinet bass clarinet), Sam Ryder (clarinet), Jay Rattman (bass clarinet), and Rigdzin Collins (violin). This is Harris' and Blackout's first recorded collaboration in five years,following their successful 2004 album "Evolution".
Concord Jazz presents the release of vibraphonist-composer Stefon Harris's 7th album as a bandleader and Concord debut, Urbanus. The new release picks up where 2004's Evolution left off in that it features Blackout, his scintillating ensemble that's as versed in modern jazz as it is with rhythms, melodies and soundscapes associated with R&B, pop, hip-hop and funk. The 10-track-album will be available August 25, 2009.
The GRAMMY-nominated musician has been hailed as "one of the most important young artists in jazz" (Los Angeles Times), and is widely recognized by both peers and critics alike for his innovative compositions, blazing new paths on the vibraphone and marimba. On Urbanus, Stefon Harris and Blackout display a deeper group rapport as well as a more expansive sonic palette as Marc Cary complements the acoustic piano with Fender Rhodes, alto saxophonist Casey Benjamin lends his captivating vocoder work to the proceeding and there's Terreon Gully on drums and Ben Williams on bass. Harris' brilliance at broadening textures and colors comes to play with his sensational woodwind and string arrangements on a few of the compositions as well.
"One of the biggest indicators of our growth as a band is the level of contribution from all the members of the ensemble," Harris enthuses. "The music not only incorporates all of our writing but everyone's cultural backgrounds as well."
To illustrate this point, he points to the disc's opening track, "Gone," which bounces to the pulsating polyrhythm of go-go, a sound indicative to Washington, D.C.'s urban
landscape. Both Williams and Cary hail from Washington, D.C. It doesn't hurt also that Harris is a big go-go fan. "How can you not like go-go? It's so funky," Harris says.
The delicate "For You" provides the perfect example of how Blackout balances the worlds of the acoustic with the electric co-written by Benjamin and Sameer Gupta. Before Harris recorded it, "For You" was a favorite on Benjamin's Myspace page and has since undergone several incarnations. Harris first heard the tune when the band was rehearsing in San Francisco. Cary had just recorded the song for another date and shared it with the band. "We checked it out then decided to play the tune," Harris recalls. "That evening we went over it and actually played "For You" in the concert. It was a perfect vehicle for the chemistry in our band. Casey later added a bridge and we continued to expand on the composition."
The album also includes a fantastic makeover of Stevie Wonder's early-'70s song "They Won't Go (When I Go)" from Wonder's 1974 LP, Fullfillingness' First Finale. Urbanus closes with the spellbinding ballad "Langston's Lullaby," which is dedicated to Harris' newborn infant, Langston.
Recorded just a few days before the historic presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, Urbanus sparkles with optimism, ingenuity and emotional immediacy. "How could it not?" Harris says when asked if the anticipating for the inauguration had an impact on the sessions. "Being in the studio, knowing that we were getting ready for the inauguration of the first African-American president - how could that not change my life? I was extremely inspired and that created a great feeling of audacity and some fantastic energy."
Over two CDs going back to 2004, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and his group Blackout have continued to become more progressive and contemporary at the same time. Employing hip-hop beats on occasion along with straight-ahead jazz or funk, the ensemble seems to enjoy their all-over-the-map concept while adhering to nothing specific. There's nothing wrong with this attitude, but at times one wonders if there will arise a laser beam focus in doing something consistently well. For this version of Blackout, Harris and company have moved from their first home on Blue Note records to the Concord label, and the resulting music bears mixed results. Within the context Harris previously established, the spiky sax and vibe line of "Shake It for Me," with the vibraphonist urged on by the tight and sharpened drumming of Terreon Gully, or the bass clarinet/vibes tandem line of Gully's "Tanktified" sets up ruminant bass and sax, both succeeding in an intriguing way. Hard bop via the Jackie McLean cover "Minor March" or the straight-ahead track "The Afterthought" both hit the nail solidly on the head, the band collectively charging forward. The most impressive teamwork during "Blues for Denial" has Harris leading the way as the band speeds up into a frenzy, again in a bop framework. Combining funk and go-go on an extrapolation of a George Gershwin theme, "Gone" is a cute discourse, adding wah-wah and space tones. There's an adventurous take of the Buster Williams ballad "Christina" which by now is a widely played standard, with the marimba of Harris and multiple add-on lines. Keyboardist Marc Cary is in the band, and positively influences the limited contemporary side of jazz. Then again there's Casey Benjamin's vocoder, which since its early use by the likes of Stevie Wonder has been one of the silliest devices ever conceived to vary the sound of the human voice. Benjamin is one of the best young alto saxophonists in modern jazz -- an instrument he should stick with. The cover of Wonder's "They Won't Go" is darker than the original, and plain weird. Every recording from Stefon Harris has been uneven to a certain extent, with his excellent Evolution less so than all the others. There's a majority of excellent music played on this album, but the feeling conveyed is that Urbanus wants to appeal to exactly what its title suggests, an urban crowd less interested in innovation or expansion as it is the beat. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
Stefon Harris
Active Decades: '90s and '00s
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Contemporary Jazz, Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Progressive Jazz
Vibraphonist/percussionist Stefon Harris originally planned to pursue his musical ambitions as a member of the New York Philharmonic, but his first exposure to the music of Charlie Parker convinced him to play jazz instead. Emerging during the mid-'90s on sessions led by Steve Turre, Charlie Hunter, and others, he made his solo debut in 1998 with the Blue Note release A Cloud of Red Dust. The Grammy-nominated Black Action Figure followed a year later. A collaboration with labelmate, pianist Jacky Terrasson, was a defining moment for Harris. Their week-long showcase at the Village Vanguard in summer 2001 was a success, encouraging both artists to work together in the studio. Kindred, a set of standards woven around a few original tracks, was issued in 2001.
The Grand Unification Theory pushed Harris' boundaries yet again. The 12-piece ensemble jazz suite appeared in 2003, eventually earning Harris the prestigious Martin E. Segal Award from Jazz at Lincoln Center. Dates with the Kenny Barron Quintet coincided with the spring 2004 release of Evolution. African Tarantella appeared in 2006, followed three years later by Urbanus in 2009.
--- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide |
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