Search - Jerry Granelli & Badlands :: Enter a Dragon

Some very interesting stuff going on here--tho quite uneven

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 06/23/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You wonder what kind of badlands the leader has in mind--those of South Dakota or those of Bayonne, NJ? I'd vote for the latter as there's a definite industrial, downtown-ish vibe here. On the other hand, there's a lot of aural space and a definite Western feeling.When this sensibility works, it can be quite appealing, as in "Black Montana Cheer," a drunken sound-orgy of a song--sort of a beer polka meets a friendlier John Zorn via some weird wild West show. "Berlin Sky" also stands out with its mournful brass choir opening, some very atmospheric and attractive soprano sax noodling from Peter Epstein, and a haunting Chris Speed (tenor sax)-Curtis Hasslebring (trombone) duo passage, segueing into some really out brass playing melding into, for the third time, the brass choir motif. And "Fainting Sheep" is wonderfully atmospheric, with Jamie Saft, one of the more adventurous keys players around, creating a stunning and unusual soundscape on acoustic piano. Other from this piece, he seems rather under-utilized.But it doesn't always work. Since there's not a whole lot of conventionally melodic material, some numbers just seem flaccid, without rigor, aimless, such as "Bou Noura" and "The Dragon." Also, there are six Haiku, ranging in time from 1:34 to 2:15. These seem to add little and come across as filler.One interesting side note: two of the players, Epstein and Saft, went on to form their own band under the former's leadership, and they seem to have borrowed and perfected a good deal of what goes on here. Their two discs, Staring at the Sun and The Invisible, are certainly worth checking out, esp. the latter, which is one of my top five favorite jazz discs."