Customer Reviews

Same Mother

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

 

 

"Same Mother" has been touted as Jason Moran's Blues album, and so it is. But the key factor here is that it is Jason Moran's Blues album. Meaning, for those unfamiliar with Moran's all-encompassing take on tradition, that it is as far reaching as it is cohesive. From mournful solo excursions, to full on Electric Blues workouts, Moran gives us his take on the Blues, and they are a varied lot to be sure.

Augmenting his regular trio is criminally under-recorded guitarist Marvin Sewell. Heard previously with Cassandra Wilson, Jack Dejohnette, Gary Thomas and Tom Schmidt, Sewell is a multifarious talent. Capable of Frisellian styled Americana, but not limited by it, he adds interesting layers of sound to the trio.

From the raucous free-form electric Chicago styled Blues riffing of "Jump Up" to the epic ascending solemnity of Prokofiev's "Field of the Dead (Alexander Nevsky)", Moran and company find the Blues just about everywhere. The abstract "G Suit Saltation," as deconstructed a Blues as one can find in the post-bop idiom, invokes Jack Dejohnette's late 1970's electro-acoustic groups, while their cover of Albert King's "I'll Play The Blues For You" builds from traditionally reverential to impassioned. Their initially deconstructed take on Mal Waldron's "Fire Waltz" also builds to a rousing finish. Moran takes a few solo turns here, and there is a sparse pastoral quality to a number of the albums tracks, offset by more energetic pieces to create a well rounded exploration of the tradition known as the Blues. The album is book-ended by Moran's now de rigeur variations on his own "Gangsterism on ..." series, with both versions a raucous and stomping call and response take on this now familiar theme.

Despite the seemingly programmatic device of recording a "Blues" album, Moran and company have recorded what may be one of the most interestingly conceptual instrumental blues records in recent memory.

I can see why a lot of folks struggle with this one. It's loud (mostly). And irreverent, if not outright bizarre. And kinda THICK sounding, as if the mix isn't quite right. And even sorta scatterbrained, in an odd way. Plus, the vibe's a little difficult to lock into. Those were my first impressions. And I generally trust first impressions.

But since I have so much respect for Mr. Moran, I decided to set the disc aside for a while and see when I came back to it if I'd somehow in the meantime figured out what was going on. Well, I'm not sure I've completely done that, but I've got a few ideas.

First off, if this is a blues album, it's one of the strangest ones ever released. Containing at the most three authentic blues numbers, it rather scopes out lots of sentiments and sensibilities akin to but not really blues. Plus, there's a rather striking and firmly rooted classical thing going on. Second, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, Marvin Sewell, a longtime favorite of mine and a practically criminally neglected guitarist, plays his butt off. Third, the leader is in finest fettle both from a playing standpoint and compositionally.

The blues contained herein--"Jump Up" and "I'll Play the Blues for You"--are so good it's scary, especially the latter, which evokes huge waves of badness, fueled equally by Sewell's electrifying guitar statements and Moran's crazily apropos pianisms: Roadhouse blues on steroids. Several other numbers ("Fire Waltz" by that blues-drenched piano maestro, Mal Waldron; "Restin'," almost but not quite a down-and-dirty country blues, with as much nostalgia and jest plain trouble as Townes Van Zandt meets Mississippi John Hurt; and "The Field," dripping distress and age-old injury) flirt with the blues while operating substantially in related but ancillary sonic and emotive venues.

Special mention should be made of the "Gangsterism" numbers bookending the performance. I'm thinking they're largely responsible for many listeners' ambivalence toward this disc. Both feature disturbing low-end pianisms, gnarly raucousness, and that muddily annoying mix. And yet, as much as any of the other performances, they define this disc's vibe, for better or worse. I admit they were the most difficult pieces for me (and, probably, lots of other listeners) to track with. Thus, they represent artistic integrity of the first order. Surely, someone as savvy (despite his tender years) as Jason Moran knows full well the risk he's taking placing these sonic anomalies front-and-center. Yet, that he went ahead and did it anyway, not only displays outsize Conejos but chutzpah above and beyond the call of duty.

All in all, this is a MONSTER disc, vaulting the leader and his empathetic band into the very front ranks of modern jazz.

