As part of a seventieth year celebration for Blue Note records, the label convened a collection of younger and experienced jazz stars to play hard bop compositions closely identified with their mid-'50s to mid-'60s glory days. This kind of band has been conceived before -- remember Out of the Blue? -- but the difference is these are not new rising stars, but established musicians who have carved their own identities on other labels, except pianist and ostensible leader
Bill Charlap. Trumpeter
Nicholas Payton, saxophonists
Steve Wilson or
Ravi Coltrane, and guitarist
Peter Bernstein have never recorded for Blue Note as leaders, so it is a curious collection of personnel to process as an identifiable Blue Note band. While certainly a nostalgia trip through these famous tunes, the rearrangements are at times diffuse, somewhat confusing, and lack a certain spark of originality the selections had when they were born. This is not to say the playing itself is substandard, it is far from that via these excellent jazz musicians. These are clearly reimagined tunes, faithful to the precepts of Blue Note, a slight bit cleansed and sterile, but it seems as though they are trying too hard to add new life to material that could be played straight with their own voices for maximum effect.
Wilson's arrangements of
Bobby Hutcherson's "Little B's Poem" and
Thelonious Monk's "Criss Cross" hold the most intrigue, with the former led by his flute in an off minor treatment that strains the original melody, while the latter is a decent treatment, triggered by staggered phrasings and shifting dynamics, especially from
Charlap's angular piano.
Joe Henderson's "Inner Urge," arranged by
Payton, deviates from the original, the melody interpreted by bassist
Peter Washington, with tinkling bass and piano leading to the unified, horn-driven second chorus.
Cedar Walton's "Mosaic" has
Charlap unexpectedly modally morphing drummer
Lewis Nash's arrangement with a denser rhythmic foundation. "The Outlaw," a lesser known
Horace Silver number, has
Charlap again adapting his chart to the color scheme in a feeling closer to
Silver's concept.
Bernstein channels
Grant Green well on his light blue take of
Duke Pearson's languid ballad "Idle Moments," while "Dolphin Dance" is a tick-tock, trumpet paced version that is the most updated track of the date, done without violating
Herbie Hancock's aesthete. This group is a one shot, made to tour and then splinter as the bandmembers go their separate ways as leaders. They are not one notes, but likely better heard in a stretched, in-concert setting than what sounds here like an extremely controlled studio environment.
Mosaic is the perfect title -- jagged edged, asymmetrical pieces laid out in organized form under a bed of black, colors popping out, intriguing, ultimately uneven. ~ Michael G. Nastos