Customer Reviews

The Jaki Byard Experience

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

 

 

Jaki Byard was a guy who loved the entire jazz tradition, past present and future, and freely used to it in his playing. But regardless of whether he was going out on an avant-garde limb or rollicking with some stride piano, he sounded like Jaki Byard and nobody else.

This album (probably named in order to piggyback on the success of that other Experience) showcases Byard's sprawling imagination, and I guess to a few it might feel a little too schizophrenic. However, I never get that feeling; instead, I hear music that never marks off any part of the musical field as "out of bounds" as long as the outcome is a good one. Roland Kirk was the saxophone counterpart to Byard, and the Byard-Davis-Dawson rhythm section was easily among the best of the 60s (they can also be heard playing with Booker Ervin, Eric Kloss, and others). At some level, you could probably call this a tribute album to Byard's piano predecessors, but it's a tribute that has a lot more to do with Byard than with Powell, Garner or Monk.

"Parisian Thoroughfare" (originally by Bud Powell) stands out first -- the wild, avant-garde opening by Kirk's unison reeds (sounds like rush hour on the thoroughfare!), then a series of intense but more straight-ahead solos by Kirk and Byard. "Evidence" is shorter but has the same fiery approach. "Shine on Me" is an upbeat, gospelly tune with Kirk contributing clarinet. Eubie Blake's "Memories of You" is a lovely duet for Byard and Kirk with an old-time feel (though Byard's solo throws in some subtle modern touches). Throughout the album there's a wry sense of humor, and it's hard not to break into a smile at least once (probably more) while listening.

This is a wonderful, essential recording. In the liner notes to a different album, Keith Jarrett writes, "Although I'm often considered eclectic, I don't think I fit this category because I see various ways of expression as part of the same flow; the same attempt. I don't see it as different 'things'..." I'm sure Jaki Byard would say the same thing about The Jaki Byard Experience.

Sometimes people have trouble accepting radical shifts in music. This is one of those albums you have to listen alone. There are constant shifts into all of jazz's forms...you'll go from ragtime into avant garde all in a mellow laid-back 60's soulful mood... It invokes all of the same vibes as a jazz version of a similar Experience in that era. Roland Kirk just knows that sometimes one horn ain't enough, and one key change ain't bad either. This is not dinner party music, but kinda envokes a lot of emotion in an introverted way.

I just picked up this album recently, but it's instantly become one of my favorites. The shifting moods of the music are the whole point of the album, not its downfall. The four talented virtuosos on this album were capable of playing absolutely ANY style of music, and they put these six selections through the "jazz cuisinart," so to speak. The result is stimulating, adventurous, and occassionally humorous music. Everyone really lets loose on the first track, which makes one wonder why these musicians are all so underrated. Jazz fans, seek this one out!

The piano, that is. Who records an artist like Jaki Byard playing an out-of-tune instrument?

Overripe...I'm tempted to leave it there. Harold Bloom said it best: "The Anxiety of Influence". But the French also say it well:"ça manque de naturel". It is amazing what they are able to do here, Byard and Rahsaan, but it always feel like it borders on the hysterical. It never goes over that edge, true, and there are moments of incredible beauty and virtuosity, especially on the duo Memories of You. But the swing feels a little over-determined, a little driven. This is what has happened, and these two really helped create it: that need to incorporate the history AND make it new in every performance. And they do it better than almost anybody. But what a burden!

"The Jaki Byard Experience" is a good album, but a little on the disappointing side. With a dream lineup like Byard, Roland Kirk, Richard Davis and Alan Dawson, I expected more from this CD. At points, the album is very exploratory and exciting, but the material is often scattered and mixed. There are several duets on the album that shift the pace too drastically. It's almost as if "Experience" can't make up its mind what it wants to experience -- avant-garde, traditional, quartet, duet, etc. Not that it is a bad thing to be so diverse, but to me this album particularly suffers from a lack of continuity.