Matthieu Michel - Live at Theatre Oriental
Matthieu Michel
Live at Theatre Oriental
2003 Universal Music GmBH, Austria
Matthieu Michel - Trumpet
Martin Reiter - Keyboards, Piano
Ptere Herbert - Double Bass
Alex Deutsch - Drums
w/ Michael Doum Doum Dread, Gail Anderson , Wolfgang Muthspeil, Christoph Varga, and others.
There are not a lot of musicians in jazz or rock from Switzerland that I can think of; Patrick Moraz and Jojo Mayer being the only two really. Now I guess I can add Matthieu Michel.
I picked this thing up on a lark on day at a Rasputin Records (they had a huge new influx of stock to their bargain bins, with a 3.95 each or 5 for 15 bucks), and it was worth it for the most part.
First the bad parts:
1. The french monotonal vocals on the 10 minute Des Jours Meilleurs is really, deeply annoying.
2. Some of a the keyboard patches are a little too close to the smooth jazz vein, but they are few and far apart. I do not like thin Fender Rhodes patches. Either make it sound like the real deal or just get one and use it. No sissy-ninny-boy patch sets damnit.
The good part is that this guy is pretty good on trumpet, with a clean, crisp tone and playing in a style very derivative of Miles Davis in phrasing, particularly evident on the cut Oriental which drifts from sounding like he is copping from Sketches of Spain to copping from Big Fun. Given that, the sound palette he is working from is consonant with the crop of trumpet players that have come into their own in te last decade that are heavily indebted to the late-era and harmon mute using Miles, and to the possibilities of electronics. We are talking folks like Nils Petter Moelvar, Erik Truffaz, Wallace Roney*, Tim Hagans and even Dave Douglas.
It is a mostly mellow album, like Marc Isham's Blue Sun, but lacking some of the compositional range. The standouts are the two bookend cuts, Nag Champa's Flavor and L'Accorde-Oniste. The nu-jazz meets house style of Let it In could easily fit on a Naked Music release (and probably could be a fun remix track for a Miguel Migs or Blue Six), and the vocals sound a little bit like Lisa Shaw in spots. This is a good thing, but probably should have been placed as a bonus track or something, as it sits badly sequenced as the penultimate track.
The standout sideman here is Peter Herbert. With a surprisingly ringing but rubbery upright bass sound, his complex figures in Oriental and Cadillac are ear candy. Even the somewhat conventional pseudo latin buzz in Havanna Club has an elasticity from the bass department that cuts across the cheesy synth and piano riffing (see #2 above). Also of note is Wolfgang Muthspiel, who always has something tasteful to say on guitar.
* Roney is a bit unique in that he has direct connections to Miles, has the most overarching sound that is both derivative of Miles yet distinctly his own animal as well. A truly underrated and inscrutible player and composer.
Live at Theatre Oriental
2003 Universal Music GmBH, Austria
Matthieu Michel - Trumpet
Martin Reiter - Keyboards, Piano
Ptere Herbert - Double Bass
Alex Deutsch - Drums
w/ Michael Doum Doum Dread, Gail Anderson , Wolfgang Muthspeil, Christoph Varga, and others.
There are not a lot of musicians in jazz or rock from Switzerland that I can think of; Patrick Moraz and Jojo Mayer being the only two really. Now I guess I can add Matthieu Michel.
I picked this thing up on a lark on day at a Rasputin Records (they had a huge new influx of stock to their bargain bins, with a 3.95 each or 5 for 15 bucks), and it was worth it for the most part.
First the bad parts:
1. The french monotonal vocals on the 10 minute Des Jours Meilleurs is really, deeply annoying.
2. Some of a the keyboard patches are a little too close to the smooth jazz vein, but they are few and far apart. I do not like thin Fender Rhodes patches. Either make it sound like the real deal or just get one and use it. No sissy-ninny-boy patch sets damnit.
The good part is that this guy is pretty good on trumpet, with a clean, crisp tone and playing in a style very derivative of Miles Davis in phrasing, particularly evident on the cut Oriental which drifts from sounding like he is copping from Sketches of Spain to copping from Big Fun. Given that, the sound palette he is working from is consonant with the crop of trumpet players that have come into their own in te last decade that are heavily indebted to the late-era and harmon mute using Miles, and to the possibilities of electronics. We are talking folks like Nils Petter Moelvar, Erik Truffaz, Wallace Roney*, Tim Hagans and even Dave Douglas.
It is a mostly mellow album, like Marc Isham's Blue Sun, but lacking some of the compositional range. The standouts are the two bookend cuts, Nag Champa's Flavor and L'Accorde-Oniste. The nu-jazz meets house style of Let it In could easily fit on a Naked Music release (and probably could be a fun remix track for a Miguel Migs or Blue Six), and the vocals sound a little bit like Lisa Shaw in spots. This is a good thing, but probably should have been placed as a bonus track or something, as it sits badly sequenced as the penultimate track.
The standout sideman here is Peter Herbert. With a surprisingly ringing but rubbery upright bass sound, his complex figures in Oriental and Cadillac are ear candy. Even the somewhat conventional pseudo latin buzz in Havanna Club has an elasticity from the bass department that cuts across the cheesy synth and piano riffing (see #2 above). Also of note is Wolfgang Muthspiel, who always has something tasteful to say on guitar.
* Roney is a bit unique in that he has direct connections to Miles, has the most overarching sound that is both derivative of Miles yet distinctly his own animal as well. A truly underrated and inscrutible player and composer.
posted by theloniusfunk at 1:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home