REVIEW: Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Season of Changes
A huge fan of Brian Blade and also a fan of his collaborations with the Fellowship Band, I was really excited to know that a new CD by the band was in the works. Actually, I first got word that the band was getting back together after I saw Mr. Blade play with Kenny Werner’s “Lawn Chair Society” group at Dizzy’s in New York last spring, so I have been looking forward to this release for quite a while now. To say the least, after listening to the CD it was proven that my excitement was well-founded: this is a fine work produced by this group, if not the finest since their conception in 1998.
First, let me recap the obvious to those who are familiar with the other two CDs by this band: Brian Blade (drums) and John Cowherd (keys) have unique compositional styles that both utilize subtle but extremely hard grooves, and the two have an unbelievable, almost symbiotic connection between their songs. The two composers do not clash one bit in their submissions for the tracks on the album, and one could even easily make the mistake of believing the whole album was written by one person. This symbiosis is an especially great additive to the band and has been since the first album was released. It pleasures me to say that the Fellowship Band has just built more and more onto its distinctive character and style with the addition of this music to their repertoire.
Take, for example, “Rubylou’s Lullaby”: a perfect opener that really foreshadows the songs following it. With every song, it is almost as if one was watching the title scene of a movie, or if someone was reading a story and one was imagining the scenes, and “Lullaby” really provides that feeling from the first notes. The cinematic beauty of the piece places the dramatic landscape of Season of Changes right in front of the listener, and the listener therefore is captivated from the start, never really wanting the beauty to stop.
Truth be told, that beauty never stops, either, from individual soloists to the intricate meshing of layers of sound that each musician provides. Myron Walden (alto and bass clarinet) always has provided very strong solos and a most lovely sound for the band; Melvin Butler has a soul disposition that shadows Coltrane, providing unique punches of lines to the tunes (for instance check out his creative entrance to his solo on “Return of the Prodigal Son”); and, Kurt Rosenwinkel displays his versatility as an artist by seemingly holding back his usual flurry of notes to better fit in with the mood of the band, making his sound that much better on the album for this album. Brian Blade, of course, is the real highlight of the record if there is one to be had. The way he perfectly holds the time together by weaving in and out of being directly on top of said time is always amazing to listen to and requires much study to really get a strong meaning of the sound that he’s producing. Nothing in his playing is wasteful and always adds to the band and to what the individuals are producing, showing an absolutely mastery of not only his instrument, but of the compositions that he has produced or helped to produce. This music is truly a direct extension of Blade’s identity as a player.
Let us not forget Chris Thomas on bass, though, who does his job of grounding the band in the groove with much prowess, especially on tracks like “Stoner Hill”, which in fact is a staple song that, to me, provides a great summary of the nature of the band although it does not feature any soloists. To me, the Fellowship Band defines themselves through their soulful nature by skillfully utilizing the dimension of space and telling folk-like stories through what is produced. “Stoner Hill” extends both parts of this definition by having extremely haunting, beauteous lines played by the saxophonists over chords that highlight that quality. As a result, it showcases the need for us as listeners to look at the title and question its definition, which I find myself doing often with the compositions on Fellowship albums. The folk nature of the band is brought out by both the music and by the titles of the tracks, so one should really look into what they mean. As for “Stoner Hill”, an initial reaction to the title is a location where people are getting high. But, is that the only workable definition to the song? It is easy to see that even through the groove, but if one does a double take, thinks about the other names of the tracks that the Fellowship has produced and takes into account the overall sound, could it not mean an area where people are being stoned? I challenge the reader to look again at the track names, tie them with the music and the nature of the band, and rework old definitions of the songs or create entirely new ones.
The only tune that I have a slight problem with on the album is “Most Precious One (Prodigy)”. The initially beat comes so unexpectedly and is so generic that it is hard to take in compared to the other tracks. Fortunately, Rosenwinkel provides interesting enough ideas overtop the beat that it develops into something that sounds like the band’s other music. This time, though, it sounds more like a space folk song than an earthly one, partially reminiscent of Chick Corea’s “Port View” tracks on his album To the Stars.
Finally, the improvisation track that Cowherd and Walden do is probably the most gorgeous track on the album. Walden’s bass clarinet sound is so clean and powerful, as are his ideas. Take note of point 2:17 where Walden decides to leave a brief pause before hitting his next note to really land it in a most perfect spot. The attitude of the improvisation melts right into proceeding track, “Alpha and Omega”, and really adds more to the actual song than the song itself, one might say.
Brian Blade has once again produced a disc worth listening to time and time again because of the real freshness that it brings to jazz music. The undeniable beauty and soulful sound of the players over the compositions that Blade and Cowherd have written really perfect what the Fellowship sound is. All in all, this is a face of jazz that is not often brought to the forefront, but Season of Changes really proves that it deserves to be in the spotlight by showing exactly what this style of jazz can be.
