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Hype Machine
This week: Wilco pleases the critics again, Charlie Hunter gets fresh, and Marsalis channels the ancients
Wilco
A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch)
Alt-country band turned experimental rock group, Wilco has followed up the highly acclaimed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot with A Ghost Is Born. Ghost continues the band’s incredible string of top-notch work.
A Ghost Is Born picks up where Yankee Hotel left off and takes it even further. A characteristic of this new record is frontman Jeff Tweedy’s return to guitars. One listen to the sprawling 11-minute epic “Spiders (Kidsmoke)” makes this point clear as it features lots of crunchy licks and spastic noodling not heard from the band in a while. Jim O’Rourke aids the production, which is warmer than Yankee Hotel and makes for an overall better sound.
The songs feature Tweedy’s typical introspective, often obtuse lyrics, and this may be the most disappointing part of the album as the songwriting seems to have taken a slight back seat to the incredible music. Ghost doesn’t feature a catchy tune like Yankee’s “Heavy Metal Drummer,” although a case could be made for “Handshake Drugs” or “I’m A Wheel.” “Less than You Think” features nearly 15 minutes of drone. If you make it through the drone you are rewarded with one of the finer songs on the album, a cute little ditty called “The Late Greats.”
A Ghost Is Born will certainly make it to many best of lists this year, and rightfully so. Anyone who thinks this band is overrated is making a serious folly. Wilco is truly a great American band that deserves all the accolades.
—Josh Staunton
Charlie Hunter Trio
Friends Seen and Unseen (ropeadope)
When someone says jazz, some think boring, others think high-minded musicianship, others may believe it is the music of the gods. In whichever camp you rest, leave your hang-ups at the door, because Charlie Hunter is more than any definition of the word jazz implies.
Hunter has obliterated the old jazz stereotypes in recent years, beginning with the fact that he plays two musical roles at once—bass and guitar—with a custom-built eight-string guitar. Hunter shows off his broad style, talent and taste on Friends Seen and Unseen. The album begins with leisurely saxophone and guitar conversations, gaining momentum with each track. Every song compliments the last, with new themes and contrasting moods that blend together to create a versatile and complete piece of work. Hunter demonstrates his unique storytelling ability with his eight-string guitar on “Soweto’s Where It’s At,” which is then contrasted sharply by his funky, wa-wa guitar on “Shuffle.” Derrek Phillips’ drum work and John Ellis’ saxophone, along with the incredible guitar work, make it easy to see why Hunter has been heralded as the freshest thing to happen to jazz in years.
—Nick Corrigan
Wynton Marsalis Quartet
The Magic Hour (Blue Note)
It seems trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and Blue Note Record’s President Bruce Lundvall disagree about the significance of Magic Hour, Marsalis’ debut recording for the label. To Lundvall’s claim that with this recording Marsalis is “on the cusp of an innovative new creative period,” Marsalis counters, “Cusp? No. Innovation? No. All my music comes from the same source. I don’t go through periods.... My goal has always been to affirm jazz.” A briefer précis of Marsalis’ conservative views on jazz, the music for which he serves as inarguably the world’s most visible representative, has yet to be penned.
While it may not be innovative, Magic Hour nevertheless exudes Marsalis’ excellence and credulity-defying perfection. Check out his flawless, three-chorus assault on the upper register on “free to be,” his clever yet funky inventiveness on “big fat hen,” and the humorous whistle technique on “feeling of jazz” and “the magic hour.” There are the allusions to Miles Davis, as well, and Clifford Brown throughout, upstaged only by the growl and wa-wa influences of 1920s Buber Miley. As a consequence—and despite the fact that all but one of the tunes are Marsalis originals—the CD has a classic feel to it, like walking among the jazz ancients. There may be no other trumpeter playing today capable of achieving such an effect, and it is both remarkable and thoroughly engaging.
Not to take anything away from his band mates, for they too contribute mightily to the rarefied result, jazz distilled.
—Jonathan B. Frey
July 22, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 30
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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