Search - Joel Harrison :: The Wheel

Very ambitious, and brilliantly pulled off

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 06/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joel Harrison is one of our national treasures. His music--always exploratory, often revelatory--reaches a high point with The Wheel. Here he walks the fine line between composition and improvisation, seamlessly melding the worlds of classical music and jazz.



I'm struck by the urgency yet fluency of this music. Take the pizzicato section about three quarters through "Rising." Here we have the string quartet of Todd Reynolds, violin, Chris Howes, violin, Caleb Burhans, viola, and Wendy Sutter, cello, deftly evoking something like the second movement of Holst's St. Paul's Suite then smoothly morphing into an ensemble close-out section with the full nine-piece band. Quite impressive, and altogether lovely.



Or again, the heartbreaking pathos of the opening section of "We Have Been the Victims of a Broken Promise" with its stately Aaron Copeland-like string elegiacism evoking betrayal at the deepest level, sadly, yet without rancor. This is a move that is nearly impossible to pull off, but, if successful, as here, wrenchingly emotional.



"Ceaseless Motion (Watch the Future Roll By)," with its faux-jaunty surface sheen, manages to be at once scary and beguiling. This is the kind of thing Dave Douglas would like to evoke but can't because of his alienation and counter-positional stance. Joel Harrison, a darling of no one, has nothing to prove and nobody to placate. Thus the naïve yet heartfelt beauty of his musical musings.



The apex, bringing it all back home, is In Memoriam: Dana Brayton." At once poignantly beautiful and vibrantly alive, this is anamnesis at it most arresting and hortatory. We musically enter into the life of this, for us, anonymous individual, nevertheless sharing in what must have been a life lived well.



It's high time Joel Harrison received the recognition he absolutely deserves: He's fast becoming the equal of John Hollenbeck.



Pick this up and be majorly blessed.



Highest recommendation."

Sort of a folksy, less free, Vandermark 9 disc

Anthony Cooper | Louisville, KY United States | 10/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Joel Harrison's a guitar player, but his heart seems to be in the songwriting part of the game. I saw him live when he was supporting his excellent "Harbor" CD, and the other guitarist did most of the soloing. This disc combines a jazz quintet - Harrison with David Binney, Ralph Alessi, Lindsey Horner, and Dan Weiss -- with a string quartet. There's improvisation all around, but there's also a lot of written-out parts. The title makes a reference to the Vandermark 5, and much of music reminds me of that. It has a lot of riffy, somewhat pounding sections. The music is stylistically much different than the much gentler "History, Mystery" by Bill Frisell. Joel Harrison loves roots music, and that shows in some of the slower or quieter sections. You can hear his guitar on each of the songs, but he only takes a solo (on slide guitar) on the closing "In Memoriam".



This is recommended for jazz fans who aren't bound by stylistic conventions. It sounds nothing like a 60's Blue Note session. It also sounds quite different from pretty much everything else. Strings haven't been used this way by anyone I've heard. If it were more melodic (think of Chris Potters "Song For Anyone"), I'd possibly bump it up to five stars. If Joel Harrison makes a similar disc, I hope he adds some memorable melodies."