{"id":2823,"date":"2014-02-12T17:04:24","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T17:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=2823"},"modified":"2014-03-07T20:32:34","modified_gmt":"2014-03-07T20:32:34","slug":"grammy-winning-trumpeter-brian-lynch-salutes-unsung-heroes-of-his-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=2823","title":{"rendered":"Grammy-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch salutes unsung heroes of his art"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brian Lynch — Unsung Heroes: A Tribute to Some Underappreciated Trumpet Masters, Volumes 1 and 2<\/i> (Hollistic Musicworks) <\/strong><\/p>\n

Recent jazz rarely swings or sings with the fire and verve of these straight-ahead sessions. Brian Lynch, perhaps Milwaukee\u2019s greatest baby-boomer gift to jazz, has trumpeted for such iconic names as \u00a0Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Phil Woods, Eddie Palmieri and Toshiko Akiyoshi.<\/p>\n

With scholarly artfulness, Lynch mines compositions from unheralded trumpeters. He digs deep into their now-cold cases, like a detective with enough of a criminal mind to always get his man.<\/p>\n

Lynch (no relation to the writer) earned the 2006 Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year Grammy for his album,\u00a0\u00a0“The Brian Lynch\/Eddie Palmieri Recording Project – Simpatico,”<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 It’s a near-definitive statement of Palmieri’s mature art and Lynch arranged all its large ensembles and produced the record. Still, he\u2019s slightly undervalued in the landscape of brass giants, which may have inspired his sense of justice regarding these nearly forgotten musician-composers.<\/p>\n

I heard Lynch often in his developing years in Milwaukee, and unforgettably once in a small inner-city club owned by a relative of the great saxophonist\u00a0Sonny Stitt, who played there that night. Lynch was blowing when Sonny noticed something. While Brian played, the bebop legend bent over, grabbed the\u00a0startled trumpeter’s upper back and jammed his palm into his gut, forcing him into a more erect posture to improve his projection. It worked, and Brian’s song burned brighter from that day on. Now it illuminates\u00a0another layer of songfulness buried in the jazz tradition.<\/p>\n

This recording project amounts to serious jazz archeology. Lynch says that almost all of the tunes on the two volumes were never recorded by other artists than the composers and two, by Idrees Sulieman and Tommy Turrentine on Vol. 2, though published, evidently have never been recorded.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something special about Lynch\u2019s dusting off these relative unknowns — as if you\u2019re hearing trumpet bells that gleam fleetingly in sunlight that teases us amid clouds that beckon the blues. And yet here they are, captured in aural amber.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

Trumpeter and bandleader Brian Lynch. Courtesy mwanaafrica.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Tommy Turrentine is a street-corner poem in name and music. Add these names: Idrees Sullivan, Joe Gordon, Donald Byrd, Claudio Roditi, Ira Sullivan, Howard McGee, Charles Tolliver, Louis Smith, Kamau Adilifu.<\/p>\n

These amount to dances with bebop spirits.\u00a0Lynch\u2019s own sinuous playing never calls undue attention to itself, yet it proclaims these compositions\u2019 timelessness, and mourns the loss of their clarion call. \u00a0The project mixes of righteous covers and a few pitch-perfect Lynch originals.<\/p>\n

Among volume one highlights: \u201cHousehold of Saud\u201d by Charles Tolliver, which searches ardently like a hunter traversing the peaks and valleys of time.<\/p>\n

Here’s a video of the recording of Tolliver’s “Household of Saud”:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/vimeo.com\/channels\/unsungheroes<\/a><\/p>\n

Louis Smith\u2019s bebop maze \u201cWetu\u201d unfolds with effortless grace; the chops-busting changes seen as natural as breathing. Meanwhile, \u201cRoditiSamba,\u201d a Lynch composition dedicated to Roditi, saunters like a rake surveying the sun-blessed pulchritude on a Rio beach.<\/p>\n

