amily: Arial;">Eli Eisenberg



Sunshine of My Soul
Jaki Byard
HighNote Records HCD 7169

CD
 
Why don't I just cut to the chase and suggest that you go out and buy this CD. If you are an aspiring young musician, or simply a receptive listener, here is a short journey through the history of piano jazz by one of the great players, sadly, to a large extent lost in today's shuffle. Jaki (John) Byard (June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was a true jazz player and composer with an eclectic approach incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz. All the ingredients are there - a mastery of all the styles with the understanding and technique combined with a wicked sense of humour which gave him a sound that was completely his own. Incidentally, he also played trumpet and saxophone and I have a lasting memory of him playing piano and saxophone simultaneously during a broadcast of "Toronto Alive".
 
But here it is all solo piano with a choice of material which reflects his catholic taste - originals like the opener, Tribute To The Ticklers which acknowledges the great stride players, an atmospheric Hazy Eve and European Episodes, a tour-de-force which closes the CD. There are seven originals interspersed with a grab bag of material ranging from an esoteric Besame Mucho to the Blood, Sweat And Tears hit Spinning Wheel via a Charles Mingus medley!
 
This is a masterful programme of music played by a giant of jazz.
 
Jim Galloway



Zoot Suite
Zoot Sims
HighNote Records HCD 7170

CD
 
The release of this 1973 private recording – thought to come from an appearance in the Caribbean – was approved by Zoot Sims’ widow who claimed this to be her late husband’s favourite band. Jimmy Rowles is on piano, with George Mraz, bass, and Mousey Alexander, drums. Be warned though, the recording is far from professional. Producer Joe Fields openly admits that it “requires a bit of patience by the listener”, but he’s also absolutely correct when he says “the quality of the music and its historic significance far outweigh any sonic limitations.” Sims, one of the most swinging of tenor saxophonists, is totally at ease here, and once you adjust your ears to the less than perfect balance (the piano’s off-mike and the drums too up-front) it’s easy to become seduced by his ultra-relaxed storytelling ability.
 
Few listeners seem to realize that Zoot’s earliest influence was Ben Webster, not Lester Young. Three of the set’s four Ellington titles give Zoot a chance to pay tribute to his early mentor. On Rockin’ in Rhythm he switches to soprano, an appropriate choice for this vintage number. And the group has great fun with a couple of Fats Waller classics, Jimmy Rowles really knocking Zoot out with his work on Honeysuckle Rose. On Tickletoe, Zoot salutes his second great influence, Lester Young. A gorgeous interpretation of My Old Flame and an extended blues wrap things up nicely. Fine music trumps poor sound.
 
Don Brown



Human Songs
New Lousadzak
émouvance emv 1025 (www.vergemusic.com) 

CD
 
A prime example of what could be called POMO Romanticism, the French octet New Lousadzak – distinctly named with an anagram of the members’ names – has created a notable CD with “Human Songs”. An ensemble formed in 1994, the band’s expansive instrumental prowess and pan-tonal sound textures manage to meld total improvisation with lyrical, sometimes vocalized dynamics that in the Gallic style reference traditionalism as much as experimentation.
 
Médéric Collignon gives voice to much of this, since, when he’s not spiking triplets with his pocket trumpet, he’s scatting or yodeling nonsense syllables over contrapuntal vamps from saxophonists Daunik Lazro and Lionel Garcin, plus the steadying pedal point of tuba player Daniel Malavergne. If Collignon provides the rustic melodiousness for the two suites that make up the session, then atonal slurs and irregular pitches mark the sax solos. With their distorted, highly electronic note sprays, guitarists Rémi Charmasson and Raymond Boni add unexpected contrapuntal dynamics to many tracks already bursting with polyphonic extensions; so do the wailing Balkan harmonies from Claude Tchamitchian’s bass and the concussive scrapes and ratcheting of Ramon Lopez’s oddball percussion.
 
 
Still, the humanistic balancing act is maintained throughout. Often, if it appears that extended instrumental techniques are going to push tunes into the miasma of rubato atonality, a vocal chorus or a powerful ostinato from Malavergne, Tchamitchian and Lopez shove the music back to a march tempo that would have been familiar on a Napoleonic parade ground. (Video of the band performing live also is embedded on the disc.)
 
Ken Waxman