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Trombone Tribe
Roswell Rudd
Trombone Tribe
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (14) - Disc #1

The well-traveled trombonist Roswell Rudd has played in almost every setting imaginable: from straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, to Asian and Afro-Caribbean musical genres. That s why it s hard to believe that his latest...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Roswell Rudd
Title: Trombone Tribe
Members Wishing: 4
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sunny Side Records
Release Date: 4/7/2009
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Modern Postbebop, Bebop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 016728120722, 016728120760

Synopsis

Product Description
The well-traveled trombonist Roswell Rudd has played in almost every setting imaginable: from straight-ahead and avant-garde jazz, to Asian and Afro-Caribbean musical genres. That s why it s hard to believe that his latest Sunnyside recording, Trombone Tribe, is his first to focus on that instrument.

Not since J.J. Johnson s majestic Brass Orchestra recording of the mid-nineties have we heard such an astonishing assemblage of trombone royalty on record: Eddie Bert (Thelonious Monk); Wycliffe Gordon (Wynton Marsalis), Ray Anderson, Sam Burtis, Deborah Weisz, Steve Swell, and Josh Roseman; backed by a rhythm section consisting of drummer Barry Alstchul, bassist Henry Grimes, Bob Stewart on tuba, and the cutting-edge ensembles: Bonerama, the Gangbe Brass Band, and Sex Mob.

Sexmob is one of my favorite bands, [and the] the members of Bonerama are like their music down to earth, energetic, adventurous and they like pour on the fun k! Rudd writes in the CD liner notes. My good friend Arnaud Robert was the first to tell me about the Gangbe Brass Band of Benin and gave me their CD. It was life changing. We contacted them and in 2002 on one of their USA tours they drove straight from Detroit to upstate NY to spend two days with us.

The African influence of Gangbe Brass Band is heard on the opener Fanfare and A Place Above, a four-part work inspired by an African religious service that percolates with an almost Afro-Cuban beat born in the Motherland heat and blended with doxology: a hymn of praise derived from a belief in the mystery of light. Elton Dean is a midtempo number dedicated to the English composer, while Eastern Europe s troubadour trombone bands were the inspiration behind Astroslyde. Hull Gulla offers new dimensions in trombone plunger-ology, contrasted by the Mingus-motored No End and the funky Bone Again. To the Day and Sand in my Shuffle, bop with an Afropop beat, and Slide to the Family Bone a cute nod to Sly and the Family Stone, actually owes its heart to Dixieland. Twelve Bars with Sex Mob, is based on a composition by Herbie Nichols (the only non-Rudd track on the CD), and bounces on a Monkish gait sprinkled with some march and rumba tempos.

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CD Reviews

The more trombones, the better
Anthony Cooper | Louisville, KY United States | 06/27/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Roswell Rudd pulls together a bunch of different groups for variations on the album's theme -- trombones. He has a brass-heavy core group, and a bunch of brass-heavy guest artists as well. Sex Mob is on one song, and is the only trombone-free guest, but they're infamous for sliding their notes around.



The album begins with a short fanfare, then gets into a bunch of trombone songs. They all have a funky, New Orleans feel, and they are pretty much all good. The only song I have reservations about is "Sand In My Slide Shuffle". Sex Mob and Bonerama show up for good cameos, and Wycliffe Gordon and Joshua Roseman play on two songs. Sometimes CD's with shifting rosters sound disjointed, but on "Trombone Tribe" the rosters and songs all have enough in common that the music flows and swings. The end of the CD is a bit of a left-turn. Recorded in Africa, "A Place Above" is a five-track-long, 7-minute long suite. Based on the liner notes, Rudd tried to duplicate the spiritual ecstacy of an African church service (or services) he attended. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite get there, but it's good music, especially the modal improvisation section.



This is one of the better discs of 2009 so far. By way of comparison, I rate it higher than the 2009 releases of Joshua Redman, The Bad Plus, Dave Douglas, and Joe Lovano. It's one of the better 4-star discs, and I recommend it.

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