Search - Matt Wilson :: Arts & Crafts

Pacing and repertoire should mean more than they do to young bands trying to break away from the pack. Drummer Matt Wilson learned smart programming early on with Bostonians Russ Gershon (Either/Orchestra) and Charlie Kohlhase, and he's ironed it tight as a decal to his frond-waving Palmetto albums. Here Wilson's quartet alternates snappy bop and blues tunes by Roland Kirk, Bud Powell, Ornette Coleman, and himself with plunger-muted blues in honor of the late, great Lester Bowie; rare and pretty Brazilian pop samba; venerable standards by Hal Hopper ("There's No You") and George Gershwin ("Love Walked In" in three-quarter time); and a Welsh folk lullaby "All Through the Night." With only one tune clocking in at longer than five minutes, the session breezes by fresh as a pina colada. Now that he's got your attention, notice the players: sturdy Art Blakey bass alum Dennis Irwin, keyboard wizard Larry Goldings (whose piano features fancy pedal sustains like his organ-playing), and snazzy trumpeter Terell Stafford. Wilson himself plays with big ears for melody (tuneful solo on Kirk's "Stomping Grounds") and detail (complex tripling on Coleman's "Old Gospel") and variety (hard-sock on Gershwin, guess-again hi-hat and rimshot patterns on Cavaquinho's "Beija Flor"). --Fred Bouchard