A doubler on organ and piano for years, Gary Versace professes no preference between them. Similarly, he casts no illusions about the creative springboard for his latest Steeplechase effort. Guitar, organ and drums, and its tenor-fronted variant were the schema by which countless combos plied their trade in the soul jazz heyday of the Sixties. Versace’s interest in exploring the instrumentation might appear like an exercise in redundancy given the wealth of material already available, and truth be told, some parts of the program do feel a bit rote. It certainly helps that he has guitarist Vic Juris and drummer Adam Nussbaum on board. Juris has innumerable dates like this one in his gig history and Nussbaum draws upon his earlier tenure as a member of John Abercrombie’s ECM organ outfit. Both men are tuned in to the underlying grooves that snake through various pieces, but not beholden to them and while Versace holds the marquee, it’s very much an ensemble effort.
All but two of the tunes come from the songbooks of other pianists. An audacious reading of Monk’s “Thelonious” almost sounds blasphemous, the angular theme submerged in a coating of viscous B-3 grease and tempo slowed to a plodding crawl. “Lennie’s Pennies” impresses as an equally odd choice, but there’s an undeniable jolt of pleasure attendant with hearing Tristano translated through organ pedals and stops. Juris in particular revels in the contrapuntal obstacle course alternating between octaves and single notes at a sweat-inducing clip. Carla Bley’s “Floater” finds the trio echoing the intransigence of the title. Nussbaum hangs back with subtle cymbal and tom-tom accompaniment as Juris and Versace overlay tonal swells and sustains that nod to the freer work of Larry Young. Keith Jarrett’s “Prism” and Budd Powell’s “Webb City” further illustrate Versace’s willingness to stray wide of expected material, the latter tune’s intricate bop line working as another satisfying repast for Juris’ hungry plectrum. Versace’s own pieces, titled simply “For Bill” and “For McCoy”, don’t stand up as well and the stroll through the Roland Hanna ballad “Let Me Try” is comparably middleweight. There’s still plenty of substance though, making it easy to suggest the disc to listeners not initially dissuaded by the presence of quotidian components.
[Steeplechase titles are available through Stateside AT prodigy DOT net]
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on December 13, 2007 1:00 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................