How's That?

Mike Kaplan Nonet, Mike Kaplan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2003)
• Original Release Date: December 28, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Semi-Sweet
• ASIN: B00008E1FZ
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,100 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. How's That?

2. For C.M.

3. The Crawl

4. In Reality

5. Melody For My Mom

6. Firm Roots

7. Sudden Stranger

8. Bye-Ya

9. Orange Circle Funk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy..., May 20, 2003

By 

CibaGeigy Please (Summit, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How's That? (Audio CD)

A veritable rollercoaster of sound--they travel wayyyyyy out but make smuuuuuth landings. Buy one for everyone on the bus!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mike Kaplan Nonet: "How's That?", November 13, 2003

By 

Vangelis Aragiannis (Syros, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How's That? (Audio CD)

Saxophonist Mike Kaplan is a William Paterson University graduate and has studied with great saxophonists such as Warne Marsh and Joe Lovano. Early on he showed his preference for the sound of big bands and his interest in the music of Duke Ellington, Charlie Mingus, Thad Jones and Carla Bley. It's indicative that the first record he bought was "The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall". He started writing charts for six horns and rhythm section in the early '80s. Some years later he formed his nonet using three saxophones, two trumpets, one trombone and a classic rhythm section with Matt King (piano), Doug Weiss (bass) and Pete MacDonald (drums), three musicians who have worked together as a trio and have gained a cohesion that is very apparent.

"How's That?", the nonet's first release, depicts Mike Kaplan's aesthetics and perspective for the sound of the nonet, as well as his philosophy for jazz itself. Jazz aims not only to the mind, but to the heart and the body of the listener too. His arrangements are modern and delicate, but they retain a traditional warmth, directness and sense of fun. Kaplan is also the producer of the album and the composer of the majority of the tracks. The title track's melody, the style and the tempo changes of "For CM" (dedicated to Charlie Mingus) show how much the great bassist's music fascinated Kaplan (Mingus himself often used the nonet setting in his recordings). All of the soloists are excellent, but Ben Williams' trombone, Bob Hanlon's alto and Ed Xiques' baritone stand out. The fact that Kaplan himself solos just once makes clear how he perceives the group function of his ensemble. It's also remarkable that the three compositions on the cd not penned by Kaplan were written by some of his favorite pianists (Thelonious Monk, Cedar Walton and Mickey Tucker).

The sonic completeness and the joy this album offers are the evidence that the long time that separates the group's forming from it's recording debut was worth the wait. We hope that its next album will be released soon.