VICTOR WOOTEN — Palmystery (2008) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Victor Wooten makes it clear in the first few seconds of Palmystery that he's the man in charge. His spellbinding, acrobatic basslines take the lead, literally, and even when he's fulfilling the traditional role of the bassist (not that there's much about his virtuosic playing that's traditional) and shining the spotlight on his collaborators, he remains the focal point. Yet Wooten, the veteran bassist of Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, is no showoff. Through mostly original compositions (the sole cover is Horace Silver's "Song for My Father") that glide easily between jazz fusion, world music, R&B, gospel, rock, and funk, through instrumental and vocal sections, improvisations and structured pieces, Wooten holds it all together -- it's nearly impossible not to listen to what he's doing with his instrument. Still, although the musicianship is never less than stellar throughout and always takes a front seat, this is not an indulgent record -- Wooten and his crew serve the songs, not vice versa, and they do so with panache. The leadoff track, "2 Timers," serves notice that this is going to be a fun listen, not a difficult one, despite the complexity often inherent: with one drummer playing in 3/4 time and the other in 4/4 (hence the title), Wooten alternately hands the reins over to violinist Eric Silver, a three-man horn section, harmonica ace Howard Levy, and brother Joseph Wooten on keyboards. Continual shifts of tempo, mood, and texture keep things lively and then, just in case it seems like this is how it might stay, the second track, the Arabian-flavored "Cambo," puts an entirely different spin on things. With lead and choired vocals by co-writer Amir Ali and Saundra Williams, Wooten lays down a solid rhythm over which brothers Joseph and guitarist Regi Wooten work out, along with Ali on violin, lute, and darbouka (an African hand drum). Each successive track expands the album's colorings: on "I Saw God," which features Richard Bona among its vocalists, Victor Wooten offers a non-religious person's impressions of his confrontation with a unisexual, philosophical, word-playing deity, while the flamenco-esque "The Lesson" pares down the cast to just Victor on bass and another Flecktone brother, Roy Wooten, supplying percussion. And so on throughout: "The Gospel" doubles up Wooten's fretted and fretless basses with ghostly vocals from the Woodard Family and a team of horns, and the Silver interpretation is spirited and swinging, with Karl Denson's tenor saxophone among the more notable solos on the record. "Us 2," the closing track, is also the quietest, Wooten laying low on basses and drum programming while Keb' Mo' peels off sleek slide guitar licks and Joseph Wooten lays down a bed of keyboards. "Sifu" utilizes Mike Stern's guitar. "Miss U," which features the Lee Boys on vocals, Roosevelt "The Doctor" Collier on pedal steel, and Alvin Lee (presumably not the Ten Years After guitarist) on guitar, is a gospelized, bluesy, soul-fried rave-up that gives Wooten a chance to show off his boogie power. Palmystery solidifies Victor Wooten's rep not only as one of the most skillful, inventive bassists on the planet but a heck of a diversified songwriter and bandleader, too. Jeff Tamarkin

Tracklist :
1    2 Timers 4:51
Harmonica – Howard Levy
Piano – Joseph Wooten
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
2    Cambo 5:25
Bass [Low] – Anthony Wellington
Written-By – Amir Ali, Victor L. Wooten
3    I Saw God 4:20
Vocals, Percussion – Richard Bona
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
4    The Lesson 5:55
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
5    Left, Right, & Center 7:11
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
6    Sifu 7:36
Bass – Regi Wooten
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
7    Miss U 4:33
Bass – Alvin "Lil' Al" Cordy
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
8    Flex 6:37
Bass [Thumb Solo] – Anthony "Flex" Wellington
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
9    The Gospel 6:40
Vocals – The Woodard Family
Written-By – Joseph Wooten, Victor L. Wooten
10    Song For My Father 5:10
Written-By – Horace Silver
11    Happy Song 4:23
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
12    Us 2 2:58
Written-By – Victor L. Wooten
Personnel:
Alto Saxophone – Rudy Wooten (tracks: 9, 11), Shawn "Thunder" Wallace (tracks: 6)
Baritone Saxophone – Jeff Coffin (tracks: 9), Karl Denson (tracks: 10)
Bass – Victor Wooten
Drums – Dennis Chambers (tracks: 5), Derico Watson (tracks: 1 to 3, 8, 10), Earl "Big E" Walker (tracks: 7), JD Blair (tracks: 1, 5, 6), Raymond Massey (tracks: 11), Will Kennedy (tracks: 5, 9)
Guitar – Alvin Lee (tracks: 7), Mike Stern (tracks: 5, 6), Regi Wooten (tracks: 2, 8, 10, 11)
Keyboards – Joseph Wooten (tracks: 1 to 3, 6 to 9, 11, 12)
Tenor Saxophone – Jeff Coffin (tracks: 1, 9)
Trombone – Barry Green (tracks: 1, 9)
Trumpet – Rod McGaha (tracks: 1, 9)
Violin – Amir Ali (tracks: 2, 8)
Violin, Mandolin – Eric Silver (tracks: 1)
Vocals – Amir Ali (tracks: 2, 6), Saundra Williams (tracks: 2, 7)
Vocals [Low] – Alvin Chea (tracks: 6)

JOE ZAWINUL — Brown Street (2007) 2xCD | Serie WDR The Cologne Broadcasts | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Like his friend and onetime collaborator Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul was not one to look back on his past and savor the view. Yet as in the case of Miles (his parting concert in Montreux), Zawinul finally took the plunge in central Europe late in life by revisiting his old Weather Report repertoire -- live at his Vienna nightclub, Joe Zawinul's Birdland. The significant difference is that while Miles doubled back to a re-creation of the original Gil Evans charts, Zawinul retrofitted his tunes with new big-band arrangements by Vince Mendoza, read with gusto and heft by the crack visiting WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany. To this, Zawinul added his own synthesizer virtuosity and some overdubs from his Malibu studio, two distinguished WR alumni who still play with him off and on -- bassist Victor Bailey and percussionist Alex Acuña -- and drummer Nathaniel Townsley. In just about every case, Mendoza's charts replicate and flesh out every twist and turn in the Weather Report originals, paying off big-time with "Brown Street," an overlooked swinger from the WR 8:30 album that gets the remake album off to a percolating start. Occasionally he piles on additional harmonic tissue, as in the Miles-period "In a Silent Way." Some of the writing seems a bit redundant, yet things never become too overloaded thanks to the ceaseless drive of the rhythm section, and there is plenty of room for solos. Only on "Procession" does Zawinul write his own big-band chart; though tied tightly to the original recording, it sounds looser than most of the Mendoza charts as it works out over the drone. A few of the song choices are unexpected: the frantic "Fast City" and the strutting title tune from the Night Passage album; the former features some liquid synth solos by Zawinul and stimulating tenor sax by Paul Heller, and the latter some relaxed flügelhorn from Kenny Rampton. Others aren't from the WR catalog at all; "Silent Way" predates it, of course, though WR did play the tune in concert, and "March of the Lost Children" and the perennial "Carnavalito" are from the post-WR solo years. Unlike most jazz tribute projects -- including a fairly bloodless, multi-artist 1999 salute to Weather Report on Telarc -- this double-CD set isn't burdened with artificial nostalgia, and it benefits a lot from the presence of one of the two founding co-leaders (the other being the absent Wayne Shorter). And Zawinul is the crucial one, because the crusty Austrian keyboardist sees to it that the swing is the thing and that the groove is deep. Richard S. Ginell   Tracklist & Credits :