Save Big

Russ Johnson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: March 15, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: OmniTone
• ASIN: B0007QMR0S
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,170 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Saguache

2. Figuratively Speaking

3. Reveille

4. Duo

5. Indonesian Folk Song

6. Rapid Comfort

7. Constantinople

8. The Loper

9. Sympathetic Mildew

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Adding to an impressive list of pianoless quartets to come out of New York's "downtown" scene in recent times, trumpeter Russ Johnson's Save Big sets itself apart with its heady combination of spatial awareness, melodic flow and rhythmic acuity. An historically attuned modernist in the mold of Dave Douglas, Johnson can be brash or gently bruising. He and the lithesome alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher (leader of the pianoless Axiom quartet, featuring saxist Tony Malaby) interact exceptionally well. They know the value of taking their time, whether savoring their contrapuntal parts, entering into the ethnic sphere of "Indonesian Folk Song" or building to a sudden climax on "Saguache," which sounds just as it reads: leisurely but pointed, airy and wry, mysterious but clear. Bassist Kermit Driscoll, who has worked with Douglas, Douglas and drummer Mark Ferber are with them every step of the way. --Lloyd Sachs

Product Description

Here's a new American classic: jazz that's wonderfully fresh, clean, inventive, vibrant, accessible improvised music that builds on and extends the American jazz tradition in the way Jack Kerouac, Aaron Copland, Ansel Adams, and Frank Lloyd Wright advanced art in their respective fields.  From musical recollections of grandeurous wide open spaces to classic jam-packed smoky jazz clubs — and all the multi-culti crossroads in between — Johnson and his crackshot quartet make Save Big a thrilling musical event.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Solo Debut!, April 11, 2005

By 

Troy Collins (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Save Big (Audio CD)

Trumpeter Russ Johnson is going to be unfairly saddled with the sort of curse that will end up befalling many of his kind. As a white male, classically trained trumpet player specializing in a sort of Democratically multi-cultural jazz, he joins the ranks of Ralph Alessi, Dave Ballou and Ron Horton as post-Douglas jazz trumpet players. As good as all of these artists are, this is something they're all going to have to contend with, the endless comparisons ... as long as Dave Douglas continues to dominate the jazz polls.

So what to make of Johnson's debut album then? It is as auspicious a debut as one could hope to hear from an artist as young as he. Americana influenced melodies like "Saguache" cross paths with Eastern tinged tunes, such as the aptly titled "Indonesian Folk Song" and the elastic free-funk of "Rapid Comfort." Grinding rubato grooves commingle with post-Ornette harmonies on "The Loper" and a stop-start bop line pummels on "Figuratively Speaking."

Johnson's articulation is spot on, but he can bend a phrase or smear a note as emotively as any of his contemporaries. Alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher releases sinuous lines that sound like Kenny Garrett channeling Julius Hemphill. Erstwhile bassist Kermit Driscoll finally reappears on the scene in telepathic union with drummer Mark Ferber. The rhythm section accompaniment is phenomenal, indicative of all the qualities that make for great jazz = great listeners. The band sounds so in-tune with each other that they seem capable of taking the pieces in any direction.

Save Big would be an impressive title in anyone's discography, but for an artist whose limited recorded output mainly consists of co-leadership in the (admittedly excellent) Other Quartet, this debut album introduces Russ Johnson as an artist to keep an ear on for the future.