There's certainly been no shortage of artistic statements about the September 11 attacks and their aftermath, and there'll no doubt be more. Few of those are as concise or as engaging as the one made by master drummer Winard Harper and his sextet on Come Into the Light. "911" is but one of the gems on this uncompromisingly excellent live recording (the first at Cecil Brooks III's New Jersey club). Saxophonist Brian Horton sets the tone on his brief introduction, which Harper follows up even more ominously, paving the way for trumpeter Patrick Rickman to launch a blistering attack of his own. Thereafter, the music represents the bedlam and uncertainty that followed the historic day's cataclysm, with both Horton and pianist Jeb Patton weaving tortured cries into Harper's authoritative trap breaks. While Harper is unquestionably the leader, the CD's feel is truly collaborative throughout, from compositional credits-"911" is Rickman's, Horton submits the funky "Specimen A" and Patton provides the Tommy Flanagan tribute "T.F."-to the seamless interplay on the Latin-bop workout "Float Like a Butterfly" and the Tadd Dameron staple "If You Could See Me Now." Another classic, "Corner Pocket," gets a similar treatment, with Horton and Patton again trading quicksilver expressions, all behind another fluid opening solo by Rickman. The rest of the rhythm section-bassist Ameen Saleem and percussionist Alioune Faye-help Harper lay down a solid yet swaggering swing foundation, and the front line keeps their solos mostly lean and mean. This is the unmistakable sound of a top-flight band that has come into its own and is capable of going just about anywhere musically. ~ by Michael Edwards, JazzTimes.com.
Savant Records, SCD 2058, 2004
Recorded 26th & 27th
December, 2003 Live at Cecil's, West Orange, New Jersey
Musicians:
Winard Harper - Drums,
Percussion, Balafon
Patrick Rickman - Trumpet
Brian Horton - Soprano &
Tenor Saxophones
Jeb Patton - Piano
(#4-7,9,10)
Kelvin Sholar - Piano
(#2,3,8,11-13)
Ameen Saleem - Bass
Alioune Faye - Djembe,
Percussion, Sabar
Tracks:
01. Spoken Intro by Cecil
Brooks III (0:42)
02. Float Like A Butterfly
{Winard Harper} (7:00)
03. Little Sunflower {Freddie
Hubbard} (5:24)
04. Divine Intervention
{Winard Harper} (4:37)
05. If You Could See Me Now
{Tadd Dameron, Carl Sigman} (7:56)
06. 911 {Patrick Rickman}
(5:08)
07. T.F. {Jeb Patton} (5:35)
08. Specimen A {Brian Horton}
(3:50)
09. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
{Johnny Burke, James Van Heusen} (5:47)
10. Corner Pocket {Freddie
Green, Donald Wolf} (6:44)
11. Come Into The Light
[Intro] {Winard Harper} (2:40)
12. Come Into The Light
{Winard Harper} (6:13)
13. Korinthis {Winard Harper}
(6:39)
Total Time: 68:15
Credits:
Producer - Cecil Brooks III
Executive Producer - Joe
Fields
Engineer - Don Braden
Assistant Engineer - James
Dellatacoma
Photography - R. Andrew
Lepley
Design - Keiji Obata
Liner Notes - Laurence
Donohue Greene
Note:
Original CD was poorly compiled, tracks ended with the start of
the next track.
Remedy rip to WAV, trim, remove excess applause, optimize, re-encode
FLAC > tag.
