Catching up on my albums that came out over 20 years ago, with Kenny Garret’s Standard Of Language, with Chris Dave on drums. I’ve really never heard him play in a normal modern jazz setting, just a few videos of him playing live in the sort of experimental hip hop setting for which he’s become best known.
Putting the usual disclaimer up front: none of what follows is criticism, I’m not judging or “rating” anything or anyone, apart from saying the musicians and album are magnificent. I’m talking about my own listening and understanding, that is the only thing I’m commenting on.
Let’s listen:
With the above disclaimer in full effect, for me, Dave is really crowding the sonic envelope here, tangling with every single thing that happens. Right up in the space of the soloist, and not too many events pass that are not also stated or assertively supported by the drums. We’re in this area of extremely skilled individuals going at it basically as hard as they can— I saw Dennis Chambers doing this with Mike Stern / Bob Berg years ago, it’s not a new thing. Or Joey Baron playing duo with Bill Frisell, Vinnie Colaiuta with his piano trio. Many other occasions and recordings. And I have no doubt Dave could go harder— so this is maybe a relatively balanced entry in that genre. To my poor ears it’s still a very assertive performance.
I’ve described it as festival playing, before— really about wowing a festival crowd, and dominating a lineup, rather than about pure listening. Kenny Garrett as an artist is kind of positioned this way, as a festival headliner guaranteed to excite an audience. I don’t guess any of the players actually think that way; to me it’s how this kind of music functions commercially.
I’m usually resistant to it— my listening taste wants more of a balance, I think I’m inclined to want the material to be supported first, with the blowing coming second. The material here is very strong, it didn’t need to be saved by the blowing. It’s not unreasonable thing to want. If you go to a movie, the goal is not necessarily to just see one actor acting the absolute living motherf*cking sh*t out of every scene.
A little more language on the site than in the past.
…I’ve likened Buddy Rich to Tom Cruise before, they perform at you really hard, which… you don’t want that all the time. The solution to that is not just for Rich/Cruise to be hipper than they are.
This is what I have to get past to really hear what’s going on here, to hear Dave’s particular kind of lyricism, which is the only thing that interests me about any player. Listening to Ed Blackwell or Billy Higgins or Jack Dejohnette or Roy Haynes we don’t just listen to be energized and overwhelmed by their abilities, we’re listening for their song. With them, it’s very plain, I don’t have to work to hear it, it doesn’t have to fight its way past their talent for me to hear it.
When a piece of music strikes me as busy, the real emotion empties out— like a drum or cymbal tone, or rhythmic move, whatever musical thing that would normally convey some emotion, transforms into some other kind of energy that may be overwhelming, but a little bit empty.
Those are the listening dynamics I’m dealing with with recordings like this. Listening to the individual tracks:
What Is This Thing Called Love – tempo = 296 / half note = 148
Standard tune, barn burning tempo. Maybe the most extreme tune on the record for what I’m talking about above, Dave is really tangling with every soloist. Piano is very active comping, which doesn’t lessen the feeling of busyness. Charnett Moffett— that’s the bassist here— is like Godzilla, or Freddie Hubbard, just pure power. I wonder when they did this in the session, somehow I think it was the last thing.
Kurita Sensei – tempo = 165
Modal waltz with a really strong pull towards 6/8. Or it’s a waltz-like 6/8, whatever you want to call it. There’s a little bit of a typical groove played at the beginning, after that it’s mostly blowing. Later on many phrases break down approximately to 2 bars time plus 6 bars hard blowing. Love Vernell Brown Jr.’s piano solo here, I feel my attention is being competed for there. Noting that Brown tragically passed away at age 50 in 2022, RIP. Track is surprisingly short, a real journey there in four minutes and twenty seconds.
Xyz – tempo = 272 / half note = 136
Another cooker, cool, tricky tune. Again Dave pushing really hard on the blowing. In all this I never get a great feel for how he handles the ride cymbal— it’s there, the sound is a bit transparent, overwhelmed by the snare drum, which is very active, very forward in the mix— in my listening situation at least.
Native Tongue – tempo = 198 / half note = 99
Sweet Metheny-like straight 8th tune. Drums are really lovely on this, but with all that came before, everything sounds like too much now. My ears are blown out. If the whole album were balanced this way, I probably would have loved it.
Chief Blackwater – tempo = 270 / half note = 135
Burning, again. They’ve done well constraining the lengths of these tunes for the album, most of these could easily go on for 20 minutes. Charnett Moffett, again, is a beast. I would like for him to be allowed to be the most intense thing happening, for a moment.
Doc Tone’s Short Speech – tempo = 170
Another very modern tune straight 8th tune, with a vamp on a Brazilian-type rhythm. Not sure I needed the drums to state it so forcefully and literally. Once again I feel I’ve been set up to be making critical complaints, but this is generally within the normal range of what I want to hear in music.
Just A Second To Catch My Breath – 58 bpm
Ballad, lovely tune, everyone’s lovely on this.
Gendai – tempo = 266 / half note = 133
My ears are burned out. Noting similar tempos of these faster entries— and that they’re not exceptionally fast. This composition is reminiscent of something very famous, very irritated that it escapes me at the moment.
This has become mostly about my feelings about too much of a certain kind of drumming, which I didn’t intend. I wanted to hear the man, but, strangely, I don’t feel like I’m hearing the real guy. I feel the same way if a player takes zero liberties, a la Connie Kay. I’ll continue listening, and look for other records.
I should be clear, too— I don’t hear a chops guy faking being a jazz drummer here, somebody from another area of music wedged into a jazz setting. This is all squarely within my wheelhouse, the background and handling of the instrument is the same as what we do here. There’s just something funny that happens as we get into the extremes of actual playing talent, and people exercising it, that I’ve long been trying to get my head around.
See also this conversation about an Antonio Sanchez album. And perhaps these about Ari Hoenig and Mark Giuliana.