Songbook - Kenny Garrett

Jun

6

Songbook - Kenny Garrett

≡ Category: 1990s, Highly Recommended, Post Bop, Reviews, Soul Jazz |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

I have a confession to make. I’ve been sleeping on Kenny Garrett. I first heard him in concert with the Five Peace Band back in March, and I was suitably impressed. He managed to hold his own with monsters like John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Vinnie Coliauta, and Christian McBride.

Naturally, when I got a chance to listen to Songbook, I jumped at it, but I wasn’t too sure what to expect. After all, Songbook was recorded more than ten years ago. Ten years is a long time.

Garrett has a good band with him on Songbook. Pianist Kenny Kirkland and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts probably don’t need any introduction for most of my readers, but before listening to Songbook, I wasn’t familiar with bassist Nat Reeves, who does just fine but mostly stays in the background here.

The album’s opener, 2 Down And 1 Across is a hard-driving swing tune. I dunno, but it seems to me like drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts is trying too hard on this tune, overplaying, especially behind Kenny Garrett’s solo. I guess he was trying to match Garrett’s intensity or something. The tune itself isn’t especially memorable. The playing by all is certainly technically fine, but I wasn’t much impressed.

November 15 is a little more relaxed and lyrical, very much in a mainstream post-bop bag. Again, it’s competent and listenable, but nothing all that special. I mean, if I went to a jazz club and saw these guys, I would thoroughly enjoy it, but nothing so far on Songbook in any way pushes the art of jazz forward.

Wooden Steps is another matter. It’s a very original blues, built on a phrase that’s transposed a third below. Meanwhile, instead of going to a IV chord, the tune goes to a chord built on a tritone. Garrett solos based on this harmonic scheme, pursuing the logic he’s put into place relentlessly. In this climate, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts’ intensity doesn’t seem out of place. Rhythmically, the tune initially uses the sort of tribal feel that McCoy Tyner used to employ back in the 70s. Midway through the solos, Wooden Steps goes into burning swing before reverting back to the original groove. Kenny Kirkland kills on his piano solo, using the melody in fragments, and extrapolating from that. Meanwhile, his left hand is very active, crushing out constrasting rhythms. The entire band plays it’s ass off. This is more like it.

Sing A Song Of Song extends Garrett’s winning streak. The bass and piano set out a simple harmonic pattern of I flatted VI flatted VII, using simple triadic arpeggios. The melody is simplicity itself, but is very singable and memorable. Sing A Song Of Song is almost like a good pop song, which is the point. The bridge is a little more complex, but maintains the poppy flavor while still being jazz. The solos follow the concept of the tune, emphasizing melody and accessibility. It all works beautifully.

Brother Hubbard seems to be a tribute to Freddie Hubbard. It has a similar R&B feel to Hubbard’s classic 70s CTI work. Garrett conjoins a memorable bass phrase and a singable melody line to ground the tune. Garrett’s solo is pure R&B and very effective.

For his next tune, Ms. Baja, Garrett comes up with a jazz samba with an engaging chord progression. It’s nothing radical, but it’s nice.

With The House That Nat Built, his tribute to bandleade Nat Adderly, Garrett’s back to R&B inflected jazz. It’s a warm and soulful tune. Garrett builds his solo carefully, as an extension of the melody, utilizing rhythmic fragments and the pentatonic scale.

Garrett even gets in a ballad, Before It’s Time To Say Goodbye. The melody is very simple, mostly eighth and quarter notes, but no less effective for that.

One comes away from Songbook impressed with Kenny Garrett’s scholarship. He obviously has a good handle on jazz history. He knows how to play the older styles and has enough theory under his belt to come up with new wrinkles that don’t sound forced.

It seems like the further Garrett distances himself from mainstream jazz, the more artistically successful he is. If he can figure out a way to distinguish himself in a post bop context, he’ll have it made. I’m not sure what the problem is. In his more innovative work, Garrett has no problem finding hooks. Surely he can do that in a mainstream context. Really it’s just a matter of time. My guess is that he already has it licked.

In the meantime, there’s plenty on Songbook that really cooks. As for the mainstream stuff that doesn’t quite work, it’s not that it’s bad or anything. It just isn’t up to the level of the rest of the album.