Following the history of 3rdegree is like tracing the bloodlines of the Plantagenets—House of York, House of Lancaster, the Tudors… who belongs where and to whom. Like keeping the royal bloodline intact, Robert James Pashman has managed to chronicle, collect and circulate music and video of the various incarnations of 3rdegree. He kept the dream alive with his constant culling of previously recorded material found in old cassettes, CDs and video footage.

In 2007, the band reformed for a series of concerts to be followed by “Narrow-Caster” which was the band’s first studio recording in 12 years. Live concert releases followed as well as tracks contributed to tribute albums. In particular, 3rdegree contributed a great version of “Going for the One” to the Yes tribute CD entitled “Tales from the Edge.”

Finally, a follow-up to the follow-up. 3rdegree has released “The Long Division” and it was worth the wait. It is indeed a concept album centering on the sturm und drang of the election year. It is serious and it is biting but departs with a sense of humorous irony.

The album opens with a blistering announcement in “You’re Fooling Yourselves” which could sound like a push-back to The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” An alternate title could have justifiably been “You Did Get Fooled Again (And You Will Again and Again).”

It carries an anthemic sound against the idolatry of party politics. There is the droning, true-believer background vocal chorus that speaks of mass delusion while the lead guitar tries to punch through the hypnosis of the lullaby keyboards.

The demonizing of one political party by the other is a running theme and the song breaks free in anger and determination.

“Exit Strategy” is the second track and features “Camelesque” keyboards as George Dobbs shows what must be great influence from Pete Bardens. There is a cool switch from syncopated funkiness to orchestral lyricism and some truly impressive bass work from Robert James Pashman himself. The backing vocals are a sweet addition and serve as a real backbone to the melodic tendencies of the piece.

A good rhythm section highlights “The Soci-Economic Petri Dish.” The political disillusionment of the song cements the idea that this is a concept album to be sure. The CD package is probably proof enough of that, with its crack between red and blue territories and the people all shown in red and blue. The back cover is a mock-up of a voting booth. Maybe the most biting image of all is the interior photo of the five band members standing before a wall with the Pledge of Allegiance stenciled on the wall. The jarring image, however, reveals that the phrases “under God” and “and Justice for all” have been painted over.

The song ends with angry denunciations and a concluding bell. The question is: Was that a fight bell? Or was it a stock market bell?

In “Exit Strategy” both parties must be seeing the other party in the lyrics. The indictment is against the system itself while both sides are claiming to be “liberators.” The vague chord structures that accompany the intoning of the words “incoherent ramblings” is a nice touch. The lyrics carry clichés from both ends of the political spectrum and the words “Poli-Sci, Poli-Sci, what have you done?” is a telling line. The song rushes to conclusion with a litany of catch-phrases tossed about concluding with the words “Post-911…”

“Fake institutes handing out the cures (this is the pill we swallow)” is the recurring admonition of “The Ones to Follow.” The song includes fine drum work by Aaron Nobel with a few great hooks. The political diatribe gives way to an almost-hallelujah chorus of blind belief.

“A Work of Art” and “Televised” are the sixth and seventh tracks and they feature excellent musicianship from the band members as well as guests Bill Fox (alto and tenor saxo- phones) and Rob Durham (flute). “A Work of Art” has quirky times and changes while “Televised” showcases a roller-coaster ride of tension between submission and defiance.

Beautiful instrumental moments are on display with “The Millions of Last Moments.” There is sublime guitar work between Eric Pseja and Patrick Kliesch here. This the eighth track begins the album's move always from the vocal dominance.

The spirit of Pete Bardens returns for “Memetic Pandemic” and cool rhythm patterns. Once again, the backing vocals are a great addition. The piano is well-done and the lead guitar cuts along the grain with the piano.

“A Nihilist’s Love Song” concludes the album. The opening lines include “All that is and all that was is meaningless.” One immediately gets the feeling that someone has been reading a little too much Camus but the follow-up line is a crack-up. “The future is all we’ve got.” Now you see the irony of the song’s title. Nice, snarky irony.

It becomes very clear that what poses as a love song from a first year philosophy student is indeed the bitterest bite of all. The anger of “You’re Fooling Yourselves” has been supplanted by the understated and vitriolic indictment against the revisionism of party politics.

“The future is all we’ve got” is not hopeful nor is it encouraging. It is the drone of political tribalism and triumphalism. It is Orwell.

On September 3, 2012, I had the joy of writing a review of the latest release by Berta Rojas and Paquito D’Rivera entitled “Día y Medio. (A Day and a Half).” On October 13, the news was released that the album had been nominated for a Latin Grammy. I have great hopes that Berta’s loving treatment of the music from her native land of Paraguay will receive the honor that is due her and her country.