I have never reviewed an album on Amazon before but I felt the one star review, above, was very close-minded and unfair. Yes the new music is blues based on many tracks but it is not a straight blues album, just a new take, and a fun and adventurous jazz undertaking like his other discs. The addition of Marvin Sewell on guitar (slide and otherwise) is a great addition that adds another facet to this first rate band. Having seen the band live last night I can attest to the fact that this is a band with a great future! The show was mainly the music from SAME MOTHER and it was one of the best JAZZ concerts I have seen. BUY the DISC!!!! SEE the BANDWAGON LIVE!!!!!!!!!! You won't be disappointed.

This is the first of Jason Moran I have heard. It is the best modern jazz I have heard. If it is the blues, etc.. the whole point is it comes from the same mother. Good stuff

I love piano ensembles, and Jason is very talented, but I sure don't enjoy anything on this recording. I kept it in the CD player for five days straight, and for me anyway, there is too much pointless noodling around. I have no problem with the "new take on the blues", but what take? Some sparse twanging, some nervous bass lines that I simply am not moved by and can't connect with at all, and some pounding. Perhaps this is just not my kind of music. But in fairness to myself, I can handle adventure, dissonance, noise, looseness; this just doesn't amount to much. I sure love the playing on Black Stars and the live Badwagon recording (except I still get too distracted by the nervous bass that seems like somebody playing in a diferent band in the next room), but this CD leaves me flat. I'll watch Jason because he is certainly "the real deal", no doubt about that, but I'd pass on this one.

I actually enjoyed Jason's outing with Sam Rivers,
who brought some mastery into an otherwise suspect
conceptual situation. Jason admits that sometimes
he is playing non-sensical phrases in an attempt
to be modernistic. Then there's his jive stuff with
the tape machine, which I won't elaborate on.

But he really went the distance this time by hiring
truly one of the worst guitarists I've ever been
forced to listen to. This Sewell guy does nice things
in the background on Cassandra Wilson's various joints,
but leave the soloing to someone else. The resonator
bits are tasty enough, but that solo on "I'll Play
The Blues" is worse than a high school frequenter of
the local music store and his truly lame attempt to
play uptempo free improv is an embarrassment. Maybe
"JaMo"(which I agree, is corny) hired this poser to
make him sound better, which he does. Jason has some
stuff going on, and his rhythm section is on fire.

But he can, and should do better. Fire the guitar player,
or at least hire any one of the hundred or so players who
could contribute something of worth. Sewell is a real
stinker on this one. Just awful.

So I notice a couple of references on your website calling yourself "JaMo"? How corny is that? That's Blue Note corny. But anyway JaMo, you really missed the mark on this one.

After "Modernistic" and "Live", I had been waiting for a long time for your next c.d. to hit... I bought "Same Mother" on the first day it came out, as I couldn't wait to see what you were going to do next! Well, disappointingly, I have to say you didn't do much at all, next.

For starters, this c.d. should carry a Parental Advisory sticker that reads: "This material may not be suitable for any student of jazz; because what you're going to hear is blues." On "Modernistic" you mixed genres so well, probably better than anyone in the jazz world before you, with cuts like "Planet Rock"...and the very unique, inventive stuff...using sampling and such on the live disk with "Ringing My Phone"...simply amazing. You changed hip-hop into jazz stylings! You changed pop into jazz stylings! (Joga). But on "Same Mother"...well, it's just....blues.

You were inventive from the start; "refreshing" to the scene, all the way back to "Facing Left" and "Soundtrack". But here, a couple of times, I thought I had accidentally slipped in my Keb Mo' disk instead of the cutting-edge Jason Moran that most of us have come to enjoy.

I remember seeing you at the SF Jazz Festival and other live outings, and you sent the grey hairs running for the aisles!...a true sign that us current day jazz lovers were making progress... But this disc will definitely keep the old folks in their seats; sound asleep. Track number eight should be the name of the whole c.d., because you were definitely "Restin'" on this one. In a word...boring.

Remember the days when you played with Sam Rivers (Mr. Rivers would not be proud of this one)...and the days when you confused people with the new...."Please JaMo, come back!!!! Come back JaMo...!!!".