AOTW 3/4-11/07

[danasgoodstuff]

OK, I know this isn't one of the ones I mentioned in my previous Help Me Pick thread but I had a change of heart. I also considered picking Dave Holland's Triplicate and/or extensions since they were the last of his that did anything for me. But I settled on Pat Martino's 2003 Think Tank since it's one of the few more recent things that I like, we don't do enuff recent AOTWs and I wanted to listen to it again anyways. It features Joe Lovano, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Christian McBride (no relation to Martina?), and Lewis Nash, but it's not just a jam session. I don't pretend to understand Pat's elaborate theories but I can sense that the material engages the players. If you want a point of comparison I'd suggest the contemporanius LoScoMoFo album which left me cold. We'll have to discuss Michel, Dave, Willie and Big Joe another time.

[clifford_thornton]

I didn't like it much when it came out, partly because the promo I received mentioned nothing about its "homage" to Coltrane, and I thought it seemed to be recycling timeworn phrases and ideas.

Yet, even considering that its heart in the right place, what stimulated me the most was Rubalcaba's playing. The rest of the band wasn't doing much for me.

[danasgoodstuff]

The final product notes make the trane homage explicit, one piece is a notes for letters thing on "coltrane tenor" and, of course, they do "Africa" which works well as a small group thing and certainly doesn't get covered much. Unless I'm forgetting something I think I like this as well as any new jazz in the last decade or so, except maybe some of Frisell's Is It Jazz? Lovano sounds less indebted to Trane here than some other things he's done and I particularly like Lewis Nash, here and elsewhere.

[JohnS]

I'm afaid this one didn't do an awful lot for me, a big disappointment as I expected a lot from it. Somehow the band didn't seem to gel to my ears, Martino was particularly disapponting.

[kh1958]

I like the record, along with Martino's other recent recordings for Blue Note.

[GA Russell]

When Your Music raised its price from $4.99 to $5.99, I ordered Think Tank and a couple of others because it was highly recommended by the posters at AAJ.

I don't dislike it, but it is much different from what I expected. It is more abstract and less soulful than the other Pat Martino recordings I had heard.

I play it a few times a year, but only when I come upon it - I never seek it out as something I'm in the mood to hear.

This thread has given me the urge to listen to it again, but I can't find it!