Perhaps finally the music of Paraguay is being introduced to a wider audience in the jazz world. Paraguay belongs alongside the great music of Cuba and Brazil. While Cuba tells of beaches and Havana and Brazil intones of Rio and Carnaval, Paraguay speaks of valleys and rivers and hill villages. In affirming Berta’s album, Paraguay itself is being celebrated as it should be. The Latin Grammy nomination gives ample opportunity for reflection on the struggles and triumphs of the small land-locked nation situated between Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.

It is a fascinating nation with fascinating people and the most inspiring music, despite the hardships of war, civil war and economic struggle.

Paraguay was a land inhabited by natives speaking the Guaraní language; after Spanish it is the second most spoken language there. Spanish conquerors arrived after Sebastian Cabot ventured there in 1526 and had explored up the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. The Spanish ruled in Paraguay until 1811 when Paraguay gained its independence, forming a republic ruled by two consuls.

Three dictators followed during the first years of independence. The third such dictator was Francisco López who conducted a large-scale war against Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. The five year period of these wars resulted in the deaths of half the male population of Paraguay.

New constitutions could still not prevent more dictatorial rule. However, after 1912, the economy began to stabilize and political normalization followed.

In the years following World War II, unfortunately, the political sphere began to rupture. This culminated in the Paraguayan civil war of 1947.  In 1954, Alfredo Stroessner assumed the dictatorship until 1989, during which he was accused of the torture and murder of thousands of political dissidents. In spite of Stroessner’s abysmal human rights record, the U.S. continued to support him. Economic expansion did come about during Stroessner’s rule but at too high a cost in human suffering.

Alfredo Stroessner was finally overthrown in a military coup led by General Andres Rodriguez in 1989. Rodriguez went on to win Paraguay's first multicandidate election in decades.

The June 1992 constitution established a democratic system of government and greatly improved protection of fundamental human and civil rights. In 1993, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, a wealthy businessman and the candidate of the governing Colorado Party, won a five-year term in free elections. He was the first civilian president in nearly four decades.

In April 1996, Army Chief General Lino Oviedo attempted to overthrow President Wasmosy but the coup was rejected by the people of Paraguay who were supported by the United States and the Organization of American States.

Raúl Cubas Grau was elected president in May 1998. However, in 1999, Cubas was forced from office for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Vice President Luis María Argaña. The vice president had criticized Cubas for failing to imprison Gen. Oviedo, who had been convicted of leading the failed 1996 coup against Wasmosy. Oviedo was finally arrested in 2004 and jailed.

Beginning in 1998, the legislature, the courts and various regional statesmen began an earnest crack-down on corruption in Paraguay.

Luis Ángel González Macchi, who had been appointed as a “caretaker president” after Cubas had resigned in disgrace, was accused of mishandling $16 million in state funds, and in 2006 he was sentenced to six years in prison. A former journalist named Nicanor Duarte Frutos was elected president on August 15, 2003. He inherited a nearly bankrupt country and continued the efforts to end governmental corruption.  

On April 22, 2008, Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic Bishop, was elected president of Paraguay beating the Colorado Party's candidate, Blanca Ovelar de Duarte, the former minister of education. Lugo was a proponent of liberation theology and was backed by the liberal party against the long-ruling Colorado party. By 10 percentage points, the people of Paraguay chose a non-politician to lead them.  

Under Lugo’s administration in 2010, Paraguay experienced the greatest economic expansion of the South America, with a GDP growth rate of 14.5% by the end of the year. This was in large part because of a economic stimulus plan agreed upon by the president and the legislature. The following year saw a dramatic drop but Paraguay's growth rate still remained high at 6.4%.

During the strife-filled years of economic hardship and political oppression, Paraguay has continued to produce musicians and composers who share a rejoicing in life and love of home. Due to its central location in South America, Paraguay is sometimes referred to as “Corazón de América,” or the “Heart of America.”

Geography aside, there is in the music of Paraguay a beating heart that is inspirational to all of the Americas. Paraguay has suffered so much but has found joy in the music of their hills and valleys and rivers and villages.

Now the people of Paraguay are seeing bright days and a brighter future. The music performed by Berta Rojas and Paquito D’Rivera has revealed the long-hidden beauty. The Latin Grammy nomination for “Día y Medio. (A Day and a Half)” is a signal that the world is listening and is celebrating with Paraguay. A Latin Grammy victory for Berta would be just what Paraguay and the Americas need.

This debut album by trumpeter Farnell Newton and pianist Marcus Reynolds was originally released on January 1, 2006. It was released on the now defunct Diatic Label. The album was never properly promoted and the label collapsed before any remedy could be made in the promotional arena. Since Farnell owned the master recordings, he was in a position to re-release the album under his own label FNMUSICWEB in August, 2012.

This is good news for fans and for soon-to-be-fans alike as the delightful recording has now been given a new life. There is no danger that the music is dated or out-of-touch because these compositions sound as if they have already been part of the jazz corpus for decades. The packaging is much more elegant with a cover photo from one of Portland’s fabled bridges.

The opening of the album makes the listener immediately grateful for the second-chance to hear this music. The piece is “The Two Larrys” composed by Marcus Reynolds in tribute to two organists Larry Young and Larry Golding.

Farnell and guest alto saxophone player Tim Willcox make for great interplay and trade-offs. They hint at sounds reminiscent of Nat and Cannonball Adderley. Marcus Reynolds’s piano solos are an exhibition of skill and heart. 

The YouTube link below will let you hear "The Two Larrys."

In “Minha Valsa” bassist Ameen Saleem and drummer Jason Brown, both of New York, bring alive the great traditional of that cool New York City sound. Honestly, this quintet sounds like they are just about to step onstage at the Village Vanguard sometime around 1964.

That is not because of the choice of material. Indeed almost all of these tracks have been composed by Marcus Reynolds or Farnell Newton. It speaks of the quality of musicianship. One reviewer wrongly criticized the album for showing “too much restraint.” It is not restraint; it is discipline and that requires courage and skill.

This is amply proven on the third track entitled “Lover’s Groove.” Farnell is masterful in his tone and approach. “Lover’s Groove” is an original composition by Farnell and it showcases his trumpet while allowing Saleem and Brown to carry on a beautiful supporting rhythm section. Marcus keeps the cool chords beneath the horn solos and follows with sweet melodies.

Throughout the album, neither Farnell nor Marcus ever lose touch and Ameen and Jason maintain a tight undercurrent that the horns and piano can simply glide upon.

“Pendulums” starts off like a precision piece but opens quickly into an expressive vamp for Farnell. Jason Brown is at his swinging best here. The number returns to precision for the close which sets up the follow-up track nicely.

That follow-up is “The Bluest Eyes” and is another Farnell composition. The piano creates avant-garde sensitivities while Farnell’s trumpet is dead-on and dedicated. In the end, the piano conforms to the horn and the unity is delightful.

Bossa nova makes an unexpected but warmly received appearance on the Marcus Reynolds original “Litoral.” The piece is a tribute to Ivans Lins, the Grammy-winning Brazilian artist and composer whose first hit was performed by the legendary Elis Regina in 1970. He won two Grammys in 2005 and was nominated for an additional three in 2009.

He also recorded a fusion album with Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour which brought great acclaim. The album was entitled “Harlequin” and was also a commercial triumph.

"Litoral” is a well-written and exceedingly well-performed piece that brings out the heart of Farnell and Marcus in full display. There is a great integrity and generosity in their delivery and cooperation. This one had me hit “replay” several times.

“It Could Happen to You” is the Jimmy Van Heusen composition, arranged by Marcus Reynolds.  The song was released in 1944 and peaked at #10 on the charts. Dexter Gordon’s hit “Fried Bananas” was based on the chord changes in this song. Van Heusen wrote over 800 songs and 50 of those became standards.

Marcus and Farnell do honor to the great song and its composer by declaring their unique interpretation of it. Tim Willcox makes another appearance here and the results are rewarding. Their blend of sax and trumpet is rich and tone-perfect. The Van Heusen song becomes their own before all is finished.

“Noir” is a Reynolds original and sounds just like theme music from the film-noir era. The truth is that Reynolds had wondered what the “Pink Panther” theme would sound like if Wayne Shorter had written it instead of Henry Mancini. “Noir” is the result of that reverie. For myself, I found transported more like to the “Office of Archer and Spade” than that of Inspector Clouseau. But you get the point. It is definitely a wistful and winsome piece.

“The Forces of Gravity” closes out the album and it finishes in style. There are great solos from Farnell and Marcus on this last track. Ameen creates a bass groove that holds down the rhythm as Jason turns in some of his coolest brushwork and swings the album to its conclusion.

The album is a happy meeting of Portland and New York City and both sounds benefit from each other. There is no weak moment on the album, at all. The compositions are warm and the performances are tight and crisp.

The permanent loss of this album would have been tragic. Fortunately for jazz lovers, Farnell Newton had the foresight to maintain ownership of the master recordings and was thus able to re-release them. Smart.




The album is available at FNMUSICWEB at this link.

Eugene Marlow asks “ever wish you could just hear the rhythm section of a jazz ensemble or big band without any acoustic interference from other instruments?” In his album “Hitz & Pizz,” Marlow does just that. In fact, the title itself refers to the hits of the drummers and percussionists and the pizzicato (string-plucking) of the bassists and guitarist.

“Hitz & Pizz; a Rhythm Extravaganza” is a 2011 CD release culled from three of Marlow’s previous CD's entitled “Wonderful Discovery” (MEII Enterprises, 2007), “Celebrations” (MEII Enterprises, 2010) and “A Fresh Take” (MEII Enterprises, 2011). Don’t be misled; this is not a greatest hits collection or a tribute. This is something extraordinary.

The tracks included here are great representatives of the various and varying rhythmic patterns found in Latin, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Funk styles. On the fifteen tracks, he has some of the finest rhythm section musicians to be found anywhere.

