Customer Reviews

Cowboy Justice

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

 

 

Politics are part of life. I would suggest that the critic/fans might better serve if they commented more about the music and less about the inspiration of the artists. The earlier Ben Allison masterpiece, Riding the Nuclear Tiger, was also inspired by political conviction. Tiger is a ground breaking album, and so appears to be Cowboy Justice. I will edit and update my comments after more study, but can say that the time signatures of this album are unique and wonderful, and that Allison and Ballard have a relationship that will be long remembered. This is as Longboarder suggests, a unique trumpet-guitar- bass and drums album. There is freshness to this sound I am really excited about. Collective trumpeter Ron Horton, whose earlier album was quite good but lacked the unifying ideas heard here, finds a setting for his exceptional talent. Notwithstanding the titles, the structures and melodies are pure Allison. I have already sent copies to friends.

I wish I were a gifted writer, a monster of a jazz critic. It would be the only way to express the whole thing with Ben Allison's "Cowboy Justice" (I mean its music not its politic background). You know originality is the lost chalice of jazz. Nevertheless, I dare say this release is simply original. I am not saying Allison found the goblet, but he and his comrades are really close to the end of the search. "Cowboy Justice" is rhythmically rich and surprising; one can find out nuances of reggae, Venezuelan's joropo, waltz, and even of hard rock. It's a pretty inclusive gamut of colors, a wonderful range of great compositions and crafted improvisations. Ron Horton's clean and velvety tone gets by with Steve Cardenas subtle strings very well (have you heard Liberty Ellman?), while Jeff Ballard is a drummer instead of a mere cymbalist. Ben Allison himself gives an alternate role to the bass player. He's not a selfish leader, a loud voice in front of them all. He knows how to manage his presence among his companions. For instance, listen carefully the pacing "Midnight Cowboy" and you'll see. The whole band is like a last generation aesthetics processor. This is jazz of the 21st century and doubtless one of the best records of 2006. Bravo Ben!

I read Ben Allison chose the trumpet / guitar front line because he wanted to rock on this CD. It's not a loud CD, but it has some intense parts. Steve Cardenas on guitar strums a lot of chods, which is unusual for non-Django Reinhardt jazz songs. Sometimes he'll state the melody in unison or harmony with the trumpet. Ron Horton on trumpet carries a lot of the melodic and solo load. This is the first thing I've heard him on (Ben Allison too, truth be told), and he's very good. The songs are mostly written by Ben Allison, and they have strong melodies. Jeff Ballard's playing is the best I've heard him do, compared to what I've heard with Rosenwinkel, Mehldau, and Redman. The mood of the CD is part intense and part melancholy, which I think is the CD's purpose as Ben Allison's view of things happening in the world. It's not a rock or fusion album, but it is informed by rock, and perhaps jazz fans who also like rock might appreciate it more than those jazz fans who don't.

I really love what Ben Allison does. He really gets a lot of cool textures going in his music and this album certainly exhibits that aspect of his musicallity. He also really thinks outside the box when it comes to instrumentation. Who else gives a percussionist his daughter's baby rattle and takes his gutiarist's pick away and gives him a wooden doll instead? He really makes the trumpet/guitar/bass/drums combo work on this album. And his personel is extraordinary. Trumpeter Ron Horton adds a lot of lyricism to the album. His glass-smooth tone really just shimmers in the music. Guitarist Steve Cardenas executes several exemplary improvised solos and uses several unconventional comping methods to really add to the texture of the music. Jeff Ballard is a very versitile drummer in that he can lay back and just barely pitter-patter and then turn around and jab a drumstick in your eye. And Ben not only shows off his bass chops every once in a while but also establishes himself as a very accomplished composer. From the angry, in-your-face "Emergency" to the warm and lush "Ruby's Roundabout," Ben has figured out how to really write fascinating music that grows with every listen. And in his present setting, the music tends to work better with a smaller ensemble. It's hard to say which Allison record would be my favorite, but this one holds a candle to all the others.

I mainly checked this out to get a sample of some more material of my new favorite drummer Jeff Ballard. I've gotta say, he is one of the baddest drummers out there. His playing on this album is absolutely off the radar. I've never heard a drummer who gets so many sounds out of a kit, and does it so incredibly tastefully. I would rank this as my favorite JB album, right up there with Kurt Rosenwinkel's "Next Step" and Mehldau's "Day Is Done."

What surprised me the most was how good the music is on this album. Not only great chops but very nice melodies, lots of different vibes and great band interplay. This is an album which takes you somewhere else, which is very cool.

This is my first BA album so I can't say how it stacks up to others, but I will just say that I'm very excited to check out all of his stuff.

Musicians are inspired both positively and negatively by LIFE. Politics, and the evil-doers who call that their profession are are a major part of life. I for one am glad that some artists out there are willing to sound their voices on injustice, hypocrasy, or whatever, while all the corporate sponsored bubble-gum pop acts tell us nothing more than to buy their albums and drink Coke. Anyways, the music on this album rocks (although the cover art is quite odd). Thanx Ben.

