Steve Grismore & Paul Scea Group - Well Behaved Fish (2006)

  • 07 Aug, 13:59
  • change text size:


Steve Grismore & Paul Scea Group - Well Behaved Fish (2006)


Artist: Steve Grismore & Paul Scea Group
Title Of Album: Well Behaved Fish
Year Of Release: 2006
Label: Accurate Records
Genre: Fusion, Contemporary Jazz
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Bitrate: Lossless
Total Time: 57:48
Total Size: 369 MB

Tracklist:

1. Dancing In Your Head 4:04
2. Cletus N'gugu 7:23
3. Baghdad 5:24
4. Spinach Dip 3:12
5. Crush 6:44
6. Introductions 3:36
7. I'm Being Held Hostage To Your Failure 4:38
8. Well Behaved Fish 8:49
9. Pigs At The Trough 3:32
10. Benevolent Psychopathology 3:21
11. Good God 7:23

Steve Grismore: guitar, guitar synth
Paul Scea: saxes, flute, wind controller
Brent Sandy: trumpet
Anthony Cox: bass
Marc Gratama: drums, synth drums and percussion

Well Behaved Fish opens with Ornette Coleman's "Dancing in Your Head," an upbeat, obstreporous, hard-driving electro-orchestral performance, and a fitting introduction to a plugged-in set of sounds reminscent of some of Miles Davis' mid to late-'70s work. But the Grismore/Scea Group, co-led by guitarist Steve Grismore and multi-reedist Paul Scea, gives the sound more focus and structure than Davis' defiantly amorphous approach.
Like Miles' much maligned On the Corner (Columbia, '72), a set that seems to be getting a critical upgrade of late, the individual instruments on Well Behaved Fish are at times difficult to identify. Wind controller, guitar synth, and amped-up saxophones mingle together, though Scea's flute drifts distinctly at times, wailing into the electro-smear on "Spinach Dip."
"Baghdad" reins in the pace, with floating Middle East string instrument sounds and percussion behind Brent Sandy's tart trumpet. "Crush" showcases a beefy trio rhythm—Grismore's intensely blurry guitar lines, Anthony Cox's beefy, seismic bass, and Marc Gratama's heavy rock-like drum work. The closer, "Good God," sounds funkily mainstream, with Grismore wah-wahing behind Scea's searing hot tenor sax solo.
Both leaders teach, Grismore at Augustana College and the University of Iowa, Scea at West Virginia University—two geographical locales that are a long way from the modern jazz meccas. With Well Behaved Fish they prove that the "location, location, location" mantra does't hold a lot of water in terms of making modern and intriguing first-rate jazz sounds.