Customer Reviews

Artist In Residence

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A few random observations, because I'm so blown away by this disc that I'm not sure I can write anything coherent.

First, this has absolutely no business working, it's so all over the place, what with its amalgam of solo piano pieces, group offerings, a classical track, a Western number, opera singing (!), spoken word, pen scratchings, and other weirdness. I'm actually glad I didn't see the listing of performers on the tracks before I bought it; If I had, I might not've sprung for it. Moreover, the music is taken from three different periods and places where pianist Jason Moran was in residence, so if it sounds eclectic, you got it. How to make it all hang together--that's the challenge.

And it's certainly to Moran's credit that he does, with nary a slip. I'm coming to think he's the greatest jazz pianist alive from the standpoint of conceptual brilliance. Maybe not the greatest player (that's Frank Kimbrough, in my thinking), but his concept's consistently killer.

I have to admit that initially I was slightly disappointed because the music seemed radically disparate. But after several listens, it all began to hang together, so much so that it seemed possessed of almost a mystical coinherence.

A word about his group, bandwagon (Moran, piano; Tarus Mateen, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums; and Marvin Sewell, guitar). They're certainly one of the most versatile, cohesive jazz units operating today. I'm bowled over, especially, by Marvin Sewell, a stinkin' jazz/blues guitar genius, who struts his stuff to great effect whenever the group is featured (on about half the total time), all the more to his credit since he was taken to task by critics and know-nothing listeners for his work on Moran's previous disc, Same Mother.

I'm not sure everyone will be able to get on board with what's going on here, but I encourage you to give it a try. At the very least it'll expand your horizons.

And it could end up reconfiguring your listening esthetic.

"Breakdown misunderstanding, breakdown the artist", a looped refrain from African American philosopher/artist Adrian Piper, is the opening to jazz pianist Jason Moran's new album Artist in Residence. Piper's metaphor is a theme throughout Moran's seventh work for Blue Note Records.

As with previous works, Moran and his brilliant back up group Bandwagon" breaks down the history of jazz music, having created the experimental hybrid blues on "Same Mother" and an amazing improvisational effort with flutist Sam Rivers "Black Stars". On each of those records, Moran showed a flair for highly complex rhythms which weaved new frontiers for the genre's they explored. Artist in Residence is a more subdued effort; with Moran's minimalist approach sounding similar to Steven Reich in some places and at other times approaching the mad genius of Thelonious Monk in the free jazz composition "RAIN".

Each of the tracks on Artist in Residence was commissioned by art and theatre centers across the country. The result is a record of Moran's artistic exchanges and encounters with the Art World, and a deeper look into the concepts of Piper. The first track, "Break Down", is a straight ahead composition with Piper's sampled vocals layered over the instrumental tracks almost giving the piece a hip-hop feel. "Milestones" combines an operatic vocal performed by Moran's wife Alicia Hall meshes with a gently melodic ensemble piece that features the bass work of Tarus Mateen and Marvin Sewell's guitar. "Milestones" is reminiscent of the European jazz found on most ECM releases, with Mateen's bass a tribute to the work of Charlie Haden and Sewell's harmonics similar to the earlier material of Pat Metheny. This style is continued in Refraction 2, which captures the spirit of Metheny and long time collaborator Lyle Mays on As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. "Cradle Song" a solo piece, is a tribute to Moran's mother, who scribbled notes while Moran practiced piano as a child. Moran includes an inspired overlay of a person scratching out notes determinedly with a pencil. For me, the standout piece is "RAIN", which has its origins in the ring shouts from the era of slavery. It starts slowly, with Ralph Alessi's trumpet, Sewell's guitar and Abdou M'boup on percussion, and gradually builds; adding Moran's brilliant noodling until the song almost explodes in a cacophony of joy. It is one of many trapdoors constructed into the piece, which traverses a number of bridges that lead into lush musical waves of pure African, straight ahead and avant-garde jazz.

In essence, Artist in Residence is an album of revered musical elements stretched and reconfigured by Moran and Bandwagon, expanding the territories claimed by jazz. Moran breaks down both misunderstanding of the jazz form and himself the artist, presenting an album full of deep insight and appreciation for jazz, and art that inspires us all.

I purchased this at a used cd store, and listened to it last night. I suspect it will be going back. I know Jason Moran is a great pianist, but I'm starting to wonder about these projects where he's really all over the map. Maybe I just don't get it, but as a jazz drummer, I like to think that I'm minimally hip to stuff. The group Bandwagon, plays on maybe one third of the cd; wish they played more; kudos to the drummer. Martin Sewell, the guitarist, did a lot more with Cassandra Wilson. Sorry, I'm not going on with endless essays about genius this, genius that, blah, blah, blah. ECM references; forget it (check out Tomasz Stanko new recording, Lontano). Guess I just didn't like it.

Despite mixed reviews in publications, this album is absolutely mesmerising. There is something for everyone in this album; whether it's the song about the culture of America (Break Down) or the inspired national anthem (Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing), every song has the kind of genius ideas that we've come to expect of Jason Moran. Also, Cradle Song is a nice touch, a tribute to his mother, who recently passed away.

This CD by Moran is a kind of symbolizes that addresses a problem that I believe Jason Moran has with the public's understanding of jazz. The theme is that jazz can transcend any type of genre or style and cannot be put in a box.

I think that in America, people have this "view" of jazz and stereotype it harshly instead of giving it a chance and Jason Moran states this with his music and he incorporates classical music and uses his loving soprano wife on one of the tracks.

I feel that is the inspiration for this album. His unique sound can be heard in ways that I think many people did not know that jazz could encompass.

A major disappointment. Moran is clearly one of the most gifted musicians to work within the world of Mainstream Jazz. And Modernistic showed him to be able to conceive of a disc as a single artwork. This disc is far more ambitious conceptually, but I have major problems with its execution. The collaboration with Adrian Piper is a particularly lost opportunity: Piper's installations are inspirational in their ability to create awareness and shift consciousness, particularly in terms of racial issues.Moran takes the rhythms and melodies of her words and builds compositions on them, but in an obvious and perfunctory way, especially compared to similar work by artists like Hermeto Pascoal. There is a lot of safe playing on this disc (guitarist Marvin Sewell's choices are particularly anodyne): take Arizona Landscape, with its literal usage of the clip-clop Western bass line. Maybe it's time for Moran to realize that the job is to take the tradition and create something new with it. I'm thinking of Monk's Little Rootie Tootie, where the classic Jazz "train piece" is internalized and transformed. Moran seems to have wanted to do this, but he dropped the ball.

There are a couple of decent tracks here, Refraction 1 being (IMHO) the best - a study in Jazz Minimalism which shows what kind of creativity Moran is capable of (Rain has this element too, but the climax seems a little unearned). Lift Every Voice And Sing (the "Black National Anthem") is probably the worst track. What is it? It's not stirring, it's not moving, it's not ironic (despite some weak Sewell-isms), it's not funky (despite some half-hearted attempts at "hip" grooves). This is the problem with the whole CD: it's got all this weight behind it, but can't live up to any of it. Even Moran's playing is largely unimaginative - a few cool licks and riffs, harmonically stiff. Jason, enjoy the grant money you got for this project and put it behind you! And although I guess you can say there's a certain amount of risk taking here compared to the average mainstream Jazz record, is that really the faint praise you want for such ambitious work?