|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Francisco Mora Catlett OUTERZONE by Bruce Lee Gallanter Francisco Mora Catlett with Marshall Allen/Craig Taborn - OuterZone (Premier Cru; USA) Featuring Marshall Allen on alto sax & flute, Craig Taborn on keyboards & bass keys, Carl Craig on synth & space programming, John Douglass & Dwight Adams on trumpets, Cassious Richmond on alto sax (1 track), Brian Hollis & Andrew Daniels on percussion and Francisco Mora Catlett on assorted percussion, arranging and composing. The wonderful thing about working here at DMG is when someone you've never met or heard of comes in and hands you their disc and it blows you (me) away. This is certainly the case here! Francisco Mora Catlett is a fine percussionist and composer who was a member of Max Roach's M'Boom and played with the Sun Ra Arkestra for more than a decade in the 70's and 80's. 'OuterZone' opens with an impressive blast of synth, sax, trumpet and percussion called "Space Chord." Every other track is another short blast of a "Space Chord". "Saints of Congo Square" is dedicated to New Orleans' finest: Louis Armstrong, Buddy Bolden and Baby Dodds. It features some inspired alto sax and trumpets wailing together over an impressive Afro-Cuban percussion groove. Each "Space Chord" provides a short, uplifting percussive interlude before we sail into the next tune. "Voodoo" is for Miles Davis & Jimi Hendrix and again both trumpets (one muted) and alto sax play their righteous parts over another funky. Latiny groove. Considering I hadn't heard of either trumpet player before this, both are great and distinctly different in tone and approach. That muted trumpeter is somewhat Miles-like and sounds pretty amazing. One of the things about this disc that makes it special is that it is so well produced, everything seems to fit no matter how far out it gets. The spirit of Sun Ra is at the center without any of the totally-out horn blasting that tended to scare some folks away, although on a few of the "Space Chords" they do get close. Even the occasional drum machine beats never hold this disc back from being consistently engaging and infectious at times. Francisco's righteous percussion is at the center of most of these pieces and holds the thread together throughout. It is rare that music that makes one want to dance is also so spirited and challenging to listen to as well, but many of these pieces work well on both levels. 'OuterZone' is this week's great under-recognized gem. Check it out for yourself and see what I mean. - write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |