Ray Comiskeyon a trio of new releases including a five-star review for Bobby Wellins.
BOBBY WELLINS
Snapshot
Trio
Wellins, all bruised, wary vulnerability, full of touching grace and lyricism, is unique among tenors. With an oblique way of building a solo quite unlike anyone else, his freedom with line and rhythm allows him to stay connected to the material without being bound by it.
Backed by a gripping working band in Mark Edwards (piano), Andy Cleyndert (bass) and Spike Wells (drums), he's in prime form on this collection of live performances from the past year. The wry, laconic statements of My Funny Valentine, Caravan, a glorious Old Folksand a buoyant Favelaand Love For Saleare the work of a master - individual, illuminating and respectful.
But he flourishes in the security of a rhythm section alive not just to every nuance of his own playing, but also a worthy trio in its own right. And Wellins proves, again, that originality doesn't depend on style.
www.musicconnection.org.uk
RAY COMISKEY
CHARLIE MARIANO/JERRY DODGION
The Vamp's Blues
Fresh Sound
****
But a gifted front line of altoists Mariano and Dodgion, with Vic Feldman (vibes) and a Rolls Royce rhythm section of Jimmy Rowles, Monty Budwig and Shelly Manne, somehow found the means to lift the session out of the ordinary.
Mariano wrote the arrangements that made much of unpromising, even potentially ridiculous material (the original album's title was Beauties of 1918) and the sextet's exceptional quality and rapport did the rest.
No bridges burned, no boundaries are crossed, but what results is a perfect example of the timelessness of what can happen when players of this calibre find inspiration in each other's company. No more, no less.
www.freshsoundrecords.com
RAY COMISKEY
LEA DELARIA
The Live Smoke Sessions
Warner Jazz
***
A self-dubbed "chick singer with balls", DeLaria is a bit more than that on this live date with Gil Goldstein (piano), Mary Ann McSweeney (bass) and Josh Giunta (drums).
Songs like Down With Lovemay have an in-your-face approach and You Don't Know What Love Is(shared with singer Ian Shaw) a take-it-or-leave-it, mocking quality. But, apart from some taste-free scatting, she knows what she's doing; Love Me or Leave Meand Love for Saleare creatively re-assessed by a singer who can swing and phrase to the manner born.
If a raucous, old-time air, explicit on Why Don't You Do Right(with Seamus Blake on tenor), sometimes leads her to overcook a song - Come Rain or Come Shineand even Love for Saleat times - there's no denying the rasping confidence that fills her work, or her ability to communicate with and command an audience.
RAY COMISKEY
On the face of it, this is just another late 1950s bop date - and a West Coast one, at that, from a time when the East Coast was the bop brand leader. And the material! All first World War songs.
