The
only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice-cream cone, play a slide
trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now you're free.
Ray Manzarek
Even though I played trumpet for a while as a
young buck I find very little to disagree with in the Doors’ keyboardist’s
summation of freedom.
The mellow, burnished tone of the trombone is
among my favorite sounds in the universe. And to end the week here are two fine
albums by a pair of blue ribbon trombonists: Juan Pablo Torres, the Cuban, and J. J. Johnson, the greatest of all bone players.
 |
| Juan Pablo Torres |
Torres
always puts out good records, and he's outdone himself this time, producing a
masterpiece. Like a handful of other Cuban musicians Torres has begun to reexamine the history of Cuban music instead of
just play it. So on a bunch of the tracks here the music is played by a
saxophone quartet, with the bass role taken by a tuba. Some of the tunes have
percussion and drums, others are a wind choir, and the simple process of
arranging the music for the group takes it out of the ordinary. Other tracks
have the extraordinary rhythm section of
Jorge Reyes on bass and Enrique Pla
on drums; it's modern Latin jazz at its best. Torres plays a ton of trombone, and he's joined in the front line
by Irvin Acao, a tenor player who
could hang in New York. The two of them bring so much to the music, it's like
having a dictionary of American and Cuban musical practice, all explained by
gifted conversationalists. (http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/19865.10)
Track Listing:
01 Afroidea
02 4 x 4
03 Lamento Montuno
04 Rumba Pa los Trombones
05 Ensalada De Mambo
06 Canuto
07 Trommontuno
08 Contrapunto
09 Cubachando
10 Montunostring
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| J.J. Johnson |
Proof Positive
This CD reissue finds trombonist J.J. Johnson in prime form. In fact, his melancholy
minor-toned explorations often recall Miles
Davis, whose group he had played with the year before). Backed on six of
the seven tracks by pianist Harold
Mabern, who at the time was heavily influenced by McCoy Tyner, bassist Arthur
Harper and drummer Frank Gant,
Johnson gets to really stretch out on "Neo," "Minor
Blues" and "Blues Waltz"; "Gloria" was previously
available only on an Impulse sampler. Manny
Albam's "Lullaby of Jazzland," on which Johnson is joined by guitarist Toots
Thielemans, pianist McCoy Tyner,
bassist Richard Davis and drummer Elvin Jones, rounds out the excellent
set.
Track Listing:
01 Neo
02 Gloria
03 Stella By Starlight
04 Minor Blues
05 My Funny Valentine
06 Blues Waltz
07 Lullaby Of Jazzland
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