The album opens as the title of the first track designates--Fast & Furious. It is focused on the hard bop rhythm patterns that Marlow describes as “still using the rhythmic parameters set by swing.”

Hard bop developed as a logical but bold extension of bebop music. It was logical in the sense of the inevitability of it being infused with the newly-emerging energy of rock and roll. It was bold for the same reason because jazz purists often saw little room for fusion of any kind.

The term began to appear in jazz literature in the mid-1950’s to speak of a new movement within jazz which brought together influences from gospel, blues and  R&B. It usually referenced the playing of saxophone and piano but soon that hard bop groove become distinct and unmistakable.

In his book Hard Bop, David Rosenthal posits that the sub-genre grew out of the hearts and minds of young African-American musicians who had grown up when bop and R&B were the most popular forms of African-American music. The most recognized names from that group were none other than Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderly.

Bobby Sanabria points out that “hard bop in the 1960′s developed an intense aggressive approach characterized by drummers like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams who added the power of rock to the vocabulary of jazz.” This, of course, is true but the sound first developed in the mid-1950's with Art Blakely laying down the first hard bop groove.

Whether or not hard bop was a response to the cool jazz of California or the bebop of New York, it was greatly supported by Blue Note Records and that gave it instant credibility for some. Even though there were other expressions of jazz that developed in the '60’s, one can still hear that hard groove being recorded and performed today, as demonstrated on this track from Hitz & Pizz.

Here, Bobby Sanabria on drums, Cristian Rivera on congas and Frank Wagner on bass turn in a brilliant example of this rhythmic style. What became immediately clear in listening to this track was that I was going to be revisiting all three of Eugene Marlow's previous CD's to hear the rhythms again with the music of piano and horns included. To hear the rhythm section alone truly gives an appreciation of the structure upon which the melodies are built.

Bomba Xicá is the second track of the album with the title pinpointing the exact style of Puerto Rican beat being employed here.

Musicologists love to label things and the labels can be too exacting when referencing cultures that did not apply or even appreciate such hard and fast distinction. Too often the lines of demarcation between this style and that are only a hair’s breadth and can become unusable when speaking of musical styles that were often dependent on what hollow piece of construction debris was im- mediately available to be used to create the rhythm. Xicá employed three barrel drums, a large maraca and two sticks being struck on an empty whiskey barrel laid on its side. In a later track, even a metal hoe-blade makes an appearance!

The cultures that used steel drums of varying sized and densities, whiskey barrels and goatskin-covered barrels and whatever else depending on what was available, cannot or chooses not to understand the fixation on categories from those whose tympanis always looked and sounded the same. What is the point, they must ask, in assigning such standards?

Not only were the instruments and rhythms defiant of category but the names of particular rhythmic patterns were different from one village or region to the next. This is true of the bomba rhythm which developed in Puerto Rico. There are many bomba rhythms such as Holandes, Xicá, Yuba, Gracima, Seis Corrido, Corvé, Cuembé, Leró, Calindá, Belé and more.

At its heart, bomba is a partnership or perhaps a competition between percussionsists, dancers and singers; it is a true community endeavor and became wildly popular with the dance orchestras. Usually, there are five players but this track has been adapted for just Bobby Sanabria on drums and Christian Rivera again on congas. The conversation between Sanabria and Rivera is absolutely captivating. Eugene Marlow points out the pitch bending played by Sanabria on the drums as he intones the vocabulary of the three barrel drums. Astonishing is the only word to describe what is heard on this track.

Free Range Bass a la Rumba is the third selection. Rumba is an entire family of rhythms, songs and dances which began in Cuba as a marriage of the musical traditions of Africa brought to Cuba by the slave ships and that of the Spanish colonizers. The name comes from the Cuban-Spanish word rumbo meaning "party" and the term rumba first began to spread in the late 1930’s. The term, however, soon developed into a somewhat catch-all phrase.

Afro-Cuban rumba is centered around a five-stroke pattern that gives it a form structure that makes it almost impossible to misidentify. Cuban Rumba can be categorized into three basic types: Yambú, Columbia, and Guaguancó. Yambú is the oldest and slowest of the styles. The most popular style is Havana-born Guaguancó.

This is the form that features three congas ranging from largest to smallest, and two sticks striking any wooden surface, as well as claves. It creates a highly interactive play between musicians, vocalists and dancers. Guaguancó is also a couple’s dance that is a symbolic game of sexually-charged flirtation.

The claves are two sticks that are struck together but the word clave also indicates the rhythm that is usually produced by the claves themselves. The Spanish word clave means “key.”

And clave has been called the key to Afro-Cuban music. The clave is a two bar pattern which sets the foundation for this style of music. These patterns can be played in two different directions. Either the 2-3 direction or the 3-2 direction. This simply means that in the first bar there are two notes being played, and three notes being played in the second bar. Or the opposite, three notes in the first bar, and two notes in the second bar.

