Search - Martin Speake, Stenson, Hutton :: Change of Heart

The power of a major record label

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 07/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I guess it could be disputed that ECM is a major record label, but it's sure a lot more well known and visible than 33 Jazz and Black Box, two other labels Martin Speake has appeared on. We should be thankful that an artist like Speake has somehow come to the attention of Manfred Eicher, ECM owner. How'd he do it? Who knows? Perhaps Eicher heard his fine previous disc, The Journey, featuring a brilliant meeting of jazz and East Indian music, something Eicher himself has documented with, e.g., Ghazal. (In checking the recording dates of The Journey and Change of Heart, that scenario would be impossible because The Journey, though released prior to Change of Heart, was actually recorded nearly two years later. Oh well, it was a nice theory. And even though it reverses the order in which the two discs were recorded, the success of the major label Change of Heart has had a dramatic positive effect on sales of The Journey, at least on the Amazon site.)



In any case, here alto saxophonist Speake finds himself engagingly linked with fellow Englishman, bassist Mick Hutton, Swedish piano meister Bobo Stenson, and American minimalist drummer Paul Motion in a set of what one might call abstract neo-romanticism.



Very attractive, and certainly not to be gainsaid, even if it doesn't quite match the gloriousness of his last disc, The Journey (see my Amazon review). In the end, it matters little which disc you favor. Those more inclined toward world-jazz (like me) will likely prefer The Journey. Those more into standard modern small-group jazz (admittedly, very well performed) will likely prefer Change of Heart.



As is frequently the case (why, I don't know. Too many distractions? Unremitting thick-headedness? False expectations? Being overly enamored of the exotic?), it took me a while to get on board with this wonderful session. I listened to it, said OK, that's nice, and put it aside for a month or three. Coming back to it with fresh ears, I find it makes a pretty powerful impression. I'm really, really taken by Speake's alto playing. It certainly sounds like he's got a classical background, what with his masterful control of pitch and tone, but he also knows how to swing.



Bobo Stenson is always someone worth hearing, and here he seems to be totally locked into the noirish elegiacism going down here, especially as the session moves into the full heartbreak mode of its concluding numbers, "In the Moment," "Three Hours," and "In Code," with its mesmeric intro by Hutton, a song of huge, aching presence.



The more I listen, the more I like. In the end, this disc makes a very strong and heartfelt statement, one of ravishingly beautiful modern romanticism, almost, but not quite, overwhelmed by sentimentality. Its tightrope walk of wrenching emotion pitched against raw sentiment eventually yields huge rewards for the patient listener.



Highly recommended."