Customer Reviews

Shades of Jade

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is simply a magical disc. I never heard of Elaine Elias before, but her compositions on this disc are otherworldly and her playing touch is unique and beautiful. Johnson, Scofield, Baron and Lovano need no introduction, and as good as they are individually, they sacrifice their own fireworks here for the sake of a work that, amazingly, goes far beyond the sum of its talented parts. Subtle and delicate probably describe this one, though the words seem inadequate. It transports me to such an extent that I have, against my usual practice, played this over and over again.

Thank you Marc Johnson and ECM for an album which gives jazz a good shot in the arm. ECM has gotten pretty complacent these days and this album has its' share of mellow moments, but, all in all it is some wonderful composing and playing!!!


Lovano and Scofield both sound fantastic. The SOUND of Sco's guitar is awesome. Johnson and Elias work great together. Joey Baron's drumming is also very tasteful. I love the Bass Desires albums from years ago and have been wanting Marc Johnson to put out another solo effort on ECM. I have no complaints!!! Just a great album on all levels.....recording quality is superb (as usual on ECM).....the playing is stellar.....if anyone is looking for an excellent new jazz album.....THIS IS IT!

Although this is a Marc Johsnson CD, it is also a collaboration of giants. Although I would never have been able to dream it up all on my own, now that I think of it, it's a rather obvious coming together of like minded talents. The ultimate dream collabo. Marc Johnson has worked for many years with Eliane Elias and features and co-produced many of her brilliant albums. Meanwhile, Joe Lovano has also worked with John Scofield, most remarkably, in my opinion, on the recent Scolohofo "oh!" project with Dave Holland and Al Foster. Indeed, The John Scofield Quartet, which released 1991's "Meant To Be" was made up of Scofield, Lovano, Johnson and drummer Bill Stewart. I wasn't really familiar with either Joey Baron or Alain Mallet before this CD but I will definitely be checking them out now.

"Shades of Jade" is indeed an "ethereal" collection of songs, as one other reviewer described it. Each song offers something different and if you focus in on any of the major players each time you listen to any song, you hear and learn something different. Fantastic stuff! Eliane veers away from the latin-infused melodic playing I'm used to hearing from her and does what piano players are often expected to do in bands - just provide some background and nothing else. John Scofield's sound also seems to be evolving. It's certainly more restrained than the wild wailing sound he used to produce back in the day. But he still remains unmistakable and unique.

My favourites? "Ton Sur Ton", "Shades of Jade", "Snow" and "Raise" but I really love the whole album. I recommend that anyone reading this gives it a go. You will not be disappointed. A must for those lazy summer afternoons or for unwinding on an evening after a stressful day. Just perfect!

Seldom does a group of musicians mesh so completely and beautifully as they do in this recording. It would've been so easy, with this much talent, to get lost in a clinic or exhibit of technique.

Instead this unit, so in tune with each other, play with sensitivity, technique and insight. There are so many moments in this recording where they hold you transfixed. These are original pieces which are quite interesting and on the level of any of the tried and true standards but with a much more modern aesthetic.

The ballads are breathtaking. They have a dark lush beauty. They convey genuine sentiment without being sappy or sacharine. The up pieces have a real sense of swing a firm grasp of the blues.

Everyone shines on this recording for what they bring to this. Each one is so well versed as to give the pieces, just what they need without overplaying at all. Eliane shows that she is an underrated jazz pianists as she is often brilliant here.

Marc Johnson is at the center of it all with that resonanat tone and undertated virtuosity. He is truly one of the underrated bassists and more should know of him. No wonder Bill Evans hired him for his last great trio. Joey Baron is marvelous throughout, propulsive but never intrusive.