The dance is a good-humored portrayal of the male trying to catch his partner with a single pelvic thrust. This move is called the vacuano or "injection." Sometimes the same move is performed by manipulation of the hand or foot. The female holds onto the ends of her skirt while moving her upper and lower body in opposite motions. She opens and closes her skirt in time with the music.

As the male attempts to distract the female with flourishing and countering steps, he maneuvers until he is in position to “inject” her. The female reacts by quickly turning away, bringing the ends of her skirts together. The male dancer rarely “catches” the female—all in good fun and easily imagined in listening to Sanabria, Rivera and Frank Wagner masterfully portraying the dance and the quinto drum soloist on the bass. Listen to the track with the movement of the dance in mind.

Bembe’ Madness is based on the Bembe’ beat brought to Cuba by the Yorubas of Nigeria. This word actually comes from the African word bembes and these were religious feasts with dancing, drumming, and singing. The Bembe’ groove is an Afro-Cuban beat played in 6/8, originally with a mix of four drums, bongos, djembes, and beaded gourds or shakeres. A bell marked the time accompanied by the three shakeres. The bell pattern was the basic groove that could be played at slower or faster tempos.

There is much theology behind the beat because the feasts celebrated here were in respect of the Orishas or deities of the Yoruba people. This theology was based upon the veneration of over a thousand nature gods and goddesses which represented all of the forces of nature. One god in particular, Olodumare, was the supreme deity of the Yorubas. After being brought in slavery to the New World (Cuba and Brazil, most notably), the Yorubas established a pantheon of 22 deities and these were named in correspondence with the deities and saints of Catholicism. Cleverly hiding their gods/goddesses among the Catholic saints, they avoided persecution and gave raise to what is today called Santeria or Saint Worship.

The whole pattern was adapted again to drums and congas. This piece is fiercely complex and it sounds as if the bell pattern is translated from cymbals to cowbell to rim shots. To add to the highly demanding piece, a bridge was inserted with the Venezuelan Joropo beat. This is a 3/4 transition and it is intimidating.

Again, however, Sanabria and Rivera are exactly the percussionists for the job. They flawlessly catch the hearer into an ecstatic state that has little or nothing to do with religion but with the celebration of being human and being alive.

A Mixed Boogaloo Bag follows next. Boogaloo or Bugalú was also called the Shing-a-ling and refers to R&B or “anything with a backbeat that was funky,” according to Eugene Marlow. It was popular among African-American Southerners in the 1960’s.

However, the Boogaloo form began in New York City among teenage Cubans and Puerto Ricans. The style was a fusion of popular African-American R&B and Soul, with Mambo and Son Montuno. Interestingly, Middle Eastern rhythms are also fused into this track with Sanabria, Rivera and Wagner again.

Boogaloo has been called "the first Nuyorican music" and Izzy Sanabria called it "the greatest potential that Cuban rhythms had to really cross over in terms of music." All of this transpired when Mongo Santamaria added Afro-Cuban rhythms to Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.”

Use of the term boogaloo as a musical style probably began in 1966 by Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. The biggest boogaloo hit of the 1960’s was "Bang Bang" by the Joe Cuba Sextet and it sold over one million copies.

That same year saw the closing of New York City's Palladium Ballroom, when they lost their liquor license. It had been the home of big band mambo for so long and its closing marked the end of mainstream mambo. Thereafter, boogaloo ruled the Latin charts for several years before salsa began to supplant it. Simultaneously, several other rhythmical inventions were becoming popular: the dengue, the jala-jala and the shing-a-ling. All of these were variants of the mambo and cha-cha-cha.

On this track, that “funky backbeat” of Sanabria is emboldened by the congas of Cristian Rivera as the Baion beat is incorporated. The Baion is a Brazilian rhythm that has its root in the Middle East. When that kicks in, any listener with a pulse is ready to leave the comfort of the chair.

What follows is swing of the hardest sort and bebop makes a surprise return in the groove created by Wagner and Rivera. I listened over and over again and could imagine Monk or Parker or Chick pouring melodies over what was coming from this rhythm section.

A Latin Road Less Traveled features the Cha-cha-chá, a genre of Cuban music. It has been a popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950's, and became immensely popular throughout Cuba and in New York.

Cha-cha-chá’s creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, violinist and songwriter with the Orquesta América. It began in Havana in 1949 but would make its way to New York by 1955. From the outset, cha-cha-chá music had “a symbiotic relationship with the steps that the dancing public created to the new sound.”

"What Jorrín composed, by his own admission, were nothing but creatively modified danzones. The well-known name came into being with the help of the dancers [of the Silver Star Club in Havana], when, in inventing the dance that was coupled to the rhythm, it was discovered that their feet were making a peculiar sound as they grazed the floor on three successive beats: cha-cha-chá, and from this sound was born, by onomatopeia, the name that caused people all around the world to want to move their feet..." (Sanchez-Coll)

Such is the case when listening to A Latin Road Less Traveled as Phoenix Rivera plays on drums what would normally have been provided by the timbales. Throw in a funky “bass drum and snare backbeats (Marlow)” and this is a modern interpretation of what Jorrín must have seen coming. The guiro becomes the unifying factor here as Phoenix Rivera and Ruben Rodriquez are allowed to follow the funk of their own delight.

