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Show VOLUME ONE PAUL ELLINGSON SOLO JAZZ PIANO ...there are several passages where the chordal reharmonizations and voice leading is traditionally logical and not revolutionary. These records are not without interest but a little less musical politics and more musical poetry would be welcome. Eric Goldberg, ART TIMES Salt Lake City based pianist builds this double set more like a thesis than an album, using both originals and jazz,, pop and spiritual chestnuts to illustrate his harmonic theories; still, there are moments of true beauty here, as well as harmonic daring. Sam Sutherland, BILLBOARD Once there was the Lydian Chromatic Concept. Could Mr. Ellingson be the next George Russell with his Vertical System?...This means that most of what folks learn in; music theory class is grossly incbrrect (or the tip of the iceberg, so to speak). Milo Fine, CADENCE It's been 29 years since George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept Of Tonal Organization was published; perhaps the time is ripe of a new theorist to sweep the cobwebs from our conceptual outlook, to force us to re-evaluate and reorganize our musical materials, to approacn jazz composition and. improvisation from a new, liberating vantage point. And, at its best, Paul Ellingson's theory is liberating....A piece like Universal Flux highlights his strengths...favors rhapsodic, arnythmic music musings. Russell showed us how to play through changes. Ellingson's theory, for all its flaws, may just revitalize our interest in playing on top of them,.. Jon Balleras, DOWN BEAT ...iconoclast, prolix, brusque and only a tad less humble than Zawinul, makes music... ranging from the sublime to the supine. Micheal Jarrett, JAZZIZ. ...recorded with a fullness and warmth of piano tone that would do Bill Evans proud. The liner notes...offer the most complete explication to date of Ellingson's interpretation of music history...constant fluctuations of pulse...Curiously, as he moves from one chord to another his voice leading is quite accomplished...static rhythms, harmonic twists, and simple grandeur, Ellingson's piano music sounds very much like that of Eric Satie. Jim Aikin, KEYBOARD Ellingson does a nice job blending his own compositions (standouts include The Purples, Deep Space and Coal Train) with some fine standards. Key Largo, Pete Kelly's Blues, Night In Tunisia and Artistry In Rhythm sound particularly good....Even if you can't understand a word of his Vertical vs. Horizontal philosophy, his music is there to understand and enjoy. Tom McCarthey, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Ironically, if these pieces had been played for me in a blindfold test, because of their lack of Afro-American derived rhythms, I would have guessed them to be classical etudes from the turn of the century. Gary Bannister, VICTORY REVIEW, 23 selections 10 standards NIGHT IN TUNISIA ARTISTRY IN RHYTHM RE: PERSON I KNEW PETE KELLY'S BLUES I LOVES YOU PORGY WITHOUT A SONG KEY LARGO GO DOWN MOSES THE LORD'S PRAYER AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL IVY JAZZ 2820 East 4135 South Salt Lake City UT 84124 801/277-1341 THE MAJORS (Continued from page J-3) forming companies around the world. "It was very pleasant, and I enjoyed it," he says, "but now that I have other things to do, one of the things I'm doing is starting a little label where I will pick the artists and, in many cases, also produce the record." Of East-West, Ertegun says, "It's a small label, with not many releases, very selective, extremely particular on quality, presentation, and graphics. We're in no rush- we're not after top 40 hits. Nor is it a jazz label." Out this month are the new label's official debuts: the Modern Jazz Quartet's "For Ellington" and a new release by Joel Spiegel man- a "classical musician who has become crazy about very advanced computer synthesizers," says Ertegun-called "New Age Bach: The Goldberg Variations." August will bring a release from vibraphonist Milt Jackson with an all-star band including JJ. Johnson and Jon Fad-dis, and the latest from Polish violinist Michal Urbaniak. Ertegun cites "up-and-down" Illinois Jacquet years for jazz in general, and says of Atlantic's own involvement: "It may sound immodest, but it's the truth-while I was at Atlantic, that was the time Atlantic was really involved with jazz. Because I'm really extremely involved with jazz. Now it just happens that my brother [Ahmet] is just as involved with jazz as I am, but he was producing the hits-he was making the records in those days with Clyde McPhatter, with Bobby Darin, with the Drifters. So even though he loves jazz as much as I do, I was the one doing all the jazz recording." After he became the head of WEA International, Ertegun says, Atlantic's jazz activity "definitely declined," though there were occasional spikes of interest But the label's recent releases by such artists as Lionel Hampton, and the establishment of East-West, he adds, "hopefully mark a comeback to jazz." And over the last few years, Atlantic has been actively rebuilding its jazz roster, signing both contemporary artists like saxophonist Gerald Albright, guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., and drummer Danny Gottlieb, as well as more traditional jazz acts. The latter category includes veteran saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, who now leads his own big band, and singer Jane Harvey. Ricky Schultz, VP of MCA Jazz, sees his label as coming out of "a very active couple of years of acquisitions" and "focusing a little more at this point on artist development and marketing thrust." Recent high-charting albums for MCA include those by trumpeter Mike Metheny and guitarist Henry Johnson (both on Impulse), mandolinist David Grisman (Zebra Acoustic), pianist Onaje Allen Gumbs (Zebra), and the new age-ish British duo Acoustic Alchemy (MCA Masters Series). Add George Howard to the mix-he's on MCA proper-and it's safe to say the label has all bases (and formats) covered. "I'm not trying to shackle any of our artists/' says Schultz. "If one of the artists who's signed to Impulse suddenly has the impulse or the material that suggests something that would seem to be apart from even the new Impulse, then of course I've got the option of saying, 'Let's make the next record on MCA proper.' " He points to the unique situation guitarist Larry Carlton currently enjoys, recording acoustic albums for the MCA Masters line, then going electric for MCA releases. A licensing deal is also underway for a new album by drummer Jack DeJohnette, which similarly might be on MCA proper. Upcoming from Impulse this summer will be a John Coltrane tribute album produced by Bob Thiele and featuring McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Cecil McBee, and Roy Haynes, along with the critically acclaimed saxophonist of another generation, David Murray. Due from Zebra are new releases by Kenia, Perri, and Skywalk. A promised series of reissues from the Impulse and Timeless catalogs and a few other reissue surprises make this year look especially promising for MCA. Steve Backer, series director of RCA's dual Novus line, says he's "feeling positive" about the distinction between both lines at this point, halfway through their second year. That distinction can be noted in the actual Novus logo used on each album; in Backer's words, "a red -0' is pure jazz, a blue '0' is everything else." Backer says the Novus Blue line is "doing O.K.-we really haven't broken the artists that I would like to as wide as we feel we will, but we're constantly upgrading our approach to the label on all levels." Aided by the upgrade soon will be new product by Rodney Franklin, Michael Shrieve & Steve Roach, Juan Martin & Todd Cochran, Mike Stephens, Charlie Elgart, and Liz Story. Adds Backer: "It turns out that many of the artists on Novus Red, in retrospect'-by chance-have done their first album in a long time for a major label through this deal. Like Steve Lacy-it's his first [U.S. album], I think, in 25 years, since his Prestige work. It was James Moody's first, I think, in nine years. It was Hilton Ruiz's first ever for a major. Henry Threadgill, the last one he did was in 1980. Amina Claude Myers, it's her first ever for Henry Johnson a major. Adam Makowicz, his first in seven years. That's an interesting pattern that's developing there. I think we're filling a gap-that many of these artists should be recorded in America, on major labels." Backer reiterates the need to break new artists. "As I said before, we will persevere until we do. I hope the light stays green." And the light was green for Blue Note Records to shift over from EMI-Manhattan to Capitol this year, which labeJ manager Michael Cus-cuna attributes to desire of "the new Capitol" desire to have a presence in the jazz market. "Capitol has a much larger staff," he says, "and there's a lot of key people