Layin' in the Cut

James Carter

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 6, 2000)
• Original Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atlantic / Wea
• ASIN: B00004TJ94
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,865 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The collective electric improvisations that make up Layin' in the Cut showcase the intrepid, high-wire quality of James Carter's free jazz/super-bop side, much as the romantic acoustic arrangements of sibling release Chasin' the Gypsy focus on the saxophonist's lyrical talents. Drummer Grant Calvin Weston and electric bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma afford Carter a loose yet deeply centered rhythmic focus upon which to conceive a postmodern bridge between hard funk and modern jazz. While swing is clearly a second language here (the coda to "There's a Paddle" being an energetic example), wherever Carter dares to tread, he matches his ferocious energy with his band's grace and power--especially on the title cut and "Motown Mash."

Electric guitarists Marc Ribot and Jef Lee Johnson confer an open-ended brand of melodic fluidity and timbral flexibility, enabling the saxophonist to split the difference between John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix, as on "Requiem for Hartford Ave."--Ribot's pensive classical-styled intro and Johnson's bluesy retorts inspire alternating serene and shrieking soprano phrases. On "Terminal B," a trademark Tacuma-Weston harmolodic march leads to a psychedelic free-for-all. Their most amiable radio-friendly collective work comes on "GP," with Ribot's Wes Montgomery-styled inflections gently framing Carter's lyric tenor in Latin raiment. And from his wailing ascent up the scale on "There's a Paddle" to his gorgeous gospel-blues inflections on "Drafadelic in D Flat," Carter's unbridled tenor work is deeply compelling. While these arrangements rarely venture out of the straight vamp mode into the more harmonically expansive vistas of, say, Sam Rivers's big-band jazz-funk (try Inspiration or Culmination), Carter's potential for growth is unmistakable. --Chip Stern

From Jazziz
Carter has many facets, demonstrated once again by Layin' In The Cut. His arsenal here includes tenor sax, baritone ("Motown Mash"), soprano, and maybe a sopranino on "Terminal B." (It's hard to tell since while he's circular breathing, he's also controlling a second, overblown tone, along the lines of Evan Parker.) That could be Carter's f mezzo or alto sax on "Drafadelic in D flat" - I'd like printed credits to inform me, and recording dates would be nice, too.

Obviously Layin' In The Cut isn't about Carter's axes or the enduring charms of brilliant compositions and painstaking arrangements. Four of seven cuts are credited to all the players; overall, it's a series of hang-for-the-funk-of-it rave-ups balanced by one mellow, modal "Requiem For Hartford Ave." Carter shoots off from deceptively casual riffs, carrying his twists and turns pretty far through the thrash and mesh of guitarists Jef Lee Johnson and Marc Ribot, the bodacious bottom of bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma, and the kick of free-grooving drummer G. Calvin Weston.

"There's a Paddle" is the set's wildest track, building up fast for seven minutes and then ending with a blowout. "G.P." is its most conventional, until Carter drops its Horace Silver premise, doubletimes into post-Coltrane/Murray stratophonics, and resolves it all in a squalled quote of the Four Seasons' "I've Only Got Eyes For You."

Given how boldly Carter claims all this music, he must have been raised among Titans. More power to him. The current climate says if you got it, flaunt it: Stand apart from the flock and give the people something strong. James Carter's got it, knows it, and here has made two more very deliberate, divergent, and personal marks. He's not beyond playing a thing or three to get you, and if that doesn't work, he'll play four or more.

--Howard Mandel, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars j.c.'s funky blues fusion, June 22, 2000

By	R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a fine funky album on its own terms, but one that fails to live up to its potential. With the amazing 2-guitar line-up I was expecting harmolodic fireworks, but instead found a surprisingly low-key set. Here are the band's harmolodic credentials: Tacuma played in Ornette's original Prime Time band, Weston played with a late '80s version of same, Johnson has been a member of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society through the '90s -- Jackson the original Prime Time drummer -- and, Carter played on Jackson's WHAT SPIRIT SAY, released by DIW.

This project is an odd combination -- from the cover photo you might expect a smooth Grover Washington Jr.-style groove, but you'd be wrong -- its' a little too wild for that. But it never rises up in wild abandon either -- Ribot and Johnson are never unleashed. (Chip Stern to the contrary, there is nothing remotely boppish here, let alone "super-boppish," and nothing that sounds like Hendrix either.) Carter plays bari on "Motown," and soprano on "Requiem" and "Terminal B," otherwise sticking to tenor. His playing is engaging, but more subdued than we've come to expect, most recently on the superb "In Carterian Fashion." Johnson's "Terminal B" is the track that sounds most harmolodic -- a Decoding Society shuffle. Carter's "Paddle" also gets up out of the groove.

But the best tracks are laid-back, smoky grooves -- "Requiem" and "Drafadelic." That turns out to be the forte of this set. As long as you realize that, and are prepared for the first and last tracks being the weakest, you can appreciate this for what it is, and hope that now these cats have got to know each other, the next time they can really go at it!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding funk/fusion jazz, December 22, 2003

By	Michael Javier (Lanexa, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just when you thought fusion jazz had run out of steam, along comes the irrepressible James Carter breathing new life into the tired old genre. This is the best jazz in a fusion vein I have encountered since Miles did Jack Johnson way back in 1970. Carter blows hard and heavy on seven funkified tracks with the able accompanyment of Jef Lee Johnson and Marc Ribot on electric guitars, G. Calvin Weston on drums, and the nearly forgotten wondrous Jamaaladeen Tacuma on electric bass. Released in 2000 simultaneously with his Chasin' The Gypsy cd, Carter again showed how wonderfully eclectic he is. In an era when music is increasingly of the cookie cutter variety, Carter refuses to be restricted and is ubiquitous in his range of musical expression. Five stars to the most distinct and emphatic voice in modern jazz today for this top notch offering of classic jazz fusion.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Layin' in the Groove, June 6, 2000

By	Nathan Cross (Bloomington, In) - See all my reviews

At this very moment I am listening to this brand new James Carter album. I will admit that I haven't had too much experience with Carter, but I do love his album "In Carterian Fashion." But my god, when I saw this lineup I could not pass it up...Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Calvin Weston, and Jef Lee Johnson! An amazing electric album, and Carter fits in so well. The ideas are simple, yet these guys take the simple and turn it into some amazing improvisational output. Ribot sounds outstanding, he gets better every time I hear him! And overall this album is just superb if you dig improvisational groove...nowhere does the album get boring, it is constantly fresh, moving and inventive.