The Plot Thickens - Jim McNeely

Jul

30

The Plot Thickens - Jim McNeely

≡ Category: 1970s, Highly Recommended, Music Reviews, Post Bop |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

I first became acquainted with pianist Jim McNeely’s compositions on his big band release East Coast Blow Out. His approach to arranging is unique, as are his compositions. Jim McNeely’s music sounds like absolutely no one else. He’s as much an original in his own way as Thelonius Monk was. It is a rare and wondrous thing to discover such originality, especially after a lifetime of listening to music.

That made me start tracking down Jim McNeely’s recordings, and in due time I came across his quartet recording, The Plot Thickens. Like East Coast Blow Out, the featured soloist is guitarist John Scofield. Because The Plot Thickens is a late 70s recording, Scofield’s tone is still kind of tinny and thin, but his lines are bursting with ideas. Jim McNeely uses two bassists on this recording who I am not familiar with, Jon Burr and Mike Richmond. Jon Burr reminds me a little of bassist Eddie Gomez in his approach to the instrument, especially his tone and use of vibrato,which is definitely a compliment. Billy Hart has the drum chair and while he gets the job done, he’s not particularly impressive.

Jim McNeely is another story. The compositions on The Plot Thickens are every bit as advanced as you would expect from the man who gave us East Coast Blow Out. He has a tendency to create chords which are created from groups of triads in different keys. That gives his soloists the choice of improvising in either key. It creates a wonderful harmonic ambiguity. And that’s only one trick in his bag. Jim McNeely has dozens.

McNeely allows himself much more solo space on The Plot Thickens than East Coast Blow Out and he utilizes it magnificently. He spins out endless ideas of daunting complexity, but manages to maintain a sense of enviable lyricism.

You could actually stick The Plot Thickens into the CD player and work on your tax returns, and it wouldn’t bother you. On the other hand, if you put on the headphones and listened closely, you would get a whole semester’s worth of education in piano technique and modern jazz harmony every time you played it.

If I haven’t given The Plot Thickens five stars, it’s because I believe the best works of art are even more accessible than this. They can succeed on many layers at once, even at the simple layer of popular music. (That’s part of what makes John Scofield such a genius.) The Plot Thickens demands that you meet it more than halfway, on it’s terms. Some people would say that is hardly a flaw, and they just might be right. Maybe I’m just lazy and a wuss.

But one thing is for sure — Jim McNeely is a criminally overlooked pianist and composer, and The Plot Thickens is chock full of complex, unique, interesting music, beautifully played.