Mike Stern – Play
"All
the sparks and searing interplay you'd expect from a
summit meeting of three of the most influential
guitarists of their generation" - Bill Milkowski, Jazz
Times
With Play, his ninth release on Atlantic
Jazz, Mike Stern summons up more fretboard magic in a
six-string summit meeting with fellow guitarists John
Scofield and Bill Frisell. Drummers Ben Perowsky and
Dennis Chambers, bassist Lincoln Goines, tenor
saxophonist Bob Malach and keyboardist/producer Jim
Beard round out the cast on this gathering of three of
the most influential and respected guitarists of their
generation.
"They're two of my favorite musicians
who just happen to be guitarists", Stern says of his
colleagues Scofield and Frisell. "It's been interesting
to watch them try different things over the years and
still keep their own unique musical voices. And that has
certainly inspired me to keep on doing that myself. So
it was great to finally get a chance to do a project
like this. We're all really close and have a long
history together so that was naturally a big part of it
... the fun vibe in the studio. And I think the music
came out sounding like that - kind of playful".
The Grammy-nominated guitarist showcases his signature
scorching licks and lyrical visibility alongside fellow
guitar hero Scofield on the swinging minor blues "Play",
the New Orleans flavored groover "Small World" and the
bop 'n' roll romp "Outta Town". The four tracks with
Frisell - "Blue Tone", "All Heart", "Frizz" and "Big
Kids" - were recorded in Bill's hometown of Seattle with
Perowsky, Goines and Beard. The remaining three tracks -
"Tipitina's" , "Link" and "Goin' Under" - feature Stern
with his current working band of Chambers, Goines and
Malach.
Stern had glowing praise for his
bandmates. "Bob Malach is such a terrific tenor
saxophone player and one of my absolute favorites. The
more I hear him play the more I'm knocked out. He's got
like an endless vocabulary and he just plays great. And
of course, Dennis Chambers is someone I've played with
for ages and I love his playing. We just finished a tour
and he was killing, as usual. And what's scary is, he
keeps getting better and better. Lincoln Goines, I've
been playing with him for years and he's always great.
He's one of those guys who can play the electric bass
and swing in a really convincing way where is sounds
like an upright conception. And when he funks, it's
definitely funky."
A real treat for guitar
aficionados, Play brings together these three very
distinctive musical personalities whose paths have
crossed on a number of occasions over the past 20 years.
Although they first met in Boston in the early '70s,
Scofield and Stern didn't play together until the early
'80s in a band led by bassist Peter Warren. They later
shared the bandstand in Miles Davis' band, appearing on
the trumpeter's 1983 release Star People. They have also
recorded together on drummer Motohiko Hino's 1995
release, It's There. Mike's association with Frisell
goes back to their days together as students at the
Berklee College of Music in Boston. "We used to play
together literally every day when we were both going to
Berklee", Stern recalls. "I used to drag Bill over to my
apartment or I'd go over to his apartment and we'd play
standards all day long. We also played some gigs around
Boston together with (trumpeter) Tiger Okoshi or
(saxophonist) George Garzone, or sometimes just duo. So
we played a bunch together and we have a long personal
history. In fact, I met my wife Leni through Bill
Frisell".
Stern explains that in writing the
material for Play he kept in mind the unique qualities
of his colleagues. "Billy's stuff ... I think of him
coming from a more textural point of view, almost like a
piano player on the guitar. He's also got a very lyrical
side to his playing that is really pretty and very
atmospheric, and there's a couple of tunes that reflect
that. Sco has a real affinity for blues, funk and bebop,
which is something that we have in common. And we both
kind of go for those hornlike lines, so I wrote with
that in mind".
Stern adds that the natural
chemistry between drummer Perowsky and bassist Goines
helped the tracks with the two guitarists go down
quickly and easily. "Ben is really a special player in
that he's so versatile. He goes between different styles
of music in a very convincing way with a very personal
voice. And mainly, he swings his ass off".
track
by track comments:
PLAY - It's basically a minor
blues, a very familiar form where we wouldn't have to
think too much about the changes so we could just go for
it in the studio and get a vibe going between everybody.
When I wrote this, I was thinking, "this would be a
great one for me and Sco." I solo first then he tears it
up as the second soloist and we take the tune out. I
also think Ben and Lincoln sound beautiful on this
track.
SMALL WORLD - It's a second line tune
which has a Sco-ish vibe to it. I've heard him play this
kind of groove before and I thought he would sound great
on it. It's also got a little pop flavor to it too ...
kind of a singable melody.
OUTTA TOWN - This is a
bebop head that I wrote over the changes to the standard
tune "Have You Met Miss Jones." Right away I figured
that Sco would know that tune or that he certainly had
played it at some point. So it was familiar ground. We
played it loose and traded at the end, and Sco just tore
it up.
BLUE TONE - I figured that Bill would
sound great on this ballad. I was actually calling it
"Frizz Tone" for a while, which has been my nickname for
him. We recorded it live with a real spontaneous feel to
it and then Bill overdubbed one of his trademark tape
loops which comes in and out of the tune every so often
and adds a real mysterioso vibe.
TIPITINA'S - My
band had been playing this tune for a while before I had
a title, and then somebody reminded me of this gig I had
done with Jaco Pastorius at Tipitina's (a popular New
Orleans nightclub) a long time ago. Although we were in
new Orleans we ended up playing more James Brown
influenced funk stuff on that gig. This tune has a
little bit of a New Orleans feel to it but then it gets
into this more funk groove. The title was kind of
personal to me ... not so much about the club as the
night that I played there with Jaco.
ALL HEART -
Bill plays electric guitar just comping behind the
melody, and then he adds some acoustic guitar parts. We
did it in just one take and really nailed it. An then
Bill brings his own unique textures to it with the
acoustic overdubs.
FRIZZ - This one highlights
Bill's Monish side. It's just a blues but it's got a
quirky head. And it's a fun tune and there's a lot of
interplay going on. Bill has a lot of humor in his
playing and it really comes through on this track. Once
again, it's a familiar form so we could just stretch out
and play.
LINK - This is another band tune. It's
mainly named for Lincoln Goines but there's also a link
to a tune that is a personal favorite of mine, Cedar
Walton's "Bolivia." I took a slight variation of that
bass line to that tune and wrote a different tune over
the top of it.
GOIN' UNDER - That's a slow,
bluesy tune that I kind of wanted to record with my
band. And because we had been playing so much together
on the road I developed a great musical rapport with
them. So this is one that just kind of fell into place
right away in the studio.
BIG KIDS - This a funk
tune with a bebopish line over the top of it. Bill and I
play the form together and at the end we take it out a
little bit. Yeah, it was fun to let loose like that.
Released September 14th, 1999
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