The exciting part about a veteran musician like bassist Matt Booth finally putting out a solo project is wondering just what approach he might take. A veteran of the New Orleans jazz scene before his recent move to Durham, NC, he’s enjoyed success as a leader and sideman, and has released previous albums as co-leader of several groups, including a piano trio (Extended), quartet (Palindromes) and guitar trio (Some Antics).
Considering his history with such a diverse array of ensemble, his debut album Sun Prints is anything but a self-centered bassapalooza affair. Quite the opposite, he fashioned a fresh ensemble of top NOLA players to create a fresh set of all originals, featuring his lower end rhythms as a foundation for these incredibly nimble cats to go to town with and soar over.
Tapping into his experience with and affinity for horns, he wrote several pieces specifically to create dynamic possibilities for Steve Lands (trumpet) and Sam Taylor (tenor sax) – most notably, the rhythmically evolving opener “In Tongues,” which starts with the horns in a smooth, harmonic dance (over the jumpin’ piano of Oscar Rossignoli and bustling drums of Peter Varnado) before a fiery brass battle takes hold.
Booth is a master of multiple grooves and styles, creating spark and magic with the breezy, swinging jazz wal8tz “For Your Consideration” and the moody, hypnotic “Ice Bear” as effortlessly as he fashions powerfully performed 70’s Miles-esque avant-garde weirdness (the charmingly named “Optimal Chunks”), a bustling, strangely atonal piece using the 12 tone compositional method (“Happenstance”) and and joyous, super tuneful romps like “Time to Spare.”
For Matt Booth, Sun Prints is a marvelously impressive debut that lets us know that, when unrestrained by the necessities of other lead collaborators, he can do it all and have a blast while doing it!
Comments