Let’s put it as plainly as possible: You either like jazz or you
\ndon’t.<\/p>\n
While so many other forms of music can have grey areas, jazz, to
\nme, is pretty much clear cut. Sure, there are some artists whose
\ncatalog I’ve never been really able to get into on a higher level
\n(I’ve tried Thelonious Monk on a few occasions, but have not been
\noverwhelmed), but all in all, I like jazz for its constant breaking
\nof musical boundaries and the controlled freestyle musings of its
\nmusicians. (If you need any proof as to how good jazz is, go rent
\nthe wonderul film
\nThat Thing You Do!<\/i>, and watch the scenes in the club or the
\nrecording studio a few times.)<\/p>\n
Listening to pianist Bill Anschell, I’m quickly reminded why I
\nlike jazz so much. His latest album,
\nA Different Note All Together<\/i>, captures some of the finest
\nmoments I’ve heard in this genre of music in a long time.<\/p>\n
Anschell and his band – guitarist Scott Sawyer, bassist Neal
\nStarkey, drummer Woody Williams, and (on two tracks) saxophonist
\nRick Bell – whip through a wonderful selection of originals and
\ncover tunes that demonstrate just how powerful jazz can be. From
\nthe complex rhythm pattern of “E.B.’s New System” to the all-out
\nboogie style of “Solar” (listen to this and tell me you don’t want
\nto get up and dance!), this band demonstrates not only their skill
\nwith their instruments but also how much fun they were having with
\nthis music.<\/p>\n
In fact, if
\nA Different Note All Together<\/i> doesn’t put a smile on your
\nface, then you’re probably dead. The true wittiness of music like
\n“Crabbin'” and “Beignet Boogie” permeates the song, and is a
\nguaranteed mood lifter. Other pieces like “Lullaby For Sam” remind
\nme of groups like the Vince Guiraldi Trio with the use of brushed
\nsnare drum and acoustic bass – simply wonderful! Even the “weakest”
\ntrack, a jazz rendition of The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man,” takes on a
\nlife all its own, to the point where I didn’t recognize the song
\nuntil it was about halfway through the piece.<\/p>\n
The best piece on
\nA Different Note All Together<\/i> is easily Anschell’s cover of
\nMiles Davis’s “Solar”. Now, I’ve never listened much to Davis or
\nhis work, but if Anschell’s rendition of this piece (including
\ntasty solos by all four musicians) is any indication of the kind of
\nmusic that Davis wrote and played, then you can bet I’ll be at the
\nstore this weekend buying some of his works.<\/p>\n
To those people that say they don’t like jazz, my guess is at
\nleast half of them have never really heard good jazz being played.
\nMy challenge: Listen to two cuts off this album, then tell me you
\ndon’t like jazz!
\nA Different Note All Together<\/i> is an album I wish I had
\nlistened to months ago, so I could have been enjoying it all this
\ntime; it’s a definite candidate for my best-of-1998 list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5973],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-35990","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bill-anschell","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35990"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35990"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}