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| Change is in the air these days, and change has come to Derrick Gardner’s long-standing group The Jazz Prophets. After over 20 years as a sextet with a firm front line of Gardner, trumpet, his brother Vincent on trombone and Rob Dixon on tenor sax, the lineup has been aug |
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 | Echoes of EthnicityNot Rated
Released: 2009 |
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| Change is in the air these days, and change has come to Derrick Gardner’s long-standing group The Jazz Prophets. After over 20 years as a sextet with a firm front line of Gardner, trumpet, his brother Vincent on trombone and Rob Dixon on tenor sax, the lineup has been augmented by Brad Leali’s alto sax and Jason Marshall’s baritone sax, making this new Owl Studios album, Echoes of Ethnicity, by Derrick Gardner & The Jazz Prophets + 2. Along with the new configuration comes a conceptual change, more a broadening of horizon than seismic shift, from the soulful, funky hard-bop roots of the sextet to a wider palette of sounds embracing a “little big band” tradition that also thrived during the hard-bop era under such leaders and arrangers as Charles Mingus, Gil Evans, Ernie Wilkins and Bob Brookmeyer.
“It’s a great instrumentation to write for,” says Derrick of the octet (actually a nonet with added Afro-Cuban percussion from Kevin Kaiser on some tracks). “It has the sounds of a big band but also has the looseness of a small group, so you get a really full sound.” Actually the octet is the smallest ensemble that has one of every instrument in the standard big band: trumpet, trombone, alto, tenor and baritones saxophones, piano, bass and drums. Of course such a lineup can and has been used for solo variety and a loose jam session feel, but here the full ensemble possibilities of the little big band are explored in six charts by Derrick and two each by Vincent Gardner and Rob Dixon. Derrick says he “wanted to include everybody in each tune,” making full use of backgrounds and a full range of ensemble strategies and tonal colors.
Whether it is a big band, octet or sextet Derrick is leading, one goal remains constant: connecting with the listener. Technique and virituosity may be all well and good, but the ultimate test for Derrick is listener appreciation, moving the audience. With that in mind, the music was given a live workout before an audience at an Indianapolis club, The Jazz Kitchen, the two nights before the band went into the recording studio. Here’s a look at the track-by-track results:
Derrick’s “4Newk” is his tribute to Sonny Rollins, whose nickname “Newk” came from his remarkable resemblance to Brooklyn Dodger Don Newcombe, the first black pitcher in the Major Leagues. “It’s my impression of his style of playing,” says Derrick of his original, a 20-bar reworking of Lee Morgan’s “Haina,” a contrafact on a tune with bebop roots recorded by Miles Davis and Rollins, “Four.” There’s a bit of humor in the quirky opening bass line from Gerald Cannon, and the fleet piece features trumpet, trombone, baritone sax and piano (Rick Roe) solos over ensemble permutations of the melody as well as drummer Donald Edwards soloing in and around the out choruses.
Vincent Gardner’s “Afros & Cubans” features a typical 6/8 Afro-Cuban rhythm with Kaiser’s congas. The exhilarating opening ensembles, contrasting high (trumpet paired with soprano sax) and low horns coming together in a brief stop-time passage, led Derrick to comment that “it was like playing lead trumpet in a big band, I passed on taking a solo, I was having trouble enough just executing my part.” Dixon’s solo rides the rollicking conga beat, while pianist Roe’s solo slows it down a bit before a coda of shout choruses hinting at polyphonic soloing.
Dixon’s sprightly “We Jazz June,” with hints of a canon/fugue form, references a poem of the same title by Gwendolyn Brooks. Dixon’s tenor sax, Leali’s alto sax and Derrick’s trumpet take engaging solos. Of Leali Derrick says: “He’s a very fiery, soulful player with great facility. Some musicians rely too heavily on technique and become self-absorbed showing off, but the way Brad puts together his improvisations they reach the listener beyond technique to the soulfulness that he has.” It’s a comment that applies equally well to Derrick and the other musicians on this recording.
