On his new Excursions And Adventures album, Boston-based jazz artist Tim Ray performs interesting, catchy arrangements of popular modern music. He also features a handful of his own original compositions. Through it all, Ray, along with bassist John Patitucci and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, constructs a colorful album that brims with good musical ideas that create a good vibe.
Opening track Billy Preston‘s “Nothing From Nothing” has, within its jazz rendition, echoes of the original. The listener can almost hear the original in his head as Tim Ray and his crew recreate the snappy rhythms that made it and make this one so infectious. One cannot help but follow along, especially to John Patitucci electric bass guitar solo, nailing the rhythm with some extra twangy thump. Ray’s frenetic piano tinkling near the end makes it even more exciting, letting the listener hear it in an all new way.
Second track “Maria,” from the Broadway musical West Side Story, get a nice jazz treatment from these three musicians. Feeling light as air, Tim Ray taps out a sensitive rendition of the melody line, making us feel what Tony was feeling when he sang this in the show. Carrying that tender melody home is the stick work of Terri Lyne Carrington who injects numerous puffy fills to match the rivulets of piano notes.
Tim Ray‘s own composition ,“Gone, Not Forgotten,” maintains a persistent melancholy melody. Yet, if one listens closely, there is also a lot of warmth and respect for the departed. Ray’s sentimental line has some notes that fall like a gentle rain. Contrasted with the flexible, knobby bass work from Patitucci, those notes take on an even greater presence. We know that their sadness reflects the greatness of what has been lost.
Turning a Rolling Stones song into a jazz piece may seem a challenge. Yet, this trio capture the original “Paint It Black” melody with just a gentle tinkle on the ivories. Patitucci’s determined bass line and Carrington’s speedy stick work give this jazz workout the aggression of rock and roll while maintaining the looser musicianship of jazz. Carrington drums up a storm in some portions, her bopping fills giving this rendition a lot of energy. It eventually becomes even darker than the original, a wedge of bass, heavy drum notes, and an eerie repetition of the melodic phrase pull one into something hectic and strange. Tremendous.
Remaking Thelonious Monk‘s “Trinkle Tinkle” shows respect for the original wizardry of techniques. It also opens this one up with inventive re-imagined instrumental workouts. Rays explosive piano notes create a lot of spiraling tension. Patitucci’s thick low end line flexes its muscles here, giving it all a gorgeous backbone as Carrington’ nimble stick work on the rims are all class. Her speedier drum work here offers plenty of fulfilling fills that make this one jitterbug out of the stereo speakers. She keeps the beat while offering up a lot of skin smacking action, precise, swift, and hard.
The Ray trio‘s take on “Unconditional Love” by contemporary composer Gerri Allen is chockfull of fantastic notes. Echoes of piano notes linger in the air as Patitucci fills in the open space with a muscular low end phrase. The contrast is gorgeous. With Carrington’s elegant drumming pushing easefully along the bottom, the platform is set for Ray to continue his emotive mode alongside Patitucci’s smooth line.
Carrington leads the way onto Patitucci’s “Messiaen’s Gumbo.” Her steady beat beneath quick, nimble fills make quite an impression. Beneath the drums in a supportive role is Patitucci’s elegant hopscotch of low end muscle. Ray chimes in with stop and start bits of a greasy piano line. Ray’s sliding notes support the rhythm section by filling in the open spaces and by playing timekeeper so the drums and bass can perform their gymnastic interplay. There is so much authority in this rhythm section that they need an intuitive pianist like Ray to keep the meter solid with his well timed sprinkles of accented notes. The interplay is just beyond description.
“Your Heart Is Mine Alone” by Franz Lehar showcases what Tim Ray can do when he want to assertively bang out a lot of notes in a hurry. Ray pounds out a lively melody with many heavily accented notes. His furious pace and heavy hitting notes are a major sound in and of themselves. Shifting those powerful notes around in a swirling play is another. Terri Lyne Carrington eventually takes front and center, peppering the space with a multitude of well-paces skin smacks, speedy intervals that impress while maintaining the piano work.
“Samsara (for Wayne Shorter)” composed by this trio’s drummer Terri Lyne Carrington shows what this outfit can do with quieter compositions. A subtle piano line slowly cascades into a separate interval and pattern of notes, a change that caresses the number as well the listener’s ear. Scenes from inside an upscale piano bar come to mind. Patitucci presses out a subtle low end line on an electric, offering as much color, tone, and notes as the upper register piano.
Tim Ray’s own “Yo 11” utilizes low end piano notes to fine effect. Ray maintains a dark, jaunty presence, echoed by Patitucci’s upright bass throb. Playing around that pulse, whether its held by piano or bass, are looser piano notes, sprints of melody across the sonic landscape. Alongside those shiny, accented notes are a plethora of Carrington’s drum notes, a pattern of bopping fills that work up a life of their own. It’s the juxtaposing of the piano and drums that add a second flair to this drama filled piece.
Ray’s Excursions And Adventures CD closes out with a radio edit of his “Paint It Black” arrangement. Many of the pieces here could find a home on the turntable of many jazz D.J.’s. Ray’s entire album, recorded last spring at WGBH Studio in Boston, is a perfect mesh of colors and tones, dynamics and tempos, standards and originals. There is a certain special vibe in each composition and Ray and his team have made them all fit into one outstanding whole.
