Personnel:
Matt Renzi (ts), Masa Kamaguchi (b), Jimmy Weinstein (d)
Reference: FSNT-113
Bar code: 8427328421133
As a follow up to their debut recording, the award-winning "Lines and Ballads", Fresh Sound New Talent presents "Dream Life" a fantastic new CD featuring tenor saxophonist Matt Renzi, drummer Jimmy Weinstein and bassist Masa Kamaguchi.
The New York based group has come up with a very interesting development from the previous outing. The album can be likened to a programmatic conceptual piece in the form of pure jazz improvisation. The trio has developed a repetoire that honors, not as a tribute, but as a point of departure, the compositions of Ornette Coleman, Denny Zeitlin, Tony Scott, Carla Bley and Dave Brubeck. The interpretations are detached and deconstructed from their original forms.
The program is set up as statement, variation, recapitulation and closes with a reprise of the statement, acheived in the sequencing of the tunes. The recording represents a develpoment of the trio¹s concept of playing 'around the tune' as opposed to 'inside' or 'outside'. This way the trio pumps fresh air into the compositions, and gives the listener a variation on some seldom played selections. These would include Tony Scott's beautiful ballad 'Israel', Denny Zeitlin's, 'Quiet Now', Dave Brubeck's 'The Duke', Carla Bley's 'Ida Lupino' and Ornette Coleman's 'All My Life' and 'Blues Connotation'.
The one 'standard' standard, 'If I Should Lose You' is contrasted by the one original composition, the title track 'Dream Life' by Jimmy Weinstein.
The Album is beautifully recorded by Brooklyn ace, Joe Marciano at Systems 2 studio, and the cover art and design was conceived by Barcelona based artist, Jessica Weinstein. The whole combination of the production makes this Fresh Sound New Talent CD, a very special one.
"There is something about the language spoken by the trio of Renzi, Weinstein, and Kamaguchi. It is jazz, yes. But the band speaks seemingly from both inside the tradition and also from an outsiders perspective. And the trio hand-picks its subject matter with just such purpose in mind. On their first recording, the 1999 Lines And Ballads, they drew from Monk, Parker, Roach and Evans. They don't so much de-construct as they re-construct these tunes. And there is no sentimentality here. Why should there be? These are young musicians and they take a seriously optimistic approach. Dream Life, like their first outing, makes a strong statement for many a top ten recordings of the year. It is a must hear."
Mark Corroto -All About Jazz
