jueves, 15 de octubre de 2009

The Ron CARTER Nonet - Eight Plus 1990


The Ron CARTER Nonet - Eight Plus 1990
Label: Dreyfus

Jazz

This is a great album, but considering Ron Carter's documented love for classical music, it's not the kind of record-with-strings expected from the legendary jazz bassist. The cellos that augment Carter's quintet here came to swing, get the blues, add poignant counterpoint, and take a visit to church. If there's an exception, it's the album's opus, "El Rompe Cabeza," which has an Astor Piazzola-meets-Maurice Ravel contemporary classical feel. Carter's bowed piccolo bass, maybe the highlight of the disc, replaces the bandoneon as the lead on this light tango and is a perfect foil to the tension created by the string quartet. Three of the compositions Carter resurrects from his Miles Davis and CTI days. These tunes, "Eight," "Little Waltz," and "First Trip" are given sparkling, fresh arrangements. On "A Song For You," as he plays the melody, Carter arranges the strings in a setting befitting a classy pop standard, with echoes of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and Stevie Wonder's "Village Ghetto Land."
Eight Plus is the first American release by the Ron Carter Nonet. With a cello quartet augmenting his regular ensemble of piano, bass, drums and percussion, Carter and his piccolo bass (the ‘Plus’ of the album’s title) are immersed in a wonderfully varied array of stylish and evocative compositions.
On Eight, the composer makes the cello quartet an equal partner in the ensemble. O.K. is a portrait in controlled, but exuberant swing. Ron’s ‘favorite Leon Russell composition’ A Song For You takes on a haunting new dimension with the delicately slashing lines of the cellos. "To those fans who enjoy a bit of Oscar Pettiford swing...take this First Trip" says Carter about this composition, written in the solo style of the immortal bassist.
A provocative endeavor like this must be conceived fully to avoid chaos, but even more importantly to face the challenge of maintaining the freedom and spontaneity that is at the core of all great music in the jazz tradition. Ron Carter has met this challenge on all fronts and in doing so has created a magnificent piece of art.
By Mark Ruffin.
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Ron Carter- Piccolo Bass
Stephen Scott- Piano
Leon Maleson- Bass
Lewis Nash- Drums
Steve Kroon- Percussion
Kermit Moore, Chase Morrison- Cello
Carol Buck, Rachel Steuermann- Cello
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01. Eight
02. A Blues for Bradley
03. Little Waltz
04. O.K.
05. A song foryou
06. First Trip
07. El rompe cabeza
08. A closer walk with thee
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