What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella

Ben Paterson – Cookin’ in the Couve (Cellar Music)

Chicago pianist (and organist, but pianist here) Ben Paterson just released a new album called Cookin’ in the Couve. On it, he’s joined by bassist Neal Miner and drummer Aaron Seeber for a program that is alternately wistful and deeply bluesy. On the standard “’Tis Autumn,” you can hear the nostalgia dripping off the piano keys. But on “Chitlins Con Carne,” or “This Here,” Ben’s as greasy on the piano as he is behind the mighty B-3. Paterson, Miner and Seeber are swingin’ for the fences on Ben’s “Up the Exchange,” and they sound positively lovely on the French standard “Quel Temps Fait Il a Paris.” If this CD is a taste of how Ben sounded when he was cookin’ in the Couve, then the audiences at Frankie’s Jazz Club must have had a great time, indeed!

Jazz Sabbath – The 1968 Tapes (Blacklake Records)

I won’t go through the absolutely hilarious invented backstory of Jazz Sabbath, which includes a guy named Milton Keanes falling into a coma in 1967 only to find out that four blokes stole all of his music and invented Heavy Metal with a little band called Black Sabbath while he was recuperating. The real story is that Black Sabbath’s longtime touring keyboardist, Adam Wakeman, is also a solid Jazz pianist and arranger as well. The 1968 Tapes is Jazz Sabbath’s third album, and the first one to expand upon the piano trio format, with the addition of trumpet, saxophone and guitar on various tracks. The biggest compliment I can give The 1968 Tapes is that I don’t think that you have to know the original songs in order to enjoy these arrangements. Wakeman and Company use the suite like nature of Black Sabbath’s best songs to their fullest advantage, with each section giving the musicians new material to build and improvise on. So, “War Pigs” and “Spiral Architect” are fully Jazz compositions in their performances on The 1968 Tapes, and they become even more fascinating works with this new conception. The closest Jazz Sabbath gets to belying their true roots on the album is in the 28 second guitar solo during “Supernaut,” and even that swings pretty hard. It’s one of many moments imbued with immense joy and a sense of humor throughout The 1968 Tapes. I look forward to sharing it with you.

Heavy Hitters – That’s What’s Up (Cellar Music)

Jeremy Pelt (trumpet). Vincent Herring (alto sax). Eric Alexander (tenor sax). Mike LeDonne (piano). Kenny Washington (drums). Alex Claffy (bass). Five acknowledged monsters on their respective instruments, and a bassist well on his way toward that honor in his own right. Together, they call themselves Heavy Hitters, and in the words of Jaco Pastorius, “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” These guys certainly can. That’s What’s Up is the name of their new album. The review is this: They don’t just sound like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, they FEEL like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. ‘Nuff said.