Young musicians trying to get a foothold in the jazz biz often save their pennies and hire big-name artists to play on their recording sessions. Such a strategy can serve multiple purposes; if the youngster is doing the session on spec -- that is to say, he intends to record himself on his own dime and then try to interest a record company in the finished product -- having one or more famous players on hand might convince an otherwise dubious label-owner to take a flyer on a new band. Of course, once the record actually gets released, the famous guy's fans might buy it, which is to everyone's advantage. And of course, there are obvious creative and practical advantages in having a great older player on a session with a bunch of less-experienced guys.
When Granny Sleeps, a group of young European (Danish?) musicians, decided to go this route and had the good sense to hire soprano saxophonist
Dave Liebman.
Liebman is a pro's pro, seemingly always at the top of his game whether playing with legends or relative unknowns.
When Granny Sleeps -- while a talented group -- falls into the latter category. Besides
Liebman, trumpeter
Kasper Tranberg is the chief solo voice. He takes a
Miles Davis-ian approach to the horn; his sound's clean and unfussy, his lines direct and minimal. Indeed, the band's concept comes largely from late-'60s/early-'70s
Davis albums like
Tribute to Jack Johnson or
On the Corner, which suits
Liebman perfectly, as one would expect. The record is quite well-played, if not terribly original sounding. The listener is given plenty of
Tranberg and guitarist
Niclas Knudsen to chew on, but
Liebman is the main attraction; he's a great, underrated player, mercenary or no, and his contribution lifts this fairly ordinary album onto a slightly higher plane.