New Releases Spotlight: Week of October 6, 2014

This week in the Music Lounge, let’s take a look at three new releases that have some thematic common ground.  Jason Moran’s latest, All Rise, the Blue Note debut from Otis Brown III and the newest from drummer Gerry Gibbs.

Jason Moran - All Rise
First off is Jason Moran’s All Rise.  This is the long awaited Fats Waller tribute from Moran that Chicagoans got a taste of at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival.  It’s unique amongst Fats Waller tributes in that it doesn’t at all seem to look to the past, except in terms of actual song choice.  What Moran does with these tunes might seem at first to be sacrilege, but give the songs some time, and you’ll likely come away amazed at Moran’s arranging of these classics.  The sidemen here are top notch – bassist Tarus Mateen, drummer Nasheet Waits, trombonist Josh Roseman, vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello and others.  "The Joint Is Jumpin’," "The Sheik of Araby," "Ain’t Misbehavin’" and the "Jitterbug Waltz" are just a small taste of the highlights here.  I’m just hoping there’s a volume two in the works, because there’s certainly more magic to be made with Waller’s catalog if this is any indication.

Otis Brown III - The Thought of You
Drummer Otis Brown III has just released his latest, The Thought of You, also on Blue Note.  Acolytes of modern jazz will likely say something along the lines of “this sounds like a Robert Glasper record.”  And it does, with good reason – Glasper and bassist Derrick Hodge (also of the Robert Glasper Experiment) are both present and add their inimitable sound and feel to the proceedings.  The disc is outstanding, and one of the highlights might just be one of the more outrageous pop covers I’ve seen yet in the jazz world – Shania Twain’s "Still the One."  Gretchen Parlato does her signature moves on this one, and it just works.  We’ll be focusing mainly on the instrumental tunes from "The Thought of You" on ‘DCB Jazz, but expect Bob Signorelli and I to jump on the cuts featuring Bilal and Parlato during our respective shows as well.

Gerry Gibbs - We're Back
Finally, Gerry Gibbs has a new one out with his Thrasher Dream Trio – Kenny Barron and Ron Carter and Gibbs.  This time out, on the aptly named, We’re Back, they tackle a bunch of 70’s R&B classics.  Most of these are Stevie Wonder tunes, which makes all of the sense in the world – after all, Stevie’s tunes have essentially been part of the jazz canon for at least the past 15-20 years.  What makes this such an interesting album is the way that these songs have been adapted for piano trio.  Most groups would be content to play these tunes fairly straight, leaving the funk rhythms intact.  With Barron, Carter and Gibbs, however, these guys are swingers, and swing they do.  And it’s mildly disconcerting to hear The Average White Band’s "Pick Up the Pieces" done as an uptempo swing tune (or Earth Wind and Fire’s "Mighty Mighty," for that matter), but they sound great, due in no small part to the talent being wielded here. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you back next week, here in the Music Lounge!