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Julian Priester :: In Deep End Dance by Ron Sagye La Rue 
2002, Conduit RecordsJulian Priester,Trombone; Dawn Clement,Piano; Geoff Harper,Bass; Byron Vannoy,Drums. The name Julian Priester is probably not the first you think of when you think of the trombone. But he's been on the scene since the early 1950's; in fact, he played with Sun Ra at the tender age of 18! Duke Ellington,Max Roach,Freddie Hubbard,Lee Morgan,Art Blakey have used Priester's trombone in their bands.Mc Coy Tyner whom Priester recorded with on Tyner's first orchestral date said: "I've known Julian since I first came to New York, and always admired his sound and the fluency of his style". Priester not to be marginalized by any one form of music has also recorded with the late Salsa/Latin Jazz pianist Charlie Palmieri. This current CD by Priester on Conduit Records(CR 1301-the labels first) features the trombonist in a quartet setting. There are eight compositions five by Priester and three by each of the rhythm section. Even though there eight individual pieces of music by four musicians,a continuity exists among them. Actually a stream of consciousness that flows into a pool of musical harmony. From the opening title composition "In Deep" you experience the warm full sound of the trombone, check out "Captured Imagination"in its "free form" structure Priester's sound intense but controlled. Dawn Clement's scrapping of the piano strings and plucking adds wonderfully to the piece;bassits and percussionist,Harper and Vannoy create a moving mutiplicity of timbre and dynamics. On Captured the mood changes to a driving medium-tempo "Blue Sea" that turns into a lopping Thelonious Monk style melodic gate,Clement solos nicely on this Monkish feeling piece--she has her own concept not Monk's! Through out the 62:07 time of this new Julian Priester CD there is some excellent bass,drum and piano playing and of course great trombone sounds by Julian Priester. As I said earlier this is Conduit records first release. Lets hope they have many more! And more Julian Priester! published 16.04.2005© 2005 jazz news :: home page |
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