Bob Powers

MARIETTA, OH, USA - Maxjazz, the jazz label based in St. Louis, continues to impress with its carefully planned itinerary of excellent musicianship and CDs that will keep listeners entertained hour after hour. The latest example of the Maxjazz formula comes in a wonderful new album called "The Sequel." After 15 years it reunites pianist Mulgrew Miller with the group Wingspan, which he founded.

It's been a very long wait, but one listen to this excellent album shows that both Miller, one of the most admired pianists playing jazz these days, and the members of Wingspan have advanced their performing abilities and created a sound and feel that will take listeners back to the wondrous days of the Œ40s and Œ50s, while creating music that sounds as fresh and delightful as a something created with an masterful effort to combine both the best of the past and today. The result will keep this disc getting heavy play in homes of jazz lovers.

Miller, now 46, continues to create sounds on the piano that pay attention to the past while constantly experimenting with the present. He apparently has listened hard, kept up on what's current, and continues to develop new ways of saying where jazz should be headed.

More than 200 recording sessions have made Miller a musician whose experience counts and whose creativity should impress other jazz pianists around the globe. He's able to wrest emotion and excitement from the keyboard, while pushing his backing musicians to the peak of their own abilities. It's not an easy assignment, but Mulgrew Miller seems to have everything well in control.

This quote from a press release shows where Mulgrew wants to go. "I'm moving into a greater awareness of the importance of melody, and I'm sharpening my compositional process. This recording came from a feeling I had about jazz becoming too complex. I wanted to make a record with music that was less cluttered, music that clarified the swing beat."

Did Miller accomplish his goals? I've been playing this CD for a couple of weeks and every hearing makes it sound better than before. This is truly special, an album that you will keep on top of the stack for a long, long time.

Members of Wingspan include Steve Nelson on vibes, Steve Wilson on alto and soprano saxes, Duane Eubanks on trumpet, Richie Goods on bass and Larroe Riggins at the drum kit. Most of the tunes are originals and wander across a wide range of jazz styles. The Rodgers and Hart classic, "It Never Entered My Mind," receives a special reading.

"The Sequel" certainly isn't background jazz. It demands to be heard and the payoff is going to be impressive.

Correction

In my last column, I mentioned the reissues of four excellent Funkadelic albums from 1976 through 1981. Somehow I became confused by all that great George Clinton music and wrote that the discs came from Priority Records (that's correct), which I called part of the Fantasy family of companies. That's wrong. Priority is one of the Capital-EMI group.

My apologies to all concerned. In my defense, I was so pleased with the funk that I neglected to check the album covers before writing. Next time, I'll pay closer attention.

Tristano Offspring Impresses

My postman brings me such good stuff. For instance, a CD arrived in my mail slot a couple of weeks ago and the return address was Clarion, Pa., which is home these days to Bud Tristano.

The old-timers in the audience will certainly recognize the name of Bud's father. Lenny Tristano, was one of the most influential musicians in jazz, recording and teaching on piano from the Œ40s through most of the Œ60s. He died at age 59 in 1978.

Son Bud plays guitar and you can hear his rock roots in a new album just released on New Artists Records. "Primal Elegance" pairs Tristano with the outstanding pianist Connie Crothers for a session of innovative sounds that tend to expand one's pleasure through multiple listening. This is truly modern material and it will sound odd and occasionally too heavy to some ears. But, if you give it a chance to work its magic, "Primal Elegance" should win its way into your heart.

Crothers says the music they create is "... coming from a rock lineage. But when we're both improvising the music is unique and intrinsic to itself, rather than to a preconceived style."

Tristano, brought up to play the piano as had his father, gave it up by the time he reached 10. He was drawn to rock, feeling that the basic rock guitar/amp setup as a music delivery vehicle is one of the greatest innovations of the 20th century. Tristano says his influences include Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. Not bad choices, right?

Connie Crothers studied with Bud's father. He was so impressed that he presented her as a soloist in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1972.

Connie Crothers and Bud Tristano make a dynamic duo that should cause some serious rumbles of joy and awe within the music world. Expect great things from this pairing.

Smooth Jazz Also Snooze Jazz

Bruce and Lisa play smooth jazz. As regular readers of this column know, I'm not a major fan of this category of music. Smooth it might be, but many of the practitioners of this style of fluff would be shocked by a good rhythm section.

This duo, according to the publicity release that came with their new album "Gifts of Love" (Level Ground Records) like to call their music "love jazz." That's OK, as long as you recognize that jazz has relatively little to do with what's contained on this disc.

This is fine as background music while reading a romance novel, but if you are looking for jazz with teeth in it, "Gifts of Love" is not the place to go.

Bob Powers always is interested in hearing from record distributors who deal in jazz, rock, folk, and anything that's good. For instructions on getting your album reviewed, contact him at rpow123@charter.net.

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