Cary Kilner
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Cary Kilner's Picks: Volume 61
January 2024 Back again after a month’s hiatus. Hope everyone had a good holiday. I’ve got some gems for you this month including some sweet guitar players. I am planning to give you a column exclusively with jazz guitar trios after my jazz piano trio essays. Emmet Cohen and Friends - Live from Emmet’s Place, Vol. 113 This is a long show hosted by Emmet Cohen. I have partially dissected for you. At 30:45 you’ll find an interesting medium swing tune. At 35:40 there is some great piano that covers all idioms. His original bass player (who recently played with Ben Benack at Jimmy’s) is also here. The featured drummer is Herlin Riley; he’s excellent. Trumpet and sax players are both superb. 42:00 begins a sweet quieter tune. At 43:45 Emmet begins a great solo. He really knows how to control his energy. He also shows how to utilize the piano for several interesting effects without being self-indulgent and sounding like he is doing these just to do them. But mainly he plays so cleanly and precisely, yet loose. At 45:30 trumpeter Bruce Harris plays a very sweet solo—his lines are so pretty. More great drumming by Herlin Riley. At 47:15 see and hear an incredibly inventive and musical bass solo. The link begins during a piano solo—around 36:30. Move back to the beginning; you will enjoy the short introduction. https://www.youtube.com/live/HZK2blf-wvI?si=hoJcjgrs7EuNruaU Bobby Broom – Let’s Stay Together This is a great ‘70s tune with modern production. https://youtu.be/TNZ4uP_V1QQ?si=vMqyGq2gA0LMi8Qy Mark Elf – People Will Say We’re in Love Clean lines. David Hazeltine is the pianist. Nice. He plays like Cedar Walton. https://youtu.be/jGpj6FpsKjI?si=TpHHIdthGUevE2l7 Adam Schroeder – You and I Baritone sax is kind of throaty and hard to make pretty. It’s a difficult instrument to play, but he does a nice job on this Stevie Wonder tune. He has some nice economical guitar accompaniment by Anthony Wilson. Note the nice open sound, given a guitar trio rather than a piano trio. And note his sweet solo – introspective, quiet, inventive. Having an acoustic bass, with the drummer staying on brushes. helps the piece. https://youtu.be/h99eLD4iaeo?si=PE62wyF5CIAMwk0r Emily Remler – East to West This is another great guitarist you may like. You can also hear the Wes Montgomery influence, but she still has her own mature voice. And again the acoustic bass fits very well in this context. https://youtu.be/A6fNKxf_7ew?si=71lVCfhKHqQnuruI Roger Kellaway Cello Quartet – Jorjana #2 Here is one of my all-time favorite ensembles – his cello quartet. Check out both of his albums; they are excellent. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ftJ7CQ86OD8&si=8g6IeYVWW3OB-P3G Roger Kellaway – By Myself Playing solo—such a great player! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VHyMBY8oBLg&si=0pZfXOzHkJOTzl0s Concierto De Aranjuez – three versions Here we have some nice Ron Carter along with Russell Malone on guitar. It’s a trio format with no drums. And Mulgrew Miller, a great piano player who passed too early. https://youtu.be/ajOGWbvR4P4?si=MQEi5aooeqQwAnCM Here is the same tune played on another fine recording, featuring Jim Hall on guitar along with Ron Carter. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IfxtR_RWAg4&si=qcetkdy7IqzZ95Oy And here it is from long ago on the earthshaking Miles and Gil Evans album, Sketches of Spain (1960) (If you are not familiar with this and the other two pivotal orchestral albums from this period, Miles Ahead (1957) and Porgy and Bess (1959), you should seek them out.) This is incredible orchestration, well described in the liner notes on the original LP and on the CD re-release. https://youtu.be/2cscpJisU6k?si=Uu7xpvfMo-BGpoYf Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, and Russell Malone – Django This is a famous, rather dark jazz standard with a fairly complicated harmonic structure. It’s done without a drummer, allowing you to hear it more clearly, and it swings like mad. Ray was in the Oscar Peterson Trio for years and presents his beautiful bass playing up to present on several albums with Monty, who continues to follow Oscar’s tradition on piano. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dh_DuT3lvo&si=TNFf4sqiTIRzQn-1 Eric Alexander – Ruby, My Dear and As Time Goes By This is a relatively new tenor player with a gorgeous tone. The first Monk tune is played in fast swinging three-quarter time and not the way it is usually played. It’s a tour de force for him and the group with Harold Mabern doing great piano work. This link is followed by some nice ballad work and includes the aforementioned Dave Hazeltine on piano. https://youtu.be/VJu30lnFw4g?si=Uu2sRKQ28srPpwhD https://youtu.be/Iqiagx_w8Ek?si=9uonrIr90jmw5O2y |
