1. Nature Boy
2. I Remember You
3. Nightmare of the Mechanized World
4. Sealed With a Kiss
5. Tres Palabras (Without You)
6. Celedon
7. Just in Time
8. So Beats My Heart for You
9. Infrapolations
10. Its 4 a.m.
11. No Idea
12. All Through the Night.
Brad Goode Trumpet
Jeff Jenkins Piano
Johannes Weidenmueller Bass
Todd Reid - Drums.
Last
year I reviewed Brad Goode's previous Delmark
CD, Hypnotic Suggestion, and praised
it highly. Its sleeve-note said that Brad
was interested in "working with elements of
abstraction within standard forms". He does
exactly that on this new CD: performing a
number of jazz standards (plus four of his
own accessible compositions) but taking enough
liberties with the originals to make this
much more than an easy-listening album.
You
can hear the band's adventurousness from the
very first track. The theme of Nature Boy
is stated clearly but Brad and his cohorts
then take the tune on an exciting roller-coaster
ride, with pianist Jeff Jenkins interposing
dislocating chords and taking a solo which
does the unexpected with the familiar tune.
Johannes Weidenmueller's bass solo is accompanied
by busy drumming from Todd Reid. The other
standards are subjected to similarly unhackneyed
treatment. Jeff Jenkins' lyrical piano solo
on I Remember You is challenged by
forceful drums, while Brad Goode's muted solo
is both rhapsodic and playful. Sealed With
a Kiss is driven along by powerful bass
and drums in jazz-rock mode. Just in Time
features a thrusting bass solo which you can
actually hear. And Cole Porter's All Through
the Night is taken at an incredibly hectic
pace, with Brad sounding as manic as Dizzy
Gillespie ever did and Todd Reid racing round
the drums like a wild dervish.
Brad's
own compositions are equally full of the sound
of surprise. Nightmare of the Mechanized
World takes us on a weird journey, contrasting
with the more placid Celedon and the
atmospheric It's 4 a.m. Too many jazz
albums these days are the-mixture-as-before,
treading familiar paths without stimulating
the listener. With Brad Goode, you can expect
the unexpected and you get it.
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
Delmark
DE 5478
