Wycliffe Gordon

Item: The Joyride
Author: Jeff Cebulski

The Joyride

(2003)

Reviewed by Jeff Cebulski

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Label Nagel HeyerThe Phantom Tollbooth2004

blues jazz

The nagel heyer music label from Germany (along with the terrific Criss Cross company of Holland) is one of a few companies dedicated to keeping jazz alive in the Western world. Many American musicians who can't get a shake here get these jazz provocateurs' attention. Among its several releases this year, three stand out.

Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon sharpened his musical teeth under the tutelage of Wynton Marsalis and has developed a staunch fan base with a number of albums as a leader, four for nagel heyer. This latest one is a dip into traditional, New Orleans-style material, featuring Gordon's soulful and bluesy voice on several cuts, either as a post-Armstrong graveller or as a gospel-tinged scatman. The blues is the main focus, and his long time musical mates Victor Goines (sax), Farid Barron (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), and the funky Herlin Riley (drums) are up to the task. Next to Robin Eubanks and Steve Turre, Gordon has done much to keep the trombone in the mix of modern jazz.

Cliffhanger is actually made from a session back in 1999, but it's hard to believe the company hung onto this so long. Sandke is one of many competent trumpet players familiar to longtime jazz aficionados who listen to this label and Concord Records. His clarity and taste never fail to please, and he always chooses his support group wisely. The "discovery" for this reviewer on this CD is tenor saxman Harry Allen, whose rich toned offerings swing like crazy, kind of like a latter day Harold Land. Gordon joins in on one cut, Mulgrew Miller plays his normal wonderful piano, and the ubiquitous Washingtons--Peter and Kenny--provide a formidable rhythm section. Even though the majority of this CD handles classic songs, these guys find new ways to express them.

As for old farts, it seems the European labels have an agenda to keep them alive, resulting in many efforts that lack the pizzazz of youth. However, the drumless trio of trumpeter Claudio Roditi, pianist Klaus Ignatzek, and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse presents thoughtfully refreshing music on an album that visits only one classic--a jazz one at that, On Green Dolphin Street--and presents five Ignatzek compositions. Roditi is fairly well known among veteran American music buffs, but Ignatzek has firmly held the flame of jazz in Western Europe for half of the 20th century. With the exception of one piece where Roditi is obligated, I guess, to sing (and not exceptionally--leave that to Gilberto), these pieces sound like comfortable music played at a high-class club--rewarding close listening but also serving as cerebral background sound.