Although Mainieri is best known to latterday audiences for his influential Steps Ahead band, one of his first professional jobs was with the Buddy Rich sextet of the late fifties. None of these CDs is that old, but they do all show that there is more to Mainieri than hip-funk playing.
American Diary is far and away the most ambitious and rewarding of the three. While it leaves certain bases – rock and country, for example – untouched, it is a good representation of the more esoteric areas of American musical experience, ranging from the mannered folksiness of Mainieri’s own Town Meeting to the unusually (for Mainieri) abstract and probably free Out Of The Cage. Above all, this setting brings Mainieri closer to Bobby Hutcherson than Roy Ayers.
There are pieces by such colonial luminaries as Bernstein, Zappa, Copland, Sessions and Barber, all skilfully adapted for jazz service. Copland’s 1927 Piano Sonata, Vivace comes off particularly well, sounding like something from Dolphy’s Out To Lunch or Tony Williams’s Spring. The other piano sonata, by Sessions, has Mainieri showing that he is as able as Gary Burton to produce evanescent bent notes. An altogether excellent production, with Lovano as ever nosing into some unusual corners and the rhythm duo a perfect complement to the front line.
White Elephant has Mainieri responding to the pop explosion of the late sixties, directing, singing and playing keyboards but not vibes. His notes say these sessions were about the ‘interaction of musical forms’, but earnest and turgid rock dominates, only a few tasty licks from the Brecker brothers and an unspecified guitarist offering much jazz interest. Mainly it’s about nostalgia, and Mainieri’s at that. As he says, ‘The experience was ours, and it bonded us for life.’ Like old photographs, mainly for family use.
Come Together Vol 2 fails to match the high points of Vol 1 (eg, Allan Holdsworth on Michelle). The production on most tracks sounds strangely amateurish, as if each participant had recorded his contribution sitting on his bed in front of a porta-studio. There are plenty of low points in the playing too, the unbelievably amateurish Quine and Harris plumbing the deepest depths. The best is only brief, embodied in Charlie Hunter’s spirited and witty Drive My Car and the solid-gold blues licks of Robben Ford’s Golden Slumbers.
Discography
AN AMERICAN DIARY
Somewhere; King Kong; Piano Sonata (Vivace); Piano Sonata No 1; Town Meeting; Overture To The School For Scandal; Hudson River Valley; Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child; Song Of My People; In The Gloaming; Out Of The Cage; In The Universe Of Ives (67.03)
Joe Lovano (ts, ss, acl}; Mainieri (vib, marimba, chimes, whistle, xyl, p, gongs); Eddie Gomez (b); Peter Erskine (d, pc). NYC, October 1 & 2, 1994.
(NYC 6015-2)
WHITE ELEPHANT VOL 1
Peace Of Mind; The Jones; Battle Royal; Look In His Eyes; White Elephant; Easy On; Animal Fat; Monkey (48.44)
Collective personnel: Mainieri (kyb, pc, v); Joe Beck, Sam Brown, Nick Holmes, Bob Mann, Hugh McCracken, Paul Metzke, David Spinozza (g); Warren Bernhardt (kyb); Michael Brecker, Frank Vicari (ts); George Young (as); Ronny Cuber (bar); Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis, Nat Pavone, Lew Soloff (t); Barry Rogers (ttb); Jon Pierson (btb); Tony Levin (b); Steve Gadd, Donald MacDonald (d); Sue Manchester, Ann E Sutton (v). NYC, 1969-1972.
(NYC 6008 2)
COME TOGETHER: GUITAR TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES VOL 2
(1) Tomorrow Never Knows; (2) Strawberry Fields; (3) Drive My Car; (4) I Am The Walrus; (5) Not A Second Time; (6) Yes It Is; (7) Because; (8) Golden Slumbers; (9) If I Needed Someone; (10) Tomorrow Never Knows (Slight Return) (44.01)
(1) Wayne Krantz (g). (2) Philip DeGruy (Guitarp & music boxes). (3) Charlie Hunter (elg). (4) Adam Rodgers, David Gilmore (elg). (5) Terje Rypdal (elg); Bjorn Kjellemyr (elb); Audun Klieve (d). (6) Robert Quine, Jody Harris (elg). (7) David Tronzo (g). (8) Robben Ford (elg)); Russell Ferrante (p); Jimmy Haslip (elb); Will Kennedy (d). (9) Michael Hedges (g); Michael Manring (b). (10) David Fiuczynski (elg, voice box); Marque Gilmore (Chapman Stick, electronics). New York, circa 1995.
(NYC 6014 2)
