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With his new album, Weckl reports about the changes taking place within and for the band. "Transition" (Stretch Records) makes official the break between Weckl and his long-time cohort, Jay Oliver. The new band, which features the talented Steve Weingart on keyboards, creates a sound that is very much in the pulse of today's modern jazz sound, but offers enough of a difference to make the band stick out.
The compositions on "Transition" are compact, propelled by good melodies and offer plenty of room for solo work, which displays just how good this band is today, and it offers promise of new avenues in the future. The ten tracks give the band plenty of space to develop ideas and then wind up with exciting finishes.
Brandon Fields offers outstanding work on tenor and soprano saxes, along with the alto flute. Tom Kennedy is a lot more than a rhythm background guy in his thundering work on the electric bass. With Weingart doing tasty things at the keyboards, Weckl adds some complicated, precise and exciting work at the drum kit.
"Transition" is an exciting, sometimes soothing, and accomplished look into the world of today's jazz. You'll like it.
Sonny Does It
A question for you. Who's the No. 1 tenor saxophone performer in the entire world?OK, so you haven't heard everybody play. Maybe there's an unknown young talent that will be discovered in 2001 and knock our ears off for decades to come.
But right now, in January 2001, the answer can be only one performer. Yes, of course, it's Sonny Rollins. He still can blow rings around the other tenor guys, and he can make you cry with his ease at wrapping his fingers around a good romantic song.
Rollins, who will observe his 71st birthday in 2001, has spent a half-century-plus in playing jazz. He worked with nearly all of the important names found in jazz books: Miles Davis, Art Blakey, John Lewis, Ray Bryant, Max Roach. The list could continue for hundreds more names, and you wouldn't have bent the surface of the talent this man possesses.
What about today? Just listen to his latest album, "This Is What I Do" (Milestone). Although there's just 48-plus minutes of music (never enough when the star is Rollins), this should amply demonstrate that Rollins continues to play with a verve and ease that never indicates that his ideas or his abilities have diminished due to the incessant tick tock of the age clock.
Rollins surrounds himself with a good supporting cast, including Stephen Scott on piano, the gifted Clifton Anderson on trombone, and a rhythm section composed of Bob Cranshaw on electric bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. On two tracks, Stephen Scott subs on the piano and Perry Wilson sits in on drums.
Rollins has a sense of humor, shown here in his scorching rendition of "Sweet Leilani," seven minutes of pure delight. Another unusual tune for a jazz set is the old Dorothy Lamour movie theme, "The Moon of Manakoora." It's a charmer.
Jazz people can take the oldest and most familiar melody and turn it into something new and special. As an example, take a listen to that jazz perennial, "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." Let's all gather around the audio kit and applaud loudly. Maybe Rollins will hear us.
Promo Time
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The press package accompanying "Fozzy" (Megaforce Records) tries to get very cutesy, claiming that the five-man Fozzy is "the greatest metal band you've never heard." What's interesting is that the PR folks say that the vocalist actually a wrestler known as Mongoose McQueen while "others remain convinced that the rest of Fozzy are actually members of the amazing Atlanta-based band Stuck Mojo. These rumors can be neither substantiated nor denied."
Frankly, gentle readers, I don't care who they are. If you lean toward heavy metal, this album should make your boat float.
"Fozzy" sounds like most metal bands: loud, crisp, outrageous, quite adept at those necessary three chords. Lead singer McQueen is quite the clown, the lyrics are OK, when you can make them out. All in all, Fozzy sounds fine.
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