Artist.......: Brandi Disterheft
Album........: Debut
Label........: Superfran Records
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: SFR 0007
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: May-07-2010
str.date.....: 2007
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: www.brandidisterheft.com
track title time
01. Pennywort 06:21
02. Dandy Dangle 06:43
03. Duke's Dead 04:21
04. Auto-Beauties 03:45
05. Typhoon The 27th Hour 05:16
06. If Only 03:53
07. Sixty Dollar Train 07:02
08. Dah Knee Low 05:35
09. Little Space I Need to Fill (aka Detroit) 03:53
Runtime 46:49 min
Size 67,2 MB
Release Notes:
While the rest of the world was talking about
Esperanza Spaulding another bassist has been busy
making a quiet noise, in a voice all her own.
Brandi Disterheft's mature bass playingùboth
pizzicato and arcoùand her ability to write
original material and arrange with a natural ear
for the tones and textures of strings, brass and
woodwinds speak volumes of lessons learned fromùat
least spirituallyùthe legendary Charles Mingus.
The incredibly gifted Disterheft has all at once
crossed the threshold of first albums and pushed
the horizon much further than any musician of her
vintage. Debut (Superfran Records, 2007) is a truly
remarkable achievement. The album has nine original
compositions that are not just original, but appear
to have come from a voice so distinctive that one
can safely say, "You've never heard anything like
this before." Unless you were the late Oscar
Peterson, in which case you might say, "She has the
same lope or rhythmic pulse as my bassist, Ray
Brown. She is what we call serious." And that, Dr.
Peterson, would be putting it all too mildly.
Rarely has a musician been so fearless on his or
her first record as leader. Disterheft has pulled
out the stops. She has composed music in various
challenging and complex meters, written
arrangements using tonal colorations to match, and
pushed her musicians into interpreting her work on
the cutting edge of their own abilities. She has
alsoùand this is rare tooùbeen bold enough to write
words to some songs and have them sung by the
smoky-voiced young musician, Sophia Perlman. From
the evidence of lyrics for "Auto-Beauties" and "If
Only," Brandi Disterheft is a lyric poet as well
and Perlman is perfect for the moody saudade of the
songs, created in no small measure by the texture
of the interplay of horns and piano.
By her own admission, Disterheft set out to make
her record a show of respect to those musicians who
inspired her and provided the impetus for her own
music. But this is far from being a tribute album.
It is a brave and successful attempt to give back
to jazz in several settingsùtrio, quartet, quintet,
and more. The album is beautifully paced, right
from the trio opening on "Pennywort." You
immediately get a sense that nothing will ever be
the same. The idiom of the music here is quirky,
and like the best jazz, surprisingùespecially in
the climactic bridge that leads into a piano break
fed by a subtle rattling of and swoosh of the
cymbalsùa calming wind to settle the song after it
has taken flight. Disterheft's bass plays a
harmolodic role throughout.
"Dandy Dangle" brings horns in counterpoint with
guitar and piano. Pianist David Virelles shines
here, building his solo from the ground-up, atonal
at first, then with sweeping runs into a Thelonious
Monk-like architectural soundscape, before drummer
Sly Juhas deconstructs the rhythm, turning it
inside out, then returns it to its bop melody. This
track is followed by the most ambitious one of the
disc. "Duke's Dead" is a complex, towering vehicle
for its bassist and composer. The dirge-like arco
opening, then the dialogue between Disterheft and
Juhas and the sly entry of the horns recalls the
best Mingus-Richmond tradition, even working the
changes from a classic, "Moanin,'" from Mingus'
Blues & Roots ( Atlantic, 1959).
"Typhoon The 27th Hour" has a fine free chart that
features a charged harmonic interplay between the
searching, scorching tenor of Chris Gale and
Disterheft, running riot over the bass, while Juhas
keeps things going with his chord-like rumbling on
toms and tympanis. "Sixty Dollar Train," another
straight-ahead song with a surprising Latin break,
is a fine vehicle for guitarist Nathan Hiltz to
shine on, with his gazelle-like romp through the
melody as the horns rumble in contrapuntal harmony.
Alexander Brown takes a well-paced solo on
flugelhorn. "Dah Knee Low" is a fine chart
featuring subtle changes to harmony and rhythm, an
oblique reference to the music of pianist Danilo
Perez, who also happens to be one of Disterheft's
teachers. The pianism of Adrian Ferrugia here is
outstanding, as is the bluesy, dry tenor of Gale.
Disterheft makes the bass sing as she solos.
Debut is the kind of first album that most
musicians can only dream of to launch their
careers. Praise is also due to fellow West Coaster,
Michael Kaeshammer, a fine musician in his own
right, for the production.