Gold Sounds

Big fun: All-star mainstream jazz guys covering Pavement songs. Lots of energy here -- Strong beats, cool electric bass and electric piano for a '70s feel on many tracks. James Carter throws plenty of free-jazz tricks into his solos. I'll admit I don't know the Pavement songs (yes, I suck) but this project seems to avoid the slavishness to melody that makes "Beatle jazz" so awful (the exception is track 6). These guys had a lot of fun twisting around the music.

The band: James Carter (sax), Cyrus Chestnut (keys), Ali Jackson (drums), Reginald Veal (bass: acoustic & electric.)

As for why they did this, the liner notes describes it as the CD equivalent of a fantasy sports team. The label owners were inspired by seeing Veal perform at a benefit concert, and decided to recruit a dream-team quartet, selecting Pavement to be the source material.

Oh, and the CD title is taken from a Pavement EP, which we have in the library.

1- Furious intro into warm Harlem jazz and some goofing around
2- Bluesy midtempo with cutesy ideas. At +3:30, morphs into an avant-New-Orleans stomp -- cool!
3- R&B/gospel mellowness w/"ooo" vocals. Fast ending.
4- Folky, chugging. Mid/fast.
5- Downcast midtempo, a delicious '70s vibe. Crazy sax solo.
6- Sentimental mid/fast, a bit sappy
7- Hard digging. Mid/fast
8- Solo piano: Snappy, upbeat, and warm