Roy Hargrove: Bern
Any posthumous release of the exquisite Roy Hargrove (1969-2018) meets high expectations. Certainly, Bern leaves one readily fulfilled. In 2000, the figurehead of neo-bop, who was renowned for his work (jam) ethos, was in a good place, having branched out with his Afro-Cuban band Crisol and an association with neo-soul star D’Angelo.
At the same time, the trumpeter’s working unit, featuring alto saxophonist Sherman Irby and veteran pianist Larry Willis, pushed the envelope of contemporary jazz, a sort of updated version of Cedar Walton’s Eastern Rebellion. Adventurous, kinetic and flexible and – one night in May 2000 – burnin’ in Bern, Switzerland. Stranded is a notable Impressions-styled chestnut, with bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Willie Jones III bringing on the heat and Hargrove, Irby and Willis like a trio of bees competing for the pollen from the butterfly bush.
Hargrove vividly works his way through the sinuous Depth and Afro-Cuban Circus, the ebb and flow of soft and hard-hitting notes utterly contagious. Although rhythmically Caryisms lags behind the vintage masters of funk music, Hargrove’s licks ooze with hot sauce. On buttery flugelhorn, Hargrove delivers a stately version of the ballad evergreen Never Let Me Go. He’d become a master of many trades, continuously brisk and brilliant to boot.
Discography
Stranded; Depth; Never Let Me Go; Caryisms; Circus (59.33)
Hargrove (t, flh); Sherman Irby (as); Larry Willis (p); Gerald Cannon (b); Willie Jones III (d). Bern, Switzerland, 4 May 2000.
Time Traveler Records 003
Web Web: Kover Kover
It gets you through the night in your lounge seat with perfect strangers, daiquiri in your hand. It would be a mistake, though, to pigeonhole the trip-hoppy Kover Kover, which connects Kruder & Dorfmeister with Eurythmics, as mere chill fare. The central theme of Web Web is ingenious arranging and production, and there is a spark of originality to every “kover” that is tackled, if only through Tony Lakatos’s mellow and fluent flute, which effortlessly pulls Aladdin from Jimi Hendrix’s Burning Of The Midnight Lamp.
Coherence of mood, notably through warm Fender Rhodes and eerie synth, makes sure Volker Kriegel’s jazz funky Big Schlepp isn’t out of place beside Talking Heads’ Once In A Lifetime, which actually leans towards the pioneering pre-industrial style of early Velvet Underground, and Joe Jackson’s Steppin’ Out, a short free-form duet between Lakatos and keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia.
Apparently, Klaus Doldinger is a big Web Web favorite. His Song Of Dying and Ataraxia convincingly represent the dubby fusion side of this German quartet’s album, not least because of Peter Gall’s fervent and meticulous rhythmic underpinning. (Strongly appealing to my drum purist’s heart; I can only conclude that Gall shares a fascination with unsung heroes such as King Crimson’s Michael Giles – real bargain!)
Lakatos puts in his hot five soprano cents on Song Of Dying, which perhaps by then is not so much about mortality anymore but more about you spilling some liquor on your neighbour’s gold lamé tanktop.
Discography
Song Of Dying; Slave To The Rhythm; Burning Of The Midnight Lamp; Bloodflow; We Are The People; High Noon (23.36) Ataraxia; Come As You Are; Steppin’ Out; Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This); Big Schlepp; Planet Caravan; Once In A Lifetime (21.47)
Roberto Di Gioia (Fender Rhodes, syn, pc, b); Tony Lakatos (f, af, ss, ts); Christian von Kaphengst (b, Fender Rhodes, syn); Peter Gall (d, pc). Unterföhring, 2025.
Compost Records 677-1
Chet Baker: Shine
What’s left if you strip away the layers of myth attached to the so-called former posterboy of jazz who fled from the USA on ill-misunderstood winds and transformed into the “musicien maudit” of modern jazz trumpet in Europe is a one-time star on the fringes of jazz that alternated musical lows (often initiated to score) with highs that showcased his unique ultra-mellow timbre and purely natural gift for melodic creation. Chet Baker’s maddeningly playful alternating of sound and silence is quite unique.
