Word: tuned
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Never have they shied away from tackling more sober subjects, Brand New remains clear-eyed about both social injustice and sexual imprudence. "Imagine," an anti-racism track with a surprisingly earthy guest vocal from Sheryl Crow, stands too preciously beside its obvious ancestry in the namesake John Lennon tune to register very strongly. More effective is "The Clock Is Ticking," a rallying cry to abused women with an unaffected awareness of How Bad It Can Get: "You got kids, you got bills/You ain't got skills, you wanna take pills...
...signal that they wanted to establish a good rapport with the audience, who were ready to hang on every note. After a congenial introduction, Redman uncapped the mouthpiece of his tenor saxophone, counted off and launched into an animated rendition of "Surrey With The Fringe On Top," a familiar tune from the Rodgers-Hammerstein musical Oklahoma...
...given an original, rhythmically complex reading that offered a good opportunity for the trio to show that they were a cohesive group, not just a haphazard all-star assembly. The ease with which McBride navigates his hulking instrument was immediately apparent. He laid a solid foundation for the tune as Blade tastefully used brushes on his kit alongside. Redman then hung on a high note and slid upward to mark the beginning of his solo, in which he demonstrated his full, thick tone in all registers of the instrument. It was an apt starter for the show--giving audience members...
Though these musicians are heralded as some of the foremost exponents of neotraditionalist jazz, drawing from the influential hard bop artists of the fifties and sixties, they defy such categorization. The tune "Twenty-Seven Summers," in which McBride played a five-string, electric fretted bass, marked a dramatic shift in style. This was the least well-received tune of the set: the audience seemed taken aback by the ethereal, echoing sound of the electric bass and the fusion elements of the medium-tempo arrangement...
...most fun piece of the set: "Brown Funk," which McBride wrote for a collaboration with legendary bassist Ray Brown. McBride took up his electric bass once again, and this time the choice worked perfectly. The group traded fills and tossed riffs back and forth for this bluesy, funky tune, clearly having a good time. After an intense climax that ended with a flourish, the audience got to its feet and cheered wildly as the trio retreated back-stage. Clearly, everyone in the audience was asking themselves how soon they could see this dynamic trio perform again...