These recordings\u2019 professional sheen never allows inspiration, conviviality or gutsy swing to take a backseat, thanks to saxophonists Vincent Herring, Alex Hoffman, pianist Rob Schneiderman, bassist David Wong, drummer Pete Van Nostrand and conga player Vicente \u201cLittle Johnny\u201d Rivero.<\/p>\n

Here’s a video of the recording of Tolliver’s Household of Saud<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/vimeo.com\/channels\/unsungheroes<\/a><\/p>\n

\"unsung2\"<\/p>\n

Volume 2:<\/p>\n

This 2013 release is \u00a0a separate CD but, coming from Volume one’s same three-day sessions, they fit together like a twin bros. Howard McGee\u2019s floating \u201cSandy\u201d pinpricks the soul with the sad majesty of memory. Idrees Sullivan\u2019s \u201cShort Steps\u201d enchants while demonstrating how intervals shape melody and harmonic motion. Suddenly you hear Lynch\u2019s own \u201cMarissa\u2019s Mood\u201d (dedicated Ira Sullivan) — a more complex weave of changes and rhythmic phrasing — and understand how composers appeal, with the deftest strokes, to our head and our heart. Lynch\u2019s solo, a gem of sustained melodic invention, and the ensuing ensemble carry the romantic torch like a handful of dancing long-stemmed roses.<\/p>\n

Lynch dedicates the album to \u201cthe great Tommy Turrentine,\u201d brother of renowned\u00a0sax man Stanley, and includes Tommy\u2019s \u201cGone but not Forgotten\u201d which might aptly title this project, if not for the actual title\u2019s click-the-heels salute to these trumpeters\u2019 unsung glory, as a kind of fading musical ideal. The \u201cheroes\u201d add up to a substantial and satisfying reassessment of hard-bop history.<\/p>\n

\"brian<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Lynch relaxin’ at Camarillo? Courtesy berkeleyagency.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Among recent releases on Lynch\u2019s Hollistic Music Works label are two albums that reveal his loyal appreciation of the Midwest jazz scene, and he\u2019s featured on both. Lynch returns to Milwaukee frequently for residencies at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, one of which led to Combinations: Live at the Jazz Estate,<\/i> co-led by Milwaukee-based trumpeter Eric Jacobson and saxophonist Eric Schoor, billed as the Eric Jacobson Schoor Quintet + Brian Lynch, and recorded at Milwaukee\u2019s premier jazz club. It also features a rarely recorded Milwaukee legend on piano, Barry Velleman, a Monk-esque modernist, and the Conservatory\u2019s crackling faculty rhythm section, Jeff Hamann on bass and Dave Bayles on drums.<\/p>\n

The second recent Hollistic recording Naptown Legacy<\/i> is nominally dedicated to Naptown a.k.a. Indianapolis, with its great tradition of musicians like the Montgomery brothers, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, James Spaulding, David Baker, Slide Hampton and others. The date is led by drummer and Indianapolis native Ray Appleton, who has played with many of those Naptown greats as well many years with Wes Montgomery\u2019s pianistic brother Buddy, who spent much of his career in Milwaukee. This date however, features a Milwaukee native, the swinging piano virtuoso Rick Germanson who\u2019s making a strong name for himself in Manhattan and as a recording artist. (Full disclosure: Germanson played at my wedding, but don\u2019t count that against him.)<\/p>\n

Check out all the CD, video, educational and digital download offerings at Lynch’s label website:\u00a0http:\/\/hollisticmusicworks.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

CD cover photo credits: Vol. 1 — atane.net . Vol. 2 — brianlynchband.com\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

A shorter version of this review was published in the Shepherd Express<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Lynch — Unsung Heroes: A Tribute to Some Underappreciated Trumpet Masters, Volumes 1 and 2 (Hollistic Musicworks) Recent jazz rarely swings or sings with the fire and verve of these straight-ahead sessions. Brian Lynch, perhaps Milwaukee\u2019s greatest baby-boomer gift … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-Jx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2823"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3097,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2823\/revisions\/3097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}