Various Artists - 2000 - In His Own Sweet Way - A Tribute To Dave Brubeck

Various Artists 

2000

In His Own Sweet Way - A Tribute To Dave Brubeck

01. Blue Shadows In The Street - Dave Slusser

02. Far More Blues - Uri Caine

03. In Your Own Sweet Way - Pachora

04. Summer Song - Bill Frisellv

05. Blue Rondo A La Turk - Ruins

06. Tokyo Traffic - Medeski, Martin & Wood

07. Duke, The - Anthony Coleman

08. Calcutta Blues - Eyvind Kang

09. Sixth Sense - Slowpoke

10. Winter Ballad - Erik Friedlander

11. Jumpin' - Sex Mob

12. Nomad - Dave Douglas

13. Three To Get Ready - Joey Baron

14. Golden Horn, The - David Krakauer

David Slusser

– David Slusser [electronics, piano]

– John Schott [guitar]

– Tom Nunn [bagpipes]

– Carla Kihlstedt [violin]

– Dan Seamans [acoustic bass]

– Chris Ackerman [drums]

Uri Caine

– Uri Caine [piano]

– Kenny Davis [bass]

– Ben Perowsky [drums]

Pachora

– Brad Shepik [keyboards]

– Chris Speed [clarinet]

– Skuli Suerrison [bass]

– Jim Black [drums]

Bill Frisell

 Bill Frisell [guitar]

Ruins

– Sasaki Hisashi [bass]

- Tatsuya Yoshida [drums, vocal]

Medeski Martin & Wood

– John Medeski [keyboards]

– Chris Wood [bass]

– Billy Martin [drums]

Anthony Coleman

– Anthony Coleman [piano]

Kang

– Michael Hall [sampler, drum programming]

– Eyvind Kang [viola, electric piano]

Slowpoke

– Dave Torenzo [slide guitar]

– Michael Blake [tenor saxophone]

– Tony Scherr [bass]

– Kenny Wollesen [drums]

Erik Friedlander

– Erik Friedlander [cello]

Sex Mob

- Tony Scherr [bass]

– Kenny Wollesen [drums]

- Briggan Krauss [alto saxophone]

– Steve Bernstein [slide trumpet]

Dave Douglas

– Dave Douglas [instrumentation]

Joey Baron

– Tony Scherr [bass]

– Joey Baron [drums]

David Krakauer

- Mark Dresser [bass]

– David Krakauer [clarinet]

– Kevin Norton [drums]

Composed By – Dave Brubeck

Executive Producer – John Zor

Often diminished as the guy who introduced unusual time signatures to the mainstream jazz audience back in the '50s with his classic album Time Out, pianist Dave Brubeck, the composer, gets nicely reconsidered on this Downtown-centric tribute collection. Unsurprisingly, most of the participants leave strong stylistic stamps on the material, whether through idiomatic detours or inventive arrangements, so while Brubeck's melodies generally escape unscathed, the performances here bear little resemblance to the originals, most of which featured the great Paul Desmond.

The Japanese prog-punk duo Ruins serve up a banging, high-velocity take on "Blue Rondo a la Turk," the brash Sex Mob blitz through "Jumpin'" (nee "Everybody's Jumpin'") and drummer Joey Baron (with bassist Tony Scherr) tackle "Three to Get Ready"-here more a tribute to Brubeck skinsman Joe Morello than to the pianist-but the remaining 11 selections bypass Time Out, although the Uri Caine Trio's version of "Far More Blues" cleverly interpolates bits of "Take Five." Elsewhere, Pachora infuses "In Your Own Sweet Way" with Baltic sounds, David Slusser gives a Naked City-style sleaziness to "Blue Shadows in the Street," violinist Eyvind Kang lends some Indian spice to "Calcutta Blues," Dave Douglas applies an electronics-enhanced solo treatment to "Nomad" and an unplugged Medeski, Martin & Wood ride rickshaw-style on "Tokyo Traffic." Bill Frisell, Anthony Coleman, Erik Friedlander, Slowpoke and David Krakauer round out the line-up.

Jazz compilation / Tribute albums have a tendency to fall into stylistic ruts more often than not. Tributes to past masters of the Jazz canon usually are very traditional in scope and some what sterile. But not this one. John Zorn's all star cast contributes 14 tunes, most of them lesser know Brubeck compositions (there is no "Take 5"). Their interpretations of these tunes are as varied as the artists themselves.

There are acoustic / free- interpretations of the material by pianist Anthony Coleman and MMW. Pianist Uri Caine pounds out a swaggering performance on "Far More Blues" and Sex Mob belts out a distinctive grinding dirge on "Jumpin". Pachora and David Krakauer dig into a middle-eastern music stream for their renditions. Solo contemplative pieces are rendered by guitarist Bill Frisell and cellist Erik Friedlander. Drummer Joey Baron and bassist Tony Scherr deliver a cool swinging track and Slowpoke eases out a smokey blues groove. Dave Slusser, Eyvind Kang and Dave Douglas contribute the most experimental tracks to the tribute, with Douglas' solo-overdubbed work resembling late period electric Miles Davis as filtered through Sun Ra and modally based eastern musics. The Ruins deliver what may be the standout track of the whole disc however. Their bass and drum prog-rock workout of "Blue Rondo A La Turk" is not to be missed. Worth the price alone.

In His Own Sweet Way: A Tribute to Dave Brubeck features avant garde jazz artists playing the music of pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. These musicians mix Brubeck's melodism with their own eclectic musical hybrids creating exciting listening that truly pays tribute to this composer's influence, not generically imitating him. Recommended to listeners with open ears.