Album Reviews

Much was made of special guest star Diana Krall’s appearance when this superb album was announced, and while her reading of Cheryl Ernst’s lyrics set to a Jimmy Rowles’s composition is poignant and heartfelt, appropriately, it is Wilson who shines both as an arranger, comfortably in the grip of Gil Evans, and as a precise master of the hollow-bodied electric guitar.

The set opens strongly with a reworking of “Make It Good,” an old Duke Pearson tune that harkens back to a pleasing time before jazz got over intellectualized, when it was sufficient for it to just swing and make you feel good. The arrangement is appropriately anchored by Donald Vega’s piano, though there’s room for others to solo. Wilson stays back, preferring to take the spotlight on the introspective second tune “I and Thou,” from “Tokyo Wednesday,” a suite of compositions written by Wilson during a period of extensive international travel. Sumptuously arranged for brass and reeds, the tune evokes the glow of a relaxing, satisfying late night interlude after a strenuous day. At least that’s what it did for this listener.

The Krall guest spot is equally evocative and inviting. “Looking Back” is a forthright recollection of a childhood home that Krall brings to life effectively, and appropriately, without vocal embellishments. Wilson’s arrangement drives the point home without sinking into cornpone.

A Brazilian influenced series of “Quadras” takes up most of side two. Wilson’s notes explain both the inspiration (a New Year’s holiday in Brazil) and the musical construction. A mandolin joins the Nonet on two of Quadras, adding a nimble texture to the setting. The side ends with the slinky “Amalgamation,” a segment of a suite commissioned by the Cerritos Center For The Performing Arts as part of a double bill in which Joe Lovano’s Nonet played selections from Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool. The title, Wilson says in the notes, concerns the joining of two musician’s unions in L.A., an event that took place back when Davis issued the original album.

The second disc, mastered at 45RPM, includes a repeat of “Looking Back” plus the title track, part of the commissioned Cerritos Center suite as well as “Melatonin Dream” from the “Tokyo Wednesday” suite. Gilbert Castellanos’s trumpet echoes Miles’s “In A Silent Way” riffs and Wilson returns the favor with chordings drawn from the John McLaughlin playbook.

Engineer Ross’s pickup of drummer Mark Ferber’s snare drum on “Melatonin Dream” will blow your cookies! As for the rest of the sound of this record, it is easily the best sounding record of Ross’s Groove Note records, possessing a transparency, three dimensionality and harmonic fullness his previous efforts, excellent as they were, cannot match. He’s backed off the drums a bit, especially his tendency to pan them across the stage, and this gives the record a greater sense of “live” and less of a “studio” sound.

The horns, reeds, and keyboards sound alarmingly real, with the recording delivering both image and ensemble three dimensionality in spades. Especially impressive though in terms of recording quality are the textures and timbres of Wilson’s guitar playing: they are crystalline clear yet warm and full bodied, so you get the pluck delivered cleanly with a bell-toned follow through and the harmonic structure intact.

A super record on all counts: atmospheric, evocative, richly drawn and emotionally complete. You couldn’t ask for more. Producer Joe Harley has put it all together to deliver his best production to date. At least that I know of.

If jazz isn’t your thing but you’d like a way in, I can’t think of a better introduction musically and especially sonically. Highest recommendation!