BILL McHENRY: Roses
Sunnyside, 2007

This set of serious – even gloomy – modern jazz achieves a strange sort of dreary beauty, but it’s no fun at all. The songs have amorphous shapes and indefinite rhythms, but also seem heavily scripted much of the time. Still, the quartet features some serious chops, so it's all very well played and worth a spin… but only if you’re in a glum mood.

Fo’s Picks: 2, 5 … maybe 4, 6, 7

1. 6:10 – moody fanfare, mumbles and pulls amorphously, gets a bit agitated
2. 4:26 – a more optimistic sound, melodic sax/guitar bits in a bubbling stew
3. 4:46 – quiet, open, freeform sound, picks up a bit over gloomy drone
4. 3:49 – controlled, atmospheric cacophony: evokes the din of New York City
5. 4:44 – interesting melody on this one; slow with deep, saturated tones
6. 9:00 – guitar & sax take turns heating up & boiling over; nifty free drumming
7. 8:06 – sax wanders over droning note, then bass spars with sax, drums
8. 3:26 – odd stepping-stone melody, very deliberate pace
9. 4:20 – duet: sax tiptoes around dark, futuristic guitar

[ Fo ] 10-Nov-07