The high points in theis recording are "Shades of Jade" which is captivating, mesmerizing. Startling, elegant, poignant are the words that come to mind when I think of this piece. Eliane Elias' is extraordinary on this piece, as is John Scofield who really sets the tone here in many ways. "Apareceu" is a beautiful ballad which shows off Joe Lovano's rich tenor. It has this sense of space, beautiful without being overly lush. Eliane Elias' again leaves us stunned with her playing. "Ton Sur Ton" is a mid tempo piece that has that Monkish quirkiness with interesting harmonics and unison lines. Joey Baron is in fine form here as his drumming really is accents this piece well. He starts out on brushes and switches to sticks about a quarter of the way in. Marc Johnson's walking bass is also a key factor in here as it resonates. "Snow" is another memorable ballad on the level of the title piece and that's saying something. Once again it's Eliane who really gives this piece it's color and texture. It elegantly paces a wistful portrait. The piece literally breathes. "Since You Asked" is an interesting pieces where Mark Johnson exhibits his virtuosity on bass in such a way that makes you reconsider the upright bass as a lead instrument. Melodic and haunting, "Raise is swinging, up beat blues, fun to listen to, good solo work and segues. "All Yours" is another ballad that featuring some beautiful interplay between Eliane, Mark Johnson and Joey Baron. There is real symbiosis here. This is musical conversation at it's height. This is largely a trio piece and it is on a par with the very best trios recorded. No perfunctory accompaniments just BIG EARS and they really listen to one another.

This is one of the best releases this year, bar none. I highly recommend this.

I wanted to love this disk at first listen. I really did. I read praise from folks whose opinions are usually on the money (and who know my tastes), and I wanted to love this disk. It's got several players (Johnson, Baron, Scofield, Lovano) whose playing I readily enjoy and whose releases, in the case of Lovano and Scofield, I usually pick up pretty quickly. I wasn't terribly familiar with Elias, and I'd simply never heard of Mallet, but he only plays on one or two tracks. I first listened to this album Tuesday evening while driving to an appointment, and it started promisingly. The languid "Ton Sur Ton" leads off, and all are in fine form. Lovano and Sco state the melody in unison with Elias taking the first solo - her playing is moody and tempered, in keeping with the tune. I was somehow reminded of the Pink Panther theme - I felt like it should be a rainy night in Paris. Good start, I was thinking.

The album continued very promisingly. Lovano took the majority of solo space, playing with a light feel and sticking (mostly) to the upper register of his horn. The next three tracks are all down-tempo as well - good rainy-night-in-Paris music. Scofield sits out until the fifth track, the appropriately-named "Blue Nefertiti," which is a fun and quirky romp - Scofield brings his trademark blues-meets-odd-angles approach to the table, and Lovano cuts loose with some squeals and squonks to keep you on edge. The song has a wierd sort of fadeout finish, however - it's not a board fade, but the band just sort of subsides amidst some sonic noodling from Lovano and Scofield. The following track, "Snow" is really the first time Johnson interjects his personality noticeably (beyond able accompaniment) and takes any sort of solo space, that over a repeating piano figure.

Johnson follows that up with a duet between him and Baron (sticking mostly to cymbals), who is outstanding throughout the entire disk, but the one after that, the gospelized soul-jazz swinger "Raise," was for me easily the weakest track on the disk. Maybe it was meant to change the mood, but its effect is more jarring than anything else, and not in a good way. Scofield, in particular, sounds like he's just trying to sound like every other guitarist who's played in an organ trio, and I like him much better when he sounds like Scofield.

"All Yours" is a restatement of the theme from "Snow" although Elias doesn't pep up the proceedings in her solo as much this time around - it's not entirely somber, but it's not quite the ray of light effect that her solo in the earlier tune had. The album finishes with the bass-organ duet "Don't Ask of Me," with Johnson playing bowed here, and the effect is entirely sobering - it's a sad glower of a tune which underscores the overall moody feel of this excellent album.

I said I wanted to love the album at first listen, and to be honest, I didn't. I just liked it - I didn't care for Elias' solo in "Snow," and I *really* didn't like "Raise" - now I just don't like it, and at further listening, I think Elias' playing is just fine, although I still think her solo on "Snow" is one of her weaker moments in the album. But after a second and third listen, it's really grown on me. Baron doesn't have a weak moment anywhere, and the compositions are all pretty strong (with the one exception). I also thought that Lovano and Scofield were underutilized at first, but then I decided that the sparse settings served the feel better, probably. It's really an excellent effort, I think, even if it won't change any lives.

