{"id":5912,"date":"2015-03-16T14:29:47","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T14:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2015-03-16T15:26:39","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T15:26:39","slug":"trumpeter-russ-johnson-reimagines-eric-dolphys-classic-album-out-to-lunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=5912","title":{"rendered":"Trumpeter Russ Johnson re-imagines Eric Dolphy’s classic album “Out to Lunch!”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"lunch\"\u00a0Russ Johnson —\u00a0Still Out to Lunch!<\/em>\u00a0(Enja)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right from the open blast of horns and stealthy walking bass, this transports you to the album\u00a0Out to Lunch!<\/em>, modern jazz at a 1964 peak. The tune, \u201cHat and Beard,\u201d a musical portrait of Thelonious Monk, stakes common ground in startling interval leaps that wind player Dolphy and pianist Monk shared.\u00a0 Nationally-reputed Milwaukee \u00a0trumpeter Johnson dares to revisit the urbane lunch counter inhabited by Dolphy, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, vibist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis and drummer Tony Williams. 1<\/p>\n

Quotidian-detailed and genius-infused, the original album merged astringent structure and sardonic expression. Johnson\u2019s quintet, with pianist Myra Melford and saxophonist Roy Nathanson, forgoes reverent replication and goes for broke, the original material securely in their DNA, and freshly arranged. Johnson and Nathanson\u2019s horn voices interplay like close \u00a0brothers sharing squabbling rivalry and terse love.<\/p>\n

\"russ<\/p>\n

Russ Johnson (center) recently performed selections from “Still Out to Lunch!” with musicians from the recording.\u00a0Courtesy corneliastreetcaf\u00e9.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Also find strange beauty, in \u201cSomething Sweet, Something Tender.\u201d Melford recasts Hutcherson\u2019s tart gleaming-sculpture vibes with her crisp attack and pungent voicings.<\/p>\n

Several inventive extra tracks wisely enhance the original material Drummer George Schuller, is the son of pioneering \u201cThird Stream\u201d \u00a0arranger and composer Gunther Schuller. \u00a0\u201cLittle Blue Devil\u201d from his father\u2019s \u201cSeven Studies on Themes by Paul Klee\u201d open the door connecting modern art and modern music \u2013 and revealing the sense of subtle blues comedy that many people thought \u201cserious\u201d jazzers lacked in the \u201860s.1<\/p>\n

\"lunch\"<\/p>\n

The original album cover of the recording that inspired Russ Johnson’s new CD. Courtesy lectro.ws<\/em><\/p>\n

Plus, their reviving of two obscure but worthy Dolphy compositions, \u201cIntake\u201d and \u201cSong for the Ram\u2019s Horn,\u201d make this a work that expands on the historical context of Dolphy\u2019s original masterpiece. This is the best kind of jazz repertory — pushing forward — as it expands our insights on how modern jazz greats did so, not so long ago.<\/p>\n

________<\/p>\n

1 This is Johnson\u2019s second excellent album within a year following Meeting Point,<\/em>\u00a0which I reviewed in the Shepherd Express, Culture Currents, and NoDepression.com.<\/p>\n

2 Dolphy himself recorded several Schuller Third Stream pieces including \u201cVariant on a Theme of Thelonious Monk (Criss Cross),\u201d and another on a John Lewis theme, on the 1961 Atlantic album\u00a0John Lewis presents Contemporary Music: Jazz Abstractions \u2013 \u2013 Compositions by Gunther Schuller \u00a0& Jim Hall.\u00a0<\/em>Those two pieces are available as part of the Ornette Coleman box set on Rhino Records,\u00a0Beauty is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings.<\/em>\u00a0The complete album is available on a Rhino re-issue. \u201cThird Stream\u201d music strove to blend techniques and aesthetics of modern \u201cclassical\u201d music and modern jazz.<\/p>\n

This review was published in a slightly shorter form in the Shepherd Express:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/expressmilwaukee.com\/article-permalink-25207.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0Russ Johnson —\u00a0Still Out to Lunch!\u00a0(Enja) Right from the open blast of horns and stealthy walking bass, this transports you to the album\u00a0Out to Lunch!, modern jazz at a 1964 peak. The tune, \u201cHat and Beard,\u201d a musical portrait of … 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-5912","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-1xm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912","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=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5923,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions\/5923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}