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Drummer Matt Wilson has put together an excellent program on his new CD, Arts and Crafts. Together with with his quartet of trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Larry Goldings and bassist Dennis Irwin, he performs three originals plus jazz tunes by Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bud Powell and Ornette Coleman and standards by Hal Hopper, George Gershwin and samba composer Nelson Cavaquinho.
The members of the group have fairly extensive experience: Wilson has played with the Either/Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Cecil McBee, Lee Konitz, Fred Hersch, Tim Hagans, Ingrid Jensen and others. Terell Stafford is best known for his touring with Bobby Watson's Horizon. Larry Goldings has led his own groups over the last ten years, in addition to performing with Maceo Parker, John Scofield and Carla Bley. And Dennis Irwin has performed with Art Blakey, Mel Lewis, John Scofield and others.
For Arts and Crafts, Wilson has written "Lester," a tribute to the late trumpeter Lester Bowie complete with Bowie-esque trumpet playing from Stafford, using vocal sounds, mute effects, rhythmic accents, slurs, bends and so on. (Sidenote: another recent CD with a Bowie tribute—trumpeter Hugh Ragin's Fanfare & Fiesta on Justin Time.)
Drummer Billy Higgins is another great musician we lost recently. Perhaps I've been thinking about Billy Higgins more lately since his recent illness and death, but I hear an influence from Higgins on Wilson's playing—check out Wilson's loose, joyous playing and wash of cymbals on his version of Ornette Coleman's "Old Gospel" with his.
Pianist Larry Goldings also makes a strong contribution—he has some nice comping on Rahsaan Roland Kirk's bopish "Stompin' Grounds," where he plays understated piano with a gentle touch throughout. He has a gospel-tinged piano solo on "Lester," as well as a solo on the beautiful ballad "Beija Flor."
The album quiets down with Gershwin's "Love Walked In" and ends with the lullaby "All Through The Night"
— Alan Lankin, June 2001
Release Date: 6 March 2001
Arts and Crafts (Palmetto)
1. Stompin' Grounds (Rahsaan Roland Kirk) - 5:37 / 2. Lester (Wilson) - 5:20 / 3. Webb City (Bud Powell) - 3:42 / 4. Beija Flor (Nelson Cavaquinho) - 5:40 / 5. Final Answer (Wilson) - 4:42 / 6. There's No You (Hal Hopper) - 3:15 / 7. Arts and Crafts (Wilson) - 5:34 / 8. Old Gospel (Ornette Coleman) - 5:11 / 9. Love Walked In (George Gershwin) - 6:54 / 10. All Through the Night (Traditional) - 5:04
Personnel:
Terell Stafford: trumpet / Larry Goldings: piano / Dennis Irwin: bass / Matt Wilson: drums
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last update 30 June 2001