Sunday, November 23, 2003

Records are rated on a scale of one (poor) to four (excellent) stars.

Jazz

BRANFORD MARSALIS QUARTET: "Romare Bearden Revealed." Marsalis Music/Rounder Records.

Jazz musicians often have drawn inspirations from the works of visual artists, but few exchanges have been as intense as "Romare Bearden Revealed," a new recording by saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

Marsalis and his quartet, which includes pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and Pittsburgh drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, celebrate the career of Romare Bearden, whose work is featured in a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (See related story, Page G-1 and G-3.)

Marsalis also enlists the help of pianist Harry Connick Jr., bassist Reginald Veal, guitarist Doug Wamble and his brothers, Jason, Delfeayo and Wynton.

Bearden, who worked and lived for a time in Pittsburgh, was one of the most vibrant American visual artists of the 20th century. His work often depicted jazz musicians and African-American life in bold and vivid colors. He died of cancer in 1988 at age 76.

The new recording features nine meditative songs that move among jazz classics referenced in and suggested by Bearden's art. It also boasts new compositions created expressly for this recording, and a song in which Bearden himself played a creative role.

From the jazz songs that share titles with Bearden paintings, Marsalis chose "Slappin' Seventh Avenue With the Sole of My Shoe," a 1938 tune written by Duke Ellington but rearranged for quartet and rhythm guitar. "J Mood" was written in 1986 by Wynton and features the trumpeter performing with the quartet. "Carolina Shout" is an homage to legendary stride pianist James P. Johnson and features Branford in a duet with Connick.

The groups revisits "Steppin' on the Blues," a 1924 tune that originally featured trumpeter Tommy Ladnier performing with pianist Lovie Austin's Blue Serenaders. "B's Paris Blues" is an easy swinging tune written for both Bearden and saxophonist Sidney Bechet.

"Laughin' and Talkin' (with Higg)" was written by Watts in memory of the late drummer Billy Higgins and features Branford and Wynton engaging in interesting and compelling instrumental dialogue.

Jelly Roll Morton's "Jungle Blues" is pure early New Orleans jazz. Narrative and mimicry trumpet and trombone blasting through plunger mutes, with riffs repeated for emphasis, are both devices essential to early jazz styles.

-- Nate Guidry

Classical

ERIC MOE: "Kicking and Screaming," various performers. Albany. 1/2

Who says contemporary composers don't get recorded?

This is Pitt composer Eric Moe's third release in two years. Moe's muse is as inventive as ever, with titles such as "Three Ways to Relieve Tension" for solo piano, "Kicking and Screaming," a piano concerto, and "Dead Elf Tugboat." But don't be fooled by the titles -- Moe's music has strong underlying connections to the tonal language of the past. Dramatic impulse flows through a piece such as "Dance of the Honey Monkey," and Moe's idiosyncratic piano writing translates itself.

Listening to Moe's music often is like watching a foreign film: You don't need any subtitles to tell that characters -- or his themes -- are mad, melancholy or moved.

The movements of "Three Ways" are brilliantly conceived exercises. The first, "Song of the Mackerel," is a minimalist foray; "Well I Wish I Was a Catfish" is a subverted blues progression; and "Catch and Release" is a piece in perpetual motion. Moe plays the three as if he's winking the whole time. Pieces such as Grande Etude Brillante and Nocturne show Moe's deep appreciation of forms of the past, of the music Chopin and Liszt.

I have been a fan of "Kicking and Screaming" since I first heard it almost four years ago. It is a rhythmically driving work, but its quasi-tonal progressions allow the piano part to really communicate profound emotion.

The first movement is the classic struggle between tutti and solo, with the pianist, here the capable Alex Karis, in a bad mood from the start. The second is more pointillist, with lyrical strains supporting almost music-box playing. The marking "Extremely incisive and energetic" describes the vigorous last movement perfectly. "Kicking and Screaming" shows that there is still much to be said in the older forms. Speculum Musicae, under the direction of Donald Palma, captures the relevance and urgency of the piece (I especially liked the understated use of trap-set percussion), although I would like to see a major orchestra take notice of it.

Two pieces for flute, "Dead Elf Tugboat" and "Fled Is That Music," played exceptionally by flutist Rachel Rudich, round out the disc.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod

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