There are lows and highs on Shine, Red’s second posthumous live Chet Baker release after Intimacy from 2022 and featuring totally different repertoire from the same year of 1987 in the same country – Italy – a year before his untimely death in Amsterdam. If the transcient nature of Baker’s music at that point is attractive, it also causes an occasional drifting away of attention on the listener’s part. You find yourself staring at the ceiling, growing impatient with the low-key band dynamics. To be sure, this takes nothing away, on this particular recording, from flautist Nicola Stilo and pianist Michel Graillier, who both superbly upstage their leader on In A Sentimental Mood.
The marvel of economy and construction of Baker’s solo on Enrico Pieranunzi’s sinuous Night Bird and Baker’s underrated excellence at uptempo cool bop demonstrated on George Shearing’s Conception certainly qualify as highlights, strongly Miles Davis-inspired.
If anything qualifies for ambiguity, it’s Baker’s controversial late-career “mumbling” singing style. On the one hand, his granny’s-false-teeth tone often is equally hilarious and tragicomic; on the other hand, there’s nothing like Baker’s gift for intimacy and suspense – lyrical ropemanship of the highest order. A prime example of this rare gift is Baker’s short but sweet rendition of Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue, accompanied by Stilo on guitar: one for the ages. This is interpretation of song not born of ego, but humility to the max. As pure art is wont, it touches on a deeper level of sensory perception.
This little gem alone makes it worth checking out Shine, a two-LP (under review here) or two-CD (with extra tracks, reviewed here) offering that, crystal clear and resonant, clearly benefits from excellent sound production and mastering.
Discography
LP1: Night Bird; Conception (22.19) – Almost Blue; I’m A Fool To Want You (17.37)
LP2: You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To; But Not For Me (19.59) – In A Sentimental Mood; Just Friends (19.31)
Baker (t); Nicola Stilo (f, g); Michel Graillier (p); Rocky Knauer (b). Ferrara, 1987.
Red Records 123353-1
In memoriam: Maja Lemmen
The limelight is on the musicians on stage. But, lest we forget, behind it all is an infrastructure of passionate professionals and volunteers, making it all happen, often against financial or otherwise challenging odds. Every jazz fan knows at least one or two of those dedicated jazz species. One that I’ve known since my teenage, Maja Lemmen, passed away 19 March at the age of 81.
Maja was the soul of Porgy & Bess, the jazz club in the southern sea port of Terneuzen, The Netherlands. She started out in 1957 as a jazz-loving waitress in the tearoom-cum-New Orleans Parade hub from Surinam-born war veteran Frank Koulen. Koulen taught Lemmen the tricks of the trade, specifically hospitality. Lemmen, on my blog Flophouse Magazine in 2016: “It wasn’t a case of plainly setting up a table of cheese sandwiches. No, Frank cooked exotic meals for the guys, took them out and invented all kinds of ways to make them feel comfortable. It’s a matter of giving, you know. Porgy is a way for many Americans to settle down for a few days. Take bicycle tours along the Schelde River. I think it reminds them of the Hudson. Then they rehearse in the afternoon. Meanwhile I’m tending business, filling fridges, making phone calls, listening to their music. That’s why I’m so rich in spirit!”
After Koulen’s death, renovations and upscaled sponsoring, Porgy & Bess transformed into a modern jazz and blues club, with Lemmen at the core of business. She welcomed a variety of legends and contemporary class acts such as Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Arnett Cobb, Don Byas, Jimmy Witherspoon, Eddie Boyd, Toots Thielemans, Lee Konitz, Benny Golson, Paul Bley, Dr. John, Astrud Gilberto, Nicholas Payton, Diana Krall and many others.
Lemmen maintained a special friendship with the lamented trumpet great Roy Hargrove. Every season, Hargrove started out his European tours in Porgy & Bess, getting into a comfortable Sunday afternoon groove. Occasionally, he showed up for a lively Saturday-night jam session. Special memories for me and my musician friends, provided by Lemmen, an unforgettable personality. Free, chain-smoking bird, graceful, moody, pig-headed, open-minded and forever young. All about jazz, and sorely missed.
