GARRISON
FEWELL QUINTET
City of Dreams
Splasc(h) Records
CDH820.2
Guitarist Garrison Fewell was, I believe, based in Boston for quite some
time. Now residing at least part-time in Italy, his first release for
an Italian label, Splasc(h) Records, has him in the company of Italian
saxophonist Tino Tracanna and an all-American rhythm section. As you'd
expect from the personnel assembled for this session, the music is very
solid, very elegant modern mainstream jazz. No electronic gimmicks or
fusion trappings here - Fewell uses a pure, unadorned hollow-body guitar
tone in the tradition of Jim Hall and Tal Farlow. Drummer Jeff Williams
and bassist Steve LaSpina are tasteful, but never workmanlike. Their light
touch and good taste lets the music breathe. Cables can always be counted
upon for crafty, interesting piano. Tracanna is a warm, lyrical saxophonist
- rather like Rick Margitza or his countryman Pietro Tonolo on tenor.
Soprano seems to be his main horn, however: he has a pleasant reedy-yet-rounded
sound on the straight horn.
Fewell's original compositions are a pleasantly varied lot. The title
track is a lilting waltz, just tough enough not to sound merely pretty.
"Afternoon at the Souk" has some Middle Eastern spice to it
- Williams does some remarkable, yet restrained, drumming on this piece.
"Blues for No Reason" is a straight-ahead burner, solidly in
the tradition of the Blue note sides from the 50s and 60s. The remaining
pieces are somewhat less remarkable.
Oddly,
the three cover tunes seem to have spurred Fewell and his band into their
most interesting playing on the disc. "Naima" glows especially
brightly - after a gorgeous opening for solo guitar, piano and soprano
sax enter, followed by brushes and bass after the head. Mal Waldron's
"Soul Eyes", a duet for Cables and Fewell, has a smoky, impromptu,
after-hours feel. "Theme for Doris" by the neglected tenor saxophonist
Tina Brooks is the most sumptuous composition on the disc - a real find
with all sorts of interesting harmonic and rhythmic modulations.
Though
the playing is very good throughout, "City of Dreams" is a rather
polite and subdued CD. Nothing really leaps out and grabs you. Unless
you really sit down and make a concerted effort to listen, the music tends
to pass by unnoticed.
--Dave Wayne
Tracks: 1. City of Dreams; 2. Girl With The Groovy Hips; 3. Naima; 4.
Blues For No Reason; 5. Afternoon
At The Souk; 6. Soul Eyes; 7. Waltz For The Lonely One; 8. Theme For Doris
Personnel: Fewell - guitar; Tino Tracanna - soprano & tenor saxophones;
George Cables - piano; Steve LaSpina
- bass; Jeff Williams - drums.