Otterville (self-released)
Andrew Downing
Released October 14, 2016
Juno Award Nominee Jazz Album of the Year: Group 2018
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_meGc4RRuPoE2ojKqV5968iZixsj9zzcYs
Spotify:
About:
Named after the sleepy town in Tobacco Country where Downings roamed throughout the 20th century, OTTERVILLE is a new quintet led by Andrew Downing that evokes the peace, quiet and simplicity of small-town Ontario. It features Downing on cello, Tara Davidson on alto saxophone, Michael Davidson on vibraphone, Paul Mathew on bass and Nick Fraser on drums. The subtle, song-like of compositions and the contained virtuosity of the musicians take a sweet and contendedly nostalgic snapshot of the slow passage of time in the country and the joys that can bring.
Track Listing:
1. This Year’s Fancies 04:23
2. Head Start 05:33
3. All Alone On The Mountain 03:28
4. I’m No Good Without You 04:30
5. Numbers You Know 04:39
6. A Pair Of Eyes 03:37
7. Family Portrait 04:29
8. Rhyme 04:58
9. Fall In Line 05:45
10. Parade 05:24
11. Mooning About 03:54
12. Take The ‘A’ Train 04:33
13. Observatory 04:29
14. Wish 05:16
15. Leaving Me With A Memory 04:02
Personnel:
Andrew Downing: cello
Paul Mathew: bass guitar
Nick Fraser: drums
Christine Bougie: lap steel guitar
Tara Davidson: alto saxophone
Michael Davidson: vibraphone
with
Rebecca Hennessy: trumpet
William Carn: trombone
Recorded Jan 17 and 18, 2016, at Canterbury Music Company in Toronto, by Jeremy Darby with Julian Decorte
Additional recording, mixing and mastering by Jean Martin
Design by Yesim Tosuner
Review:
Andrew Downing’s delightfully woozy, two-disc Otterville conjures a simpler, more communal and friendlier time. It’s a largely medium tempo affair, melodic and, like its gorgeous graphic design, subtly wondrous.
Dedicated to a small community in southern Ontario’s tobacco belt where numerous Downings once lived, Otterville is ingenious chamber jazz played by a sextet occasionally augmented by trumpet and trombone.
While there are influences, including Kurt Weill, street-corner bands and Ellington (the one cover is Billy Strayhorn’s “Take The ‘A’ Train” stretched like taffy), cellist-composer Downing’s voicings are singular, his arrangements transparent and witty. Another figure who may come to mind is the remarkable American composer Raymond Scott, best known for his Looney Tunes scores.
The dynamics are complex, the pacing occasionally surprising. While tunes like Downing’s brooding “This Year’s Fancies,” his bluesy “Numbers You Know” and alto saxophonist Tara Davidson’s romantic “Family Portrait” are lyrical and accessible, they startle in detail: segueing from Michael Davidson’s vibraphone to Christine Bougie’s lap steel guitar in “Family Portrait,” for example, gives that tune unexpected flair.
There’s also effectively a plot within a plot on Downing’s 10th album: frequent references to classic American pop, suggesting Johnny Mercer-Jerome Kern’s “I’m Old Fashioned” in “This Year’s Fancies,” George Gershwin’s “Strike Up The Band” in “Fall In Line.” Perhaps such programming is one reason Otterville sounds oddly familiar. At the same time, there’s nothing studied about these references; they’re a way for Downing to honor the past and locate himself in a grand tradition.
More dreamy than nostalgic, Otterville evokes a country getaway, a place you may not know but where you’re always welcome. The door to this unusual Canadian jazz reverie is open. Make yourself at home.
Carlo Wolff (DownBeat)