Michael Brecker
Tales From the Hudson

Once upon a time, there was an American saxophonist named Michele; with the albums "Tales From the Hudson", "Two Blocks From The Edge" and "Time is of the Essence" he achieved, according to the humble narrator, the pinnacle of his qualitative performance of all time, both as a valuable assistant to other contemporary minstrels and as the master of his own work, truly showing the world (if it hadn't been understood until then) what a composer and complete, multifaceted, versatile, intelligent musician, with a personal and unmistakable style he was!

Seriously, boys: Michael Brecker is one of the few musicians whose instrumental voice you can recognize immediately, both for the peculiar tone and the unique phrasings and patterns used. The album, as is Impulse's tradition for works of some prestige, comes with a lovely three-panel cardboard cover depicting images of everyday and quiet metropolitan horror on the banks of the Hudson. The explanatory "opera booklet" is included.

1) "Slings and Arrows" (Brecker) kicks off at breakneck speed, with a very original and deconstructed theme, played in unison by Pat and Michael. You can already see here the extensive arrangement work done with Pat Metheny and the other band members to give order to this torrent of notes. It's never easy in a jazz combo to get the musicians to agree, especially if there's a guitar and a piano: two instruments that must necessarily alternate in accompaniment to avoid harmonic conflicts. When it comes to two instrumentalists like Pat and Joey Calderazzo, the latter at the time almost an illustrious unknown, it's like walking a tightrope. It can only be achieved when you have musicians of great maturity, who manage to sacrifice any form of ego for the choral result; undoubtedly, this album is an example of achieved stylistic perfection, akin to the great quintets of the sixties; except that here you're dealing with incandescent material. After the theme exposition, there's a hallucinatory solo by Pat, who in his best tradition manages to make a semi-acoustic guitar "scream," which shouldn't properly "attack"; instead... watch out!!!  Michael's solo follows with comping by Joey and associated rhythms. The brief piano solo... "is enough already... to make you ask if... I'm alive" (a quote for the older ones). Ends fade out with an outburst from Jack De Johnette.

2) "Midnight Voyage" (Calderazzo) is all wrapped up in the title: a comfortable journey in a cozy car. No engine strains (encore!). A beautiful, calm, and reflective theme in the best modern mainstream tradition, with class to spare. Michael displays his wares, and we buy all the possible notes; only piercing. Pat ups the ante with his guitar before giving way to a walking piano that accompanies us to the end.

3) "Song for Bilbao" (Metheny) is a typical calypso-like piece by Pat: Roland 303 guitar prominently featured: a vintage scrap but with the sound of a bagpipe musician who has swallowed peyote. The strange thing is that the even tempo of this piece always seems on a precarious balance. Pure energy contribution from McCoy Tyner, present along with Don Alias in tracks 3 and 5. Towards the end, the piece soars high, and echoes of PMG are evident, though in a much more characterized somber metropolitan hues setting.

4) "Beau Rivage" (Brecker) starts slowly and needs more listens to fully unfold its beauty. Michael's compositional vein, which is never banal or predictable, should be highlighted here. The atmospheres he creates, the dynamics and dialogues with the other musicians surely require more interpretative concentration than the classic AABA medium jazz piece. Pat seems the natural twin of Michael, and Calderazzo's accompaniment is subdued and discreet, leaving Pat free to play single notes with delicacy. Michael comes into play in the second part

5) "African Skies" (Brecker) is a ritual and witchy "ring dance" of call and response between sax and piano in which Pat plays in unison with the sax. Don Alias adds percussive color, and McCoy Tyner sends you into a trance with a solo that at times recalls Scott Joplin and at times the left hand of God. Not for the faint-hearted. Voodoo child of the soul.

6) "Intro To Naked Soul" (Brecker – Holland) is a very brief duo episode. Intimate and delicate whisper between two old friends. It should be savored like a malvasia on a summer evening in Sicily, the most beautiful land in the world. And it serves as a necessary prelude to the next masterpiece...

7) "Naked Soul" (Brecker) is the naked and honest soul of a musician telling you his story from the beginning. There's no need for words. Listen: it becomes sax. Dave Holland adds a few supporting episodes as usual, and it seems like you can hear the strings of his double bass speaking in a relaxed dialogue, over a classic brush base by De Johnette.

8) "Willie T." (Don Grolnick) is a piece composed by one of the greatest musicians who ever graced jazz stages. Complex melody that acts as a swinging springboard for Brecker's solos first and then Pat's, who sails with his always tightly closed guitar. The only album where I've heard a tighter guitar than this is "Rejoicing" by... Pat Metheny!!! Clearly, he needs it to differentiate and characterize his strict jazz production from the more sunny classical PMG sound. Calderazzo climbs to an altitude of 8000 meters in his solo, and from this hypnotic trance, he only brings you down towards the end of the piece.

9) "Cabin Fever" (Brecker) This is the closing piece which is also an acrobatic exercise, a firework with which the musicians perform a true high-speed catwalk. De Johnette requires immediate hospitalization and pure acrobatic numbers. Stroll for much of the piece ("stroll" in jazz jargon means without piano or guitar accompaniment) reveals Holland's enormous class, ultimate shooting machine. After Brecker, it's Pat's turn to perform acrobatics in a piece that sits on the borderline between music and style exercise. Then Calderazzo definitively lays you out, so at the end of the album you need to drink some fresh water. Or finish the malvasia, which is better.

A few words for the "pillars" Jack De Johnette and Dave Holland: both contribute creativity, energy, and precision that become an essential part of the work. Normally, for years, De Johnette (a refined pianist and composer in his own right) has carved out a role as a complex and equal interlocutor in the trio with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock (also an esteemed pianist and composer). Rituals dictate that during concerts, Jarrett ascends the stage, settles in, and generally turns around and asks the two: "What do you want to play?" then proceeds with utmost concentration and attentive volume calibration. In this album, one perceives instead (for Jack) a raw unburdening of excessive thoughts on the right note or the right hit at the right time, favoring a much more visceral, wild and powerful play style. One of the few capable of holding his own against such a fury is indeed the faithful Dave Holland, whose militancy and resilience in groups of wild madmen date back a long way (Davis and his early fascinations with electricity).

Nothing else to say, except that it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful jazz albums ever recorded. :-) V.