Super
Bass 2,
Ray Brown, Christian McBride, and John Clayton (Telarc 83483); Jim Hall
and Basses, Jim Hall, guitar, with Charlie Haden, Scott Colley, Dave
Holland, Christian McBride, and George Mraz on bass (Telarc 83506)
Traditionally, the jazz bass player is relegated to a supporting role,
with guitarists, or even more likely, horn players, getting all the
kudos. Even jazz legend Milt Hinton–the grandfather of the jazz
bass–accepted that his booming tempos and fat, buoyant sound were
meant merely as a foundation for the likes of such stars as Louis Armstrong,
Dizzy Gillespie, and Count Basie. Hinton took his supporting role as
an accompanist in full stride, National Public Radio once noted, saying,
"It’s necessary that you have enough humility to make somebody
else sound good."
Still, every once in a while, you have to give the bass player some.
And a pair of recent CDs on the Telarc label does just that. The result:
two of the best jazz albums of the past year.
Super Bass 2 reunites seasoned veteran Ray Brown–a bebop icon
who literally wrote the book on jazz bass (his erstwhile 1963 instruction
manual Ray Brown’s Bass Method is a primer for many beginning and
intermediate students)–with relative newcomers John Clayton and
Christian McBride on a dozen tracks that spotlight solo, duo, and trio
settings on standards that range from Thelonious Monk’s deeply
soulful "Mysterioso" to the Temptations’ funky "Papa
Was a Rolling Stone." It is the follow-up to 1989’s Super
Bass Live, which evolved from what at the time was considered a one-off
bass troika on a McBride album. While George Fludas and Larry Fuller
provide spot percussion on a pair of tracks, the bulk of this sensational
disc–recorded live at the Blue Note nightclub in New York City–is
pure, unadulterated bass.
While jazz-bass solo albums are a rarity–Bay Area bassist Rob
Wasserman’s 1982 outing Solo (Rounder) was one of the first to
explore that idiom–this sets the new standard, thanks to what one
critic called "the amazing musicianship, panache, humor, soul,
and respect" these players show for one another. In fact, their
impressive command of technique and interplay is uncanny at times–alternately
melodic and propulsively rhythmic and never overbearing. The sound is,
as Dr. Herb Wong mentions in his liner notes, "lustrous,"
with the trio trading off stellar bowing and almost magically stitched
bass lines. Perfect for the body and soul.
On the other hand, the more cerebral Jim Hall & Basses pairs jazz
guitarist Jim Hall with bassists McBride, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland,
the woefully underrated George Mraz, and Scott Colley in both duo and
trio settings. As the reigning king of jazz guitar (Pat Metheny has
borrowed heavily from the Hall style sheet), Hall displays his always
tasteful and uniquely textured approach to space and sound. And the
guest bassists provide a range of distinctly personal styles, from the
lyrical to the dissonant. Jim Hall & Basses is rife with sparse
arrangements that, while as intimate as Super Bass 2 in their own way,
express a wholly different vocabulary: Less groove-laden than the bass
troika, there is a far cooler, more abstract quality to Hall’s
playing that lends itself to broader musical exploration. Good for the
mind.
–Greg Cahill
Morimur,
J.S. Bach. Christoph Poppen, violin; The Hilliard Ensemble, voices (ECM
New Series LC 02516)
Who’da thunk some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s gravest (literally)
music would become a smash hit in 2001? Perhaps driven by a need for
solace at the close of a profoundly difficult year, record buyers have
been snapping up copies of this disc, making it a top seller across
all genres. (It settled in for a spell right behind Britney Spears and
Enya on Amazon. I’m not kidding.) It’s an innovative recording,
inspired by violin pedagogue Helga Thoene’s extensive research
into the mystical connections between Bach’s six works for solo
violin and his innumerable chorales. Thoene’s treatise elaborates
on the familiar B-A-C-H connections as well as more rarified gematriac
encodings, to arrive at the conclusion that the Partita in D Minor BWV
1004 was written as a musical epitaph for Bach’s first wife, Maria
Barbara, who had died suddenly and unexpectedly. Tomes have been and
no doubt will continue to be written on possible numerological interpretations
of Bach’s music, but the real joy is in hearing the work itself.
The singers begin with "Auf meinen Lieben Gott," followed
by a brief excerpt from "Den Tod Niemand Zwingen Kunnt," which
recurs in several places, almost as punctuation. Next Poppen performs
the five-movement Partita beautifully and passionately, but between
the instrumental movements, the singers interject various complementary
chorale verses. More chorales in long and short excerpts follow, until
the penultimate track, the pièce de résistance as it were.
Poppen plays the final movement from the Partita, the Ciaccona, once
again, this time accompanied by the singers, who amplify and sustain
the hitherto "inaudible" chorale references implanted in the
instrumental work. On first hearing it’s a bit peculiar, as the
voices often settle on a pitch and sustain it while the violin carries
on with the melody. But it’s an inventive approach to a true masterpiece,
no matter how you add it up.
–Elisa M. Welch
