| A wise man once said drum solos are like Robitussin - a little bit might be
good, but overdo it and you'll be left dazed and confused in a mental stupor.
Unfortunately, that's not too far from what Jack Dejohnette's quintet doled out.
The pedigree, chops and musical muscularity was present for sure - the force of
the frontline in the form of David Fiuczynski (guitar) and Rudresh Mahanthappa
(sax), combined with the anchor of the fiery rhythm section of maestro
Dejohnette and Jerome Harris (bass), and supplemented by the textural
contributions of George Colligan (keyboards) - is beyond reproach. Someone,
then, needs to explain the need for Dejohnette's inclusion of unaccompanied drum
solos (some nearly twice as long as every other solo in the tune) throughout the
set, first appearing in the opener, the Eric Dolphy tribute "One For Eric."
The set was made up of a variety of material ranging from new compositions
like the slower "Soulful Ballad" (off Dejohnette's newest release, Music We Are)
and the latin-tinged "Spanish Setting," to the classic "Blue," from Dejohnette's
work with the progressive jazz trio Gateway. One cannot fault the group for
lacking novelty, intent or texture (for instance, the beautiful, melodic rubato
intro Dejohnette provided on "Soulful Ballad" or the montuno work laid down by
Colligan on "Spanish Setting"), but more often than not the loose style of the
pieces lacked coherence, aesthetic, discipline or accessibility as the
compositions and solos dragged along in what appeared to be aimless indulgence.
Considering Dejohnette and the boys' facility on their respective instruments
and styles (as well as Dejohnette's presentation of the real goods on his most
recent trio release), before making a real impact, the group is gonna have to
gear down, tighten up and start kicking more ass rather than noodling around.
http://www.myspace.com/jackdejohnette
Photographer: Emily Berl | 
