Customer Reviews

Public

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

 

 

This scintillating set finally presents Osby at his ensorcelling best. "Visitation" is sublime and "Summertime" (forever overdone) for once receives the modern reexamination that alone makes it listenable. But then the bop flag wavers offer that fly by the seat of the pants effect that one remembers from yesteryear when Bird and Diz et. al. reordered the musical paradigm; daring is beautiful. It will be argued that all original and beautiful music is daring but the point here is that Osby, like Bird or Monk or Trane, has a demanding muse that will brook no compromise of taste or fear of the indeterminate possibilities for song.

Listen to the young pianist Megumi Yonezawa who channels Andrew Hill and Cecil Taylor with his ear attuned to a time yet to come. His performance here is a revelation of lyrical dissonance bent to the imperative of swing.

I am only sorry I was not at the Jazz Standard the nights these recordings were made. My enthusiastic affirmation of these performances would have been clearly audible over the closeted din heard here.

"Lover Man"? I love Osby's ironic romanticism and Osborne's open voiced sincerity.

Should you buy it? What kind of question is that?

This is high performance art, utterly contemporary, muscular in its sophistication, and impervious to the effete nonsense that presently parades itself as jazz.

Excellent live recording featuring some of the best young players in jazz today. One correction to the other reviews: Megumi Yonezawa is a she. Hope we hear more from her soon.

This live release is for the most part is in the straight-ahead jazz vein. Osby is in fine form, as well as trumpeter Nicholas Payton,and bassist Robert Hurst. Joan Osbourne's only appearance ( vocal ) on the last tune is an interesting addition to this fine production. As for Megumi, again...wow!!! What a wonderfully complex player he is. This guy is somewhat of a mix between Mathew Shipp and Cecil Taylor.Hopefully this talent will be heard of much more often in the near future. As for the drummer Rodney Green, he plays just fine..however, he seems to be the anachronistic one of the bunch, particularily against the contemporaneous delivery of Yonezawa. Very good sonics. Recommended.

If you're into inventive, lively jazz, PUBLIC is essential. Osby has seldom sounded better, and his band is with him every note of the way. As for Osborne, she may not be a jazz singer, but her take on LOVER MAN is way cool.

With all due respect to the editorial review, this is great CD only made greater by the presence and voice of Joan Osborne. Her take on LOVER MAN is terrific and worth a listen (or 12!). And I'm not the only one who thinks so:

"Osborne offers a restrained, wonderfully able and sultry reading of the classic tune... She brings the longing in the lyric to the fore, in a style which echoes the emphasis Billie Holiday brought to it... It's too bad there aren't more tunes featuring Osborne fronting this fantastic band. "Lover Man" provides a wonderful end to a deeply satisfying, even electrifying live date." - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

(...)

For those who enjoyed Osby's St.Louis Shoes CD, this live at the Jazz Standard recording with the same group except for the pianist, and some of the same tunes as on the studio session, is a valuable companion. Trumpeter Nicholas Payton may not be able to match Osby's ingenuity improvisationally, but that's a minor quibble. This is fresh and invigorating music.

. . . and somewhat annoying--at least to these ears. What this is, is bebop deconstructed.

And basically left there lying on the floor in a shambles.

Nothing wrong with the playing: plenty of chops, generally good band interaction (except pianist Megumi Yonezawa generally seems relegated to a comping role, though he has a nice intro to "Visitation" and a striking solo on "Bernie's Tune"), occasional fireworks. But it all comes across as rather self-indulgent, esp. on Osby's part, who's responsible for half the tunes and all the arrangements. Osby and trumpeter Nicholas Payton do get into some interesting dialog (esp. on "Bernie's Tune," the best of the lot, and a very wired take on "Shaw Nuff"), but for the most part this is music that just doesn't go anywhere--angular, edgy, dry, emotionally cool, tuneless, and emptily virtuoso. It's almost as if everybody's over-caffeinated or on an adrenaline high. The lethargic audience response speaks volumes.

Almost any tune exposes the problems, but "Summertime," among the most familiar of all jazz standards, stands out as exceptionally problematic. With only occasional, almost throwaway, references to its beautiful, sultry melody, the tune gets turned totally inside out, in a not especially attractive way, and never put back together again. "Visitation" meanders hither and yon for nearly a quarter of an hour in a mildly interesting but in no wise compelling way. As a listener, I'm wondering where the hooks are in this music, where's the melodicism.

If you want to hear advanced aural gymnastics (esp. from Osby, who, technically speaking, is certainly a master of the alto saxophone), this may be for you. Others will want to sample before springing for this one. Five stars for the playing (which, admittedly, can be startling), three stars for the vibe (which, admittedly, can be annoying).