Clarinetist Alvin Batiste has much in common with his Crescent City compatriot Kidd Jordan. Both men have added immeasurably to the health and longevity of jazz. Both have devoted their adult lives to exposing subsequent generations to music's many creative possibilities and have done so while remaining in close geographical proximity to its birthplace. Batiste's clarinet channels the historical spectrum, from turn of the past century polyphony to the fringes of freebop, and does so with a convivial and loquacious flair on the idiom's oldest reed. This album, his first in some time, is part of Marsalis Music's Honors series. More than a stagy marketing gimmick, the series seeks to highlight the work of elder musicians whose careers have largely slipped past the public spotlight. Batiste certainly fits that bill and the program, made up mostly of originals, taps his under-touted songbook with an emphasis on highly accessible fare.
Echoing Batiste's longstanding educational commitment, the ensemble on hand consists mainly of younger players. Producer Branford Marsalis, a former student, adds sax to three numbers and guest guitarist Russell Malone works as an added catalytic agent on four, his octave-etched style referencing Wes Montgomery and giving Batiste another instrumental billiard to bounce his ideas off. Vocalist Edward Perkins is also on hand to sing Batiste's lyrics, which aren't as inspired as his music. Even so, it’s hard not to be beguiled by the ecological musings of the jaunty opener "Clean Air", a song that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place on Horace Silver's Seventies pop-jazz treatise United States of Mind. Composed in honor of Batiste's grandson, "Bumps" stimulates the players with a busy Latin beat while the closing coupling of "Bat Trad" and "Salty Dogs" swings the stylistic pendulum back in a progressive Dixieland direction. Batiste's licorice stick fares beautifully in either setting, his tart anise tones particularly velocious and ebullient on the former. A case of being back after never having really left, it’s high time to organize that overdue album date with Jordan.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on April 19, 2007 4:03 PMIs that the album title or is this one of a series of Marsalis Music Honors? (Jesus, what a concept)
Posted by: Dan Warburton at April 19, 2007 9:50 PMTechnically, the title is Marsalis Music Honors Alvin Batiste. It's part of a series that has thus far also "honored" drummers Bob French, Michael Carvin and Jimmy Cobb, curated by the "cooler" of the Marsalis siblings, Branford. Curiously enough, Carvin is the only one who merits the signifier "Master" in the PR copy.
Anyone want to place a wager on whether Kidd (a former colleague of father Ellis) will be featured?
Posted by: derek at April 20, 2007 6:21 AMWhich honorable Marsalis family member designed that jacket? Jesus, what a concept. Somebody call Emanem's graphic artist for a redesign!
Posted by: djll at April 20, 2007 8:47 AMHey, it's the candy not the wrapper that counts. That said, I scratched my head on sunset lamp post panorama myself.
Posted by: derek at April 20, 2007 10:54 AM"Hey, it's the candy not the wrapper that counts."
Yeah but you're not likely to buy it if you don't like they way it looks, are you?
Apropos of not this thread, Andrew Hill has died.
April 20,2007 | NEW YORK (AP) -- Jazzman Andrew Hill, a groundbreaking pianist and composer known for his complex post-bop style, died early Friday, his record label announced. He was 75.
Hill, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, died at his Jersey City, N.J., home, according to Cem Kurosman of Blue Note Records. He had released his final album, "Time Lines," in early 2006, a farewell that earned him album of the year honors from Down Beat magazine.
He was still performing just three weeks ago, when Hill appeared with his trio at a Manhattan church.
Posted by: djll at April 21, 2007 1:29 AMThanks, Tom. I just put something up on the homepage.
I dunno, Dan. An ugly-as-sin packaging design didn't prevent me from picking up the Lionel Hampton Verve set or a host of other discs. But I get the point.
Posted by: derek at April 21, 2007 1:58 PMVery sad news about Andrew Hill. I just recently got that Mosaic Select box (which was prompted by listening to Nels Cline's very fine CD of Hill music) and had been listening to it last week. Never got to see him live.
On a Batiste note, yeah that is a pretty cheesy cover, he definitely deserves better. I've seen Alvin play a lot over the years, most recently at an event for the Satchmo Armstrong band camp, of which Kidd Jordan is the director. Both Bob Stewart (tuba) and Alvin Fielder (drums) were on the faculty, so it was cool to hear Batiste play with them.
Another good place to hear Batiste is on those Clarinet Summit records (kinda the blackstick's answer to World Saxophone Quartet, with Batiste joined by John Carter, Jimmy Hamilton, and David Murray). These days he doesn't tend to play as radically as that, but as his track record shows he's versatile and averse to pigeonholes. We definitely appreciate him down in these parts.
Posted by: Rob Cambre at April 23, 2007 7:23 AMSad news to report, but Alvin Batiste died yesterday of a heart attack on the same day he was scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
I didn't make it out to the Fest yesterday, but apparently his set time was put to good use as a tribute by many that knew him well. Read about it here:
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/05/new_orleans_mourns_the_loss_of.html
Very glad I got to see him play many times over the years, including a performance with Ed Blackwell (reunion of the American Jazz Quintet, see the release on Black Saint) that was one of the first jazz concerts I attended (also on the bill - Alice Coltrane Quartet w/Roy Haynes, Reggie Workman & George Coleman - so it was quite a night for my young ears). The few times I talked to Alvin over the years he was always a nice man, every bit the thoughtful educator. He will be missed, and let's hope recordings like this one bring his music to more listeners.
Posted by: Rob Cambre at May 7, 2007 7:50 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................