Listening to this track made me go back and listen to the Yes hit “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and the bass line was right in step with the Chris Squire bass line. Now if Yes had only gotten this rhythm section, something really interesting could have happened.

Simply Samba is based on the Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. Samba is quite simply the national dance and rhythm of Brazil.  It came from Africa by means of the slave trade and—like Bembe’—had its roots in West African religious traditions.

The difference with samba, however, is the use of different instruments than are usually found in Afro-Cuban music. Again, Marlow describes double bells called Agogo that are tuned in minor thirds. There is a friction drum called the Cuica and shakers (Ganza), triangles “and a small frame drum known as Tamborim.”

The modern samba is basically a 2/4 tempo varied with the use of chorus sung to the accompaniment of palmas and batucada rhythm. Traditionally, the samba is played by strings and various percussion instruments such as the tamborim.

In the 1960’s, Brazil became politically divided under a junta. The musicians of the left followed bossa nova and moved away from the politically conservative samba. In the 1970’s, samba returned to popularity following a rebirth in the late 1960’s.

On Simply Samba, Bobby Sanabria plays all of the traditional samba instruments (beginning with those cool friction drums) while Phoenix Rivera on drums and Ruben Rodriquez’ bass nail down the hard groove.  It is Rory Stuart on guitar who adds his own percussive playing of the melody.  Like most sambas, this is just fun.

However, add Cristian Rivera’s congas and throw in some blues and you get A Blues-Tinged Samba which is the title of the following track. Congas are not traditionally part of the samba instrumentation but their inclusion creates what Eugene Marlow calls “a lighter feel” because there is no additional percussion. With Frank Wagner back on acoustic bass and Bobby Sanabria on drums, the feel is indeed lighter and Bobby gets to open up more on snare and cymbals. His use of the high-hat is a cool feature that also helps lighten and liven things up.

Gut Bucket Funk+ is a monster funk groove with the free expression of Sanabria, Cristian Rivera and Wagner on electric bass. The pay-off is the adventurous conga solo by Rivera as Sanabria works the drum-kit and cowbell to create an illusion of multiple players or at least multiple arms on Sanabria. This is a penetrating groove that works on the mambo and son-montuno styles. Marlow calls it the “son-mambo-funk-tuno” style.

Mambo is the musical form developed originally in Cuba, with further developments by Cuban musicians in the United States. The word mambo means "conversation with the gods" in Kikongo, a language spoken by Central African slaves taken to Cuba.

In the 1950’s, New York City began to publish articles on an emerging "mambo revolution" in music and dance. Record companies began to use mambo to label the records. Advertisements for mambo dance lessons were in local newspapers. “New York City had made mambo a trans-national popular cultural phenomenon.” As mentioned above, Mambo died when the Palladium Ballroom died.

Phoenix Rivera, Bobby Sanabria, Rory Stuart and Ruben Rodriquez return for A Summer Latin-Funk. Bobby again covers all the traditional bases as he works the cencerro (bongo bell), guiro, timbale, congas, shakers and bongo. Cha-cha-chá, son-montuno and funk are fused into a soulful groove.

The Son style of Latin rhythm is perhaps the most important of them all. Perhaps that is saying too much but its flexibility makes it a greatly adaptive style. It is the perfect bridge between European melodic considerations and the Afro-Cuban rhythmic expression.

Son-montuno was the Son style as expressed among the mountain folk of Cuba and it was Arsenio Rodríguez who is said to have modernized it. He introduced the idea of tiered guajeos (which were Cuban ostinato melodies) and this created an overlapping framework consisting of various contrapuntal parts. This feature of the son's “modernization” has been called a "re-Africanizing" of the music.

That same rhythm section stays on for A Latin Groove which brings back the mambo but with “contemporary NYC attitude.” No mourning the Palladium Ballroom here. Phoenix Rivera adds bits of the Songo style here for good measure.

In the Songo style, a departure was made from the dominant son-montuno and mambo styles. To the timbale was added a kick-bass drum and often a high-hat. The style itself blended rumba with funk rhythms. Frank Wagner’s bass provides the funk in ample portions.

Out of West Africa brings back the bembe’ rhythm. However, this time it is offered with the normal bembe’ accompaniment of congas in descending order of size, from the segunda down to the caja (a soloist with a stick). Here is where the metal hoe-blade makes its debut on the album. It is played with a stick and is called guataca.

On this track, it is Bobby Sanabria who plays all the positions with the sole addition of a vibraphone-sounding instrument known as the Hand Drum. Small wonder that Eugene Marlow recruits Bobby Sanabria at every opportunity. The performance on this track requires many, many hearings.

