Wallace Roney's
No Room for Argument is about "heritage, mentors, wisdom, responsibility, and spirituality." This CD is packed with excellent straight-ahead, avant-garde, and free jazz that also features samples from speeches given by Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and audio by Deepak Chopra.
Roney's evolved, imaginative use of his muted trumpet to achieve the meditative and philosophical concepts inherent in the opener "No Room for Argument" is accomplished effectively. Roney weaves its sound into the well-known orations delivered by King and Malcolm X, giving each note a new design that offers his solution to the challenges of performing respected works in a new medium. His mentor piece, an arrangement and direction of "Homage & Acknowledgement," a vital rework featuring the duality of the great
Buster Williams at work on the bassline for
John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," and
Roney's interpretation of the trumpet sounds of
Miles Davis on "Filles de Kilimanjaro" is a exceptional seven-minute masterwork that supplies both the spiritual depth and insistent ground rhythms inherent in the original recordings of the '60s. "Virtual Chocolate Cherry" is a boundless arena for the world-class drummer
Lenny White. He makes a very strong impression and his very presence on this CD serves to further the respect
Roney has for the lasting mark on his playing on this CD -- the open sound of the '60s that
Lenny White helped
Miles Davis to initiate. He gives his Gretsch a workout tempered by excellent solos from
Geri Allen and
Adam Holzman. This CD is a great one and shows
Roney as a leading jazz trumpeter. ~ Paula Edelstein