Personnel: Bobby Zankel, alto sax; Melissa Ortega Locati, violin; Beth Dzwil, viola; Nina Cottman, viola; Ron Lipscomb, cello; Adam Williams, guitar; Tyrone Brown, bass; Craig McIver, drums.
"The Man Who Cried I Am" / "This Is My Country Too" / "Captain Blackman" / "Clifford's Blues" / "Night Song" / Readings from "Safari West"
What the critics say:
"Often there is a direct exchange of concepts between black writers and jazz. Some of the novels include references to the power of the music, and the music receives inspiration from the written word, such as that by James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes...
However, a major black writer who has been overlooked too long is Richard A. Williams, who wrote daily in numerous forms, including poetry, essays, novels, plays and biographies...a musician who discovered and received inspiration from Williams is Tyrone Brown, Philadelphia bassist extraordinaire who has performed with a who’s who of jazz musicians, including Max Roach, Odean Pope, Dave Burrell and and Pat Martino, among others. Turning due attention to Williams’ vast body of works over thirty-plus years, Brown has compressed the feeling and themes of Williams’ writings into a six-movement suite.
Suite For John A. Williams covers musically four of Williams’ novels; in cooperation with the University of Rochester, Brown was able to include a recoring of Williams reading from his book of poetry, Safari West, as his composition colors and animates the reading.
One of Brown’s primary interests has always been in string arrangements...So, it’s not surprising that much of the musical expression of Williams’ work includes string arrangements, specifically employing most of the musicians from Song Of The Sun. 'The Man Who Cried I Am,' Williams’ story of a cancer-afflicted black American abroad who learns of a plan of genocide (his cancer thus symbolizing the corruption he encounters) surprisingly receives gentle treatment from Brown, as the string quartet plays a bolero-like theme allowing for light improvisation by also saxophonist Bobby Zankel and violinist Melissa Ortega Locati. On the other hand, 'This Is My Country Too' (2nd Movement), the account of Williams’ road trip across 'white America' in a new car (a significant target for racial-profiling law enforcement authorities), features Brown in a blues-drenched initial solo that sets up a searing solo by Zankel, and then Adam Williams’ understated guitar solo, solidly in the groove. 'Captain Blackman' (the 3rd Movement), Williams’ chronicle of black military experiences conceived by a wounded soldier in Vietnam (a subject inadequately documented, even though the movie Glory made some amends), receives musical depiction through Zankel’s bop-based solo over the changing rhythms created by Brown and drummer Craig McIver without the elaboration of strings or chorded instruments. And 'Clifford’s Blues,' which covers the almost entirely overlooked experiences of black people in Nazi Germany receives melancholy, blues-drenched treatment as a melody stated by Zankel over strings, mournful and, like the blues, still resolute in the face of adversity. Then 'Night Song' (5th Movement,) Williams’ description of the life of a jazz musician, with emphasis upon Charlie Parker’s genius and self-destructive behavior, as part of Brown’s imagination, receives not the bop lines that one would expect, but rather a breezy, melodic treatment by Zankel over its descending chords, accompanied by Williams.
The final movement, and the one that combines word and music, is Williams’ readings from Safari West, the 1998 winner of the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation...While Williams reads his own words, Brown’s group provides equally poetic accompaniment of legato strings over Brown’s animating vamp and McIver’s brushed textures, until Williams stop reading at times, allowing Zankel to expand upon the theme with urgent eloquence, a complement to Williams.
Tyrone Brown’s Suite For John A. Williams is one of those uncommon recordings that creates a synthesis between two art forms, the music illuminating the literature and the literature giving rise to the music. The CD is an original and one that rewards listeners who study or in general appreciate the sometimes documented inter-relationship between jazz and literature."
- jazzreview.com
"...a handsome
dedication to novelist/poet John A.Williams, winner of the National Book
Award for his 1998 collection of poems Safari West (read from here by the
author himself). Driven by Craig McIver's tight drumming, bassist Brown
leads the ensemble through a set of bluesy, atmospheric evocations inspired
by Williams' writing...
Philly mainstay Bobby Zankel's acerbic alto sax does cut a rangy
swathe through the neat string quartet backdrop. Buoyed by Adam Williams'
swampy guitar work, Zankel also makes a strong impression in blues mode on
'This is My Country Too,' continuing his Jackie McLean-like presence on
the stop-time theme of the uptempo 'Captain Blackman.' 'Clifford's Blues,'
named after one of the author's Jazz-influenced (not Clifford Brown)
novels, features a soaring solo from Zankel, while 'Night Song' spotlights
the guitarist's nimble lines.
