Blue Note Records 7243-5-42081-2-6
What to say about this disc? It would take some doing for the combination
of John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Dave Holland and Al Foster not to produce
worthwhile results. No worries: there’s enough musical knowledge and subtle
interplay here to keep anyone busy for a long time.
The Blue Note marketers pitch this as a "supergroup," but what we have, at
least on this debut CD, is a continuation of the Scofield early ’90s quartet
where Lovano shared the front line. Like that group’s outings (grab the
out-of-print What We Do while you can), Oh!, despite its
jovial title, offers erudite music that marks the final stage of bop’s
evolution, with hints of the ’60s free jazz and fusion adventures.
The rhythm section is a new element, but has Dave Holland ever fallen flat?
Like Lovano and Scofield, he’s a musician’s musician, able to both lay down
an ostinato-based foundation (as he does on "The Winding Way," one of his
compositions here) and contribute on the front line. The only complication
here is that, aside from Lovano’s periodic smears and somersaults and
Scofield’s occasional quirky effects, none of the three resorts to anything
obvious enough to suggest a flashy personality, and so it can take some
effort to come to grips with this music. Like most of their other efforts,
Oh! risks falling into the respected-more-often-than-listened-to
category, but each play brings the tunes further to light.
Perhaps this disc’s greatest public service is providing more of Al Foster’s
drumming. Most famous for some rather unrepresentative work (driving
Miles’s funk/fusion outings from ’72 to ’85), Foster has seen less of the
limelight that his Scolohofo colleagues. His light touch and impetuous
additions are worth a listen in themselves, and some periodic grunts from
his end of the stereo spectrum suggest that he did a lot to help his
bandmates enjoy the outing.
Oh! is a workout for the ears — the more attentively one listens,
the greater the rewards.
News
Archive- Warren Haynes, Bill Kreutzmann, Devon Allman and More Share Tributes to Dickey Betts
- Visual Splendor: Phish Commence Sphere Residency with Classics
- Listen: Brian Eno Updates David Bowie’s “Get Real” with Nature Sounds
- Listen: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats Announce Fourth Full-Length Album ‘South of Here’ with “Heartless” Preview
- The String Cheese Incident Unveil The Mexico Incident with Daniel Donato, moe., Chromeo and More
- Lettuce Expand 2024 Tour Schedule: John Scofield, Ziggy Marley, BISCOLAND and More
- Watch: Widespread Panic Welcome Daniel Donato and George Porter Jr. for Final Set of Panic en le Playa Doce
- Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band Announce Fall 2024 Tour Dates
Most Popular
- That’s Hot: Paris Hilton Plays Cornhole While Vampire Weekend Deliver Phish, Grateful Dead Medley Jam at Coachella
- Blues Traveler and Big Head Todd & The Monsters Revive Blue Monsters Tour for Summer 2024
- Billy Strings Starts Spring Tour with Bluegrass Standards in Tampa, Fla.
- Bob Marley’s Sons Detail The Legacy Tour, First Joint Run in Two-Decades
- Grateful Dead Release 16 Previously Unheard Outtakes, Alternate Versions and Mixes of “Scarlet Begonias,” “Ship Of Fools,” “China Doll” and More
- Listen: Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney Unveil Collaborative Single “Primrose Hill”
- Watch: Ronnie Wood and Chuck Leavell Join The Black Crowes, Perform Faces “Stay With Me” for First Time Since 1990
- Ventura Offers Array of Alternatives to Skull & Roses This Week
No Comments comments associated with this post