As much as I am getting to love jazz, sometimes I have to be in
\njust the right mood for it. In the case of pianist Bill Anschell,
\nhe must think I have forgotten about him, since I’ve been sitting
\non his latest disc
\nWhen Cooler Heads Prevail<\/i> for about four months.<\/p>\n
The truth is, I’ve listened to parts of this disc on and off all
\nthrough this time – and it wasn’t until I started to develop a
\nhealthy appetite and respect for Bill Evans that I was able to
\nfully grasp what Anschell has set out to accomplish on this, his
\nthird disc as a leader. Although I’m probably over-simplifying it,
\nAnschell comes off in this trio setting as a composer trying to
\nmerge the worlds of Evans and Vince Guaraldi – that is, taking the
\nfree-form challenge of jazz and trying to bring it to the
\nmasses.<\/p>\n
Does Anschell succeed? At times, yes – though there are moments
\nwhen this disc is not the most easily approachable.<\/p>\n
The times I found I absolutely loved what I was hearing was when
\nAnschell and his bandmates – drummer\/percussionist Woody Williams
\nand bassists Neil Starkey and Rodney Jordan (who share the duties
\nthroughout this disc) – threw control to the wind and allowed
\nthemselves to just let the music take them where it wanted. On
\ntracks such as “Dear Old Stockholm” and “If It Isn’t One Thing…”,
\nthese talented musicians produce some of the liveliest jazz I’ve
\nheard in a while, with the controlled abandon of Williams’s drum
\nwork and Jordan’s thundering bass lines, all encased by Anschell’s
\nkeyboard lines that sound like they could have just as easily been
\na saxophone solo. I don’t know if I’m accurately putting into words
\nhow wonderful this kind of collaboration is; honestly, it’s
\nsomething the listener has to experience themselves to
\nunderstand.<\/p>\n
Yet there are times when a more controlled environment offers
\nproof that this kind of musical abandon can be felt in any style.
\nThe opening track “Sweet And Lovely” has a more structured rhythm
\ntrack, allowing Anschell to turn on the taps with his piano
\nplaying, as it were. It works just as well, and it’s hard to
\nbelieve that seven minutes passes so quickly. Likewise, the album’s
\ncloser “Angels Watching Over Me” (which follows a powerful
\nspotlight performance from Williams on “Woody’s Turn,” a drum solo
\nthat never gets gaudy) seems like it’s the perfect choice to wrap
\nthings up.<\/p>\n
Regrettably, not everything on
\nWhen Cooler Heads Prevail<\/i> is as approachable. “Undercurrent
\nEvent” tries valiantly to demonstrate that jazz does not need a
\nproper drum kit to exude passion, but with Williams focusing on the
\npercussion aspect of his craft, something is lost in the final
\ntranslation of this song. Likewise, “Little Niles” takes far too
\nlong to get to the heart of the song – and the near-fadeout leading
\nto Jordan’s bass work throws the listener into a brief state of
\nconfusion. I understand that jazz is not supposed to cater to the
\nlowest common denominator, and Anschell does work hard at making
\nsure that even someone who isn’t properly schooled in jazz can pick
\nthis disc up and find something to enjoy on it. But these rare
\nmoments sometimes feel like they could be enough to keep some
\nlisteners a bit frightened about entering a new musical genre.<\/p>\n
Still, Anschell does seem to succeed, even when the final result
\nisn’t as “listener-friendly” as one might have hoped for.
\nWhen Cooler Heads Prevail<\/i> does often demonstrate the power
\nof the jazz trio, and Anschell’s ability to work with the ghosts of
\ntwo jazz masters to come up with a sound that is all his own.
\nAlthough those who are a little more familiar with jazz will derive
\nthe most pleasure from these 10 songs, even a newcomer to jazz will
\nundoubtedly find something they’ll like on this disc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5973],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37315","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bill-anschell","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37315","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=37315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37315"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37315"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}