Wayne Wallace - The Nature Of The Beat (2008) [CD-Rip]

Tracklist

01. Mis Amigos
02. Jeru
03. Serpentine Fire
04. Fascinatin' Rhythm
05. No Esta Complicado
06. Besame Mucho
07. Come Running To Me
08. Unchain My Heart
09. That Walk
10. Oshumare


Jazz trombonist Wayne Wallace has been steadily moving up the ladder as one of the premier players on his instrument, and merging more so to the Latin jazz idiom. He's a fine arranger and bandleader too, talents that should not be overlooked. For this program, Wallace asserts his melodic common sense by leading out many tunes, stirring up a large horn section, and infusing his personal dynamism that will rival any of his heroes and influences. His background in playing pop music also shows up, as he covers tunes by Earth, Wind & Fire and Ray Charles. But the straight Latin and jazz tracks fully display what Wallace does best. The sizzling montuno original ¡No Esta Complicado! is fronted by the trombonist, setting off chirping and chattering horns in the backdrop. A clave beat sustains the orisha inspired Oshumaré in a nice, melodic understated groove during five minutes of marvelous music that inexplicably is faded out prematurely. There's an expansive take of Herbie Hancock's Come Running to Me (spelled correctly on the inside booklet, but nonsensically Coming Running to Me elsewhere), an amiable cha cha version with flute, brass, and electric piano. Melecio Magdaluyo is the wondrous flute player and fluid alto saxophonist on the date, and his light shines brightly throughout. His flute sweetly coalesces with Wallace on the very slow version of Bésame Mucho, while his alto solo leaps over the Latin funk of Mis Amigos and That Walk. Veteran saxophonist Ron Stallings is here as well, playing outstanding baritone sax on the spicy but low-key, deep take of Gerry Mulligan's Jeru, a great idea for the soloist and the other horns. Stallings is on tenor and vocals for a timba funk version of Unchain My Heart which is all too unremarkable. An overbearing vocal on the straight 4/4 Fascinatin' Rhythm, highlights an inconsistency with this CD. Mixing and matching really excellent Latin jazz with mundane funk flaws the overall product, no matter the influences involved. Wallace is an extraordinary trombone player and improviser, of that there is no doubt. The band, including Magdaluyo, Stallings, timbales master Michael Spiro, the great percussionist John Santos, pianists Frank Martin and Murray Low, and bassist Paul VanWageningen are all truly outstanding. Unfortunately, songs like Serpentine Fire do not do the program favors, and the occasional vocal coro or synthesizer add-ons are unnecessary. A relatively good effort overall from Wallace, it still has many very bright moments, at least four hot tracks, and a clear vision for the future.

Wallace's recent placement in DownBeat Magazine's "Critic's Poll" has gotten the word out about his virtuosity as a trombonist, and on The Nature of the Beat, (available digitally now; hard copies out August 19 on Patois Records), we hear him stretch out on an eclectic mix of tunes. Latin classics such as Besame Mucho find their place next to jazz standards like Fascinatin' Rhythm, here recast in a afro-cuban timba style. In addition to four Wallace originals, the disc features tunes by Earth Wind & Fire, Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, and Gerry Mulligan, all reframed in Wallace's scintillating Latin arrangements. Wallace's enduring love of Afro-Cuban music brings us another soul-stirring disc that celebrates the universal rhythm of life. As Wallace puts it: "The lure of the drum is difficult, if not impossible, to resist." The Nature of the Beat is the second part of a trilogy that began with Wallace's critically acclaimed 2007 album The Reckless Search for Beauty. Both discs highlight the multi-faceted nature of his musical vision by bringing together three genres of music from the Americas - Jazz, Latin Jazz, and R&B - and joyfully celebrating their interconnectedness. The disc opens festively with Mis Amigos, a Wallace original that features bristling percussion, energetic vocals, and sparkling brass lines. Fantastic solo turns by Wallace, Melecio Magdaluyo on alto sax, Frank Martin on synthesizer, and Louis Fasman on trumpet increase the excitement. On Jeru, a Gerry Mulligan tune from Miles Davis' groundbreaking album The Birth of the Cool, Wallace pays tribute to the sound that eventually came to be known as both "Cool Jazz" and "West Coast" jazz. Wallace slightly changes Mulligan's recipe by substituting Post Horn for French horn, and Wagner Tuba for Trombone; in honor of the composer, Ron Stallings takes a beautiful bari sax solo here. The Earth Wind & Fire hit Serpentine Fire receives an ingenious re-working from Wallace and Michael Spiro in a hard-grooving homage to the brilliance of E.W.F. and its leader/drummer Maurice White, whom Wallace got to watch first-hand in the studio while playing on the E.W.F. album "Touch the World." To honor the themes of universal love and mystical spiritualism that E.W.F. embraced, Wallace presents a tri-lingual version of the song, with lyrics sung in English, Spanish, and Yoruba, a West-African language. Wallace takes a blazing solo here, while vocalists Claytoven Richardson and Orlando Torriente sing with soulful exuberance.

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