Michael Carvin: drums- Jansen Cinco: bass
- Yayoi Ikawa: piano
- Keith Loftis: saxophone
Michael Carvin is a veteran drummer and if I searched thru all my CDs I would probably find his name on a number of them. Yet I confess I was not all that familiar with his name when I saw this CD at Tower Records the other day. I hadn’t been there in several months and yet only had about 45 minutes to spend in the store after a very busy couple of days in Tokyo. So I went straight to the “new releases” corner where they have a number of listening stations, each featuring about 9 or 10 different discs. I ended up bringing home three new recordings and this was the last one I picked up. But I’ll tell you what! As soon as I started listening to it I only needed about 30 seconds to reach the conclusion that it was a keeper!
What makes this CD even more interesting is that I’m not familiar with any of Carvin’s band members either. A Japanese pianist, Filipino bassist, and a Texan sax player; all three are likely less than half Carvin’s age but when they play together they sound like a mature band with plenty of experience together. On this release they play mostly standards, but not because they are trying to sound like anyone else. No, this combo has their own sound and they bring that to every standard they perform. The overall sound would have to be categorized as straight ahead. Yet they never sound particularly polite or safe. There are plenty of exploratory sounds and innovative solos to keep it interesting.
On a sub note, the sound quality of this recording is sort of interesting. On the positive side, the bass and drum solos tend to be very accurately reproduced. In particular the bass solo on the first cut has about as real, rich, full and three dimensional sound as one could hope for. Very convincing indeed. The sax and piano solos tended to sound s little over-baked in terms of sound processing, but I confess that it may be my hearing aids that are at fault. They tend to splatter the top end of certain sounds, often rendering piano as something more akin to electric piano and sax as a distant relative of the mosquito. Sound imaging of soloing instruments is also rather full and realistic, although always placed dead center. But when the band is playing as a combo the sound stage is not nearly as convincing, lacking is separation and individual spatial presence. If you aren’t accustomed to listening to music on a system that emphasizes these things I apologize for boring you. Its just that once you experience speakers like the Maggies or other planar speakers it opens up a whole new world of listening enjoyment.
I don’t think I’ll try to wax eloquent about the virtues of this music. Here’s the bottom line. If you like straight ahead jazz with an exploratory edge, if you like small acoustic combos, and if you enjoy the creative weaving together of tradition and innovation, don’t hesitate. Just go out and get this music. You won’t be sorry!
Jim's Jazz Notes 