There's no three and half stars, and three might be a bit harsh, so it's four stars from me. I feel guilty. I don't like this album as much as I'm supposed to, and in fact hoped I would. I came in expecting to be blown away, but was instead able only to detect a gentle breeze.

These musicians are all seriously good whenever they play, and the compositions are very nice indeed. Love the gospel-ish 'Raise', and there seems to be half a discful of nice ballads. Despite all of the right ingredients being here, I just find this album low on energy. There seems to be little spark happening, and in the end it's kind of anaemic.

Sco is definitely not in top gear at all, and it all seems so polite. Let me say I am a huge ECM fan and love their sonic genius in the studio. I am also an admirer of everyone involved in this project, but this album doesn't move me. It's a very nice album, to be sure, but for me it doesn't deliver the magic that it could have.

NOTE: This recording is NOT "discontinued by the manufacturer" as stated, but is sadly the victim of someone somewhere who can't be bothered to make it available. It IS available in other parts of the world, and it's a shame that you can't buy it here at Amazon.com at a reasonable price.

I bought this album because of Scofields affiliation to this cd. That turned out to be a disappointment because Scofield plays only on four tracks. Later on it turned out to be of no great significance. It turned out that the other artists have the craftsmanship to keep this album interesting without Scofields present.

Elaine Elias on piano is my favourite performer on this album. In track 6 Elias makes me feel the falling snow. This is the first album with Joe Lovano on it where I realy like Lovanos playing. Mostly I don't understand him and on albums like Scolohofo he can be a little boring. `Shades of jade' makes me think that Joe Lovano is maybe one of the great. I might even endeavour a little Lovano quest. Where Scofield is presence he is recognisable in solo's and of great importance in background filling.

The fullness of the sound the six artists produce is one of the better combinations. I find my self nowadays looking for this full sound combinations. Albums of Rosenwinkel, Lupri, Blade and some of Lloyds work have the same combinations of instruments and (apart from Lloyd) they have the same vision in what music should be. It appears to be hip, but more noteworthy I like it. (Why? Read my Rosenwinkel en Lupri reviews.) The negative part of this combi, like most combinations in the jazz scene to day is that we most likely will never see it play on stage. I hope this ensemble will be playing on the NSJF 2006.

The five star quality of this album is apart from craftsmanship and a combination of sound and instruments also due to recording quality, the ECM-policy and composing skills. The ECM-vision is not necessarily a negative one, but their sound can get boring if they do it over and over with out adjusting it. The ECM recording quality is as almost always outstanding. For example the drums are nicely balanced and perfectly audible between the other instruments. But it is the composing skill of Johnson and Elias that make this album genuinely great. All compositions have that sense of direction. In all tracks is that emotion that takes you along like the wind does with the snow (track 6). And these emotions, these genuine emotions, produce a five star quality. Without it would be mere elevator music. Credit where it belongs!

(FJB/O! 2005)

...and I mean must be listened to, in the proper environment, several times, and then the impact will sink in. The quality of the playing and the writing will wash over you and put you in a very positive frame of mind. I own hundreds of ECM releases and this one stands out as a true desert island disc, along with the recent releases of Tomasz Stanko and Norma Winstone. It isn't a blowing session; it is a timeless piece of art that will be an important element of your music collection forever.

This album was one that I bought because I thought, "I should check out Marc Johnson because I never have" well I got the album, put it on a few times and thought, "pretty uneventful, mellow jazz" After a few listenings however, I really started to appreciate the sly, and simple genius of the compositions! This is now one of my all time favorite albums, I am a guy who goes for the composition and the overall sound more than the individual soloist. Great recording, I have yet to find many more quite like it!

This is one of the most beautiful CDs I have heard in my life.Nobody is trying to show off,they all just play meditatively and sweet.They work and blend together perfectly.My first listen to Elias.Very tasty!I wonder if she can top this on other albums,I doubt it.The drummer!!! What a great touch,just embellishing the others in an understated,beautiful way.Lovano plays with the command of Coltrane but notes are sliding and shining like an ecstatic God of Buddha bliss. Just get this CD and it will grow and grow on you with each listen.I cant get it out of my CD changer in my car,It is MAGIC!!! Some of the compositions-As good as anything in the world.