Seems like a good while since I last posted a review, but we have 3 in quick succession. First up, here's my take on an album released in 2005. Don't worry if you've not heard of it, I hadn't either.
FRANCESCO CAFISO & STRINGS – A TRIBUTE TO CHARLIE PARKER (Umbria Jazz/ Giotto Music)
The closer we get to the present day, the less likely it is that an album has a significant presence in my mind. I turned 30 in 2005, and from this point onwards my income allowed me to purchase so many more records than I once could have imagined, whilst the time I have to actually play them has withered, so twenty-first century albums just impinge less on my psyche, no matter how good they are. When it comes to the cultural experience, distant landmarks loom so much larger than those in proximity. It’s like perspective in reverse.
So, once again for this issue I’ve just grabbed a CD from the little pile of recent ultra-cheap random charity–shop purchases which happened to have been released in 2005. This review will be written as I spin the disc. As with the Ladytron review I’ve not heard this record, but unlike Ladytron, I’ve never even heard of the artist. The first question that springs to mind is how one might create a tribute to Parker. His big achievement was in his technique and the fluidity of his playing, the way he brought new ideas to jazz, and it seems that a tribute to that would either involve copying solos note-for-note (a bit pointless), or similarly bringing your own character to standards (in which case, it’s not meaningfully connected to Parker). Even with Hendrix, another great who brought a riotously fresh angle to well-trodden musical structures, there are at least a bunch of his songs to cover, but Parker only penned about twenty tunes. A quick glance over the tracklist reveals no ‘Yardbird Suite’, no ‘Ornithology’, no ‘Ko-Ko’, and every single composition was firmly part of the musical backdrop before Parker got to grips with them. How will this pan out? Pressing Play...now!
‘I’ll Remember April’ wafts in with some nice rich syrupy strings. Oh wait, is this all based on Parker’s influential With Strings album (or, originally, pair of 10”s - Pedantic Ed)? Yes, looking more closely at the cover, it very much is – not only does it use the same colour scheme in its quite hideously ugly sleeve, but it says it there in capitals, I just hadn’t noticed. This puts the interpretative element into even more of a straitjacket, as the arrangements are all nailed down, though in another way it makes more sense, perhaps like a new performance of a classical suite.
Having a little search whilst ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ spins I find that saxophonist Cafiso was 16 when he made this record. By Gad, already I can see that the playing is preposterously good and confident for that age. His tone so far is more wheedling than Bird’s rich warmth, but that at least brings his own voice to the music. The backing band/chamber orchestra is most elegant too, work has gone into this. ‘Out Of Nowhere’ continues the sophisticated feel, and it’s a great composition from back in 1931 - I first came across it because The Cardigans nodded to it in ‘Travelling With Charlie’ from their retro-twee classic album Life – and it was specifically the perfumed swoon of the Parker version they were thinking of, I’m certain. Then we get ‘Everything Happens To Me’, another grade-A song, and those billowing strings and sweeping harps capture the early-50s vibe immaculately.
But ‘Summertime’ falls just a little flat. Maybe I’ve heard the tune too many times in my life, but also the sax feels too busy, trying to fill all the gaps rather than flowing, and with a raspy edge: if there’s one thing you can say about Bird, it’s that his playing sounded organic. But a highlight is ‘Dancing In The Dark’ - no, not that one – the sax is so fluent, and it contrasts with the reliable, slightly square arrangements underneath it in just the way Parker’s original takes did. Also, I see that the median sales price on Discogs for this CD is £8.99, I apparently got a bargain.
As the album continues, my attention begins to wander a little. Perhaps 18 tracks is just too much of this style to experience at once – after all, the first With Strings 10” featured a mere seven. But the tracks are quite formulaic, opening with the strings swelling; a fast nimble sprinkle of sax notes, normally in a descending pattern; the main melody stated twice with a little ornament; an orchestral break; then solos. It definitely works, but a switch-up wouldn’t hurt, which is why ‘Just Friends’ grabs the attention, with the sax line sprightly but not jittery, and gesturing more closely to the sort of thing Parker might have done with a smaller jazz combo, and this is followed by ‘April In Paris’ which puts a focus on the oboe almost as much as the sax, and feels like a vintage Sinatra arrangement. The Latin percussion introduction to ‘Repetition’ - no, not that one – sounds like wild carnivalesque bacchanalia in this context, but it’s the penultimate track, and perhaps should have come in earlier. The final track is the only original, a solo blues called ‘Prayer For Charlie’ and it’s rather lovely, saying more about Cafiso as a player than the rest of the album.
Overall I’d rate this album as impressive, and possibly as good, but I’m not sure what purpose it serves, beyond being a calling card for a talented young musician: more a demo reel than an artistic statement. The battle between emulating With Strings and adding a personal twist isn’t always won, and throwing in pieces that weren’t part of the original sets feels like overkill. I will keep this record, it is certainly worth another spin or two, and would serve compilations well. One day, though, the lure of £8.99 may prove too much...
