Jerry Granelli V16 - Vancouver '08 (2009) [SACD]

Drummer on Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" LP and the TV soundtracks, cited in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the inventors of psychedelic music, pioneer in world-jazz fusion and electro-acoustic percussion in the hippie era, founder/co-director of the music department at Boulder's Naropa Institute in the '70s, longtime associate of Mose Allison, Jane Ira Bloom, Glen Moore, Dave Friedman etc., and with a string of wide-ranging projects under his own name in the last 20 years, Jerry Granelli has been on the scene for so long - as percussionist, teacher and bandleader - that there may be a tendency to take him for granted.

With two electric guitars, electric bass and drums, Jerry Granelli's V16 project might resemble a rock band more than your standard jazz band, but don't be fooled: this is a jazz band all the way. Actually, the way they operate, it's almost more of a jazz organism. Much like Henry Threadgill's Zooid or Very Very Circus (and Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler before that), this project is dedicated to group improvisation. Which is not to say it's free jazz: it's not. There are strong melodies to almost every tune, but it's never a situation where they play a head and trade solos. The melodies are a launching point for a group sound that ebbs and flows, touching back on the melodies at times but never slavishly bound to them. Christian Kögel and David Tronzo's rapport is incredible. There are times where it seems one guitar player will complete the other's thought. There are times where suddenly a unison-played melody appears almost out of nowhere only to resolve into two or three separate tangents. The way the players crawl inside the tunes and work as one is really amazing. It can be difficult to tell who is doing what (besides the drums, of course). Kögel and Tronzo play with both restraint and abandon (check out Tronzo's prepared guitar work on the DVD portion) but there are never any flashy solos. Members of the band may drop out for fairly lengthy stretches. "Udon Waltz" is just a duet between J. Anthony Granelli and Christian Kögel. The cover of "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" is performed as a drum solo! But even in the other tunes, it isn't uncommon for players to drop out of the arrangement for a while. It's a truly egoless group dynamic; they play in service to the tunes not to show off.

Tracks:

1-1 Planting 5:50
1-2 The Truth 6:06
1-3 Flipper 5:14
1-4 Brutto Ma Buono 3:12
1-5 Wellfare 4:39
1-6 Udon Waltz 4:02
1-7 Unnamed 8:43
1-8 Steel Eyed Blues 8:28
1-9 Murder Ballad 5:18
1-10 Dizzy Moods 4:52
1-11 Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans 3:34

Personnel:

Jerry Granelli - drums, steel sculpture
David Tronzo - electric slide guitar
Christian Kögel - electric guitar
J. Anthony Granelli - electric bass