This album was my first exposure to Ben Allison's music, and I have mixed feelings. I first heard him with Larry Goldings on his recent "Quartet," on which he sounds great, he's clearly an excellent bassist. However, I feel like his writing definitly leaves something to be desired. All of his tunes are pretty simple, always based on some bass groove, and end up being really static and melodically and harmonically boring. The problem is, they're all more or less based on a groove, but it's never quite groovy enough to be interesting. The overall sound is really mellow (especially with Ron Horton's super smooth trumpet sound), which I think may contribute to the problem.
The only exception is "Tricky Dick," which is actually a really good tune. It's a very original concept; very rock oriented, and really swingin'. It's the only track where they kind of rock out, and I actually find myself listening to it over and over again. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is boring as hell. I look forward to his next album though, since he definitely is a promising musician, and hopefully he'll mature as a composer.

Ben Allison, one of the top young jazz artists of his generation, stumbles just slightly, but still produces a disc worth acquiring and thoughtfully engaging.

I applaud Allison for constantly tinkering with his soundscape, adding a kora on his next to last disc (Peace Pipe) and a bean bag to his bass (on Buzz), alternating between ace drummers Michael Sarin and Jeff Ballard (on board here), and generally not being content to rest on his substantial laurels.

That said, I have several reservations about Cowboy Justice. As with fellow jazzers Dave Douglas (e.g., Witness), Charlie Haden (Not in Our Name, and almost everything by his Liberation Music Orchestra), and the Bad Plus (Give), Allison has chosen to contextualize his musical ruminations in a mode of alienation vis-a-vis his elected government. Thus we get such tunes as "Tricky Dick" (an instrumental diatribe against the putative depredations of our esteemed VP, the impact of which is vitiated not only by its spuriousness [Michael Moore, after all, owns stock in Halliburton], but also by the Bad Plus's "Cheney Pinata" off of Give; thus it is not only wrong-headed, but a cliche?); "Tricky Rides Again" (compounding the triteness of the former tune); and "Emergency," the artist's response of "anger and frustration . . . as a result of the way the Bush administration responded to the terrorist attacks of 9/11" (a quote from Allison in his liner notes).

Why jazz artists feel constrained to ground their musical inspiration in the politics of alienation, then gratuitously blab about it in sanctimonious tones in their liner notes, I don't know. How, for example, does this contribute to the quality of the music on the disc? It doesn't. Why not just let the music speak for itself? Can't it stand on its own? Does it need agitprop blather to substantiate it? If it does, then it lacks res. Really, I've about had it with jazz artist poseurs as the political conscience of America.

OK, I got that off my chest. Or maybe I haven't quite. By the way, I know there are lots of you out there who welcome these kind of progressivist liner note rants because they resonate with your own puerile, know-nothing, knee-jerk politics of alienation. Which brings me to the title of this disc. What I think's going on here is a kind of ironic linking of our current Prez (a Texan) with the supposed 19th century cowboy nastiness such as blankets distributed to noble Native Americans, so called, with the purpose of infecting them with sundry nefarious plagues such as small pox, these dolorous activities chronicled by such worthies as Mr. Ward Churchill, esteemed professor at that mega-enlightened establishment of higher learning, the University of Colorado, with Dubbya now seen as exporting similar unpleasantness throughout the Arab world, whose governments are known widely regarded as bastions of restraint and reasonableness.

What this is, is what Eric Voegelin called "immanentizing the Eschaton," i.e., importing into politics sentiments and understandings properly reserved for religion: There is injustice in the world; therefore, let us usher in socialist or communist utopias, ridding the landscape of greedy capitalists who prey on innocent, unwary persons.

On to the music. There aren't a lot of groups with a guitar-bass-trumpet-drums configuration. One thinks of Talking Pictures (substituting a cello for the bass), a rather obscure disc by Ron Miles, and one of Frisell's groups (with Eyvind Kang on violin instead of bass), and little else. The reason, I suspect, is that the sound signature--not to mention the musical interaction--often comes off as more than a little unpleasant and even awkward. To his credit, Allison seems to have solved that conundrum: much what happens on this disc is not only aurally interesting, but even quite engaging. Picking rather obscure but highly accomplished front liners Ron Horton (trumpet) and Steve Cardenas (guitar) helps immensely. And if Allison relegates the latter, especially, to occasionally somewhat insubstantial roles and voicings, he nevertheless achieves a weight of sound and musical presence seldom, perhaps never, encountered before in jazz purveyed by this particular set of instruments.

Jeff Ballard on drums, particularly, establishes a huge presence here. His antic rhythmic conceptions, odd fills, and always apropos voicings constantly redeem what might otherwise be regarded as rather mundane tunes and ensemble playing. Cardenas, though less obviously stunning, eventually emerges as an important voice on guitar, wielding his anti-Metheny conceptions with assurance and often stinging effect. Ron Horton's trumpet, though certainly not conventionally pretty, nevertheless nearly always seems to find the melodic/harmonic center of a piece, and in the end often triumphs by sheer audacity.

At the end of the day, I miss Allison's longtime musical partners Michael Blake (saxes) and Frank Kimbrough (piano). These two possess such deep concepts and thoroughgoing musicality as to enrich any proceedings they grace. I believe their presence could have mitigated some rather quotidian musical conceptions and added some finesse and substance to what too often comes across has half-cocked and flimsy.

****1/2.