“My girlfriend is an emerging documentarian and she’s making a film about black women and natural hair,” retails Derrick, “and she asked me to do film music using ‘A Natural Woman,’ that was a big hit for Aretha Franklin. I wanted to make it different from Aretha’s version, which has a 12/8 gospel feel, so I put it in 4/4 but heard a march type rhythm, like the beat Elvin Jones plays on Woody Shaw’s ‘Zoltan’ on the Larry Young Unity album. But when I described this dirge-like beat to Donald, who’s from New Orleans, he put a different kind of thing on it, like a second-line syncopation.” Although a feature for Derrick, it also includes soulful moments for alto sax and piano, plus an intense, building shout chorus section framing a climactic trumpet solo.
Vincent’s “Mercury Blvd.” is his musical evocation of the main artery that runs through Hampton and Newport News in eastern Virginia, where the Gardner’s grew up. There are echoes of Mingus in an impressionistic arrangement conjuring up traffic sounds and bustle. There’s also a slow-fast time counterpoint between the piano and horns and a double-time feel during the solos, other favorite Mingus tropes.
“I’m a huge fan of Freddie Hubbard, one of my biggest influences,” says Derrick of his arrangement of Hubbard’s ‘The Melting Pot,” a chart he originally wrote for the Michigan State University jazz program’s Octet One when he was the director. Congas add a Latin flavor to the hard bop theme. Of his solo Derrrick says: “The chord changes were pretty challenging; I practiced and came up with strategies for them but it wasn’t speaking to me and I didn’t think it was what the listener would like to hear so at some point I just had to turn the changes over and just play what I heard, putting in a lot of blues inflected phrases as well.” Spunky band figures back his solo, as well as ones from Vincent, Rob and Roe.
Every musical gig can be an opportunity, as Derrick learned when playing in Bobby Short’s cabaret combo at Manhattan’s Carlyle Hotel. “I had always been intrigued by the verses of a lot of tunes I play, but what ignited the spark was those two two weeks with Bobby. It was like going back to school; he sang the verse to every song he did. I didn’t even know a lot of them had verses. He showed me the verse to ‘Autumn in New York,’ so for this album I wrote a horn choral for that verse and an elaborate arrangement of the song as the feature ballad, instead of just doing a ballad with the rhythm section like a lot of leaders do.” The results turn the Vernon Duke standard into a mini jazz concerto or tone poem.
Rob Dixon’s “Crystal Stair” stands in contrast to the elaborate preceding track. “Rob wrote the tune the night before our final recording day and brought it into the studio,” recounts Derrick, who was leery of doing something they hadn’t planned or rehearsed. “But we ran the tune and it had chord changes easy enough to navigate spontaneously. And we needed a tune we could exhale upon and relax after all the complex and through-composed sections and charts.” Kaiser’s addition of a “bastardized Mozambique rhythm” adds a prancing double-time feel to the piece, featuring alto and baritone sax solos before Derrick’s puckish, dancing solo and a bright contribution from pianist Roe, plus congas taking it out.
Derrick’s “The Blackamoor,” inspired by his readings about the Moorish people, is a fast, tricky hard-bop piece in extended, 38-bar AABCA form. Leali solos first over roiling ensemble passages and riffs, and also adds obligati to the slower coda vamp section, followed by Vincent, Roe and a rousing series of shout choruses led by high trumpet.
“I envisioned a guy walking down a dusty Mississippi road,” says Derrick of his ‘“Miss’ippi Man.” “When the melody first came in my head I thought it was 4/4 but when I sat down at the piano it fit in a blues form but not into 4/4 common time phrasing so I thought what I was hearing was a 6/4 Mingus feel. Once I put the arrangement together it was influenced by that Mingus style.” A distinctive baritone sax vamp/riff sets the rocking tone and solos from Dixon and Derrick alternate between the rolling 6/4 and swing.
The tape continues to run as that last tune ends, capturing high-spirited musician chatter and joshing that perfectly encapsulates the exuberant feel of this new chapter in the changing story of Derrick Gardner & The Jazz Prophets, now +2.
* George Kanzler |
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