Spins

Same Mother
JASON MORAN
Blue Note

Mountain Passages
DAVE DOUGLAS
Greenleaf/KOCH
Pianist Jason Moran and trumpeter Dave Douglas, arguably the two most creative and important artists on the current jazz scene, have each dropped CDs on the same day (Jan. 25), getting 2005 off to a promising start.

While these discs don't sound particularly alike, they reflect shared aesthetics in the two musicians. Both have a penchant for unusual instrumentation (Douglas, more so), and while inclined toward acoustic formats, are open to electronics (albeit not here). Both straddle the line between tradition and the avant-garde; neither is dogmatic about relying on swing-based rhythms. Both use jazz as a basis for their music, but feel free to incorporate a vast array of outside influences, often using them as guiding conceptual principles in any given work.

That last point is especially true with these two releases. For Same Mother, Moran uses as inspiration the blues of Mississippi and his native Texas. Douglas' Mountain Passages runs a bit farther afield. Its genesis comes from an invitation he received from The Festival of The Sound of the Dolomites in Northern Italy, asking him to write music that would be played between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. The organizers sent Douglas some local Landino music, which he said in the liner notes, "seemed to veer between solemn devotional calmness and riotous drunken celebration."

And so it is with Mountain Passages. Backed by his NOMAD band (drums, tuba, cello, reeds), Douglas has written a bunch of themes that sound vaguely European and vaguely folkish, and has refracted them through his own jazzy lens. Some of the tunes are dirge-like, others are cacophonous (especially the Ornette Coleman-esque "Gnarly Schnapps"). One tune, "Cannonball Run," evinces '60s Miles Davis with its oblique melody and shifting bop groove.

The ensemble exhibits telekinetic interplay throughout, handling each hairpin curve with aplomb. Douglas' trumpet work has distilled a vast array of influences, from Armstrong to Miles to Don Cherry. He has major chops, and isn't loath to use them, but ultimately he seems far more concerned with pure expression. For all Douglas' talents, perhaps foremost is this: Despite the lofty experimentalism of his work, it never sounds academic – it's always organic and emotional.

Same for Moran. Ultimately, Same Mother is a more ambitious recording than Douglas', and, as a consequence, it both succeeds and fails more often. For the project, Moran augmented his regular trio (with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits) with guitarist Marvin Sewell, who contributed such an extraordinary dimension to Cassandra Wilson's Blue Note albums. Sewell doesn't sound quite as at home on Same Mother – sometimes his work has the feel of being on the outside looking in – and that's probably at least part of the point.

It should be noted strongly: Same Mother is not a blues album as most people would define it; rather Moran uses the blues to inform his freewheeling, interactive sound. For one, Moran and company are fond of undercutting grooves – digging into, say, the rolling funk of Albert King's "I'll Play the Blues For You," and letting it disintegrate momentarily into free rhythm, as if the music is about to teeter out of control, then righting itself. It's a fascinating technique, but can be disquieting to listeners more accustomed to predictability.

As he wends his way through shuffles, floaty pieces and swinging sections, all of them prone to diversions and jumbles, Moran showcases one of the most provocative piano styles anywhere. He sparingly uses stock jazz lines as a set-up stuff that's far more interesting, be it a big, low-note rumble, a mutated blues lick, a knotty cluster of notes played with percussive force, or any number of out-of-left-field forays.

Here's to hoping that the remainder of the year can provide even a few CDs of this caliber. –

This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 1, 2005.