This Is Jazz

The last time [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Donald Harrison[/wimpLink], [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Ron Carter[/wimpLink], and [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Billy Cobham[/wimpLink] recorded together as a trio was on 2005's [wimpLink albumId="74151690"]New York Cool: Live at the Blue Note[/wimpLink]. [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] and [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] have worked together in a couple of episodes of the excellent HBO television series Treme, but the particular chemistry this trio puts forth has been missed because of its kinetic spontaneity, and even more, its sense of balance. [wimpLink albumId="55765507"]This Is Jazz[/wimpLink] was recorded in March of 2011. It contains originals, covers, and standards. [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink]'s "Cut & Paste" opens the set with a beautiful knotty blues head in which the swing is built-in hard. [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] keeps his playing tight, focused on [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink]'s bassline, as [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] stops and starts in the melody before he takes off. [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] drops out briefly and lets [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] solo as [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] walks his bass furiously. When [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] starts to sprint -- albeit elegantly -- [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink]'s right there as [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] comes back and the fun begins in earnest. [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] flirts with the outside but never quite goes there. This is post-bop playing at a high and imaginative level. On [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink]'s "MSRP," he and [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] introduce a blues theme in unison before [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] enters. His playing is so seamless and intuitive, and compared to the [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] of old, quite restrained. He syncopates, shuffles, and connects with [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] on every level, never offering more than what's necessary, yet swinging like mad. The eleven-and-a-half minute reading of [wimpLink artistId="55"]Miles Davis[/wimpLink]' "Seven Steps to Heaven" is presented with requisite fire and imagination, with [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] pushing hard at the tune's margins and [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] finding something new in the architecture (he played on the original). In the reading of "I Can't Get Started," [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] introduces a beautiful -- and unexpected -- bossa rhythm before [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] goes over the top reaching for something on the horizon. Album closer "Treme Swagger" is a deeply funky, second-line fingerpopper by [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink]. [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] has the breaks and bumps to make it jump, while [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] gets into the bottom end of his bass to make the groove pour out of it. [wimpLink artistId="3528789"]Harrison[/wimpLink] punches up the melody, rhythmically and soulfully, strutting it from uptown to downtown capturing the essence of not only NOLA jazz, but its blues and R&B too. When [wimpLink artistId="13418"]Cobham[/wimpLink] pops his breaking solo and [wimpLink artistId="6811"]Carter[/wimpLink] follows, it's a certified dance number. [wimpLink albumId="55765507"]This Is Jazz[/wimpLink] is the finest offering by this trio to date. Let's hope it isn't another six years before they record again. ~ Thom Jurek