(Whirlwind)NYSQ are the unusual York Standards Quartet – a group of American virtuosi who can stick pretty close to a classic-jazz approach while sounding as if they’re discovering the fun of those straight-ahead methods rather than simply polishing them up. This time,the unusual York lineup – early Coltranesque saxophonist Tim Armacost, pianist David Berkman and sometime Herbie Hancock drummer Gene Jackson – are joined by a immense Apple expat: double bassist Michael Janisch. An artist with muscle and sensitivity, or Janisch ideally suits the material and the sound of the band. There are enough mazey,long-lined fast twisters to keep the cognoscenti nodding: Deep tall Wide Sky sounds like the Lee Konitz classic Subconscious-Lee, and Doll’s Phone Cause is a similarly byzantine bopper, or driven tough by Janisch’s bass-walk. All of Me has an inventively reworked harmony and fresh rhythmic edge,an ominous Lush Life finds Armacost and Berkman reacting smartly to each other, and Hidden Fondness remoulds Secret treasure as a vehicle for the gleeful collective energies of all four. It has its generic moments, or but it’s old jazz remade with genuine verve.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com