My first thought when checking this album out was, “With a title like that, this album had better deliver!” Kenny Garrett begins with a free jazz piece, “Countdown”. Interestingly, my brain first linked this to a similar sound I’ve heard from a Sonny Rollins album, The Solo Album. Of course there were differences, including drums. (There is also the track “Like Sonny”, which I’ll go into later on.) But when the second track, “Equinox” started, my brain instantly linked onto The Coltrane Express, and what a smooth ride it was. The drums, bass and thick guitar are so tight that they seem to act as a defibrillator, pushing and pulling Kenny forward and back in an organic (yet controlled) manner.
Garrett is able to capture from the start, the devices often exploited by Coltrane, in regards to instrument layering, tone, attack and timing. At times he may actually play in the pocket better than Coltrane did in his studio recordings, in fact. In “Liberia”, for example, this is seen in the way he holds onto a note just a little to long, and gives it a tremolo with his breath, causing the note to waiver around in the air like a leaf slowly descending, that’s taken too long to reach the ground. The note goes sharp, and begins to play with dissonance. Another device used is his choice of riff clusters. Several times in the same song, Garrett applies a quick triple note section, with a fourth note held out longer, which becomes a call to the band to kick off into its next progression. As he takes the lead, his playing in the highest octave has a pinch of distortion to the tone, and is echoed by the bass which allows its own distortion to come through slightly, caused by string ricochets and thumb pull-offs. The cymbals don’t mimic the tone, but rather provide a smoother counterpoint, and are allowed to slowly fade off in the distance, similar to the early sustained notes from Garrett described earlier. After the progression has made a few rounds, Garrett again makes use of the combination to call everybody back to the verse line of the song. Its things like that which make this album a veritable clinic in the effect of nuance.
“Dear Lord” has Garrett honing in on the slow, tender wavering notes that were such an integral part of the Coltrane sound. They find that elusive spot between firm confidence and expressive vulnerability. The rest of the band follows his example. The drums take on a softer quality that reminds me of Joe Morello’s playing on Time Out. The cymbal crashes don’t sound like ricochets, morel like leaves hitting the surface of some remote pond. Pat Metheny plays off this with soft chord work that is often held just slightly behind the beat with sustained chords and pauses. The places he doesn’t play really help give Garrett an enhanced airy quality at times, and prevent the mix from becoming too saturated or complicated. Garrett returns the favor, giving Metheny a solo spot, where the dark, murky guitar lines share the same floating quality. As the song winds down, the band executes a very satisfying tempo decrease, and Garrett finishes out the piece with the same wavering tremolo quality he started the song with, just before the band returns to share the last sustained bar.
“Lonnie’s Lament” is probably the quintessential rain day sountrack. The combination of Metheny’s open arpeggios, the sustained cymbal splashes of Brian Blade, and the soft sax tones give the track a beautifully somber atmosphere. The chief solo spot is given to Metheny, who offers up the album’s only distorted-guitar tones which shift the style over into the progressive genre, sounding like something Al DiMeola would conjure up. While it offers a change of pace, it may be too big a change for such an album.
Ironically, the next track is titled “After The Rain”. Continuing with the somber atmosphere, this one plays with the balance of modal, dissonant lines and offsets them with exotic percussion and several different strings. The track sounds vaguely middle eastern as a result. The exotic world instruments remind this listener of Dead Can Dance. Its seven and a half minutes of world-jazz with a kind of troubadour-like quality to the solos.
Next up is six minutes channeling Sonny Rollins. “Like Sonny” returns to more chord-based rhythm and modal based leads which works quite well juxtaposed off of the free jazz heard just before. Its a fairly straightforward track, as is “Pursuance”, so there’s not much else to note on those.
While listening to both “Alabama” and Garretts’ cover of “Giant Steps,” Coltrane’s episodic quality really seems to come through, and its a quality shared by Garretts’ peers as well, not limiting itself to saxophone. This is as good a time as any to briefly touch upon the album’s sonic qualities. In short, they are excellent. The album is not overly compressed, bass heavy or treble heavy, etc. It does justice to Garretts’ great sense of dynamics, which are perhaps the highlight of the album for me. While he doesn’t have Coltrane’s same instinctive projection, he counters with one of the softest touches in tone I’ve encountered in jazz. Its a wonderfully intoxicating listen. Even with the dissonant quality to the closer, “Latifa.”
I for one have every intention of getting Garrett’s entire discography, and would not be surprised to find myself reviewing more of his albums.
Musicians:
Kenny Garrett - Saxophone
Pat Metheney - Guitar
Brian Blade - Drums
Rodney Whitaker - Bass
Songs:
1. Countdown
2. Equinox
3. Liberia
4. Dear Lord
5. Lonnie’s Lament
6. After The Rain
7. Like Sonny
8. Pursuance
9. Alabama
10. Giant Steps
11. Latifa
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