Trippingly on the Bass Lines in a roller-coaster of rhythms and tempo shifts. It is Frank Wagner on the acoustic bass again and he does not disappoint. Bobby and Cristian Rivera lay down the opening Bomba Xicá which breaks into a double time swinging bebop before returning to the  Bomba Xicá  and then easing into a medium tempo bebop rhythm which becomes the dominant feature of the whole track. Dominant, perhaps, but the roller-coaster leaves one breathless. In a cool way.

Simply Samba II brings back that great style that is played in modern fashion with Phoenix Rivera on drums and Ruben Rodriquez on the electric bass. Sanabria is back with the traditional instruments as well as Rory Stuart with the breezy acoustic guitar. It requires no leap of reason to understand why Brazil has some of the most joyful people in the world. With the ubiquitous presence of samba, Carnival should be year-round.

This track also requires multiple hearings. Listen to the guitar first and get the melodic aegis. Listen to the undercurrent of the bass line. Listen to the drums of Rivera and then listen to the sorcery of Sanabria.

Take a Latin Break ends the album on a blues bent. It is the same rhythm section who are now “swinging over a 12 bar blues form” that changes gears into a “NYC style jazz mambo in 2/3 clave.” Sanabria is on bongo’ and bongo’ bell. There is about a 1.5 second stop before the shift and that moment just hangs there. Talk about antici…pation.

This album is not an oddity or a novelty CD. Maestro Marlow has something in mind.

At first approach, one is compelled to revisit his previous releases and hear them afresh through a new appreciation of the rhythmic elements contained therein. This is sufficient in itself but it cannot be even near the point.

Eugene Marlow is a composer of the highest order but he is also a teacher. Having listened to all of his albums, it can be said with absolute certainty that his aim is never to simply entertain. This is not to say that that entertainment is a base or demeaning goal; it is not.

However, whether it is a renewed hearing of traditional Jewish music redone in modern style or the fusion of Afro-Cuban or Brazilian rhythms with modern jazz, he is teaching something about our world, about our cultures, about us.

In Hitz & Pizz, he teaches us about coming together. His magnificent compositions have always been about bringing diversity into harmony.

The rhythmic patterns of Old Africa meeting New World are for Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music what chord progressions are to European music or modalism is to Eastern music. They are the foundations upon which that particular music is built.

Imagine the happy day when Mongo Santamaria mated the Afro-Cuban groove with the soul of African-American jazz in Herbie Hancock’s Watermelon Man. It was magical, musical alchemy and the world has not been the same since.

This must be Eugene Marlow’s point: we are better when coming together than we are when we remain separated by our own categories. When the delicacy of melody from one place is laid over the powerful rhythms from another place, the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

I will never again be able to hear the Latin rhythms without thinking of the improvised instruments upon which they played: the various sizes of barrels, the two sticks struck together, the empty whiskey barrel and the steel hoe-blade. Lay the sound of a guitar or a bass over them and the alchemy happens.

Maestro Marlow is not simply inviting us to look inside music. He is inviting us to look inside our world and see the beauty of diversity.

When Aimée Allen’s first track was listed as Dave Frishberg’s Peel Me a Grape, I wondered if she had made the right choice seeing how Diana Krall had resurrected the song and was turning it into an unmistakable Krall-sounding classic. In fact, one YouTube video claims that the vocalist is doing a cover of Diana Krall’s Peel Me a Grape.

The song has a great history to it. It was Frishberg’s first recorded song. In a 1996 interview, Frishberg told Phillip D. Atteberry, "I worked for a short time with Dick Haymes and Fran Jeffries on the hotel circuit. Dick asked me to write something for Fran--a cute, sexy piece. He knew that I had been dabbling with composition. So I came up with Peel Me a Grape. She never performed it, but some of my friends liked it, so I submitted it to [composer and publisher Frank]Loesser’s office, and he published it. Nobody picked it up, however, so I assumed it had died in obscurity when I got a call to do a record date some months later. That was unusual. I was well connected in the night club circuit but played very few studio dates. At any rate, I showed up. An impressive group had assembled. Jimmy Crawford, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Eddie Costa on vibes, plus a big band. Wow! John Hammond produced the thing. When I walked to the piano and saw the music, I saw Peel Me a Grape. My first reaction was, ‘Hey, what is this? I wrote a song called Peel Me a Grape!’ And then it hit me that they were recording my song. That’s why I had been called to play piano on the date. It was a thrill."

It was recorded beautifully by Lainie Kazan. It was done horribly by Dusty Springfield. Krall has staked her claim on it. My concerns were all proven to be unfounded. Aimée performs this song the way Frishberg intended it. She is playful, she is warm, she is charming.

Jacob Melchior adds superb brushwork on drums. His skittering brush on the snare is a cool feature. Toru Dodo’s piano work is supportive and cool. Craig Akin’s bass is so subtle that it is almost easy to miss what he adds. At 3:53 he does a small gliss that is subdued but a sweet touch.

