Jigsaw - Mike Stern | Jazzbo Notes

Feb

15

Jigsaw - Mike Stern

≡ Category: 1980s, Fusion, Recommended, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

While I was listening to Jigsaw, I was remembering what I wrote about Time In Place, perhaps Mike Stern’s best single release. I wasn’t kind.

Basically, what my criticism amounted to was that the music was dated. That’s true, I suppose.

I also might have mentioned that Mike Stern’s strategy as a composer and bandleader becomes familiar very quickly. The uptempo tunes typically have tricky rhythmic underpinnings on the heads and corkscrew melodies. The ballads tend toward the lachrymose. He generally uses a sax for the other instrument in the front line, and chooses a saxophonist who has a typically New York soul kind of a sound, kind of a cross between King Curtis and Coltrane. His leads develop slowly, have lots of bebop lines and invariably end up with lots of BB King-ish bends.

You can usually spot a Mike Stern tune or solo within about ten seconds. But is this really a criticism?

Isn’t strong individuality often the mark of a great musician?

I think Miles Davis spoiled critics. Miles reinvented himself so many times, critics gets huffy if an artist spends any amount of time developing a specific style. What about Thelonious Monk? He pretty much stuck to one style his whole career and nobody gets on his back about it. Could it be that because he’s one of the pioneers of bebop that he gets cut some slack? Do ya think?

I’ve got to defend Mike Stern. He writes highly individualistic, knotty tunes. He improvises wonderful bebop lines. I wish he would experiment with building his solos on wider intervals intead of relying so heavily on scales, but let’s state the obvious — he’s a terrific musician. He also hires superb musicans like Jim Beard (keyboards), Jeff Andrews (bass), Peter Erskine (drums), Dennis Chambers (drums), Bob Berg (saxophone), Michael Brecker (Akai EWI) and Manolo Badrena (percussion).

So Mike Stern composes and plays within fairly narrow limits. So what? Since when is that a crime?

Jigsaw is exactly what you would expect from Mike Stern - another batch of clever tunes in his inimitable style, expertly played by monster musicians.