Matt Wilson Quartet + John Medeski
Gathering Call
Palmetto ***1/2
Drummer Matt Wilson has been on a few records reviewed in these pages recently including the swinging Bella Napoli and Sweet Shadow, and Gathering Call goes further to provide precious insights into the work and ideas of this fine Illinois-born musician. Gathering Call in its orange and black livery recalls the look of an Impulse album. Yet, rather than setting off on the avant garde track that that famous label was mostly known for, it follows a more orthodox swinging line right from the off on Duke’s ‘Main Stem’. The Ellingtonian element of Gathering Call is pursued later with the interesting choice of lesser known gem ‘You Dirty Dog’ (from Impulse album Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins a tune Sam Woodyard played drums on) a genuinely toe-tapping feature. Like Woodyard, Wilson plays great time and makes his presence felt in several different ways leading a band moving out from the centre to the suburbs of the avant garde particularly in the abandon of the title track, Wilson’s sprawling tune ‘Gathering Call’. That process of moving away from the norm also provides detours too particularly in the winsome cover of the BC Jean/Toby Gad song ‘If I Were a Boy’ Beyoncé made famous that unpeels itself along avant garde jazz lines. Gathering Call was recorded in an afternoon at Maggie's Farm, a studio built in an 18th century Pennsylvanian barn, Wilson powering a fizzing band, with Jeff Lederer (who arranged Bella Napoli referred to earlier) on saxes and clarinet, Sifter cornetist Kirk Knuffke, new to the band, a real livewire, Chris Lightcap on bass, and John Medeski, a former colleague of Wilson’s in the Either/Orchestra on piano adding some period touches, particularly on ‘You Dirty Dog’ and a solo of real tender quality on ‘Hope (For the Cause)’ a tune where Lederer also provides lulling clarinet. A gently persuasive tune by the late Butch Warren, ‘Barack Obama’, is also included among the 13 tracks: a nice touch. SG
Released on 20 January in the UK