Steve Wiest: Out of the New

Out of the New
By Steve Wiest
Arabesque Jazz

Before Julliard or NYU, the University of North Texas became the first North American school to offer a jazz degree. (This is another friendly reminder that the jazz world does not end at the banks of the Hudson River.) UNT graduates have since filled the ranks of many big bands, including Maynard Ferguson’s. As a longtime Ferguson sideman, trombonist Steve Wiest followed the reverse course when he accepted his recent faculty appointment there. He quickly brought further prestige to the jazz department soon thereafter, when he was nominated for an instrumental arranging Grammy in recognition of his work on Ferguson’s final release. Following up his swinging and surprisingly literate big band outing Excalibur, Wiest now looks to contemporary popular music for inspiration with Out of the New, which radically reconstructs new standards by the likes of Coldplay, Green Day, and Foo Fighters.

Wiest culled much of his new repertoire from his daughter’s suggestions, but also looked to his favorite pop album, Sting’s Ten Summoner’s Tales. Sting, who has often employed jazz musicians as sidemen, seems to appeal to those inclined to the jazz aesthetic. However, Wiest’s arrangement is hardly slavish. He kicks up the tempo considerably, recasting it as easy-going swinger, allowing ample solo space for the leader, guitarist Fred Hamilton, and Stefan Karlsson on piano.

Probably the best known tune will cause the most listener trepidation. Indeed, Wiest tackled Aerosmith and Run D.M.C.’s “Walk This Way” as a deliberate challenge. Fortunately, Wiest recombines the song’s DNA so drastically it is almost unrecognizable (in the best sense). In many ways, it is a counter-intuitive tune, full of agitated, nervous energy, yet featuring a bowed bass solos. In a particularly clever arrangement, Wiest’s long solo coda shifts gears, bringing in the gutbucket blues.

Despite the common instrument, it would be a mistake to compare New to the many bachelor pad pop song interpretations recorded by bop trombonist Kai Winding in the late 1960’s. While the Winding LPs still hold a certain charm, the arrangements were largely confined to melody statements, with little room left for improvisation. They also usually attempted to recreate the general vibe of the original tune. New takes exactly the opposite approach. For instance, in Wiest’s hands, the slacker angst of Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” becomes an elegant waltz vehicle for the leader’s muted horn.

The topper though is Wiest’s alchemy on the Foo Fighters’ “In Your Honor,” transmuting the post-Grunge anthem into a golden bossa. Hamilton and Karlsson sound audibly inspired by the leader’s arrangement, taking eloquent solos of their own, before the entire group comes in for the go-for-broke final coda that is the only point in New where Wiest faithfully recreates his original source material. Though only five musicians, for a little over a minute they thrillingly channel stadium rock through their instruments.

Wiest has a big sound on trombone and shows remarkable facility with the bop lines. His arrangements are consistently inventive, even surprising. Though based on pop tunes, Wiest never dumbs down the music of New—quite the contrary. Still, if fans of the originals give it a spin, they will be impressed, as will more experienced jazz ears.

Live on Park Ave: The Roswell Rudd Quartet

While at Yale, Roswell Rudd played with Eli’s Chosen Six, the rambunctious Dixieland combo seen playing and partying at Newport in Bert Stern’s Jazz on a Summer’s Day. However, his first recordings as a leader established him as the foremost trombonist in the jazz avant-garde. Rudd has had one of those interesting careers. In recent years, he has gone back to touch some of those bases between Dixieland and free jazz, while also incorporating various elements of world music, including traditional forms from Mali and Mongolia. Both those recent stylistic impulses were audible during the Roswell Rudd Quartet’s concert last night at the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

Rudd’s current quartet, featuring Korean vocalist Sunny Kim, probably represents the most accessible, swing-based music of his career. Some of their best originals, including “Whatever Turns You On” and “I’m Going Sane” penned by Rudd and producer Verna Gillis respectively, have a quirky vibe that brings to mind some of Mose Allison’s greatest hits. Kim showed a particular facility for such quirky lyrics and the quartet was swinging behind her quite nicely. In between, she also showed her impressive scat chops on the onomatopoeic “Suh Blah Blah Buh Sibi.”

Despite Rudd’s preface crediting Duke Ellington as the original avant-gardist, nothing could be stylistically further from Rudd’s Fire Music than the Ellington-Strayhorn medley. Of course, Ellington was an innovator of the first magnitude, and his music clearly still inspires Rudd and his colleagues. Kim had a lovely feature spot with “Come Sunday,” followed by Rudd channeling his gut-bucket roots through “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” “Sophisticated Lady” was reserved as a solo for pianist Lafayette Harris, Jr., who displayed a sensitive touch on the elegant standard. The whole group came back in with Strayhorn’s “Johnny Come Lately,” nicely wrapping up the Ellingtonian interlude.

Perhaps the most intriguing selections were the Quartet’s new jazz settings of traditional Korean songs. At least three quarters of the audience signaled their familiarity with the first, “Arirang,” which Kim rightly described as a blues. The second, “Kang Byun Sal Ja,” based on a traditional children’s song, came off more like a slow ballad. Wisely, Rudd and his group kept the arrangements simple and pared down, often letting Kim carry much of the melody, allowing their audience to recognize the familiar lyrics. These were definite concert highlights, so it would be great if Rudd’s Quartet can record material like this in the future.

Throughout the night, Harris and bassist Brad Christopher Jones really locked-in behind the leader and featured vocalist. In fact, Harris’s sparklingly eloquent solo on “Loved by Love,” helped elevate a song nearly undone by its sentimentality. Jones demonstrated tremendous arco technique during his solo prelude to the concluding “Blues for the Planet Earth/You Blew It,” but would someone care to explain why cell phones always seem to erupt during bass solos. (Please show the bassist some love and turn them off in the future.)

Given the Korean Cultural Service’s classy address, Rudd joked it was the first time in his long career that he ever played on Park Avenue. However, Rudd’s Quartet tours frequently, so by now they really sound like a legitimate, cohesive band (they can be heard as a quartet on their newest CD Keep Your Heart Together). While the music might be far-removed from his New Thing sessions, Rudd still plays with wit and flare, clearly enjoying the process of making music with these musicians.