Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: A Blue Time
This album by drummer Joe Syrian’s Octet has a collection of classic tracks arranged and played by first-rate musicians, with a leaning towards Latin areas. It opens with Duke Jordan’s Jordu, a straight rendition with promising solos by trombonist Doug Beavers and baritone saxophonist Carl Maraghi, after which comes the first of six Latin numbers.
The first of these, Agua De Beber, is a bossa nova, and Adam Birnbaum’s punchy piano is featured, as it is throughout the album. Percussionist Luisito Quintero is added on Black Magic Woman, Paul Bollenback’s electric guitar given free rein, overtly rock-orientated, as it goes into Santana mode rather than Peter Green. The backing is dangerously close to the realm of Strictly Come Dancing though.
Mancini’s Charade, the soundtrack to the 1963 film, is also in a Latin tempo, with contributions from Beavers and by Nick Marchione on trumpet; Dave Riekenberg’s bass-clarinet touches give it an almost middle-eastern flavour. I found Sway (Luis Demetrio’s Quién Sera) and Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa disappointingly middle-of-the-road, although the solos went some way to lifting them out of the easy-listening arena. Even Nature Boy has an Afro-Cuban tilt – not sure if composer and original hippie Eden Ahbez would approve of the urbanesque/dinner club arrangement! – but Tim Ries provides a well-constructed, expressive tenor solo.
Of the other tracks, Tadd Dameron’s A Blue Time has a melody reminiscent of Tenderly and Lucy Yeghiazaryan clearly and confidently supplies the vocals on Teach Me Tonight, with something of a Sarah Vaughan intonation. Whilst I’ve always been wary of Beatles cover versions – there were some cringeworthy examples in the 60s – Birnbaum’s attractive arrangement of Norwegian Wood, with a bass intro by Boris Kozlov, is given a great sense of swing by the rhythm section and the backing band which infills during the pianist’s solo.
Although I’ve reservations, it’s an album with good ideas and intentions and well played but apart from the solo flourishes, lacking an edge. For those who veer towards the Latin, however, it’s certainly worth investigating.
Discography
Jordu; Agua De Beber; Teach Me Tonight; Norwegian Wood; Black Magic Woman; Charade ; Blue Bossa; Nature Boy; Sway; A Blue Time (51.03)
Joe Syrian (d); Nick Marchione (t); Carl Maraghi (as, bar, cl); Tim Ries (ts); Dave Riekenberg (ts, bcl); Doug Beavers (tb); Adam Birnbaum (p); Paul Bollenback (g); Lorin Cohen, Boris Kozlov (b); Luisito Quintero (pc); Lucy Yeghiazaryan (v). New Jersey, May 2023 and October 2025.
Circle 9 Records C90016
Pierre Favre Trio: Bird Food
This recently discovered recording from 1968 is the first documentation of the partnership of Pierre Favre and Irene Schweizer, preceding their debut album, Santana (FMP), in the October of that year. It was a time when both musicians were moving towards the burgeoning free jazz in Europe, establishing links with The Globe Unity Orchestra and others. The accomplished Czech bassist George Mraz joined them before his move to New York at the end of the year, to launch a highly successful career. (Peter Kowald was to replace him, then Evan Parker was added to form a quartet.)
Ornette Coleman was a huge influence on the style of playing in Europe at the time and his Bird Food is the opener, typically mixing short subsets of free playing, the fragments disjointed, stopping and starting, but drawn together into a brief thematic melody. Schweizer’s assured playing is immediately noticeable as she formalises the tune, and her rapport with Favre is an indication of what she was to develop with other drummers / percussionists (Moholo, Cyrille, Sommer, Bennink) in the late 80s.
All three musicians interact strongly and supportively on the other tracks (Schweizer compositions), from the more eerily pensive Sounds ll to the denser Hinten – comprising clusters of sound which are then stripped bare, stunningly direct. On the appropriately entitled The Attack, the trio varies theirs with a passage that positively swings, passing through Mraz’s bass and Favre’s drum solos into a short groove before disassembly.
It’s a disappointingly short but nevertheless impressive album, deserving a place amongst similar trio recordings of the time that successfully bridged the divide between modern jazz and freer improvisation.
Discography
Bird Food; Sounds II; Hinten; The Attack (29.55)
Pierre Favre (d); George Mraz (b); Irene Schweizer (p). Zurich, 10 February 1968.
Songs 004CD
John Coltrane: Coltrane
In 1961 John Coltrane moved from Atlantic to a new label, Impulse, who quickly released albums which showed the saxophonist’s range, from the more adventurous larger aggregations (on Africa/Brass) to Ballads and the meetings with Ellington and vocalist Johnny Hartman. Possibly to reassure that he hadn’t forsaken the advancements his quartet had made, he recorded this album, the first by his “classic” quartet, as if to consolidate what had previously been achieved.
There’s so much written about Coltrane and Brian Morton adds to this in his succinct sleeve notes, with the implication that this record was unfairly overlooked in the past, a point I agree with. The long and dramatic Out Of This World exemplifies the live extended pieces Coltrane was doing at the time, whilst Soul Eyes, which he had recorded with its composer, Mal Waldron, for Prestige in 1957, is full of grace and elegance.
As was common then, a popular show tune is included; this time it’s The Inch Worm from Frank Loesser’s soundtrack to the film Hans Christian Andersen – thank goodness it wasn’t The King’s New Clothes or The Ugly Duckling. Coltrane uses it as a soprano feature. The stately Tunji (after Nigerian master-drummer Olatunji) and Miles Mode (aka The Red Planet, which appeared on the Village Vanguard recordings) follow.
True to form with this label, there are a couple of extra tracks to fill out the disc. Impressions is a short version of Coltrane’s well-known tune (known as Excerpt on the session log), recorded on the same day (20 June) as Miles Mode, and it appeared on The Very Best Of John Coltrane in 2002. It’s not the longer one on the album entitled Impressions (Impulse AS42).
To keep you discographers on your toes further, from September 1962 comes Up ’Gainst The Wall, which was included on AS42. A rare Coltrane piano-less trio track, as McCoy Tyner sits out, it’s a stark contrast with the rest of the album, although not a particularly convincing addition. All these were issued on CD in 2002 as Coltrane – Special Edition (589 567-2).
Discography
Out Of This World; Soul Eyes; Impressions (24.04) – The Inch Worm; Tunji; Miles’ Mode; Up ‘Gainst The Wall (23.31)
Coltrane (ts, ss); McCoy Tyner (p); Jimmy Garrison (b); Elvin Jones (d). New Jersey, April, June & September 1962.
20th Century Masterworks 350303 LP
