Jazz Times Reviews Warriors

Take a peek at the latest review of Warriors, The Cookers' album. Nice!

David Weiss’ most important contributions to jazz have been the projects he conceives and coordinates. His latest undertaking is the Cookers, whose members have 250 years of collective experience and more than 1,000 recording credits. Weiss plays trumpet and Craig Handy plays alto saxophone and flute. Then there are five major but somewhat overlooked heavy hitters, best known from the 1960s and ’70s, who can still play their butts off: Billy Harper (tenor saxophone), Eddie Henderson (trumpet), George Cables (piano), Cecil McBee (bass) and Billy Hart (drums).

The Cookers is not a typical all-star group but a tight working band. They have been together since June 2007 and play 20 to 30 gigs a year. Warriors is their first recording. On the opening track, Freddie Hubbard’s “The Core,” the solos are fierce and keep coming. But even with all the solo firepower here, Warriors is not a blowing session. The other seven tracks, all originals by band members, include a ballad and two graceful, light-footed waltzes. Weiss’ arrangements, with their horn backgrounds and recurring themes, treat the septet like a little big band.

McBee’s “Close to You Alone,” like all the best ballads, balances emotional exposure with dignified reserve. It is a feature for Handy, whose tone on alto saxophone is luminous but too human to be entirely pure. He searches passionately through the song and the other horns come in quietly behind him to reinforce the crescendos.

Billy Harper’s “Capra Black” and “Priestess” are both dramatic anthems, with tumultuous solos from the composer. On “Capra Black” he announces himself with a guttural roar. Likewise, “Priestess” launches Harper like a slingshot: There is no tenor saxophonist in current jazz whose entrance can create such a jolt of adrenaline. (There was once one named Coltrane.)

Live Review: Mingus Big Band in Montreal

Sun, Erick Labbe

Great review of Mingus Big Band at Montreal Jazz Festival.

Led with assurance by the saxophonist Craig Handy, Mingus Dynasty as a whole has offered us a refreshing musical journey in the corpus of musical bass.

Latin Side of Herbie Hancock Reviewed in Jazz Times

From Jazz Times:

Trombonist Conrad Herwig has collected three Grammy nominations by Latinizing the music of important jazz modernists, beginning with John Coltrane and following with Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter. No surprise, then, that he’s at it again with The Latin Side of Herbie Hancock. Recorded live at New York’s Blue Note, his septet is joined here by special guests Randy Brecker on trumpet and Herwig’s sometime boss Eddie Palmieri on piano.

The compositions chosen for new arrangements by Herwig and/or his pianist, Bill O’Connell, all come from two early periods in Hancock’s career: his 1960s shuttling between Davis’ “second great quintet” and his own Blue Note recordings, and two big-selling mid-’70s fusion efforts with the Headhunters. Three pieces originated on Hancock’s groundbreaking Empyrean Isles, with “Oliloqui Valley” (featuring Palmieri) and “One Finger Snap” kicking things off, the latter an uptempo burner fueled by strong work from Herwig, O’Connell, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez and percussionist Pedro Martinez. Two others from the 1974 album Thrust follow close behind: “Butterfly” floats on a soulful, loping bass clarinet solo by Craig Handy (who later contributes essential flute work to “Maiden Voyage”) and nicely crafted lyricism from trumpeter Rodriguez. Bassist Ruben Rodriguez switches to his electric instrument so that he and drummer Robby Ameen can make like Paul Jackson and Mike Clark on the funky “Actual Proof,” which provokes the hottest of Brecker’s several fiery solos.

Brecker and Herwig also kick up some serious sparks jamming on “The Sorcerer.” But ultimately everything builds toward Palmieri rejoining the others to provide masterful comping and soloing on the two closers, “Cantaloupe Island” and “Watermelon Man.” Mongo Santamaria famously Latinized “Watermelon Man” in 1963, between Hancock’s own two very different recorded versions of it. Palmieri and the interplay of the horns on this adventurous new arrangement make it—and this album—another keeper.



Cookers' Warriors Reviewed in Audiophile Edition

A very nice review of Warriors in Audiophile Edition:

"Warriors show masters at work. For those of us that did not catch The Cookers in their limited tour this past summer, this CD shares the excitement that they bring to the bandstand."

NPR Names Warriors a Recommended Release

NPR just named Warriors, the new album by The Cookers, as one of its top recommended releases:

The Cookers, Warriors

"David Weiss is a trumpeter with an clear affection for the later generations of hard bop. He maintains a band called Point of Departure (after the Andrew Hill album, ostensibly) inspired by the spirit of the late '60s; there and otherwise, his compositions and arrangement start from that hard-driving feel and harmonic richness. And he's the organizing force behind this band of underrecognized veterans, many of whom have been on the scene since the '60s and '70s. As The Cookers, Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, George Cables, Cecil McBee, and Billy Hart — joined by Weiss and saxophonist Craig Handy — have this one disc out now, and another already in the can. These are their original tunes, and they all burn, conveying intensity with a loose, ragged feel."