Fusion Week: Stark Reality

This week JazzWrap will take a look at some of the important (sometimes forgotten) groups that have helped shape and expand jazz fusion, prog and jazz rock over the last 40 years.

Stark Reality
Now (Stones Throw)
Monty Stark (vibes, vocals)
Phil Morrison (bass)
Vinne Johnson (drums)
John Abercrombie (guitar)

Carl Atkins (sax)
Stanton Davis (trumpet)
Alan Reed (bass)
E. Dwellingham (drums)

Recorded for use on a 1970 Public Television show for kids, Stark Reality's reinterpretation of old timer Hoagy Carmichael's '50s-era children songs must be heard to be believed. It's funky, it's free, it's psychedelic. It just might blow your mind.

Monty Stark, player of the most fuzz-distorted vibraphone you are likely to ever hear, led the charge, joined by wah-wah wicked guitarist John Abercrombie, groovy electric bass player Phil Morrison and funky drummer Vinnie Johnson (and sometimes horn player Carl Atkins). Together, they create an alchemical prog-jazz-funk blend unheard before or since. The performance is raw, often dissonant, and takes well to adventurous ears, but not so kindly to ears tuned to sweeter sounds.

Given that these are Hoagy Carmichael songs, the tracks tend to feature whimsical lyrics sung in an artless sing-songy manner typical of musicians who are primarily instrumentalists. However, the vocal bits tend to be relegated to the middle or latter sections of the tracks as the opening bits tend to lean heavily on acid-drenched jamming.

For years this album (Originally titled Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop) was sort of (use that term loosely) a "holy grail" among funk and jazz fusion collectors. This CD reissue combines that album with a previously unreleased session (now titled as Stark Reality 1969) and a 7'' only release. All together is gives a strong, fun and absolutely wierd experience into a one-off jazz fusion experiement which has since turned into an underground classic (of sorts).

Guitar Week: Jakob Bro

This week JazzWrap will take a look at guitarists and guitar driven groups that have or will be making a difference in jazz.
Jakob Bro (guitar; b. 1978)
Balladeering (Loveland)

In conclusion to our Guitar Week I hope we have given you insight into some of the historical figures of jazz guitar. Trust me there are another dozen we could have written about or have written about. We will probably do another one in the future. Today I wanted to discuss a musician whom I have been a big fan of for a couple of years now. I have to admit only until recently did I know he had solo material. I knew his work more from the session/touring collaborations with Paul Motain and recently Tomasz Stanko. That musician is Jakob Bro.

Jakob Bro is from Denmark but has spent considerable amount of time in the U.S. either touring, studying or recording. In his brief recording career he has already work with a large number of revered musicians, among them, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Paul Motian, Chris Cheek, Bill Frisell, Ben Street and Lee Konitz. Bro has recorded 7 solo albums since his debut, Daydreamer (Loveland Records) in 2003. He has also works with three Danish bands, Bandapart, Got You On Tape, and one of my favourites Beautiful Day (all worth checking out).

Jakob Bro style is confident, ethereal and emotional. At times it reminds me of a young John Abercrombie. While I came to hear Jakob on Paul Motain's Garden Of Eden (ECM; 2006) album, his playing beautiful on that album, but it was the recently released Tomasz Stanko Dark Eyes (ECM) that really turned my head and made seek his own material.

Jakob Bro is a musician who allows his band members to express themselves freely. His seven albums are all very diverse but highly accessible for jazz new comers as well as your typical jazzhead.

The two records I would highly recommend are his 2007 quintet release, Pearl River (Loveland) and the recently released Balladeering (Loveland). At the point of Pearl River, Bro has already achieved the acclaimed within the jazz community to enlist some of the best musicians of the day (Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Chris Cheek and Ben Street). The album itself is a delight in hearing the exchanges between each of the musicians especially with Bro, Cheek and Turner. Tracks like "Pearl River," "Black Is All Colours At Once," "Mosquito Dance" and "Welcome" showcase a beauty and complexity that most artist this days can't come anywhere near achieving.

On his recent release Balladeering (Loveland; 2009) Jakob Bro expands his lush, beauty and melodic themes with the help of Paul Motian, Ben Street, Bill Frisell and the legendary Lee Konitz. Tracks like the opener "Weightless," "Vraa" and "Terrace Place" display the best of Bro's theory of allowing his fellow musicians to fill in the picture he has framed for them. The experience of Konitz and the counterpoint of Frisell and Bro shines throughout the session. Konitz sounds fresh as ever especially on "Starting Point (Acoustic Version)." Ben Street and Paul Motian add wonderful, lush and quite brushes across Bro's compostions, giving them strength and depth.

