Valencia

Jazz | Apr 2006

Reviews

Craig Matsumoto
Reviewed 2006-06-11
Creative but accessible, with some melodic work (rocker-turned-jazzster kinds of pieces) but also squirrely free jazz and other surprises. Trio setting, led by local bassist Combs who produces some cool sounds on fretless. Lead voice is sax/clarinet; drums by John Hollenbeck (check out his hyper-modern Claudia Quintet, which isn't that dissimilar from this stuff). Lots of creative elements here, but it's not so abstract as to turn off non-converts.

1- Easy, loping feel, hyper drums. Strong groove later.
2- Slow, romantic
3- Fast, quiet free scribbles
4- Lurking, slow; nice melody later. Free clatter near the end.
5- Slow, mourning. Bowed bass.
6- Mid/fast, "up," mild Klezmer influence
7- Spare, lonely sax. Chaotic and disjoint later.
8- Turn o'century feel; fast and mellow/romantic
9- Prickly avant/fast, spare feel.
10- Bass solo: Combs' 5-yr-old niece describes a dream, and his bass tracks her words. (For more experiments of instruments mimicking speech patterns, see Jason Moran's "The Bandwagon.")
11- Sad carnival sound, with melodica
12- Weird off-kilter wanderings, a slow babble
13- Spry, popping. Some free-jazz madness
14- Slow chamber feel
15- Gently happy. Briefly crazy, later.
16- Darkly abstract; briefly fast later
17- Slow chimes of doom

Recent airplay

Heavy
Memory SelectJul 28, 2006
1974
Memory SelectJul 21, 2006
Foreign Postmark
Memory SelectJul 07, 2006
Tiny Insects
Memory SelectJun 30, 2006
Money In Your Pocket And A Room With A View
Memory SelectJun 23, 2006
Money In Your Pocket And A Room With A View
Radio Of ImaginationJun 13, 2006

Charting

2006-06-11 — 2006-08-13 Jazz
Week EndingAirplays
Jul 30 1
Jul 23 1
Jul 9 1
Jul 2 1
Jun 25 1
Jun 18 1

Track listing

1. Money In Your Pocket And A Room With A View
2. Monk In The Red Wagon
3. Tiny Insects
4. Amnesia
5. The California, Wyoming Border
6. Foreign Postmark
7. Heavy
8. Victory Lap For The Sporting Individual
9. Wind Up Monkey
10. Know What The Dream Was?
11. Miyazaki
12. Sunny Disposiion
13. Sometimes It All Falls Into Place; The Dogs Are Groomed And Well Fed
14. Free #4 V.2
15. 1974
16. Absinthe
17. Miyazaki Reprise