Fathead's New One

[JSngry]

Cityscape (Highnote)

Nothing at all here that you wouldn't expect, but DAMN!!!!

Fathead in front of a small, bottom-heavy horn section that recalls the old Ray Charles band (or the Stanley Turrentine/Duke Pearson collaborations), The program is varied, familiar in orientation yet delivered with sincerity, soul, and groove. You can play this while your wife/girlfriend/whatever is in the room and you'll both dig it, and quite possibly for the same reasons.

Also (and I don't say this lightly or fliply), Fathead's reading of "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing" here might well be becoming the "definitive" version of the tune for me. If there's a jazz musician (of any "style") alive today who can deliver a melody (of any "style") better than Fathead, I don't know who it is. When it comes to improvisation, hey, he does what he does (and has always done) - deliver archtypical "bluebop". You either "get it" or you don't. But when it comes to playing a melody, this guy has become one of the true masters. This Strayhorn melody, like many Strayhorn melodies, presents a tricky course to navigate in that it is equal parts ethereal & sentimental, abstract & syrupy. Fathead isn't bothered by any of this. He just plays the melody the same way he plays every melody - deeply personally paraphrased yet retaining it's essence. It's no small gift that he has, and I'll be damned if his take on this melody isn't one for the ages.

Newman is more than a little easy to take for granted, or even to dismiss. He's made a lot of disposable albums over the years, and his archetypical solo spots on the old Ray Charles sides have cast him in the minds of some as "merely" an R&B player. Whatever. The man is a treasure, one of the last living links to a school of Southwestern jazz that made no differentiation between art & commerce, or between functionality and intent. Whatever recording sins he's committed in the past, he's also made some real gems, and this new release is definitely one of them.

Sometimes the rarest talent is that of combining obviousness with subtlety. This new release by Fathead Newman is a case in point. Don't be surprised if you "get it all" the first time through. But don't be surprised if you also keep playing it (and enjoying it) over and over, for years and years. It's that kind of a thing.

Edited March 17, 2006 by JSngry

[kh1958]

Well said!

He's an undersung great, one of my favorites, and fortunately, I've been able to hear him live at least a dozen times over the years.

[Joe]

Not sure why, but I waffled on plunking down the old hard-earned on this until Jim and I talked about it a couple of weeks ago. I guess maybe I was a little concerned about the importation of an youngish arranger. or unfamilair names in the band, or some other stupid excuse.

Rest assured. I am. Arrangements largely by Johnson (didn't he arrange big chunks of Fathead's "comeback" dates on Muse, late 70s / early 80s?), and they are peaches. As Jim notes, the centerpiece here is "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing". The way Newman plays here -- there's a tranquility, but also a feeling of unfolding. Its beautiful but it doesn't insist on being beautiful, if that makes any sense.

Still, to me the most appealing aspect of this recording is that it finds Newman revisiting some interesting material by some of his old DFW cohorts (Claude Johnson and Roger Boykin), material first heard on one of his more or less so-so late 70's dates, FRONT MONEY. Admittedly, that's something of an "extra-musical" appeal. But the tunes themselves are strong and given very nice settings as well as solos, especially from Fathead, who seems to really be enjoying himself, not just picking his ways through the changes, but "telling stories".

And I have to admit that I have not sat with a contemporary "jazz" record in a long while and felt the pleasure that comes from hearing a good story or two. Not that I always want that pleaure. I have to acknowledge though that sometimes its nice -- not to mention important -- to be reminded of what I've been missing.

(And, yea, the version of "Goldfinger" that kicks off this record is pretty damn hip.)

Edited March 18, 2006 by Joe

[catesta]

I love it.

Yes, "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing" is magnificent, but for me it's the Newman on flute track, "Pharoah's Gold" that has me hitting the repeat button.

The tune flat out kicks ass.

I'm just making it an automatic to pick up anything new Fathead releases.

I'll let you know when I run into a turd.

Edited March 17, 2006 by catesta

[JSngry]

There be, if not exactly turds, then certainly flatulence of questionable contents, aplenty from the 70s. Although, truthfully, some of the grooves on those things are pretty nice. But overall, hey...

And yeah, "Goldfinger",yeah. That's what I mean about his way with a melody. The guy's control of subtly varied articulations, accents. and inflections in the service of delivering a melody is simply masterful.

[Larry Kart]

Nice post on Doug Ramsey's Rifftides about the new Newman:

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/

[White Lightning]

Order placed

[JSngry]

Let us know if you are sassafied, ok?

[Soul Stream]

When are people gonna wake up to Fathead. Man, this guy's the last of a vanishing breed. We live in a world so consumed with Coltrane-ism that players like Newman get/got/will get lost in the shuffle (literally). Fathead may be the last guy on the face of the earth who can play like this. His tribute to Ray Charles shouldn't be dismissed either Jim if you're going down this path.

[The Rep]

I have just got home from work and my copy has arrived. So its shower, dinner, open a bottle of wine and play the music.

[Peter Johnson]

Wow. Wow. I picked this one up in Portland this weekend, and kept it on repeat the entire drive back to Seattle (3 hours). What a great side. Jim captured it the best, but what I'm not sure a lot of folks have commented on that I really like is the instrumentation and the arrangements. It's hard to put my finger on what I like about them, but it's almost as if an 8-piece gritty bar band picked up and played some Oliver Nelson charts but decided they would feel free to monkey with the voicings on the fly--and it works. Newmans solos are good, but it's the overall sound a presence that I just love.

And damn--goldfinger. Goldfinger! I couldn't have picked a better soundtrack to my (momentary) life of speeding over the bridge north along the river at 80 mph on the way out of town in a new ford mustang (rented) than that!

This is my favorite record right now. Thanks for hipping us to it, Jim!