Cool Cleveland CD Reviews
CD Reviews That Have Appeared in weekly editions
February 6, 2008
Legacy of John Coltrane
Turtle Island Quartet
Telarc International
In the 1950s and early 1960s if you wanted to sound really "in" and really "cool" and oh-so-knowledgeable you'd say "so-and-so is groovy, but man--have you heard Coltrane?" Violinists David Balakrishnan and Evan Price, cellist Mark Summer, and violist Mads Tolling, the classically-trained musicians who make up the Turtle Island Quartet, definitely have studied the master carefully. (There's another local connection aside from Telarc: both Summer and Price studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music.) This cool-jazz classical quartet -- they play regular old classical instruments sans electric assistance -- may earn its second Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album this weekend for A Love Supreme, a tribute to legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. A previous CD, 4 + four, won the 2005 Grammy in that category.
Turtle Island Quartet members speak of Coltrane (and play his music) as if they are engaging in conversation with the man whose music inspired them when they were teens. Balakrishnan has described making A Love Supreme as trying to breathe Coltrane's breath and to incorporate his influence, not just give a classical twist to his greatest hits. At the center of this CD is the title work in which Coltrane's 1964 recording of the same name (and the one that set him apart from other jazz masters) is taken apart and reassembled. Turtle Island's version pays tribute to the four-part original and spins new work from it without losing the older work's flavor.
The CD contains 13 tracks (including a "bonus track" with a Miles Davis piece). It includes "Moment's Notice," from Coltrane's 1957 Blue Train; "La Danse du Bonheur" (1970s piece by guitarist John McLaughlin and violinist L. Shakar); "Round Midnight" (salutes Coltrane's attention-getting solo on the Thelonious Monk recording with the Miles Davis Quintet in 1956); "Countdown" and "Naima" (both from the 1959 recording, Giant Steps); and "Song To John" (Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea's tribute to Coltrane in 1975). It's a complex CD that rewards repeating listening.
Turtle Island Quartet (with Jeremy Kittel replacing Price), along with Stefon Harris on piano, perform this Friday, February 8 at 8PM. Together, they offer up music by Duke Ellington in "The Divine Duke" at Tri-C's Metro Campus Auditorium. Visit the group online at http://www.tisq.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Laura Kennelly lkennellyATgmail.com
Send your letters to: Letters@CoolCleveland.com
October 24, 2007
Get Happy
Ezra Weiss
Roark Records
Ezra Weiss's latest jazz CD Get Happy just kinda grows on you after a couple of listens. It's a mix of original work and material from the Great American Songbook (that means classics from Rogers & Hart and others) that together construct a riff on happiness--just the thing for Clevelanders facing another winter. It's easy and melodious without being predictable. It's got a mix of instrumentals and vocals, many arranged by Weiss and all featuring Weiss on piano. This is Weiss's third CD in four years (after The Fire A.M. Strut and Persephone).
And just who is Ezra Weiss? Although he now lives in New York City, the Cleveland area can claim him since he spent his undergrad years at Oberlin Conservatory of Music (class of 2001). At Oberlin he studied jazz with Wendell Logan and piano with Neal Creque.
After graduation he spent a couple of years in Portland (and formed a jazz sextet) and then shifted to New York City where he now hangs out with other Oberlin alums plus NYC jazz players (especially friends from Queens College where he completed a graduate degree in Jazz Studies). Winner of the 2002 and 2005/2006 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, Weiss currently leads the Courtney Bryan/Ezra Weiss Jazz Orchestra in New York.
Take a listen in person when the Ezra Weiss Quartet featuring Billy Hart, plus Corcoran Holt and Kelly Roberge stop by Nighttown (12387 Cedar Rd., Cle Hts) at 7PM and 8:30PM on Tuesday, October 30. Watch out for the speed trap that is Cedar Road in that little strip mall, or it will cost you more than the frugal ticket price. Check out the CD and Weiss at http://www.ezraweiss.com.