The New Vision Sax Ensemble's Musical Journey Through Time on CD

Listening to four saxophones, and four saxophones alone, deliver a collection of jazz, ragtime and gospel standards, and you might think of the words "novel" or even "gimmicky." Listening to this new CD from The New Vision Sax Ensemble, Musical Journey Through Time, I thought the same thing. Many jazz recordings these days usually vie for some unique narrative, something to differentiate one recording from the pack of competent but fairly unadventurous releases out there.

Just a few minutes into Musical Journey Through Time, I had a very different reaction to what I was hearing. First of all, and I know that most of you realize this, but there are a lot of different types of saxophones out there, and each one can vary profoundly in tone and expressiveness. (The different musicians are, of course, a variable as well.) NVSE has taken advantage of this by including not only soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes, you might hear a clarinet popping in from time to time. Diron Holloway, James Lockhart, Jason Hainsworth and Melton R. Mustafa also possess that hard-earned sense of unity that creates a unique dichotomy--they perform seamlessly as one, and yet each musician has a style that can be followed easily through each song.

Musical Journey Through Time is as advertised, with jazz standards such as "A Night in Tunisia" and "Round Midnight" leading backward through selections from Porgy and Bess and Scott Joplin. The ensemble finishes with a somber and eloquent version of "Amazing Grace" that will give you chills. What's fascinating about this program is how four saxes (and a clarinet) can vary wildly in their tone according to the song--the ragtime songs are pure and uplifting, and brief rendering of Leonard Bernstein's "I Feel Pretty" is perfectly whimsical, and "A Night in Tunisia" is played with just the right amount of the exotic and the sultry.

This CD manages to surprise, however, because it is so forward and crystal-clear. I own plenty of recordings from woodwind ensemble and brass ensembles and percussion ensembles and there's always at least a trace of that attitude of novelty, but this recording is exquisitely balanced. It makes sense on its own terms. It's bright and dynamic, even without a killer rhythm section.

Chris Washburne's Rags and Roots on CD

Enid: Yeah, yeah, just list your five main interests in order of importance.
Seymour: Uh... I'd have to put traditional jazz, blues and then ragtime at the top of the list...
Enid: Right, so, let's just say music. That way we only use up one.

How do you feel about ragtime? I know that I love it, mostly because The Sting was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up. (I'm sure a lot of people will say the same thing when asked that question.) Whenever I hear a Scott Joplin tune, I immediately connect to one of the visuals in the 1973 film: the rich and saturated Technicolor compositions, Newman and Redford together, being at a point in the film where everything is smart and quick. Lately, I also think about Ghost World, and how Seymour was such a stickler for the differences between ragtime, blues and other types of jazz. Ghost World makes me smile for a lot of reasons, and one of them is the subtle references to ragtime music.

Perhaps that's why I enjoy trombonist Chris Washburne's new album, Rags and Roots. This is not a ragtime album per se; it takes classic ragtime tunes such as "Maple Leaf Rag," "Solace" and "Picture of Her Face" and places them in a different context. Washburne leads his band through a re-imagining of the ragtime genre through various jazz filters such as Dixieland, modal, Brazilian, Cuban and more. In listening to these Joplin tracks, along with Washburne's original compositions and a few other classics from the era, what you discover is the sheer beauty of these melodies and how easily they adapt into various forms.

Take "Solace," which always reminds me of that late night when Johnny Hooker tells Loretta the waitress that "You know me. I'm the same as you. It's two in the morning and I don't know nobody." Washburne and his band turn it into a "Mexican serenade" with plenty of Latin touches that make it a lively celebration instead of a wee-hours-in-the-morning lament. You'll hear "Maple Leaf Rag" converted into a New Orleans march through the Quarter, and "The Peanut Vendor" launches into Cuban big band rhythms that preserve the melody while challenging your memory on how this music should be performed.

That's the "rag" part, anyway. There's also the "roots" part of the album, where Washburne provides the same revisionist treatment of such old and weathered musical forms such as tango, Irish folk tunes, rumba and so-called "Voodoo jazz" from the Caribbean. You even get a modern and excited version of "Bamboula," which was originally a "racy slave dance" song that dates back to the middle of the 19th century. Washburne closes the album with a somber, horn-driven version of "Strange Fruit" that serves as a "tribute to the many jazz luminaries whose lives and careers were impacted by racism."

Washburne co-produced this album with Grammy-winning producer Kabir Sehgal, and the result is a no-holds-barred dynamo of an album, full of love and dedication. This is also a serious and careful undertaking, one done with great respect for the traditions of jazz. The sound quality is also extraordinary. This is the second of three CDs I've received from the Zoho label--the Greg Skaff album I reviewed yesterday was the first title--and all three sound big and thrilling and impressive. If you've ever smiled at the very thought of ragtime music and the memories it summons, this is a must-own.