Tia Fuller makes strong
statements with her solid saxophone and imaginative compositions in Decisive
Steps. She surrounds herself here with female musician - drummer Kimberly
Thompson, bassist Miriam Sullivan, and pianist Shamie Royston, who also plays Fender
Rhodes. Prominent as well, are male guest stars: bassist Christian McBride,
trumpeter Sean Jones, and vibraphonist Warren Wolf. This is Fuller's second
Mack Avenue release following 2007's Healing Space. Excelling in all the reeds,
she prominently displays her alto and soprano work here. It is obvious as she
reveals in the liner notes, that her strongest influence is Cannonball
Adderley. But she also looks to John Coltrane for inspiration and her solos
throughout are gems of improvisation. Originally from Colorado and now a New
Yorker, Fuller has honed her talent, playing with such names as Wycliffe
Gordon, Mickey Roker, Jon Faddis, Jimmy Heath, and Gerald Wilson. She comes to
this session after a recent road trip with R&B star Beyoncé, which gave her
a chance to show off her prowess before large crowds. McBride is another idol
and mentor whose influence looms large. "Shades of McBride" is
Fuller's slant on his tune "Shade of the Cedar Tree." Her light
hearted alto solo is coupled with Wolf's energetic vibes and McBride's
commanding bass makes this a winner. The decider, though, on the album, is her
version of the standard "I Can't Get Started With You." It begins
with Fuller's flowing, bobbing, and weaving cadenza, which ushers in McBride's
graceful bass, shaded by Royston's delicate Fender Rhodes as Wolff's vibes solo
clinches this beautiful version. On the Latin tinged "Kissed By the
Sun," Jones trumpet sets the bright mood, while Fuller's strong
Coltranesque solo on soprano sax finishes it. Another lustrous side is Fuller's
arrangement of the Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer classic "My Shining
Hour," which features her plaintive solo, effectively contrasted by
Royston's spiky piano chords and McBride's relentless beat. The number is
further ignited by Thompson's explosive drumming. ~ by Larry Taylor, AAJ.
Mack Avenue, MAC1043, 2010 Recorded at Avatar Studios,
New York, NY
Musicians: Tia Fuller - Alto &
Soprano Saxes, Flute (#9), Arranger Shamie Royston - Piano,
Fender Rhodes Miriam Sullivan - Acoustic
Bass Christian McBride - Acoustic
& Electric Basses Kim Thompson - Drums
Guests: Sean Jones - Trumpet,
Flugelhorn Warren Wolf - Vibraphone Maurice Chestnut - Tap Dance
Tracks: 01. Decisive Steps {Tia
Fuller} (5:12) 02. Windsoar {Shamie Royston}
(8:14) 03. Ebb & Flow {Tia
Fuller} (7:50) 04. I Can't Get Started
{Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin} (6:23) 05. Kissed By The Sun {Tia
Fuller} (5:40) 06. Steppin' {Tia Fuller}
(0:32) 07. Shades Of McBride {Tia
Fuller} (7:01) 08. Clear Mind {Tia Fuller}
(5:26) 09. Night Glow {Rudy Royston}
(3:40) 10. My Shining Hour {Harold
Arlen, Johnny Mercer} (5:41)
Total Time: 55:45
Credits: Producer - Maria Ehrenreich,
Al Pryor Executive Producer, Quotation
Author - Gretchen Carhartt Engineer, Pro-Tools - Pablo
Arraya Engineer, Mixing - Todd
Whitelock Assistant Engineer - Rick
Kwan, Missy Webb Mastering - Mark Wilder Creative Director - Casey
Conroy Production Manager - Will
Wakefield Assistant - John Peace, Tate
Wittenberg Art Direction, Design,
Photography - Raj Naik Liner Notes - Janine Coveney
After recording six acclaimed
albums with bassist Joan Chamorro, Barcelona-based trumpeter, singer and
composer Andrea Motis makes her solo debut on Impulse! Records with Emotional
Dance. The astonishing accord that she’s cultivated with Chamorro during the
past seven years is firmly intact on Emotional Dance. The sterling performances
features him as well as pianist Ignasi Terraza, drummer Esteve Pi, guitarist
Josep Traver as the core ensemble. Like with Chamorro, Motis has recorded and
toured consistently with these musicians.
