Customer Reviews

Jazz Standards on Mars

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

 

 

If you're like me, with more discs than you know what to do with, you sometimes put an album away only to re(dis)cover it while looking for something else. That's what happened to me with Jazz Standards on Mars.

And am I ever glad it resurfaced!

This is one killer disc. Entirely unclassifiable, it straddles genres between jazz, new music, rock, classical, and world music. It swings like mad, just as a great jazz disc ought. It has very cool outré playing featuring extended techniques by especially Robert Dick and Dave Soldier, a la new music. There's a sly, irreverent alt-rock sensibility (tipped off by the inclusion of "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix). Several of the players are classically trained. And especially Steve Arguelles (drums), Richard Bona (e-bass), and Vallerie Naranjo (percussion) bring a very cool world music vibe. Sound weird and intimidating? Not at all. Despite its uniqueness, it's still very listenable.

One of the things that jumps out when first looking at this disc is the quality of the musicians. The Soldier String Quartet may not be familiar, but many jazz fans will recognize Regina Carter (violin), Mark Dresser (acoustic bass), Ben Perowsky (drums) and Arguelles and Bona. Actually, there are two different bands, one featuring Dick, the Soldier String Quartet, and Arguelles, Bona, and Naranjo. This is my favorite group, probably because they seem to achieve a wi(l)der pallet of colors and a more far-ranging musical sensibility. The other group, with Dick and the Quartet, Mark Dresser and Kermit Driscoll on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums, leads the group in its more rock-oriented direction (their version of "Machine Gun" simply astounds).

Not so much deconstruction as total transformation, this record is pure brilliance while still being eminently approachable. Give it a listen; I don't think you'll be disappointed.

This album is fantastic. It really goes beyond the jazz "standards" of our setting and time, into a greater space. I wouldn't call it jazz by the book but it does flow like jazz and it's beautiful to listen to. It's very soft and smart. It breaks the mold of standardized jazz and is great as well, could surprise some.

I concur with the other reviewers. I stumbled upon this disc, can't remember how, but I play it constantly. Interesting, innovative, and entirely successful. Something new for the ole' ears