Songs for Quintet (ECM)
Kenny Wheeler
Released January 2015
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2015
YouTube:
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About:
Songs for Quintet, Kenny Wheeler’s final
recording, features compositions of relatively recent vintage, plus a fresh
approach to “Old Time” – which the Azimuth trio used to play – and
“Nonetheless”, a piece introduced on Angel Song. The album was recorded at
London’s Abbey Road Studios with four of Kenny’s favourite players. Stan
Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence and Martin France work together
marvellously as an interactive unit, solo persuasively, and provide support for
the tender and lyrical flugelhorn of the bandleader.
The session turned out to be the last occasion on which Kenny played with other
musicians. He was not well enough to participate in what was intended to be a
celebratory quintet gig shortly after the recording. If age and illness temper
the strength of his sound on Songs for Quintet, the melodic imagination
and the improvisational courage remain; the flugelhorn soloist could not be
anybody but Kenny Wheeler. His exchanges with Stan Sulzmann throughout the
album are full of charm, and indicative of the sense of friendship and mutual
respect that characterises the whole band. Everybody’s looking out for the
leader, which need not imply a reining in of energies. Listen to the roaring of
the ensemble on the strangely-titled “1076”, for instance, and the way in which
Kenny solos above the groundswell of drums and the thick swaths of electric
guitar texture. This doesn’t fit conventional notions of “late music”.
The jaunty “Old Time”, whose bluesy impetus feels midway between Mingus and
Adderley, may sound familiar to long-time ECM listeners. There is an earlier
version entitled “How It Was Then”, with lyrics by Norma Winstone, which
appeared on an Azimuth recording in 1994.
Waltzes were amongst Kenny’s favourite forms, and there are many in his
discography. “A Pretty Liddle Waltz” is more than the characteristically
self-effacing title suggests, its open spaces allowing Stan Sulzmann, Kenny and
guitarist John Parricelli to stretch out. The tango “Sly Eyes” addresses more
dramatic passions over its quasi-military beat. “Jigsaw” embodies a quality
common to some of the loveliest of Kenny’s pieces. Built upon asymmetrical
phrases that fit together according to their own logic, it flows in a manner
entirely natural, eased along by Martin France’s drums, and with an elegant
bass solo from Chris Laurence near the conclusion. Another bass feature, at the
start of “Canter No. 1”, sets up the tune for its initial cantering, due to
evolve, behind Sulzmann’s powerful solo, into full-fledged gallop.
“The Long Waiting”, which Kenny previously recorded in a big band version,
seems ideally suited to the quintet. This version conveys the atmosphere of
austerity and openness that Wheeler liked so much, a beautiful melancholy
expressed so very well in the solos of Parricelli and Sulzmann and in Kenny’s
own vulnerable solo.
Track Listing:
1. Seventy-Six (Kenny Wheeler) 04:58
2. Jigsaw (Kenny Wheeler) 08:43
3. The Long Waiting (Kenny Wheeler) 05:09
4. Canter No. 1 (Kenny Wheeler) 06:40
5. Sly Eyes (Kenny Wheeler) 06:07
6. 1076 (Kenny Wheeler) 02:39
7. Old Time (Kenny Wheeler) 06:11
8. Pretty Liddle Waltz (Kenny Wheeler) 06:49
9. Nonetheless (Kenny Wheeler) 04:54
Personnel:
Kenny Wheeler: flugelhorn
Stan Sulzmann: tenor saxophone
John Parricelli: guitar
Chris Laurence: bass
Martin France: drums
Recorded December 2013, at Abbey Road Studios
Produced by Manfred Eicher and Steve Lake
Review:
Issued one month after what would’ve been his 85th birthday, Songs For Quintet is the late Kenny Wheeler’s tender swan song in a long and distinguished career that included a slew of recordings on ECM going back to his 1975 landmark, Gnu High. While his chops may be diminished here (he plays exclusively flugelhorn), Wheeler’s melodic imagination is fully intact in this emotive outing with tenor saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, guitarist John Parricelli, bassist Chris Laurence and drummer Martin France. Together they navigate the sly twists and turns of Wheeler’s unconventional harmonies with rare interactive aplomb. Sulzmann is an invaluable partner on the frontline and a potent soloist throughout Songs For Quintet, as he demonstrates in his contrapuntal playing on the opening “Seventy-Six” and “Jigsaw” and his daring improvisations on “Canter No. 1” and the tango-flavored “Sly Eyes.” Wheeler’s fragile showcase on his melancholy “The Long Waiting” and his solo on the darkly hued “Pretty Liddle Waltz” are as achingly beautiful as latter-day Billie Holiday. His playing above the fray on the edgy rubato interlude “1076,” which has France creating a turbulent free-jazz undercurrent on the kit, stands as a clarion call. And though hampered by illness during this session, Wheeler holds nothing back on remakes of his bluesy “Old Time” and his intervallically challenging “Nonetheless” (from 1997’s Angel Song ). Guitarist Parricelli, who follows in the tradition of uncommonly expressive and adventurous six-stringers like John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell, provides tasteful accompaniment throughout and also shows artful restraint in his solos on “Jigsaw,” “Pretty Liddle Waltz,” “Nonetheless” and “The Long Waiting.” Bassist Laurence, prominently featured on the swinging, time-shifting “Canter No. 1,” also solos brilliantly on “Sly Eyes,” creating a flexible rhythm tandem with France that allows this exceptional music to breathe. A poignant ending to a magnificent career.
Bill Milkowski (DownBeat)