Chamorro coproduced Emotional
Dance with Brian Bacchus and Jay Newland. Through Bacchus and Universal
Records’, A&R director Jean-Philippe Allard's sage suggestion, Motis
augmented the personnel with a handful of U.S.-based musicians – vibraphonist
Warren Wolf, accordionist Gil Goldstein, baritone saxophonist Scott Robinson,
percussionist Café Da Silva. Three tunes also feature the famed American tenor
saxophonist Joel Frahm, who'd worked with Motis and Chamorro before. "We
invited [Joel] to play with us in Barcelona in 2016. He was so amazing that we
knew we wanted him for this album," Motis enthuses.
Even though, Motis is only
21-years-old, she displays a mature musicality beyond her years. That’s because
she began playing the trumpet at age seven; three years later she began
studying jazz at the Municipal School of Music of Sant Andreu under Chamorro,
who soon after recruited her for his band while she was still a teenager. While
at the school, she was also a member of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band for nine
years with which she recorded eight discs and played with such acclaimed
musicians as trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, saxophonist Jesse Davis, clarinetist
Bobby Gordon, and saxophonist Dick Oatts, among others. In addition to trumpet,
Motis plays alto saxophone. But it was with Chamorro's band that she began
singing. "The trumpet will always be my first instrument," Motis says
when asked if she likes being a singer or an instrumentalist the most.
"Playing the trumpet is like mediating; it’s such a part of my life. But I
never want to choose just one side of my artistic sides because I love doing
them all."
On Emotional Dance, Motis'
singing mostly takes center stage. She possesses an alluring, supple alto. With
its subtle vibrato and her succinct phrasing, Motis' singing has drawn
comparisons to such stylists as Billie Holiday and Norah Jones. Her vocal
prowess reveals itself immediately on Charles Daniels and Richard Whiting's
classic, "He's Funny That Way," which opens the disc. Perhaps, it's
no coincidence that the jazz standard has long been associated with Lady Day;
Motis and her ensemble certainly do the composition justice by underscoring it
with a quintessential swing-era shuffle that paves the way for an absorbing
solo from Robinson. Motis follows his lead by blowing a delightful trumpet solo
that accentuates her citrus tone and her assured sense of melodic swing.
Motis sees Emotional Dance as
an extension and evolution of her work with Chamorro. Like their previous
efforts, the new album contains it fair share of jazz standards. In addition to
"He's Funny That Way," Motis delivers captivating renditions of
Franck Loesser's "Never Will I Marry," Cole Porter's "You’d Be
So Nice To Come Home To," Eddie Jefferson's "Baby Girl," Johnny Mercer's
"I Remember You," Horace Silver's "Señor Blues," and
Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius De Moraes' "Chega de Saudade."
Emotional Dance reveals some
of Motis' artistic growth with the presence of Frederico Sires Puig's "La
Gavina," Els Amics de les Arts' "Louisiana O Els Camps De Cotó,"
and Perico Sambeat's "Matlida." On all three tunes Motis sings in
Catalan - a first for her on disc. The latter tune even features Sambeat on a
billowing soprano saxophone accompaniment and solo.
Also, for the first time,
Motis exhibits her gifts as composer. She penned three of Emotional Dance's 13
songs. The first song she composed for the disc was "If You Give More Than
You Can," a poignant ballad containing heartfelt lyrics about being
overwhelmed with multiple responsibilities. Her ebullient, "I Didn't Tell
Them Why" shows Motis' friskier side as she sings about keeping a
blossoming romance on the down low, while her swaggering hard-bop instrumental,
"Save the Orangutan" best illustrates her command and improvisation
heft on the trumpet as she shares the frontline with Frahm.
As for the sparkling title
track, Terraza wrote it several years ago as an instrumental. Motis wasn't even
aware of Terraza's compositional abilities until she heard the song on the
radio. "We thought that the title of that song was very representative of
the feeling that we had during the making of this first album for Impulse!
Records," Motis says. "The title conveys all the positive changes and
new directions we've taken with my music while acknowledging that things are
moving forward in the right direction." ~ Andrea Motis.com.