there that care about jazz. We'll be in a much better position-we'll finally have a salesperson out there watching the stuff, working on it." The current Blue Note philosophy, says Cuscuna, is to have a wide range of diverse talent and keep releases down to between 15 and 18 a year-"Out of that, there should be three or four people with crossover potential." Adds Cuscuna, "It is our philosophy that people like Dianne [Reeves], Stanley [Jordan], and Bobby [McFerrin] are basically unique in their appeal, and that sort of crosses them over. You don't have to make a CTI or GRP kind of album with those kind of artists. They do what they do." Other Blue Note releases have reflected Cuscuna's goal of a wide range of talent, including mainstream artists like Out Of The Blue (OTB) and Bobby Watson and new "elder statesmen" such as McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard. "To be in the jazz business, you have to have a certain amount of responsibility to the jazz community," says Cuscuna, "as well as a responsibility to the corporation that's paying the bills. So we try to run the gamut from Don Pullen to Stanley Turren-tine." PolyGram runs the gamut of esoteric jazz import lines, including Black Saint, Soul Note, Red, JMT, and Owl. Richard Seidel, VP of PolyGram Jazz, also recently reactivated the Verve/Forecast label, recording among others former Miles Davis keyboardist Robert Irving. Also active are the revitalized EmArcy and Verve labels and the label's continued commitment to Brazilian music. Ben Mundy, product coordinator for PolyGram Jazz, says it would "make sense" to release much of the product the label imports domestically "as far as getting a greater visibility for the artist." Due in September from PolyGram Jazz: a 10-volume boxed CD set of Charlie Parker's Verve recordings, which will include extra material not on the recent boxed LP collection. ECM, also handled by PolyGram, but by its Classics division, continues to issue some of the most in-triguingly cerebral music of our time, most recently exemplified by a superb set by the Paul Bley Quartet. The combination of talents involved-pianist Bley, British saxophonist John Surman, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Paul Motian, in this case-results not only in great jazz, but great sound textures, an area where the label has always excelled. Similarly, the Enrico Rava/Dino Saluzzi Quintet's "Volver," with its unusual trumpet/ bandoneon musical interplay, offers music very much out of "normal" jazz bounds. At Columbia, "there's a lot going on," says Sherry Winston, national director of jazz promotion, including new projects from Chuck Man-gione and an imminent double-live set from star trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, recorded live at Washington's Blues Alley. "It's an enormous project for Wynton," says Winston. "As a matter of fact, we're releasing a specially edited sampler to radio, because the cuts on the album are really long." Aside from Marsalis, new product is forthcoming from Hubert Laws, Sarah Vaughan, the Gadd Gang, and Vital Information, she adds, _ Columbia's diverse roster- which includes both both Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Donald Harrison & Terence Blanchard, Arthur Blythe, Paquito D'Rivera, Ramsey Lewis-allows plenty of room for crossover, putting "original" crossover artist Herbie Hancock, for example, in the interesting position of sometimes making albums that actually can't be promoted to jazz radio because they aren't jazz. "I think when an artist does that," says Winston, "they're making a concerted effort to cross in that area, and they've got to take responsibility for not having everything [in terms of jazz airplay]. If you want to make an album that's split down the middle- have it half jazz and half R&B, like a Najee or a Gerald Albright or what have you, you're making a certain statement. They're not going to do as well on jazz radio. Nor on the jazz airplay charts." Some of the most intriguing news at CBS for many jazz fans has been the revival of the Portrait label. The revitalized Portrait will fea-ture Ornette Coleman & Prime Time, bassist Stanley Clarke, the Leon Thomas Blues Band, Japanese fusion group T Square, and much more. Combined with Columbia's continued roster of jazz artists-and now, with Portrait, a newly double-barelled reissue series, it would appear that CBS's famed one-two punch continues to sting. J-18 BILLBOARD JUNE 25, 1988 |
