Year: 2005
Record Label: Iacuessa Records
Style: Contemporary Jazz
Musicians: John Bailey (trumpet), Myron Walden (alto sax), Donny McCaslin (tenor sax), Frank Wess (tenor sax), Alon Yavnai (piano), John Hart (guitar), Gregg August (bass/ composer), Eric McPhearson (drums), Quincy Davis (drums), Ray Baretto (congas), Wilson Corniel (congas)
Review: Gregg August’s family legacy is without a doubt based in music. Since his tender age he was--and still is--driven by an eagerness for creation and discovery. August was first attracted to the percussion family and then he gathered around the electric bass. His passage through Juilliard acquiesce him to discover the New York jazz décor.
Sunny Spain (Barcelona) was host for him as principal bass player in La Orquesta Ciutat de Barcelona and then the hullabaloo fire of the City of Light encompassed his soul for a moment as only Paris can do with her child artists. And…as it should be, it has always been an après Paris. The moment after that was the time for Latin rhythms, so he went to Santiago de Cuba where the hips move with the wind on the cane plantations and the rhythms of changüi. A long run makes him land in America in the famous Ray Barretto New World Spirit. Not to mention the old continent saw him already jazzing it up with the music of Ray Vega’s Latin Jazz Sextet. That said, the New York scene is now seeing him shine as a star with his debut band-leader album Late August.
Orchestration is perhaps the trickiest stuff in Latin jazz; nonetheless Gregg August flabbergasts us with an orchestration including plenty of swing, reverberations and candle light. In addition to all these ingredients he adds to his creation top colleagues and an art-cover which is a jewel-like art piece. One feels the need to be mention: August is generous here, as this is always the request of Latin composition. His craft debuts with an Afro-Cuban “Sweet Maladie” in which Alon Yavnai’s sonority is round and percussive, helped along by McCaslin’s flexible and full bits. August’s rendition of “Four Two K” is brilliant and chummy marked with the push along ore-wood structured solos of John Bailey and Myron Walden.
“M’s Blues” has a Miles-like structure while the orchestration is very Latin-suggestive and attentive to every musician’s space. “Treatments in Darkness” recalls a West Coast and cool style in which the horns control the speech and phrases in total agreeing captivity. On “Los Dos Cotós”, the pas de deux of August with “Chembo” Corniel is a joyful and contemporary impromptu. “Melody in Black and Grey” fits resolutely in the aesthetics of modern jazz, more sensual than intellectual. “Eulogy” is where August imposes his ability to switch between classical and jazz by the figures of bass in ostinato and by the melody and rhythmic power of his riffs. His solo gives us the chance to hear a different outline of his great proficiency.
“Deceptions” reveals a crossing of chords and winds where they slip through choruses with a surprisingly ease-going-bop style. “Work in Progress” closes August’s piece of art, impressed with gravity and weaving a luxuriant orchestration around the horns, going from the refinement of textures to the smoothness of drums and string punctuations.
Late August is a splendid creation which after listened to is an awe-inspiring and effulgent launching.
Tracks: Sweet Maladie, Four Two K, M's Blues, Treatments In Darkness, Los Dos Cotós, Melody In Black and Grey, Eulogy, Deceptions, Work In Progress
Artist's Website: http://www.greggaugust.com
Reviewed by:
Dr. Ana Isabel Ordonez
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