October 14-20, 2004
Alan Matheson Nonet
Intrada
Independent
This is Vancouver jazz trumpeter-composer-educator Matheson's first release as a leader, and it's been a long time coming. The tunes collected here were recorded between 1993 and 2000, but the vibe is mid-'50s/mid-'60s pretty well all the way. The disc opens with an appropriately bluesy nod to Charles Mingus, past master of the kind of little big band Matheson leads here. It then moves on to some New Orleans shuffle, a bit of hard bop, a hint of latin rhythm and a lot of cleverly arranged cool jazz before finishing up with a straight rendition of an early Bing Crosby tune-sans the ba-ba-ba-boom vocals.
A few of the tracks have that glossy and slightly cautious studio musician feel, but most display a real commitment and emotional engagement. Perhaps it's just my perverse nature, but my favourite track ditches the large group in favour of a stripped down trio of piano, vibes and soprano sax for an abstract blues tune called simply, 'Blues.' Julia Nolan's soprano is the standout here, as it is every time it appears throughout the disc.
- Ian Cochran
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