Search - Jeff Tain Watts :: Detained at the Blue Note

Setting a new standard for live jazz

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 11/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jeff "Tain" Watts may be the greatest drummer alive. Able to synthesize a huge variety of drum styles, he nearly single handedly sums up and embraces the history of jazz drumming. Swing, bop, free, groove, funk, polyrhythmic, cool, expressivistic--it's all there. Link that to an absolutely killer band (Watts, drums; Kenny Garrett, alto saxophone; David Kikoski, piano; Eric Revis, bass, David Gilmour, guitar; and Marcus Strickland, tenor saxophone) completely familiar with each other's playing and absolutely committed to achieving not only a sophisticated sound palette but also an inviting matrix for soaring solo flights, and you have the makings of a live jazz recording of the highest accomplishment.



A very attractive controlled (and occasionally, not so controlled) freneticism dominates the mood here. I get the feeling this is what Chris Potter and Greg Osby were after but didn't quite achieve on their recent live discs. One of the keys here is David Gilmour, an underrated guitarist in my view. He adds wonderful coloration, smart comping, and fiery solos. Dave Kikoski on piano and synth also makes a huge contribution. He brings a dancing, lilting quality that nudges these proceedings out of the category of mere virtuosity and into a kind of aural felicity rare in live jazz recordings. A seasoned player who has never, perhaps, been given his due, he shines brightly in this setting.



The leader is all over his kit but still manages not to sound too busy, a fault other prodigiously talented drummers (one thinks, e.g., of Jack DeJohnette, Ralph Peterson, and Bill Stewart) occasionally fall into.



The five compositions, each checking in at over 11:00 minutes and resulting in a disc over 70:00 minutes in length, not only prove to be excellent mediums for improvisation, but have an intrinsically attractive melodic sensibility. Which is to say, they're not merely blowing vehicles. The most evocative and provocative is the darkly brooding "Sigmund Groid," a blues-drenched ballad that reminds me of the work of the great but little know ex-pat South African pianist, Curtis Clark, and features some wonderful unison playing by Strickland and Gilmour, as well as brilliantly ecstatic out solo by Garrett.



Really, this is a disc of the highest accomplishment. Not to be missed."