- Jeff “Tain” Watts; drums
- David Budway; piano
- Troy Roberts; tenor sax
- Neal Caine; double bass
- Paul Bollenback; guitar
- James Francies; piano, vocals
- Orlando le Fleming; double bass
- Kenyatta Beasley; trumpet, vocals
- Clark Gayton; trombone, tuba, vocals
- Luisito Quintero; percussion
- Juan Tainish; vocals
- Mark Whitfield; vocals, guitar
- Laura Watts; vocals
- Gregoire Maret; vocals, harmonica
- Frank McComb; vocals
- Christian McBride; double bass
- Osmany Paredes; piano
- Henry Hey; Fender Rhodes, synth
- Ku-umba Frank Lacey; vocals
- Chris Smith; double bass
It’s been far too long since my last post. Just haven’t had the chance to dedicate any time to serious listening. I bought a couple new CDs over a month ago and finally am sitting down to listen to the first one. I’m always interested in new Watts recordings so I jumped on this one. There is a volume 2 that has already been released but wasn’t on the racks at Tower Records in Shibuya. Anyway, it’s good to be back in my listening room. Part of the problem is that it doubles as a guest room and we have lots of guests during the summer months. But autumn is here and I have my room back to myself!
I’m not sure why Watts began this recording with the Monk tune, Brilliant Corners but it is a fabulously strong start. I actually didn’t recognize the tune or even realize that it was a Monk composition until looking at the CD jacket. But its a engaging number that anxiously jumps back and forth between a number of time signatures, and perhaps that is why it got included, since Watts is inclined to that sort of thing. But what’s lovely about that tune, and this arrangement in particular is that the changes never sound forced and one doesn’t ever get the impression that they are being done to just make things sound complicated. In each time signature there is a distinct mood, and when the jumps happen they flow and overall the tune really swings.
Unfortunately I didn’t hear much else in this recording that matched the engaging intensity and swing of that first cut. There are quite a lot of male vocals in the first half and I don’t particularly like any of them. Even though Watts doesn’t have a polished voice, he often sings a number or two and it is usually with a sense of humble humor. He even has an alter-ego named Juan Tainish who is known for singing. The thing is, almost all the vocals on this CD sound curiously like Juan. And the problem is that one almost gets the impression that Juan or who ever else is singing is starting to take themselves seriously as vocalists. Sorry, it isn’t the least bit convincing for me.
The only other cut on this CD that starts to approach the fun-level and groove of the first cut is seventh cut entitled, Flip & Dip. It has that sense of swing, it doesn’t ever smack of being “challenging” just for the sake of being challenging, and its just plain fun. As for the rest, which are all Watts originals except for one Max Roach/Oscar Brown Jr. tune, meh… Oh well, I guess no one hits a home run every time.
Jim's Jazz Notes 