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| Indie Lable Showcase: Macktet's Rollin' |
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Author: lbpomeroy
Posted on: Sunday, March 28, 2004
Macktet- Kpasta Records 2003
“Rollin’
The album opens up with “Bolts and Marmalade” a moody melody cries over a deep bumping organ grind. The melody has a nostalgic feel. Saxophonist Ian Hendrickson Smith lays a stream of notes carrying them out and then retracting back to a spare and mournful groove. Organ player Adam Scone canvases the background with that signature watery B3 sound.
The second piece “Bioman Dome” has a Jimmy Smith strut to it. A sassy blues, the group repeats the melody and lets Smith lay licks in a breathy manner. Smith struts and builds with repeating licks. The group sticks to form. Scone takes his time and starts his solo resonate, slow and soulful. His playing is deep and lyrical, tasty. He dribbles notes, and then marches down and plays some more off notes to add a sip of dissonance and range.
“Hot Popcorn” continues on with a feel good swing. A sunny melody ushers in nasty funky solo by Scone, which make the listener what get up and groove.
The Rollin’ takes an interesting deeper turn towards the second half of the album. Beginning with “Aftaburna”, the group lays a more methodic and modal sound, exploring the periphery rather than sitting in the groove. The results are more introspective heart felt pieces. There is also somewhat of a nod towards Bop on some of the melodies such as on “Floods Buzz”, which has a Parker-Kessel combo feel with Smith on Sax and Street on guitar.
One of my favorite pieces is the simple tune “Elmhurst”. It is bluesy, restrained and sensual. Smith is the heard through out the whole piece with a soft flirty croon and Scone whispers on the organ. Drummer Ruggiero plays a tasteful yet present beat that seems to sway back and forth as if slow dancing real close alone on the dance floor.
Rollin’ is a very solid album with some surprising depth. On initially hearing it I had thought it was going to be a rhythm focused groove album. Funk and groove are definitely strengths with the musicians and are heard in infectious form here, but Rollin’ does not end with a showcase of break beat and funky stride. As labeled in LP style on the back of the CD, the first 5 songs are the Hot Side (read funk) and the last 5 songs are the Cool Side (read Cool/post bop). These title are more than just semantics, there is a definitely mood and genre change between the sides. The Mactet ushers in some strong resemblances to some of my favorite musicians, Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Charlie Parker and Barney Kessel and the group’s song writing is strong and mature. I look forward to what comes next from this group and where they take their sound.
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