Search - Brian Blade :: Perceptual

Strangely (for jazz in 2000) Original and HONEST

Ryan Blum | Santa Barbara, Ca | 06/06/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After my primary title of Student, I consider myself to be a lot of things, most accurately "Weird Jazz Musician." I've spent my life--or at least, the 6 years that have passed between 7th grade and now--listening to John Zorn, Ornette Coleman, Bill Frisell, Dewey Redman, etc., as well as more mainstream weirdos such as mid-to-late Miles, Mingus, Dave Holland, and Anthony Braxton.I've heard a lot of CD's in my (paltry) 18 (almost 19) years, and up until now, I thought that maybe _A Love Supreme_ or _The Black Saint and Sinner Lady_ was my absolute favorite album. But something about Fellowship's 2 albums--the self titled and this one, _Perceptual_--strikes a string deep within my soul. It hits me as pure honesty, pure unabashed beauty.My crazy jazz friends and I saw this group last Tuesday at Catalina's in Hollywood, and we were struck deeply. Brian Blade is an amazing musician, a deeply intelligent, spiritual and highly physical drummer whose compositions are just PERFECT. He seems, in the words of my drummer friend, completely HONEST. It is no hyperbole when I say these are the most amazing jazz albums (and with Paul Simon's _Rhythm of the Saints_ and Peter Gabriel's _Us_, thebest, period) I've ever heard."

Perceptions on Perceptual

Ryan Blum | 07/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Brian Blade play a couple of weeks ago with the Wayne Shorter Quartet (which included, besides Shorter and Blade, John Patitucci on bass and Danilo Perez on piano). It was an extraordinary ensemble, and they played with a taut ferocity, one that deconstructed and reconstructed Shorter's classic compositions in fresh new ways (much as Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter had once deconstructed and reconstructed Miles Davis' old songbook in their performances at Plugged Nickel). Brian Blade's "Perceptual" may be one of finest jazz CDs put out in 2000. It showcases Blade's percussive brilliance. No--"showcase" is not quite the word, for it makes it sound as if he is out front. Rather, his percussion work undergirds the music, swims beneath it, knits it together without drawing undue attention to itself. As other reviewers have noted, Blades is a colorist who uses the drumset not to thunder out rhythms, but to paint subtle textures whose webs intertwine with the intricate ebb and flow of the other voices, especially Melvin Butler's sax and Kurt Rosenwinkel's guitar. But this is more than dazzling technique. A risk among certain contemporary jazz musicians is to be all technique and not have sometime to say. Blade and his colleagues have much to say: about memories, about love and anguish and tenderness. The melodies are beautiful, haunting, melancholy at times, yet without sentimentality. But they eschew the drift into "smooth jazz" fluff and maintain a crisp edge to the textures they weave. While the title song is excellent, most representative of the range and intensity of the CD is the medley "Variations of a Bloodline." This is a conjuring of beauty not to be missed."

Perceptions of Perceptual

Ryan Blum | 07/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw Brian Blade play a couple of weeks ago with the Wayne Shorter Quartet (which included, besides Shorter and Blade, John Patitucci on bass and Danilo Perez on piano). It was an extraordinary ensemble, and they played with a taut ferocity, one that deconstructed and reconstructed Shorter's classic compositions in fresh new ways (much as Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter had once deconstructed and reconstructed Miles Davis' old songbook in their performances at Plugged Nickel). Brian Blade's "Perceptual" may be one of finest jazz CDs put out in 2000. It showcases Blade's percussive brilliance. No--"showcase" is not quite the word, for it makes it sound as if he is out front. Rather, his percussion work undergirds the music, swims beneath it, knits it together without drawing undue attention to itself. As other reviewers have noted, Blades is a colorist who uses the drumset not to thunder out rhythms, but to paint subtle textures whose webs intertwine with the intricate ebb and flow of the other voices, especially Melvin Butler's sax and Kurt Rosenwinkel's guitar. This is more than technique. A risk among certain contemporary jazz musicians is to be all technique and not have sometime to say. Blade and his colleagues have much to say: about memories, about love and anguish and tenderness. The melodies are beautiful, haunting, melancholy at times, yet without sentimentality. But they eschew the drift into "smooth jazz" fluff and maintain a crisp edge. While the title song is excellent, most representative of the range and intensity of the CD is the medley "Variations of a Bloodline." This is a conjuring of beauty not to be missed."