July 9, 2018

  • Jazz Journeys With a Twist

     

    Sweet Spontaneous
    Michael Arnowitt and ImproVisations Jazz
    Big Round Records 8952
    Disc One: Total Time: 65:10
    Disc Two: Total Time: 65:37
    Recording:   (*)***/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    You might have come across the work of Michael Arnowitt through the documentary 88 Keys (2004) which followed him on a series of concert performances and interviews.  He has made a number of critically-acclaimed recordings and is known for his intriguing programs of classical music.  He also is a composer and jazz pianist and it is this aspect of his musical life that is on display in this two-disc set.  These fourteen original compositions feature a variety of soloists joining Arnowitt on these varied musical journeys that are somewhat in a “third stream jazz” universe.

    The blending of classical, jazz, and world music is on display throughout the album.  The first track, “Against the Wind” is a setting of an original text with the singer interchanging her line with saxophone.    It disappears in the “Bulgarian Hoedown”.  Here a folkish violin line morphs into a jazz number with improvisational explorations (another Bulgarian-influenced piece appears later, “Shapka Swing”, with an almost klezmer like clarinet).  Arnowitt’s music then continues through these different journeys with a nice collection of jazz art song styles and pure improvisational jazz.  There is an interesting spoken setting of a Langston Hughes poem (“The Crossing”), incorporation of Syrian music (“Syria-us”), a beautiful ballad featuring oboe (“Pirouette”) and one for sax (“Elegy for Richard”), structural experimentation (“Third Shift”; “Medium Message”), and funk influences (“Street Strut”).

    The end result is an intriguing jazz album that straddles the worlds of classical and global music in unique ways.  The latter musical material tends to be the source that helps launch the improvisations across a variety of instrumental colors (violin, clarinet, sax, trumpet, trombone, piano).  The songs are dispersed throughout the album.  Sometimes the music recalls those 1960s beat poetry readings.  It is but one more tool that Arnowitt employs in this varied program.  Tracks balance between nice reflective meditations and more involved improvisational jazz making for a good overall listening experience.  The straight up reflective jazz pieces tend to stand out more here, but the variety, and some of the interesting rhythmic folk influences also keep the set interesting.