Saxophonist Ned Goold’s first disc for Smalls comprised a collection of trio performances taped at his employer Harry Connick’s gigs. March of the Malcontents switches the setting to studio and adds Sacha Perry to the equation, a pianist mentored by the late Frank Hewitt and possessive of deep bebop by way of Bud Powell roots. It’s also apparently the last title to carry the classic Smalls look of pastel scripts in vivid reds, blues and purples against a black backdrop. I’m not as enamored with the new design style of solid colors and abstract lines on subsequent releases, but such cosmetic preferences invariably seem trite in light of the music.
At over 76-minutes the generously sequenced program of originals and standards displays Goold’s singular saxophonics at length and in detail. Bassist Neal Caine, who routinely seems to channel the musical mien of Wilbur Ware, and Goold’s son Charles on drums complete the quartet. Goold’s outward resemblance to the late Charlie Rouse in charcoal dry tone and a serpentine style of phrasing is often uncanny. The rhythmic and harmonic complexities of Warne Marsh are another easy set of dots to connect and Goold shares a fair bit in common with his label colleague Stephen Riley. His 12-tone derived improvisations thread temperately through the tunes, materializing in slippery, sometimes willfully smudged modulations that don’t subscribe to predictable harmonic trajectories.
Perry is a master at complementing such expositions with a comping style that accents and punctuates, but doesn’t interfere. The younger Goold’s rhythms sometimes sound a bit staid by comparison, but he keeps steady snare and cymbal-centered time. Swing in a conventional guise is frequently just an afterthought. These four players are after something far more personal and intimate, sourcing subtle eccentricities that invest each track with reliable replay value. Notorious as an unsparingly candid self-critic, Goold’s hair shirt looks increasingly threadbare when viewed in light of the excellence of what’s here.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on February 18, 2007 6:15 PMI'm not sure "12-tone" is an accurate description of what Goold's doing.... I actually had him show me at the piano during a workshop in Toronto & basically it involved splitting the chromatic scale into two 6-note scales that worked nicely over a II-V pattern. Definitely not Schoenberg!
He's a great player & I look forward to hearing this one.
Posted by: nd at February 19, 2007 6:23 AMYou’re probably right, Nate. My understanding of formal 12-tone theory is only slightly better than Phil’s, but I was trying to hear/place the music in the context of Goold’s own comments about how he improvises. I do think the comparisons to Rouse and Marsh made above work well, though. I’ll be curious to read what you think of this one.
Posted by: derek at February 19, 2007 6:38 AMWhat? You still don't understand 12-tone theory after Dan's magisterial explanation in this month's Paris Transatlantic? For shame! :)
Yes Goold is a big fan of Rouse. (The Marsh allusion seems just but he seemed to want to distance himself from the comparison when I talked to him.) -- Oddly enough, though he's now seemingly disenchanted with most post-bop jazz styles, he was (he remarked at that workshop) originally a huge fan of the Art Ensemble.
Posted by: nd at February 19, 2007 8:35 AMI have to confess that I haven’t yet read it. But the lunch hour today seems high time: 12-tone theory & a hot pastrami Dijon on rye, now there’s a tasty combination.
Thanks for the insights on Goold. He seems like a bit of an odd fellow, but that probably goes part & parcel with what makes him so musically interesting. The interview on his website where he basically cops to being at least partially dissatisfied with the majority of his recorded work (up through The Flows) made me scratch my head a bit.
Posted by: derek at February 19, 2007 8:51 AM"12-tone theory & a hot pastrami Dijon on rye, now there’s a tasty combination"
In your place I'd skip the set theory and concentrate on the Reuben instead (or am I wrong there? Can you have a Reuben with pastrami or is that a Rachel?)..
you cannot have a reuben with pastrami. a reuben is with corned beef.
in any case, the 1000 island ingredient on a reuben ruins the corned beef. same with wussian dressing.
derek is doing well to stick with mustard only as a condiment, a code which applies equally to pastrami and corned beef.
Thanks for clearing that up, Mr Chips. I do remember eating a Reuben at some deli up at Lexington and 60-somethingth, and thoroughly enjoying it, but when I told the guy I was staying with in NY that it had pastrami on it he reacted like you and suggested storming the diner and killing the chef. And don't get me started on who invented the goddamn sandwich in the first place.. reams of claims and counterclaims over at Google.
See? Much more interesting than set theory.. but I would like to try eating a Reuben and listening to the Alex von Schlippenbach album in question though
Bon appetit, les copains
Fresh horseradish is fucking essential. I was ordering a reuben at the Santa Anita Jockey Club a couple years ago when the woman behind the counter asked how much ketchup I want.
"Umm. . .no thanks. I'd really love a lot of horseradish though."
"Are you from Kentucky?"
"No. Do I sound like I am?"
"No. It's just that all the Midwest trainers ask for horseradish and give me this look when I suggest ketchup."
Posted by: Michael Schaumann at February 21, 2007 7:38 AMFirst movies, for brain-dead Americans, now ketchup, for those with analogous stomachs.
Bagatellen has well and truly gone down the drain.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at February 21, 2007 8:14 AMOh gerroffit Mr L! If you've been hanging round these parts you should know that the conversation has very often drifted on the comestibles.. Man can't live by bread alone, and all that. Can you EAT your old Barry Guy LPs? I suppose you could try.
Maybe you're not really miffed at all but that final brutal full stop seems to indicate you are.. If not, try a few dots.. or the odd :) once in a while
Meanwhile, if you've never had a Reuben you should tell your local sandwich bar in downtown Athens (that's Greece, fellow Baganauts, not Georgia) to start serving them up. What else do you eat over there? Little white turdlets of feta cheese swimming forlornly in olive oil? Or maybe you're a real 100% English expat sitting at home eating Marmite butties on Mothers Pride milk loaf. Bet you have a tea cosy too. C'mon lighten up for Chrissakes xxx
(ps thanks again for the CDRs - the Altena Pisa quartet kicks ass, as they say where Schaumann hangs out)
I'm glad you like this one. Ned is an amazing player. The longer I've known him, the more I know how crafty he is. Perry and Caine are both really onto something. Charles is actually the only drummer under 60 who knows where that particular pocket is and how to lay it down. Older players say he's like Jimmy Lovelace reincarnated. Ned prefers the bop drum canvas, over which he takes off in triplet time here and there. Ned wants the drummer to just lay it down like that; nobody else but Charles can do it.
So you guys are both right! Ned is using his synthetic scales, but he is playing some tone rows as well. I can also confirm that Shoenberg is one of his avowed influences.
Luke
Posted by: Luke Kaven at February 22, 2007 2:57 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................