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Earshot National Jazz Chart October 2008

Other charts: Top 50 Electronic Hip Hop International Jazz Loud Folk/Roots/Blues
Reporters: !earshot | CFBX CFMH CFRU CFUV CHLY CHRW CHUO CHYZ CILU CJSF CJSR CSCR

TW LW Artist Title Label

1.  Bill King's Rhythm Express Beat Street 7 Arts
2.  Jane Bunnett Embracing Voices Blue Note
3.  The Franco Proietti Morph-tet Morphology Bongo Beat
4.  Blink. Epidemic Of Ideas Thirsty Ear
5. Mark Dejong The Unknown Chronograph
6 -- Hutchinson Andrew Trio Music Box Chronograph
7.  Rudresh Mahanthappa Kinsman Pi
8 -- Eri Yamamoto Duologue AUM Fidelity
9 -- Willie Nelson And Wynton Marsalis Two Men With The Blues Blue Note
10 -- Kate McGarry If Less Is More... Palmetto

Rhythm Express - Beat Street

Beat Street is my homage to the great soul jazz pioneers who have inhabited my inner sound system since I was a fifteen year old searching the keyboard for those elusive blue notes in between. Cannonball Adderley , Ramsey Lewis, the Crusaders, the Jazz Messengers, Junior Mance, The Three Sounds, Miles Davis, Eddie Palmieri, Herbie Hancock, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and all.

I can’t recall the number of times I played “The In Crowd’ or “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” or “What’s Going On” on the bandstand. I do know I never tired of playing the form and soloing over the changes. It was always about the groove, mood and original intent that kept me intrigued and in the pocket.

The Rhythm Express Band is one of those five in the morning grand moments of clarity when all the music circulating inside gets introduced to an imagined cast of great musicians. Fortunately, I had Ontario Arts Council on my side and some incredible players willing to embrace the idea. They are simply the best!

Rather than chatter on about the music I would like to express for myself and our caring community the loss we all feel for those players and friends who passed recently. It’s taken a toll and all of us. I scripted “The Wake” in memory hoping every time it’s played their contributions and friendship will return to view ( Doug Riley, Oscar Peterson, Newton Garwood, Domenic Troiano, Richard Bell, Curtis Bailey, Dougie Richardson, Jeff Healey and Paul Hoeffler.) You generous spirit and enormous talent made this music country what it now is!

Bill King’s Rhythm Express – Jazz Journal International Volume 61 No.11

Bob Weir

I reviewed Bill King’s blues band album (Saturday Nite Fish Fry – Dirt Road Blues -7 Arts 0012) in the June issue. This one is different but just as good. It takes for its inspiration 1960s non-vocal soul-jazz as played so excitingly by such as Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey and Horace Silver. But it is Bill’s very personal take on the genre – all the numbers are his originals apart from the band’s jointly composed Beat Street.
Versatility is the keynote. The band is equally adept on bright Latin grooves (Rhythm Express, 427 Rhythm Street) majestic gospel-infected bop (Hymn No.1, Only the Righteous, The Wake) meditative ballads ( Sundown Comin’, My Summer Rose), a pastoral evocation of Canada’s wide-open spaces (Big Country) soulful blues (In The Blues Garden) and the Jazz Messengers style hard-bop (Archie Speaks, Kobe). Beat Street is a spirited collective jam spurred on by Mark Kelso’s inventive, driving drums.
The songs are first rate, nicely varied and skillfully arranged to keep the listener both alert and satisfied. The players are all good improvisers and they cohere excellently to give the band a distinctive sound. The music is never frantic, even at up tempo. Everything is controlled and relaxed in the manner of the 1960s innovators.
This album, adventurous and fresh sounding and imbued throughout with real jazz and blues feeling, deserves wide circulation. Availability can be checked via Bill’s website ( www.billkingmusic.com).


Featured Artist: Bill King's Rhythm Express


CD Title: Beat Street

Year: 2008

Record Label: 7 Arts Entertainment

Style: Various Jazz Styles

Review:
Bill King is a jazz renaissance man! He’s the co-founder and editor of the increasingly popular and informative EjazzNews.com website and noted jazz photojournalist. Moreover, he’s an accomplished keyboardist and composer who possesses a wide-ranging music vernacular, evidenced here on this largely, smoking studio set.

The album is centered upon King’s homage to time-honored soul-jazz pioneers, Cannonball Adderley, Ramsey Lewis, Eddie Palmieri and others. No doubt, it’s all about that very special groove within the core jazz idiom. Recorded in Canada, King leads a sextet that conveys an overriding sense of buoyancy amid the variable cadences and stylizations explored here. Yet, this isn’t an ensemble that attempts to mimic the courses previously traversed, especially when we consider that King solely penned eleven tracks to complement one group-based composition.

They execute Latin jazz, funky jazz, high-impact modern jazz and gently walking struts to complement a few sprightly cosmic meltdowns along the way. Sure enough, the band implements a toe-tapping and finger-snapping program, spiced up with King’s fluent B-3 organ and acoustic piano voicings. Otherwise, the musicians do indeed ring up notions of the greats cited above, although they inject a personalized spin into the grand schema.

Listen to the gospel-blues drenched piece “The Wake,” where the hornists’ warm choruses enamor a sublime melody and melodically rich primary theme. And on “Kobe,” I detected a few nods to keyboard great Herbie Hancock’s grooving straight-four classic, “Cantaloupe Island.” Simply stated, this an irrefutably enjoyable album that beckons repeated listens. As King and his crew combine laudable chops with a focused methodology. More importantly, they’re not merely playing for themselves: that notion alone comes at you from the get-go. In sum, it’s a highly-charged endeavor, all executed with a modernist-like flair.



Artist's Website: http://www.billkingmusic.com

Listen or Buy: Bill King Music

Reviewed by: Glenn Astarita

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