The second track shifts to a samba but the crossover is seamless. Samba em preludio features the obligatory guitar and Peter McCann delivers smoothly. Victor Prieto’s accordion is not something expected and is welcome to the ensemble.  Craig Akin gets the bass solo and he does it within the samba context brilliantly.

After Akin’s solo, guitar and accordion return and Prieto almost steals the show with his accordion work. We get to hear him on three tracks and he pays off every time.

Make no mistake, however. Aimée holds them all in her own gravitational pull. Her Portuguese is beautiful and she is fully at home in this style and language.

Before listening to Aimée’s album, I got up to speed on her through various videos and recordings. Or so I thought. I was unprepared for a surprise element that caught me at the third track.

Eden Autumn& Noah Too begins with McCann’s solo electric guitar. It is an arpeggio of unexpected intervals with reminiscences of Steven Wilson’s compositions for Porcupine Tree. Intriguing from the start. Aimée and Akin join in together and the tension builds.

The title of the piece references her nieces and a nephew and Aimée delivers the lyrics in a hurried but not rushed tempo. She is quickly passing on wisdom to her little beloved ones while the piano and bass hold the slow tempo. The impact is powerful. The lives of the little ones are moving so slowly for them but aunt Aimée knows that it is all going fast and there is no time to waste.

The break picks up swingingly with great virtuosity by Pete McCann.  The chord changes are captivating and her intonation is splendid. I was again called to think of Jon Anderson’s vocal style and concluded that, while I was listening to a ballad, it was a ballad of progressive rock proportions. I mean that in a good way.

After my first listen, I picked up the CD cover to look for the composer and was unprepared to find that it was composed by Aimée Allen. Now I was on the edge of my seat.

Stardust Reunited is also an Aimée composition. Toru Dodo carries the melody on piano beautifully and delicately. The lyrics are moving and inspiring and Aimée’s delivery blends a wistfulness with reverie all to magnificent effect.

Second Time Around is Aimée’s bossa nova composition and all of her musicians turn in first-rate interpretations of her intentions. The bossa’s aggressiveness is unleashed by Victor Prieto’s accordion and Aimée’s delivery punctuates the strength of the piece. The McCann guitar holds it together as Jacob Melchior provides the underlayment on drums.

I was stunned at the realization that the same heart and pen that created the “progressive-ballad” on one track had moved to a powerful bossa nova without seam and almost with a feeling of inevitability. These were not compositional jumps; they were progressions.

Aimée returns to standards with Bye Bye Blackbird/It Could Happen to You and the listener comes to the understanding that this performer is at home in any style from any place. She effortlessly moves about in these classics and her accompanists are equally agile. The exquisite meshing of these two songs is proof of her own tasteful understanding of them.

We Are in Love Again was written by Aimée’s brother David Allen. The crawling tempo of piano and drum is wrenching in their agonizing recollection of what had been as Aimée sings of what was and what is again. The very movement is intentionally tentative like lovers slowly returning to the place of inevitable vulnerability. The tempo and Aimée’s enunciation become more determined and they carry the mood brilliantly. Determination has replaced trepidation. Brilliant.

David and Aimée team up for the composing of That Day. David is a guitarist himself and the guitar part is subtle then virtuosic then supportive.  I love the lyrics and I adore her emphasis.

There’ll be no need to explain/There‘s a turnaround
Nothing is ever the same/ When new love is found
’Cause when you fall/ The lessons learned don’t matter at all
You’ll find an irresistible call/Will carry you away
And you’ll know/That you’ve changed that day.

She has an irresistible call all her own.

That call continues in the next track, another original entitled I’ll Get Along. The bluesy piece has touching moments from Craig Akin’s bass. Akin is better than you think. He is sublimely subtle. So subtle that a casual listen will allow you to miss what he is doing.

Pat Metheny wrote a piece called Always and Forever. It was Metheny, so the beauty of it is self-evident. Aimée Allen, however, has written lyrics for it and it appears on this album as Love Aloud, with Metheny’s permission. The original was from Metheny’s 1992 album “Secret Story” and was dedicated to his parents. That particular Metheny album is a personal favorite.

The magic of Aimée  is such that while listening to her vocal version, the hearer forgets that anyone anywhere ever did a previous version of it. Then she follows up that magic with another spell cast on Sting’s Fragile.  It must have been a spell that makes one forget an original version that was unliked. Again, she has taken the song as her own and she brings a freshness and delight that the original missed.

Aimée closes the album with Mancini and Bricusse’s Two for the Road. It is a fitting and emotional end to a wonderful album. Toru Dodo’s piano is haunting and Jacob Melchior is in lock-step with him.  But it is Aimée who rightfully gets the listener’s attention over and over again.

Her track list is smart. Her instincts are perfect.  Her delivery is astonishing.

As Aimée heads down her musical road, one truly wants to follow her wherever she leads. As the last notes of the soulful piano fade out and Aimée’s sweet voice has already echoed away, a deep longing sets in—a longing for her next album to be released soon.