Ears New York

EARS NEW YORK: JAZZ LIVES 2012

Written by Jeff Levenson

Toronto, Ontario (April 25th, 2012) - Assembling high-octane talent on one stage is usually the province of dedicated presenters and promoters whose simple aim is to put on a show. Introduce too many moving parts, and there's a good chance that some unexpected rattle will shake or roll down the production. The wheels fall off, the train runs amok, skid marks, scorched earth, children in tears... Oh, the humanity.

BRIAN WILSON, SONGWRITER

In 1999, when Brian Wilson toured without the Beach Boys for the first time and made his celebrated "comeback" from years of reclusiveness and stage fright, he opened his New York show at the Beacon Theater with "The Little Girl I Once Knew." An interesting choice, I thought, at the time. "The Little Girl..." is well known among Beach Boy enthusiasts; less so, among pop main-streamers. It is an unusually crafted song and record, distinguished by timely silences not favorable to mid-'60s radio programmers mandated to fill precious seconds with winning content. Here, on this special night, Wilson chose to re-launch himself with a song less connected to his reputation as hit-maker than songwriting craftsman.

Jeff Levenson at the Barcelona Jazz Festival

A first-time visitor to Barcelona experiences a city bathed in beauty, a shimmering jewel framed by the Mediterranean and Montserrat, the famous jagged mountain in Catalan. It is a city that massages the senses. Its fulsome architecture is matched by graceful gastronomy gleaned from the earth and the sea - regional signatures extolling tradition and innovation. In and around Barcelona, the palm prints of man compete with those of nature.

Ears New York

GEORGE BENSON

Guitar Man

(Concord)

After a recording hiatus lasting two years, George Benson has issued Guitar Man,his third project for Concord Records. It is an oddly relaxed date (by all accounts featuring minimal rehearsal, and first- or second-take captures), yet distinguished by Benson's peerless authority. Few musicians command their moment as does Benson.
But while the 12-tune offering offers a window into Benson's considerable talents as singer and instrumentalist, its main liability might be the casual nature of the recording. It features material drawn from the worlds of pop, jazz, and r&b loosely drawn and assembled with the stated intent of creating a live experience feel. The production strategy, however,  delivers unintended results - the tracks feel thrown together with an approach that conveys haste rather than spontaneity.
Still, it is hard to find fault with a master whose clinical dissections of "Tenderly" and "Danny Boy" - solo reads rendered in a contrapuntal chord-melody style - showcase an indisputable level of greatness. Few guitarists could toss these off so effortlessly. A similar problem dogs the tracks featuring Benson's singing. While he flexes in the folds of his signature vocals ("My One And Only Love" and "My Cherie Amour" are excellent examples), one senses he can do this stuff in his sleep. The chops are there, the passion and conviction less so.
Even with a strong track like "Paper Moon" - aided  by stalwart accompanists Joe Sample and Harvey Mason, joined by recent Monk Competition winner Ben Williams - Guitar Man fails to showcase fully the baddest string-slinger we've got. Instead, it catches him polishing his ax, assuming we’ll be blinded by the brilliance.

BILL FRISELL

All We Are Saying

(Savoy Jazz)

Recent media coverage of Living In A Material World, Martin Scorsese's biopic on George Harrison, piqued my interest in Brill Frisell's new album, All We Are Saying, the guitarist's homage to John Lennon and the Beatles. Frisell, we know, is a cross-genre specialist. He cares little for the labels or categories attached to his work. Instead, he freely melds his influences - staunchly American elements drawn from jazz, rock and country - into a singular style that he alone owns. He is an easy mark in a blindfold test.
As a youth, by Frisell’s own accounts, the songs of the Beatles weighed heavily on his musical development. Here he hews close to the iconic records covering all stage of Lennon’s career, eschewing any urge to reinvent through abstraction, preferring instead to capture and distill the material's structural essence. It's a fooler: at first blush, it appears Frisell is handling with care, gingerly tip-toeing around sacred terrain. Further scrutiny reveals that he is exploring the song forms and familiar recorded arrangements with painterly dispatch, tracing their contours but then filling out his canvas with understated, signature distinction.
The sound he creates on All We Are Saying is unique to his bands, a form of Americana equally at ease with popular musics of all stripes - from Burt Bacharach to Burl Ives, John Coltrane to John Lennon. Much of the credit belongs to his cast: violinist Jenny Scheinman, bassist Tony Scherr, fellow guitarist Greg Leisz and drummer Kenny Wolleson.
As if to underscore Lennon’s own musical inspirations - the muses in his life - the best tracks on All We Are Saying include “Julia,” “Mother,” and “Woman.” They are poignant songs, painful and sweet. Frisell gets it, bows and plays his guitar. The renditions speak well for all.

Jeff Levenson is a label executive, writer-producer, and jazz journalist. His affiliations include posts at Half Note, Sony, Warner Bros, Downbeat and Billboard. He currently produces the annual Thelonious Monk Instrumental Competition, and has authored and/or produced events for the NEA, the US State Department, the White House, the New School for Social Research and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. His credits include collaborations with Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Bela Fleck, Arturo Sandoval, and McCoy Tyner. He has produced and/or supervised six Grammy albums - 2 winners, 4 nominees. He currently chairs the National Jazz Committee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, serves as Board Governor for its New York Chapter, and digs the company of jazz musicians.