The album closes with "Starting Point (Electric Version)" which takes a more electronic/reverb vibe which Bro and Frisell tackle with ethereal effect. This is slightly similiar to Bro's previous work (most notably Sidetrack (Loveland; 2005) and is a great deconstruction of the entire album through one long solo (or two solo) loop. At times throughout this recording it is hard to believe that this was done in just two days.

Jakob Bro's mastery of composition and ability to set an stunningly emotional tone to the session makes this one the years best albums for me. So if you do anything this weekend, go out and buy Balladeering. It may not be at your local record store but you will be able to find it online at Amazon and iTunes. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

JazzWrap were caught up with Jakob while on tour with Tomasz Stanko to discuss his music, his label and what inspires him.

How have the experiences of playing in different size groups helped you develop as a performing musician and as a composer?

I find if very interesting to envision the music I play as a whole and then try to fill in whatever I think is missing - whatever I would like to hear that's not already there. So, playing in many different constellations and listening to a lot of different music has helped me become better at this…

How has your work with Paul Motian and Tomasz Stanko influenced your new album?

I learned a lot playing with Motian - trying to blend in with two horns, bass and another guitar - and sometimes trying to stick out. His compositions and the way that he arranges them and plays them have been a great influence to me over the last ten years. It's like he has created his own world of music combining the way he plays the drums with his compositions. It's very unique. To me, it's all the way up there alongside the great masters.

WIth Stanko I play a lot of unison and harmony parts with his trumpet - so again I'm learning to blend in and at the same time add colors…also in Stanko's band I have a lot of open solos which gives me the possibility to shape parts of the songs the way I hear them from night to night . This kind of freedom is something I can bring into my own music also.

In general, playing in different bands and with different composers has helped me and inspired me in my efforts to get closer to my own way of writing, arranging and improvising. And I've been very lucky to play with a lot of beautiful musicians from both Denmark and abroad.

Balladeering strikes me as a return to the more melodic and atmospheric soundscapes of your previous quintet release, Pearl River. Were you looking to expand of some of the themes created on that album?

After releasing Pearl River I wanted to record a lot of "songs" and arrange them pretty tightly. So, during a full week in 2007 I recorded 25 songs in New York with Frisell, Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Andrew D'Angelo, Paul Motian, Ben Street and the Danish alto saxophonist Jesper Zeuthen. The music from those sessions will be released as: The Stars are All New Songs (vol.1, 2, and possibly 3) - only vol.1 is already out.

The year after, in 2008, I went into the studio in New York again and made Balladeering. The focus for me on this recording was clearly to come back to the vibe of Pearl River - giving the musicians involved a lot of room to color the music and just open up the songs and see where the music would take us. The material is very simple, almost folk-like...

You've sometimes employed two guitarists or two tenor saxophonists -- what are the challenges and rewards when having two players for a particular instrument?

I like the thick sound of having two of the same instruments playing together. And especially with the case of guitars I like how strings can "melt" together. That way orchestral things, interesting voicings and melodies occur in a very spontaneous and sometimes even coincidental way. I find that beautiful. Sometimes though, a solo is much stronger if there is only one person playing - so the challenge for me with having double up's on instruments in a band is to know when to use that thick sound and when not to...

What is your vision for the direction of your label Loveland?

Loveland Records is kind of a playground for me, a place where I can store the music and the ideas I come up with and where people can buy it if they want…my distributor who is also the co-owner of the label is trying to make it as easy as possible for people to buy my music - it's difficult getting distribution and promotion but things are slowly moving in the right direction.

Who or what are you listening to lately that surprises or inspires you?

I listen a lot to Louis Armstrong at the moment. I also love Lester Young, Miles and countless more…in my teens I fell in love with Coltrane's music - that sound and that expression was the main reason why I decided to explore music.

What will you work on next?

I have some "Live" quartet-recordings with my trio + Tom Harrell, Joe Lovano and Lee Konitz - we did nine concerts in total at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse in 2009.

I need to spend a good amount of time on figuring out which takes sound the best. Also I still have a lot of unreleased material from New York in 2007. The Stars are All New Songs (vol 2 and possible vol 3). Besides, we just recorded "Live at Birdland" with Stanko so I hope that it will turn out to be an ECM album in the near future.

Tomasz Stanko Live At Birdland

Tomasz Stanko Quintet
Live At Birdland 14.4.2010
(Hey it's not the best picture in the world but I tried.)

