Customer Reviews

Generations

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

 

 

This is a future classic album. It's already amongst my top 10 jazz albums of 2004, and even after protracted listening it gives up new nuances at every further play. This is an album where the sum of the group is greater than the individual parts, and where the individual parts are themselves luminary. It's unfair to describe Makoto Ozone (Piano), James Genus (Bass) and Clarence Penn (drums) as a rhythm section because each give support and encouragement to all the other players. Ozone, in particular as well as contributing two tracks (7 and the amazing track 10) weaves and insinuates his playing throughout the whole performance. Lage, as has been mentioned in another review is a precocious talent- he wrote tracks 1.2 and 8, and effortlessly produces deft and telling contributions with his guitar playing, with a mature and confident performance.Add to this the sublime playing of Gary Burton, possibly at the height of his performing powers, and you have a superlative album of carefully selected pieces that melt together. The overall mood is considered and laid back, but never dull or self satisfied. Favourite tracks are already too numerous to mention in the detail they deserve.The ensemble playing on "Ladies in Mercedes" by Steve Swallow is terrific as it is on Osscar Petersons "Wheatland". Ozones "Heroes sin nombre" is as indicated above 'amazing', and even the relatively up tempo version of Carla Bley's "Syndrome" is effortless. However, if push comes to shove it's "First impression" that sets the tone and style for this amazing and refreshing album. Hyperbole? Possibly, but it's a long time since this listener sat down with a new album and played it straight off three times in a row; an entrancing treat that you should not miss out on - and of course it's ideal music for those laid back sunny evenings. Recommended unconditionally, order it now!

Vibraphonist Gary Burton has a knack for discovering and nurturing fresh voices in jazz guitar. Such heavyweights as Larry Coryell, the late Sam Brown, Jerry Hahn, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, and Bill Frisell got their first major exposure in one of Burton's bands. His latest find is Julian Lage, a 16-year-old guitarist whose phrasing, tone, and sense of melodic adventure put him on par with today's best jazzbos. With a stunning mix of heart and chops, Lage roams the fretboard of his Manzer archtop, hunting down beautiful, singing melodies that seem to float off his strings. Occasionally, he'll cut lose with a flurry of notes or a long, spiraling run that reveals his stupendous flatpicking technique, but his primary focus is on threading daring lines through the tricky changes. Lage's three originals display a deep harmonic sophistication, and his touch and dynamics evoke his musical hero, Jim Hall.

I've been emerging myself in post-rock (Explosions in the Sky, A Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Mogwai--not without profit and enjoyment, mind you), and I find the embarrassingly straightforward music here presented an antidote to the somewhat bloated posturing of the post-rock aesthetic. Do you think Julian Lage, the 14-year-old wunderkind guitarist at the heart of this sturdy music, cares anything about politics, about globalization, about mulitculturalism? Perhaps he does, but he certainly doesn't let those concerns intefere with his goal of making simply gorgeous music in an entirely recognizable, though uniquely personal, jazz key.

What we have here is an old-fashioned (though filtered through ever-new and revivified playing) jazz debut of a new player with monster chops. Fourteen years old at the time of this recording, still in high school, for pity's sake, Jason Lage has all the makings of the Next Big Thing as far as jazz guitarists go. Frankly, these prognostications don't always work: Today's new phenom becomes tomorrow's forgotten journeyman. I don't think that's going to happen here. Julian Lage just has too much presence and maturity to fade away.

Anyway, I'm not as much concerned about his future as I am taken by his present--a developing jazz guitar and compositional voice of surprising depth and wisdom. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have on board such stellar players as Mokoto Ozone (piano), James Genus (bass), and Clarence Penn (drums), plus absolute top-drawer vibes player, Gary Burton. Still, he stamps these rarified proceedings with a clarity of concept that should endear him to all but the most hardened and cynical jazz fan.

A student of the great Jim Hall, Lage has absorbed a good deal of the master's genius without sounding much like him at all. For example, he has a much more aggressive attack, and his playing bears a more clearly emotional stamp; that is to say, it's less cerebral and intellectual and more heartfelt.

Pairing him with Gary Burton (not to mention this killer rhythm section) was a stoke of genius. Relieved of bearing the entire frontline solo weight himself, in company with one of the most brilliant and seasoned players around, it's as if he's free to explore whatever ideas and concepts come to mind. Plus, he's a pretty killer doubler and comper.

Very tasty, and entirely worth checking out.

I'm a huge GB fan and he can do virtually no wrong by me. Anyone who is familiar with his career knows of his longstanding place in higher music education and his keen sense for discovering new talent. So I won't expound on that.

But to be perfectly honest, if you were to do a blind "taste test" of this album - not knowing that it was Burton playing vibes, Ozone playing keys, and a teenager not old enough to drive playing guitar - you would probably come away with little reason to listen again. There are a few notable compositions by the likes of Metheny, Mitch Foreman, and Oscar Peterson, but the arrangements are somewhat uninspired, at least by the GB standards I'm used to. Lage, the young guitar prodigy, contributes three originals and although any composition by someone so young worthy of being recited by GB is remarkable, they leave me wondering how young Pat Metheny was when he wrote Unity Village or Bright Size Life.

I know it's not fair to compare young Lage to an iconic Metheny, but for me music is all about enjoying what I'm listening to, not feelgood sub-plots or story lines. I must admit that it is somewhat fascinating to listen to a young teenager play an otherwise excellent jazz guitar along side GB, but take away that knowledge and the music left to stand by itself becomes somewhat underwhelming.

This CD is worth owning purely for the posterity value of what one day may become the next Jim Hall, but if you just want to hear great jazz music by GB, the honest truth is you'd be more satisfied with something like Face To Face or Like Minds, etc.

This CD still gets a positive rating of 3 stars because GB can do no wrong. I just won't be listening to it as much as I will his other releases.