Earth Jones - Elvin Jones

Jan

10

Earth Jones - Elvin Jones

≡ Category: 1980s, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Reviews, Worth A Listen |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

WORTH A LISTEN

Rating:

I love Elvin Jones, but I’ll be the first to admit that Earth Jones (on the Quicksilver label) is a mixed bag.

The first sign of trouble is the opener, Three Card Molly. Elvin has elected to double the tempo at which he played this tune on his 1971 date Genesis. At the old tempo, the head is expressive of the con game in which a huckster rapidly switches around three cups and makes you guess which cup the pea is under. Maybe Elvin’s point is that the game had become faster by 1982, but at this speed, the melody takes on an unfortunate sing-songy nursery rhyme feel.

When the solos start, things get considerably better, mostly because they couldn’t get much worse.

Terumasa Hino has never been my favorite cornet player. He doesn’t strike me as terribly clean or insightful. His solos don’t really build or have any kind of discernable internal structure. He is also prone to bleating, an occupational hazard for horn players. But at least his lines aren’t cliches. He seems to be thinking them up as he goes along. So, while Hino is not all that stimulating on Three Card Molly, he isn’t offensive either.

Similarly, Kenny Kirkland’s lines on piano aren’t likely to inspire you to go out and take music lessons, but he shows a little more attention to themes in his solo. This is competent meat and potatoes mainstream jazz improvisation — no more, no less.

Dave Liebman is the most focused of the three. He emphasizes and explores the tritone and harmonic approaches to the tonic almost obsessively, like a tongue exploring a cavity in an aching tooth. Then, again, Liebman’s tone on this tune is somewhat shrill, which makes for somewhat uncomfortable listening.

George Mraz walks capably enough, but his lines aren’t as creative as they might be. He also doesn’t seem to vary his approach that much depending on what the soloists are doing. He does his job, but not much more.

The only musician to truly shine on Three Card Molly is Elvin himself, who reacts to and urges along the different soloists individually. He also distinguishes himself in his solo spot. He doesn’t exactly play the form of the tune, but rather the pulse, which makes it a little difficult for the musicians to join in for one last reiteration of the head before the tune ends. Terumasa Hino in particular seems taken off guard, which makes sense. I don’t think he’d played with Elvin before this date, while Liebman was with Elvin for a solid couple of years.

The musicians seem much more comfortable on the second tune, Is Seeing Believing?. Liebman switches to flute. His tone is gorgeous, almost as sweet as Joe Farrell’s, probably the preeminant jazz flautist of all time. Liebman’s note choices when he plays flute aren’t as aggressively dissonant as when he’s on soprano sax, which will come as a relief to some.

George Mraz has a rich round bass tone on Is Seeing Believing?, often achieving a pleasant buzz in the lower register, or sliding into a note with consummate taste. His solo is elegant and thoughtful. For some reason, he is also much more mindful of his colleagues on this cut and interacts with them, instead of being stuck inside his own bubble.

Kenny Kirkland too thrives in the atmosphere of this tune. His playing sparkles with warmth and intelligence.

Terumasa Hino sits this one out, which was fine with me.

The Top Of The Middle is also exceptional. It’s a duet between Liebman’s soprano saxophone and Elvin. The communication between the two is telepathic, the product of a long and fruitful musical relationship. Liebman’s lines are beautiful and long-limbed. They go where you don’t necessarily expect, but seem almost inevitable when they get there. A fantastic track.

Sadly, the eponymously named tune Earth Jones doesn’t work for me. Kenny Kirkland plays electric piano on this one and George Mraz trades in his acoustic bass for an electric. Neither one sounds comfortable in his role. The tune is simple enough. George Mraz repeats a simple bass riff around the tonic and the fifth while Kirkland plays chords in and around the key center. Elvin plays pulse as he’s so fond of doing, rather than strict time. There is some prewritten melodic material for Dave Liebman and Terumasa Hino, but mostly they play freely, reacting to whatever chords Kirkland is choosing.

The problem is, in order for the tune to work, Kirkland has to provide harmonies that are interesting to play off of, which he fails to do. This is a shame, because Dave Liebman is so sharp that he could handle almost anything you threw at him. Maybe Kirkland held back because of Terumasa Hino — I don’t think he could handle such a challenge.

I’m also not too fond of the the instrumentation. Earth Jones has, or could have had, a haunted feel, but Liebman’s sax and Hino’s cornet are too earthbound. Maybe having Liebman switch to flute and sidelining Hino would have been an improvement.

Then we get to the nadir of Earth Jones.

Never Let Me Go is a disaster. Whenever Dave Liebman plays a standard like this, his normal impulse is to alter it out of all recognition. His voice on soprano is so astringent, that’s the only way it’ll work. When he tries to be romantic, as he does here, he just ends up sounding curdled. If Liebman is united with his soul mate Richie Beirach, they can have fun twisting a standard like Never Let Me Go into a pretzel, but Kirkland is the wrong man for the job, as is bassist George Mraz. These guys are mainstream jazz musicians while Liebman is post bop, almost avant guarde at times. If Elvin wanted a respectful rendition of Never Let Me Go, he should have used another horn player.

Once I heard the opening bars of Day and Night, I breathed a sigh of relief. At least Earth Jones ends on a good note. Finally Liebman and Hino sound united in the front line. Liebman is playing straight up bebop on this one, and he sounds great. The band is on the same page for once. Hino does what he has to on his solo spot — he doesn’t stink up the joint. Kirkland contributes a short mainstream bop solo, but mostly he sticks to comping, which is fine with me. That leaves Liebman and Elvin as the major soloists, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.

So, the question is, how did Earth Jones manage to come out so uneven? Here’s my guess. Terumasa Hino was part of Liebman’s band at the time. Kenny Kirkland was with Elvin. For whatever reason, Elvin decided to merge bands for this session. That created some musical tension because Elvin was headed in a mainstream direction at the time while Dave Liebman was into very advanced post bop. Maybe Elvin thought the tension would produce some interesting music. Well, he was right, but on Earth Jones, the quality of the music is all over the map, a rarity for the remarkably consistent Elvin Jones.

My recommendation? If you’re an Elvin Jones fanatic, go ahead and pick up Earth Jones before it goes out of print. Otherwise, download Is Seeing Believing?, The Top Of The Middle, and Day And Night — and leave the rest to suckers like me.