...overall it comes up a winner on
the strength of its individual soloists, and Brown's haunting writing for the
strings."
- Cadence
"John A. Williams' books have often incorporated the fabric of jazz to make cogent and compelling points about critical issues. Tyrone Brown has assembled an unusual configuration to pay tribute to the author...
The six-part suite's sections are named after pivotal Williams volumes; the tune 'The Man Who Cried I Am,' named after the author's popular book, leads off the CD, and the climactic 'Readings From Safari West' demonstrates the author's ability to smoothly fit into a musical setting. 'Night Song' and 'Captain Blackman' have catchy melodies and exciting playing..."
- JazzTimes
"This gem of a jazz suite is very...sincere, so solid and crystal-simple in its construction, it's tempting to call it 'perfect'
...The dry, rustling voice of poet/novelist John A. Williams breezes in for the fifteen-minute final movement of the suite, nestling gently and sweetly into the memory...A bittersweet passacaglia figure for string quartet loops under Williams' words, alternating with Brown's warm-breeze solos.
A more resonant and lovely setting for the spoken word has seldom been laid down.
The rest of the suite, written by Brown for pianoless quartet, runs through a series of sharply-etched moods with brevity, clarity and deep feeling...the arrangements are kept simple and satisfying, making this session not so much a fussed-over double-quartet project as some really sweet jazz being played in the sonic equivalent of rain."
- Signal to Noise
"Brown has no little appreciation of the
qualities inherent in other instruments in the string family, and his
writing for the string quartet heard here, with two violas instead of the
usual two violins, has the air of someone who knows also how to provide
springboards for improvisation. Bobby Zankel and Adam Williams might well
have thought the same, for there's evidence of it in abundance here, and
Zankel in particular might well have turned in his best performances on
record.
...This is a far more integrated date than many similar efforts
in the past. Here there is no showcasing of a virtuoso soloist with the
strings merely working in accompaniment. Instead the soloists seem to have
a knack for not losing sight of the writing over which they're
projecting--at the same time as they do a whole lot more than merely
embellish the lines of the strings.
...simply oozes class..."
- All About Jazz.com
"...gentle...blues-drenched...searing...understated...solidly in the groove...melancholy...mournful...resolute...breezy, melodic...poetic...
Tyrone Brown's 'Suite for John A. Williams' is one of those uncommon recordings that creates a synthesis between two art forms, the music illuminating the literature and the literature giving rise to the music. The CD is an original and one that rewards listeners who study or in general appreciate the sometimes documented inter-relationship between jazz and literature."
- Jazz Improv Magazine
"Bassist Tyrone Brown, who has played with drummer Max Roach and Philly saxophonist Odean Pope, has been experimenting with strings in recent years, and this set continues the trend in cool directions.
Brown's tribute to author John A. Williams - whose best-known novel, 'The Man Who Cried I Am,' describes a plan to arrest black leaders amid a national emergency - is a great, madcap swing through jazz, written in six movements. It's also a good place to hear some vital Philly players.
Bobby Zankel's ardent alto is a constant presence. So are Craig McIver's propulsive drums and Brown's bass, which kicks off the Second Movement with mournful aplomb.
Brown has fashioned five movements of taut music that swings big and often feeds off the blues. The Sixth features strings playing as Williams reads from his poetry book, Safari West. It's both odd and mystical."
- Philadelphia Inquirer
"Tyrone Brown is featured here alongside Bobby Zankel on alto sax and Adam Williams on guitar in the same string section as his other release Between Midnight and Dawn released this year by Dreambox Media. This is a most productive year for Tyrone Brown.
This particular disc is in dedication to writer James A. Williams...,compared as the Dumas of modern times.
Zankel adds a fresh new sound and voice to the equation. Zankel is most fluent within the harmonic vocabulary of bebop. It is very evident that Zankel has a deep appreciation for Charlie Parker. Brown, once again, has another showcase album for his warm bass tone. It shines here as if a rock was melting in the rays of a morning sun.
This album is for anyone who digs strings within the jazz idiom intermixed with some traditional sounding instrumentalists."
- jazzreview.com
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