Live at Firehouse 12 (Sunnyside Records)
Gerald Cleaver and Violet Hour
Released November 1, 2019
New York Times Best Jazz Albums of 2019
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_LovZJlzoJeS63peGMlTrj81xIBWdjdQ
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5oUTPaG8AaZT9qGjlEgRpe?si=TDDK7_jYRtyRRGlyY9N3aQ
About:
Drummer Gerald
Cleaver has been unfairly pigeonholed as a free jazz player for much of his
career, though his efforts as a bandleader and composer provide much more than
that. Cleaver’s musical output has always bridged the divide between the
structured and the free. Appropriately, his band Violet Hour was named for that
time of day where it isn’t quite day and not quite night, a perfect metaphor
for Cleaver’s music that hovers between jazz traditions.
On his new recording, Live at Firehouse 12, Cleaver reconvenes this allstar
ensemble for a rare performance and live recording at the New Haven,
Connecticut venue. Violet Hour was first assembled for Cleaver’s 2008 recording
Detroit and features some of the most inspiring instrumentalists that have come
into the drummer’s orbit, most of them also hailing from or having connections
to Cleaver’s home town of Detroit, the state of Michigan or the Midwest. The
ensemble is made up of some of the best and most in demand musicians in jazz,
all questing souls who fortunately managed to cross paths in New York City.
Cleaver has known JD Allen since playing with the then teenaged tenor
saxophonist in Rodney Whitaker’s band in Detroit. Originally from Lansing,
Michigan, pianist Ben Waltzer was able to establish an instant rapport with
Cleaver once they met in New York. Chris Lightcap is as dependable a bassist as
one can find and Cleaver has felt their bond as a unit on many performing and
recording opportunities over the years. Woodwind master Andrew Bishop is the
ensemble’s secret weapon, providing an instrument to suit whatever Cleaver’s
compositions require. Since originally hearing him years ago in Lonnie
Plaxico’s ensemble, Cleaver has been impressed with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s
spirit and no holds barred directness.
Violet Hour’s latest recording shows the ensemble’s sense of brotherhood. There
is a unity and trust that leads to the music’s unbridled abandon. Violet Hour’s
music is moving forward and their joy in playing together can be heard on the
recording. The style doesn’t matter as much as the group camaraderie and love.
Most of the material that was played came from the earlier recording, which was
a tribute to Detroit, the city where Cleaver grew up and developed as a
musician and a man. Cleaver still looks to his hometown for inspiration, though
he reflects on the city’s tribulations over the past decades as a metaphor for
the hardships and tests one will face during one’s lifetime. Though things
might look bad, the spirit is there and needs to shine through. It is worth the
perseverance.
Cleaver has found much to admire in the compositional lessons provided by jazz
greats Wayne Shorter and Andrew Hill. These two composers’ influence can be
heard in the pieces that the drummer has penned for Violet Hour. Hill’s sound
variety is especially present through Bishop’s ability to switch between tenor
sax, bass clarinet, soprano sax and flute.
The recording begins with the punchy “Pilgrim’s Progress,” a piece inspired by
John Bunyan’s Christian allegory and is about trying to overcome even though
there will be a price. The piece highlights Cleaver’s effort to provide more
orchestral harmonies in a small ensemble setting, relying on the switching of
Bishop’s woodwinds. On “The Silly One,” Cleaver presents a piece that is
rhythmically omni-directional with a uniquely asymmetrical melodic statement,
the result being intriguing and unsettled. The title of the restrained then
uplifting “Tale of Bricks” refers to the Book of Exodus and Pharaoh’s
unmanageable expectation of brick production from the Jews without the proper
resources. Cleaver takes the parable and applies it to there always being
something trying to kick your ass and you must find a way to overcome.
The waltzing “Carla’s Day” is a piece of pure love dedicated to Cleaver’s wife,
which blossomed from a sketch from his first days of composing into a beautiful
piece developed over the couple’s first years together. The recording concludes
with Cleaver’s anthem penned to his hometown, a place that he reflects on as a
place of grandeur of his youth and its current desolation. “Detroit” is a song
of celebration for a city that will continue to push through, no matter the
challenges it is presented.
Though they are rare, every performance of Gerald Cleaver’s Violet Hour band is
a celebration: a celebration of brotherhood; a celebration of strength and
vision; a celebration of the place that shaped the members of the band. Their
Live at Firehouse 12 is a perfect encapsulation of that spirit and a clarion
call to uplift.
Track Listing:
1. Pilgrim’s Progress (Gerald Cleaver) 05:58
2. Silly One (Gerald Cleaver) 08:25
3. Tale of Bricks (Gerald Cleaver) 11:27
4. Carla’s Day (Gerald Cleaver) 08:25
5. Detroit (Gerald Cleaver) 11:37
Personnel:
J.D. Allen: tenor saxophone
Andrew Bishop: bass clarinet, soprano & tenor saxophone
Jeremy Pelt: trumpet
Ben Waltzer: piano
Chris Lightcap: bass
Gerald Cleaver: drums
Recorded December 15, 2006, at Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT, by Nick Lloyd
Mixed by Katsuhiko Naito
Mastered by Katsuhiko Naito
Producer: Gerald Cleaver
Executive-Producer: Francois Zalacain
Review:
Gerald Cleaver, a drummer, recorded these five lengthy tracks at a jazz bar in Connecticut in 2006. He finally decided to release them as an album this fall, and it’s a good thing: We need more straight-ahead jazz like this to recirculate in the ecosystem. It’s masterly and unpretentious, full of original compositions driven by powerful rhythm rather than by structural complexity, and always propelled along by the springy locomotion of this expert drummer.
Giovanni Russonello (New York Times)
