Bassology
December 2002 By Harvey Siders
Purpose
Justin Time Records
Beauty of tone and an instinct for swing-that accurately sums up Curtis Lundy on Purpose (Justin Time). The bassist-leader's purpose here is to blend five other like-minded veterans and newcomers. (But it's not a sextet; pianists John Hicks and Andrew Wonsey...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Communion
Concord Records
John Patitucci is smart and broad-minded enough to understand that a bassist-led project doesn't need to prove itself with excessive emphasis on the leader's instrument. That's especially true when the bassist is as creatively bold as Patitucci is, evidenced...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Houdini
Sirocco Jazz
Houdini (Sirocco 1014; 59:52), by Buster Williams' Trio is framed by two versions of the title tune, an alternately driving and pensive piece. The first is credited to Williams, pianist Geri Allen and drummer Lenny White, while the closing take is credited...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Viewpoint
Nagel-Heyer
Bassist John Goldsby is one of those respected figures in his field whose name isn't as well known as it should be. Chalk it up to one of the realities of life in jazz, and the jazz-bass world in particular. Goldsby shows plenty of fire and taste on Viewpoint...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Pieces of...
Vernita
Chicago-based bassist Marlene Rosenberg handily juggles roles on her album Pieces of.... Now supportive, now stepping forward and intuitively understanding the time and place for each stance, Rosenberg amply shows why she's one of the respected young players...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Live in America
Compass Records
Victor Wooten's Live in America is a two-disc demonstration of what this electric bass legend is about. Primarily, he's about thump 'n' slap technique taken to the nth degree, and he's about mixing and matching the genres of funk, jazz and folk traditions...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Thoughts of You
Jazz Magnet Records
A California-born musician who has lived in New York since 1993, Mary Ann McSweeney's impressive debut album as a leader, Thoughts of You opens on a personal note. The song "R.B.'s Tribute," a study in relaxed energy, is a respectful nod to her mentor, Ray...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Pieces of the Sun
Narada Media
Tony Levin, bassist and Chapman Stick man of King Crimson fame, goes the postprog-rock route on his new one, Pieces of the Sun. It all sounds a bit sterile, with its electronic effects-slathered guitars and synths. Sometimes the pieces have an unfinished...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
Blues for Bighead
Mapleshade Productions
Bassist Andy McCloud's history has included work with Clifford Jordan, Don Pullen and Hilton Ruiz. He shows some of the diversity of that lineage on his album Blues for Bighead, by Andy McCloud's Gentleman of Jazz, but the blues is always lurking beneath...
April 2002 By Josef Woodard
New School
There's a lot of truth-in-advertising in the particulars of this title: Mark Helias' Open Loose, New School, being the empathetic trio of bassist Helias, tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby and drummer Tom Rainey. "New school" could describe where these musicians...
