Cowboys & Frenchmen’s new CD Rodeo is a must for the listener
that enjoys the modern jazz sound, but fortunately the project also contains
plenty elements that are grounded in the tradition of the jazz language for
those that thrive on the small group sound and interactions of the likes of Art
Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. The writing and arranging on the album is a
summary of how far the two horn sound has come over the years and what a group
of excellent musicians can accomplish when playing together with a common focus
and sound.
Veteran listeners of the jazz scene will enjoy the fresh compositions
and feel of selections like: “Jazz Styles,” “Brode’s Abode,” “More,” and “Bells
of Mindfulness.” All devotees of jazz make a fetish of holding anything that
swings hard close to heart, but Rodeo does not have problem with keeping
the energy flowing and the foot-a-tappin with straight eight selections like: “More,”
the lightly funky groove of “Man of Constant Sorrow,” the twist and turns of
the Latin tinged “Brode’s Abode,” the playful and conversational “Jazz Styles,”
and the excellent ballad arrangement of The Beatles, “Because.”
These tracks have nothing that is dogmatic in sound or
playing, and much of the pleasure of this album lies in savoring the little conversations
that develop between the players; thoughtfully developing patterns and hip
‘licks’ that flit across the music’s surface, both by pen and improvisation.
The playing vocabulary is forward thinking and pushing new grounds, but lurking
inside is the 1950s classic jazz modernism. Each of the eight tracks have a unique
character that will withstand repeated study: launching off with ideas – toe
tapping grooves, and whirling figures of two saxophones conversing or swirling
piano lines – and the listener will always be surprised to where the hip
writing will take us next.
Rodeo will satisfy any jazz lover, a
scenic roundabout around the predicable sounds with a lineage down into the history,
so freshly done with emphasis on time feel first and foremost, multiphonic
sounds and lively counterpoint, allowing the music to breathe, solos rich in
delicate and percussive motifs and an excellent cohesive group sound. A group
of this caliber will always be a hip and witty ride in the music library. Just get it!
Tracks: Jazz Styles, King Barry, A
Bridge Inside My Mind, Man of Constant Sorrow, Because, Lennon/McCartney, Brode’s
Abode, More, Bells of Mindfulness.