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Bringing
the Vitality of Jazz to the World In a music world dominated by the bottom line of major corporations, the true artist has to go the way of independent labels. While there are a few creative artists in a variety of genres on major labels, these are exceptions. The rest, regardless of skill or passion, have to find another way to get their music out into the world. Into this breach walks Motéma Music (www.motema.com), a new independent record label focusing on jazz, and other creative music. Their name is derived from a central-African word meaning heart and they "promote uplifting music of uncommon artistry." What? Why it's a crazy idea that just might work. Their first two releases are by jazz artists of great talents with a long track record of musical accomplishment, Lynne Arriale and Babatunde Lea. Though different in their styles as well as instruments, they both share a vision of jazz as a vital form encompassing the head, the heart and the soul. The first cut from the CD Arise, "Frévo," sets the stage for her musical approach. The theme is a melody of both tunefulness and complexity (what Duke Ellington taught us); with deft use of her left hand, she augments the melody with unison harmonies, call and response counterpoint, and variations on the musical themes. She continues this, and more during her solo. The rhythm section creates a smooth but hyper swing that coalesces and fragments in synchronicity with the piano. Davis tap dances the rhythm, swinging in an off kilter Tony Williams way.
RealAudio: Lynne Arriale Album Sampler
Her original compositions also have the same harmonic, melodic and idiomatic inventiveness. "Arise" is an uplifting ballad, a truly rare thing. "The Fallen" is another ballad, one that is poignant and stately. "Esperanza" is an upbeat Carribean/Latin tune. Ms. Arriale doesn't overstate or try to make these songs a chops-a-thon tour de force; she builds a simple, logical solo over the samba-flavored groove of the rhythm section. Davis shows an equal amount of taste in his drum solo. He takes rhythmic ideas from the song and weaves them into a musical statement. "Upswing" is just that. The piano states the theme while the rhythm section plays rhythmic movement, with Davis drumming in a mode that encompasses waves of texture, an elastic sense of time and swing. The group swings hard as Ms. Arriale solos. Bassist Anderson plays a monster solo, showing the same care as the other two players in crafting a solo that bends and molds the stuff of the song.
RealAudio: Lynne Arriale - "Frévo"
RealAudio: Babatunde Lea Album Sampler
RealAudio: Babatunde
Lea - "Soul Pools" As good as this group is, Babatunde Lea's touring live quartet shows the ultra intensity of this drummer's music. With bassist Geoff Brennan, pianist Hilton Ruiz and sax great Ernie Watts Lea shines on the four-alarm fire version of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints." Ruiz plays one of the most exciting piano solos I've heard on record. Riding a strident swing set up by Babatunde's relentless drumming, and Brennan's bass, Ruiz shows his mastery: starting with a repeated motif that's slowly built, he then plays intense Coltrane like "sheets of sound" that melded into wailing, soulful notes of sweet and soaring resolution, before taking insane, dissonant runs into the stratosphere of Richard Abrahams and Cecil Taylor. After driving out of this musical maelstrom, the group melts away as Babatunde takes a most musical drum solo that encompasses the full palette of his percussive set up: traps set, cymbals, congas, and percussion. He moves from drums to his thighs, to the drum shell, the stands, hitting everything in sight, eventually moving, during an African beat, from drums to congas and back. Each sound and rhythmic motif built off the one before. Ernie Watts, West Coast jazz legend and Frank Zappa alumnus, is criminally underheard. Here he shows the skills and fire of over forty years of playing. He evokes all the greats - Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter - yet makes his own fresh statement. Footage
of Babatunde's Soul Pools recording sessions in NYC Lynne Arriale and Babatunde Lea are different shadings and colors of the same prism, bringing different experiences to the same table. They will both be performing at Motéma's New York city Launch on May 15 and 16 at The Jazz Standard. We asked them some questions about their lives and art.
What are your earliest musical memories? Did your parents play music in the house? Babatunde Lea: My first musical memories are dancing with my mother and my aunts. I learned to mambo before I could walk! My aunts as well as my cousins and a few uncles played marching drums. My family loved Afro-Caribbean music, my cousins had a doo-wop singing group, and they all played in the high school band. What are your biggest influences, both as instrumentalists and bandleaders? Lynne Arriale: My biggest influence would be my mentor, Richie Beirach, and my desire to find beautiful and interesting melodies, both in composition and improvisation. Ms. Arriale you were raised in the classical music world but now you play jazz. What caused the transition? Lynne Arriale: It happened rather suddenly, almost as a passing thought that I should study jazz, even though I did not know what jazz was (improvising over the chord changes of a song). I began to study and was completely enamored by the freedom and the limitless possibilities in jazz.
RealAudio: Lynne
Arriale - "Arise" Babatunde, how did you hook up with the amazing Hilton Ruiz? How did you find Ernie Watts, the most slept on saxophone great I can think of? Babatunde Lea: I was introduced to Hilton in 1991 by John Purcell and Suzi Reynolds, when Hilton was asked to play on my recording "Level of Intent." From the very beginning, I felt Hilton to be a kindred spirit and since then he has been on my last three recordings and I will be asking him to play on my next. I met Ernie Watts while being a member of the Bill Cosby All Star Band, Cos of Good Music. I don't know the proper adjectives to describe his greatness and the profound influence that he has on me while playing in my band.
RealAudio: Babatunde
Lea - "Ejercito Moreno" Your artist bio states that you teach master classes and workshops. It's unusual, outside of Wynton Marsalis, that jazz musicians emphasize education and giving something back. Why is this important to you? Babatunde Lea: Education is important to me because it is education that will allow us to be able to address and sort out issues such as equity and justice. My wife and I started a nonprofit organization called The Educultural Foundation (www.motema.com/educultural/). Our purpose statement is that we teach critical thinking about social and cultural issues through the arts. It is our contention that there is incredible power in the arts and that power should be used for the betterment of life on this planet. Lynne Arriale: The passing on of information and knowledge about any subject is a profound experience. Hopefully, both the student and the teacher learn from the experience. It is very inspiring to see the multitude of ways that a student can perceive things; and it is a great challenge to find just the right explanation of a concept that will help them take the next step in their playing. I always learn from teaching, as I have to look at my own problem solving process to help students find solutions. I have been fortunate, over the years, to study with many great musicians, and I will be forever indebted to them for their great generosity. It is simply my responsibility and my desire to pass along what I have learned. All Photos © 2003 Jean-Marc Lubrano. (www.jmlubrano.com)
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