Because I just finished a rather out of the blue freelance gig doing a quick turnaround interview transcription for a great writer (and musician) at Bass Player magazine, I think it is going to be Bass Week here.
But I am on an acoustic bass kick these days, so…
The first time I heard Ben Allison was from a copy of his solo album Riding the Nuclear Tiger (it was a promo copy in a cutout bin at Streetlight Records and just seemed so removed from the rest of the jazz section…I don’t think I had even heard of the Palmetto Records label until that album). It rocked my face from ear to ear.
I spent something like $2.95 on it. It was worth full retail, and I have been a devotee of Ben Allison ever since.
Buzz came out in 2004, but I didn’t pick it up until last year. Yeah, I can be a bit behind the curve at times. What can I say, there’s a lot of great stuff out there, and sometimes you lose track of things.
The title track is probably the one that has the most memorable melody line, and it just sticks with you – offering itself as this kind of mirth-filled , mid tempo jaunt. Green Al kind of shifts around in an almost jam band vibe, but with more suggestiveness and finesse than most jam bands could aspire to. The use of flutes on Mauritania gives its seven minutes a breeziness and self-assurance that straddles 60s Blue Note and 90s Groove Collective in all the best ways.
Allison likes to stay rooted in the jazz idiom, but will throw curve ball inflections of hip-hop and funk, gutbucket blues and squeed-out avant-garde digressions, but it stays pretty coherent — like he’s just playing with your head a little…keeping things just off kilter enough to make sure you are paying attention.
A lot of the album isn’t upbeat as much as it seem kind of just…content. Not in a lazy way, but in a self-affirming kind of way…a “hey, if you don’t feel like conquering the world today, you don’t have to, but if you do, go right ahead…just don’t stress yourself out doing it” way. It’s relaxed, without being a sonic sedative. Well played without being a technical showcase. Ben has it down.
The image above was done by me sometime in 2006 and is based of a photograph from his own EPK. It is pencil, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, triplus pens, tombo markers, gouache, water soluable colored pencils on bristol + digital