Search - Jemeel Moondoc :: Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys

In to Lunch

demomo | 11/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"While backward-looking pea-brainers like Marsallis walk away with all the money, people like Jemeel Moondoc are making deep, beautiful contributions to the language of jazz. This is magnificent music that Mingus, Cecil Taylor, and maybe even Pierre Boulez would love. The confidence these improvisors have in their vocabularies gives this music an assurance that their 1960's ancestors struggled to approach. This album particularly makes good the promises of Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Eric Dolphy et al., without having to think of itself as out to lunch. This is music made by people for the love of it, not because they know you'll buy it, and if your ears were ever open you'll love this. All of Jemeel Moondoc's records are different from each other. Fire in the Valley is as beautiful as this and not at all the same. I'd review that one too, but it isn't available on amazon. Buy this! Let real musicians know some people listen and know the difference."

Get this one

John C. Graham | toronto, ontario Canada | 07/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"


The whole thing swings from start to finish. The band is cooking. The solos are sumptuous with depth and passion. Khan Jamal, on vibes, is in top form and unleashes some spectacular playing on every tune. It's nice to hear him so well recorded.

Trumpeter Breedlove has a clear and unwavering tone, sounding extroverted and confident whether he's playing ensemble or soloing. I'd like to hear more from him.

Jemeel Moondoc plays like he's talking. He stops and starts notes and phrases with twists, turns and pauses. Like somebody telling a story, he builds momentum, darting this way and that, giving bits of information here and there, always with the concluding punch line in mind. His solos can be totally amazing in content and logic. He is easily one of the most interesting alto players today and, above all, he's consistantly pleasing to hear. All of his Eremite recordings are worth owning.

The structure of the music may bring the hard bop idiom to mind. In the hands of these great improvisers the playing field of that genre has been raised. This cd is a winner in two respects; the solos are outstanding and the whole thing swings like mad! Don't miss it."

Hear him! Hear him!

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 03/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The outdated idiom that forms my title is both for the first reviewer, demomo and for Mr. Moondoc himself. I agree with demomo in his review on almost all points. (Personally, I think Wynton is okay at doing what he does- we all just need to ignore him when he starts to talk about his contemporaries. Marsalis is simply not a useful critic of the recent history of the music).
Jemeel Moondoc is in his prime these days and the beauty and strength of that prime is showing up in many ways on his Eremite CDs. He has releases on that label now that are duets, trios, quintets and his ten piece Jus Grew Orchestra. In all these formats, Moondoc more than impresses. He has been around since the mid-seventies. I think that he was underrecorded but he made up for that by putting out nothing but consistently interesting CDs. During the eighties he put out three very strong sessions on Soul Note.
This particular CD is a quintet date performed live at the visions festival in 2000. Moondoc performs on the alto along with Nathan Breedlove on the trumpet, Khan Jamal on the vibraphone, Codaryl (Cody?) Moffet on the drums and John Voight on the bass. The liner notes by Ed Hazell reference Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus and Cecil Taylor as keys to where Moondoc is coming from. I don't really hear the Cecil influence but on the other three he is on the money. Moondoc's tone starts from Ornette. He unfolds post-bop soli with the same urgency and passion as McLean. And consider how the instrumentation is similar to some of Jackie's great mid-sixties Blue Notes. Compositionally Moondoc has learned from Mingus (although, I have to admit, so has everybody who is worth listening to- Mingus taught us all).
Moondoc reminds me in stature of Joe McPhee. He is one of the current but unacknowledged giants on the scene. As demomo says, Jemeel is quietly walking his own path producing music of great vitality and appeal. Any jazz fan, any music fan owes it to their own soul to give this man a listen. Hear him."