Stanton Moore - Emphasis! (On Parenthesis) (2008)

Drummer, composer and bandleader Stanton Moore has a well-deserved reputation for diversity. Besides being a founding member of New Orleans powerhouse jazz-funkmaster Galactic, he's played with Corrosion of Conformity, jammed with other traditional New Orleans R&B and jazz groups, and issued three fine albums as leader. On Emphasis! On Parenthesis, Moore is playing with guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter, a pair of top-flight collaborators he's worked with in various settings in the past -- in particular on his third album simply called III. Of course the trio isn't new to Moore by any stretch. He also records with Skerik and guitarist Charlie Hunter under the Garage a Trois moniker.
The album's 11 tracks all contain titles with parenthetical statements -- it is an acknowledgement of the gentle ribbing from his Galactic bandmates that he slips parentheses into the name of almost every tune he writes. In some ways the music reflects this; each of these tunes has extensions in it, where the riff or groove starts and gets grafted onto continually with other musical statements, transforming the original vamp, groove, or riff into a more complex and varied composition. This is possible because of the incredible balance in this group. The trio setting doesn't provide the same problems as a quartet or quintet, but it also doesn't provide the safety net. Certainly Moore's breakbeat crazy, full-force kit work is up in the mix as it should be for such a rhythmically complex groove record. He's certainly the bandleader and he composed the tunes, but this isn't a showcase for his drumming. Bernard and Walter are stellar partners. Bernard is one of the most well-respected guitarists among musicians, but he's a low profile cat who is almost unknown to all guitar freaks. Walter's profile is lower still. It makes them perfect for a date like this where everybody shines all the time.
Take the funky New Orleans strut-funk that is "(Late Night at The) Maple Leaf." The cut was developed from Moore's basslines out of a jam he and Walter played with Meters' bassist George Porter. Some chunky yet slinky B-3 chords by Walter dictate its opening groove, followed by funky guitar chords in backbeat driven by a 5/8 stuttering break tempo set by Moore. It is reminiscent of the Meters but layers interlocking step grooves into odd codas, middle fours, and turnarounds. A boogie-woogie piano is layered on top of a bassline played by Walter on the clavinet and morphs itself into a smoking bluesy solo (made up almost entirely of chord runs) before Bernard moves his knotty, jazzed-up guitar lines dead center for a break. "(Proper) Gander" is almost pure voodoo funk propelled by nasty chords and tom-tom rim shots that get turned into a drunken swaggering steamy groove by Bernard's twinned guitar lines.
Spy flick funk is what drives "(Wissions Of) Vu," propelled by a clavinet à la Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and an off-kilter toy piano. Bernard plays his best John Barry styled-film guitar line, and Moore makes the whole thing choogle. The most overtly jazz thing here is the following fourth cut "(Sifting Through The) African Diaspora." There are some jagged hard bop lines juxtaposed against funky breaks, fluid harmonic shifts and changes, and some stellar organ and guitar work moving tonal palettes through a rainbow of shades and colors. Working through a series of stretched minors and sevenths, this cut never loses its swing even at its most start-and-stop, and then slips into serious John Patton murk terrain, digging through the blues and groove bags before moving out towards somewhere on the frontier. It's one of the finest things here and easily the most adventurous, going through so many shapes and shifts and turns that it's difficult to even remember where it began. Another standout is the choppy, late-night soulful "(Smell My) Special Ingredients," that slips Fela styled Afro-funk backbeats and rock dynamics à la the Jeff Beck Group into its construction. Despite this amalgam of styles and tonal colors, it swings like mad. "(Put On Your) Big People Shoes" is pure whomp funky! The snare shuffle here is pure rim-shot tough, and the blues angler in the 12-bar set-up is deceptive in the way it stretches time via Walter's gradations in the chord changes. In a little over 45 minutes, the listener is taken on a ride that's full of thrills and musical adventure to be sure, but more than this, it's a jag of pure pleasure that you can dance and fingerpop to. If you are still sitting on your behind (or at least moving some part of your body in time), you are simply dead. Emphasis! On Parenthesis is another big winner in Moore's stellar catalog. -- All Music Guide April 2008

Right from the beginning of this CD, it's such a pleasure to hear Stanton Moore play the drums, it's an effort to remember he is also the bandleader, co-producer and main idea-man behind Emphasis! (On the Parenthesis). With this trio work, the New Orleans native takes another step toward elevating himself to that upper echelon of jazz drummers including Art Blakey and Tony Williams. And Moore does it all without calling attention to himself at any point. On the opener, "(Late Night at The) Maple Leaf," his syncopated drum work is only one of a series of the track's highlights. Keyboardist Robert Walter takes swift turns on organ and piano before Will Bernard snakes in and out by means of some sinuous guitar work also heard on "(Smell My) Special Ingredients." The once and future fret-boardist from T.J. Kirk also slides (almost but not quite recklessly) through the frantic "(Here Come) The Brown Police." The bond between this threesome, a result of roadwork and this, their second recording session together (they were the core of Moore's III from 2006, also on Telarc), no doubt allows for the generosity of spirit and humility that allows each equal time as they interact. But more importantly, the trio now possess a seamless unity that enlivens the stock funk and R&B elements of songs like "(Thanks) Again." Moore and his band mates make no apologies for their devotion to hard rock either, so the heavy riffing that surfaces here offers some contrast to both composition and musicianship. Moore simplifies his usually detailed drum work to pound out "(Proper) Gander" and, on "(Who Ate The) Layer Cake," it's not just volume that distinguishes Bernard's guitar, it's the abandon with which he plays, an approach that Walter also shares on organ. There is no bassist but plenty of bottom in the sound Moore co-produces with Mike Napolitano. The spacious quality of the recording makes it possible to hear the filigree of guitar as clearly as the nuance of the drumming. Effects, such as the looping on "(I Have) Super Strength," are used shrewdly too, as is the capture of group improvisation from which "Wissions (Of Vu)" is built. Yet if Moore, Walter and Bernard weren't so technically skilled or fluent in such a variety of styles, the fruits of their collaboration might reside in the dolefully predictable rut of all too much funk. Instead, Emphasis! (On Parenthesis) is alight with a fresh camaraderie that exceeds the ambitious goals of the group's leader.