When
Vince Guaraldi released the single "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" in 1962, jazz could still score hits on AM radio. The man swinging the drum kit on
Guaraldi's smash was none other than the leader of this trio,
Jerry Granelli. Further, that's him on all the pianist's Charlie Brown recordings and behind
Mose Allison on
Your Mind Is on Vacation.
Granelli worked with the latter on and off for 40 years, and in a nearly 60-year career, he's played everything from bop to cool to free jazz to soul, blues and rock. This trio with New York pianist
Jamie Saft, bassist
Bradley Christopher Jones, is a going concern.
Saft suggested this recording after a wily trio gig where some of these tunes were played and built upon. The set includes three
Guaraldi tunes, five by
Allison, the standard "Baby Please Don’t Go," and two originals co-written by
Granelli and
Jones that make for compelling contrast.
As great as
Guaraldi's original is, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" has been covered often -- and badly (remember
Mel Torme's stinker version?). These cats open it up and treat it like it was written yesterday, offering fresh harmonic, textural, and rhythmic possibilities.
Saft's elliptical intro touches on soul-jazz before establishing the groove, and
Jones uses his bow in the lower register in drone effect.
Granelli's whispering cymbals are out of time but in the pocket and around the melody, framing it inside
Saft's melding of Latin, gospel, and modern jazz threads. He introduces
Allison's "Parchman Farm" with a
Ramsey Lewis-styled rhythmic vamp. When
Jones enters, he's bubbling dubwise underneath the changes, extrapolating harmonically while
Granelli, spare and tasteful as always, gets between creating a rhythmic bridge and swings like mad. "Baby Please Don’t Go" gets turned inside-out (
Saft even quotes from James Brown's "Sex Machine") but is no less accessible for its sense of adventure.
Allison's "Young Man Blues" is introduced by
Jones' deeply funky arco playing. Most of the jam feels like an intro with the trio trading fours in call-and-response, but they get plenty of discovery from the interplay. The final two cuts feature a stridently modernist "Your Mind Is on Vacation" that recalls what
Allison did with it live, improvising on the changes and adding angular dissonance to its Latinized bluesy swing.
Granelli rolls all over his tom-toms and ride cymbals, revealing just how many universes exist inside the tune. Finally,
Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" is offered with
Saft's elegant, heartfelt, modulated chords atop
Jones' languid stride; he reaches deep in an emotionally stirring solo as
Granelli dances around, under, and through his partners with brushes before
Saft brings out the blues to close. While
Plays the Music of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison is a trio offering that reflects the drummer's storied past, it does so in a manner that is utterly contemporary, creative, and ear opening. Get it. ~ Thom Jurek