Word: saxophonist
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...Blaxploitation (Blue Note), an album of overtly political funk and rap; it's not an entirely felicitous concept, but what a treat to hear Byron's clarinet--the fuddy-duddy instrument of Woody Allen!--snaking in and out of dark, fertile electric grooves. On the other hand you have saxophonist David Murray recording his latest album, Creole (Justin Time), in Guadeloupe with local musicians, his bluesy, barrelhouse tenor joyously mixing it up with Caribbean rhythms and melodies--for Africa's musical diaspora, a frequent-flyer-age reunion...
...muster, for example, to explain societal degradation is to insist simplistically that "lawyers and loan sharks/are laying America to waste." There are small pleasures to be had on Taming the Tiger, like Mitchell's confidently unconventional melodies, her dark and smoke-ravaged voice and the occasional appearances of deft saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Still, one can't help but wonder what happened to Joni Mitchell since we lost her 20 years ago. On Taming the Tiger, at least, she is nowhere to be found...
DIED. BENNY WATERS, 96, jazz's ebullient elder statesman who toured with and taught some of the genre's greats; in Columbia, Md. A saxophonist, clarinetist and arranger, Waters was playing jazz before jazz was officially created. In the '20s and '30s he played nightclubs in New York City's Harlem with Benny Carter, among others, and was a member of the house band at the Apollo Theatre; but partly because of his legendary carousing, he never achieved the fame enjoyed by many of his colleagues. Blind from failed cataract surgery since 1992, he continued his hectic international touring schedule...
Here's the pedigree: this 30-year-old alto saxophonist is an ex-member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and a former regular at Small's, the dingy Manhattan club that has become a key incubator of young talent. His playing is plenty soulful on his second CD--so you'd think, given the title--but with a dry, sometimes acerbic tone that gives the album a haunting edge; listeners may be reminded of John Coltrane's way with a ballad or the blues. As a composer, Irby has a gift for melody, and there are so many fine...
...soothing--like anxious lullabies (to suggest another unappetizing title). Though Keezer gives himself three solo numbers--a highlight being his gentle deconstruction of Lush Life--the heart of the album is a series of tunes featuring Keezer in an all-star trio setting with bassist Christian McBride and saxophonist Joshua Redman. The lack of a drummer to knit things together in the usual way, along with Keezer's provocative, concerto-like arrangements (his accompaniment can be even more interesting than his solos), suggests a kind of jazz version of Baroque counterpoint. Three cuts feature a breathy Diana Krall on vocals...