Cento Threeo: Halfway To Mellowtown
In a field where famous guitarists John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Julian Lage are praised for their attractive blend of jazz and Americana, it’s easy to overlook local practitioners such as Austin-based Don Cento. The latest offering of his trio impresses with meaningfully simple melodies imbued with subtle swing and a band sound tailor-made for a Coen Brothers flick. Cento’s steely and crystalline guitar tone volumes down the racket of the Grand Ol’ Opry to a whisper.
A tasteful combination of moods, Halfway To Mellowtown includes the Spanish-tinged It Takes What It Takes, funky Dennis Muren and prairie jazzy Horse-Breaking Hector, all Cento originals except for Rosanne Cash’s Seven Year Ache and bassist Phil Spencer’s The Builder, which intriguingly throws Bach fugues into the mix.
You can feel Cento lives and breathes vintage popular music from his composing to storytelling, which along with Spencer’s interactive bass playing and Norm Bergeron’s earthy supporting role makes it a keeper for sure.
Discography
The Judy Valve; It Takes What It Takes; Dennis Muren; D’Orangers; Halfway To Mellowtown; The Builder; Make The Silence Louder; No Fleas, Please; Horse-Breaking Hector; Filibuster In E-Minor; Seven Year Ache (43.40)
Don Cento (g); Phil Spencer (b); Norm Bergeron (d). Austin, 2025.
Secondbridge Records 003
Ricardo del Fra: My Chet My Song
Three previously released albums by Ricardo del Fra are collected on this box set by the top-notch label Frémeaux & Associés, a big chunk of which is connected with the style and repertoire of the lamented trumpeter Chet Baker. A large and important part of the Italian bassist and composer’s career was spent in Baker’s band in the 1980s.
To my ears, My Chet My Song (2014) is the most successful session – contagious from start to finish, replete with highlights of rare originality. You’ll likely never hear such versions of I’m A Fool To Want You or For All We Know again; a kind of extreme updating of the Baker aesthetic that involves intense contributions from his quintet against the backdrop of progressive orchestral voicing – romantic yet saucy, challenging yet accessible.
Moving People (2018) is anything but Baker-ish – one wonders why it is included instead of Chet Visions (2019). This takes nothing away from Del Fra’s headstrong neo-fusion, which features star guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, whose ephemeral sound adds to the lustre of a challenging date.
The acclaimed bassist Del Fra, who took from Baker the value of melodic finesse and space, is in outstanding company. Besides Rosenwinkel, there’s Billy Hart, Art Farmer and Dave Liebman. A Sip Of Your Touch (1989) features Liebman (one-time Baker associate) in fine form, deconstructing I’m Old Fashioned in typically grand fashion. Del Fra’s done well to keep the delicate balance between deconstruction and lyricism intact on My Chet My Song, a conclusion that no doubt would’ve been appreciated by his cool and collected hero/former band leader.
Discography
CD1: (1) A Sip Of Your Touch; Do You Feel What I Feel; I’m Old Fashioned; Lover Man; Chet; Leaving; But Not For Me; Akita View; Piantranese; I Remember You; There Will Never Be Another You; But Not For Me; For All We Know (63.46)
CD2: (2) I’m A Fool To Want You; Love For Sale/Wayne’s Whistle; I Remember You; Wind On An Open Book; For All We Know; But Not For Me/Oklahoma Kid; The Bells And The Island; My Funny Valentine (65.07)
CD3: (3) Moving People; Ressac; The Sea Behind; Children Walking; Around The Fire; Ephemeral Refractions; Wind On An Open Book II; Street Scenes; Moving People – Epilogue; Cieli Sereni (47.30)
(1) Art Farmer (t); Dave Liebman (ss); Rachel Gould (v); Michel Graillier, Enrico Pieranunzi (p); Del Fra (b). Yerres, 1988.
(2) Airelle Besson (t, flh); Pierrick Pédron (as); Bruno Ruder (p); Del Fra (b); Billy Hart (d); orchestra, uncredited. Potsdam and Paris, 2014.
(3) Tomas Dabrovski (t); Jan Prax (as, ss); Rémi Fox (ss, bs); Carl-Henri Morisset (p); Kurt Rosenwinkel (g); Del Fra (b); Jason Brown (d). Pernes-les-Fontaines, 2018.
Frémeaux & Associés 8628
Doug MacDonald: Tribute To South Central
Similar to people that love to mess about with paint, restore ancient church organs or get their noses into history books, there are musicians that dedicate their life to the roots. Doug MacDonald fits neatly into this category, committed to the tried-and-true format of traditional jazz, probably well aware of the idea that change may be for the good but hardly as holy as it’s cooked up to be.
The Philadelphia-born guitarist has played with Ray Brown, Buddy Rich, Ray Charles and Brother Jack McDuff and recorded 15 albums in the Los Angeles jazz realm, mostly consisting of (hard) bop, ballads and blues, with the odd big-band session thrown in. His latest release is an excellent variation on his theme, placing boogaloo (Mr. Walker) and Latin-tinged or 12-bar blues (Sam Or Eye, Blues In The Desert) next to ballads (the gorgeous Self Portrait).
It’s the hipness of his melodies that keeps the listener on his toes. A fine player with relaxed phrasing and a focus on the beauty of sustained notes, MacDonald makes the most of the 3/4-driven Mine Or Yours, on a similarly high and lively level as trumpeter Wayne Cobham (also featured on flugelhorn and flugelbone) and pianist Richard Turner Jr. (also featured on organ and electric piano).
After Santa Monica Session, Live In Beverly Hills and our album under scrutiny, one can almost safely guess what (West Coaster) comes next in the career of Doug MacDonald, very likely yet another pleasurable swinging affair.
Discography
Blues In The Desert; Mr. Walker; Captain Bacardi; Self Portrait; GG; Mine Or Yours; Luces Azules; Sam-Or-Eye (43.40)
MacDonald (g); Wayne Cobham (t, flh, flugelbone); Richard Turner Jr. (p, org, strings, pc); Del Atkins (b); Ronnie Kaufman (d, pc); Eric McKain (pc). Austin, 2025.
Dmac Music 29