A dark, melodic, roaming evening with the new Tomasz Stanko Quintet the iconic jazz club, Birdland in New York. The "jazz corner of the world" was about 2/3 filled as the legendary Polish trumpeter approached the stage in support of his new release Dark Eyes (ECM). The band went through a series of short pieces that highlighted each of Stanko's new members exquisitely. For me, Jakob Bro (guitar) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums) where the major standouts. Bro's interplay throughout the earlier pieces was sublime. Louhivuori's time changes were delicate and inventive. Tomasz Stanko's playing picked up towards the final two pieces as he finally let loose with some vintage work.

The new quintet has a vibrant attitude that is definitely a contrast to his previous quartet led by Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass) and Michal Miskiewicz (drums) which feature more introspective and emotional detail. Dark Eyes sizzles with Jakob Bro's almost Abercrombie-esque atmospherics and the rest of the bands subtle exuberance making the album truly fresh in quality. Live the quintet are still working through a number of new directions but it's a journey worth jumping aboard--impressive and open. An all around thoughtful evening. (The following videos are not from the show last night.)

David Torn: The Guitar And What's Next

David Torn (guitar, electronics; 1953)

New Yorker David Torn, not unlike Mark Isham, is a jazz musician with uncategorizable talents. He has worked on both jazz, world, rock and film and tv projects consistently throughout his career. His career includes studying under John Abercrombe and Leonard Bernstein. He does have a very deep catalog but unfortunately only a few albums are available. He received significant recognition for his work on the Everyman Band albums during the 80s. The albums that are available are truly phenomenal and worth the purchase, especially if you are a fan of Brian Eno, King Crimson, David Sylvian, Supersilent, et al.

David Torn's style is layered and tempered with ambient elements similar to Nils Petter Molvaer or Michael Brook. His style is subtle and sublime with beautiful combinations of the avant garde, mysticism and traditional jazz. Torn can turn the guitar into a dangerous instrument with elements of prog as highlighted from his latest album Perezens (ECM) with the titled track and its preceding track, "Bulbs". His music can be unsettling to the uninitiated but if you are already used to some of the aforementioned artists and you haven't listened to David Torn yet, Perezens is definitely the place to start.

He has recorded three albums for his current label ECM and Prezens is by far the most realized of the three. There is wonderful work from the rest of the band consisting of New York regulars, Tom Rainey (drums), Craig Taborn (piano) and Tim Berne (sax). The album provides a funky turn of sorts with "Them Buried Standing" which I've always loved. This is usually the point at which if you haven't lost the uninitiated, they might start to enjoy the album. If not, trust me they never will.

Perezens is an album of lovely textual soundscapes and loud cacophonous minimalism. If you dig this, his previous ECM album Cloud About Mercury and Best Laid Plans are well worth seeking out. There is a compilation of his earlier work pre-ECM (both solo and as session member) entitled The David Torn Collection which is good but not very well sequenced. It does show the range and variety of artists and styles he has worked in but I would stick to the ECM recordings for best enjoyment.

Marc Copland: The Quiet American

Marc Copland (piano, b. 1948)


Marc Copland is a highly accomplished pianist with an astute approach to performing that is both introspective and emotional. He is a prolific performer with over 15 albums in the last 10 years. That's more than most artists in any genre. If you haven't guessed it, he is definitely one of those undiscovered treasures.

I have to admit I have only just recently gotten into his music in the last two to three years. I had always known the name but never paid any attention until I borrowed a trio session featuring one of my favourite bassists, Drew Gress and John Rueckert (drums) entitled Some Love Songs (Pirouet). He has collaborated with some the greatest jazz musicians of recent times including, Gary Peacock, John Abercrombie, Bill Stewart, Randy Brecker and Greg Osby to name a few. Many of his collaborations in recent years have been duo or trio recordings, all of which I highly recommend.

Copland started his career as a saxophonist before switching to piano in the mid-eighties. Since then his career has taken off and his style has been revered by students and his contemporaries alike. His most recent album is simply titled Alone (Pirouet) and is a beautiful solo album of delicate entries including a number of pieces from the Joni Mitchell cannon. This may be the perfect way for anyone unfamiliar with Copland to start out.

He does have a very vast catalog but you will be very satified if you seek out one of the trio sessions he recently recorded entitled The New York Trio Recordings Vol. I - III (Pirouet) which appear to be the easiest of his catalog to find in stores and online. While highly regarded overseas, his profile is limited in his native U.S. but hopefully more people will discover this truly underrated musician. Check out Marc Copland's version of the standard Milestones.