GERRY HEMINGWAY QUARTET
Devils Paradise
Clean Feed
CF010CD


Akin to one of those greatest hits plus packages rock bands turn out all the time, drummer Gerry Hemingway's exceptional new CD features new versions of six of his older compositions plus two new pieces.

But this is improvised jazz, not rock music after all, so while you may recognize the heads, these updated versions are not only different from earlier ones, but in some cases superior. Drummer Shelly Manne once famously quipped: "We're jazz musicians, which means that we never play the same thing once." So improvisers like Hemingway's crew pride themselves on how many variants they can wring out of a familiar line. For comparison, consider how many times Thelonious Monk must have played "Epistrophy" or Duke Ellington "Satin Doll." But each time they -- like Hemingway & Co. -- strove to make them new again.

Monk and Ellington were also able to introduce new ways of tackling older compositions because they could rely on familiar players to find new ways to say things. Here, Hemingway does so as well. He and brassy trombonist Ray Anderson have played together since 1976; he worked with solid bassist Mark Dresser even before that, including almost a decade in Anthony Braxton's classic quartet. Meanwhile tenor man Ellery Eskelin has been part of Hemingway's quartet since the late 1990s, when he wasn't playing in his own trio or with bassist Mark Helias -- another longtime Anderson and Hemingway associate -- whose "Gentle Ben" is the only non-Hemingway composition on this CD.

Want an idea of how a bassist and drummer should function? Listen to the Latinesque "Tom Skwella," where Hemingway's rasping tap-dancer-like tattoo and Dresser's unvarying bass patterns provide the backdrop for Eskelin and Anderson pitching grace notes back and forth. Anderson's serpentine, on-the-beat slide work purrs for a time, then higher pitched, starts whinnying and nickering. Eskelin answers with a mid-range legato tone, then also modulates skywards.

Or consider "Full Off," another of the drummer's tunes that in the course of development already sounds familiar. Directing the beat, Hemingway torques the line with a Jazz Messengers-like funkiness as Dresser shows of his walking bass style. As long-lined tenor tones slowly advances the theme, Anderson slurs out sibilant spit tones and heavily accented notes. Soon he's screaming through his plunger mute, shaking out triplets and what sounds awfully like how a moose buck react if he was caught in a barbed wire fence. Hemingway's ratamacues keep everything under control as the theme lopes from player to player unexpectedly popping up as if it was Sylvester the cat stalking Tweety Bird.

Tenorman Eskelin gets to do his singing in double-tongued sweeps on "Back Again Some Time," a slower-moving ditty with a melody like an old time country ballad. Could it -- recorded like the rest of the set in 1999 -- presage Hemingway's vocal-oriented Songs project of 2001? No matter, the trilled head is treated like so much brocade by the saxist, while Anderson's pedal point lines and uncharacteristic -- for him -- bebop-styled runs prevent the musical garment from getting too frilly. Dresser strums along as if he was auditioning for a western swing band, while Hemingway pushes the piece with snare rolls and smashed cymbal work.

Then there's "Toombow," another of what could be termed Hem's Greatest Hits. Here Anderson starts out so low-pitched that his timbres seem to begin between his teeth. As he advances, he fires out a set of chromatic grace notes, each one lower than the next. After a defining snare drum splatter, the rhythm section increases the tempo to such an extent that it seems that unison saxophone and trombone are playing variations on a mazurka. Eskelin has a slithering, circular, double tonguing outing, Anderson growls and flutters, and the drummer brings everything to a halt with cymbal chings and concentrated bop-like whacks from his tom toms.

Veteran Hemingway fans should revel in his recasting of several tunes; newbies can discover his talent for the first time. And add another volume of fine performances that the drummer's groups are adding to the library of recorded jazz literature.


-- Ken Waxman


Track Listing: 1. Devils Paradise; 2. If You Like; 3. Johnny's Corner Store; 4. Full Off; 5. Back Again Some Time; 6. Toombow; 7. Gentle Ben; 8. Tom Skwella


Personnel: Ray Anderson, trombone; Ellery Eskelin, tenor saxophone; Mark Dresser, bass; Gerry Hemingway, drums