{"id":20140,"date":"2020-12-09T05:30:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T10:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=20140"},"modified":"2020-12-09T08:34:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T13:34:12","slug":"album-review-chicago-soul-jazz-collective-it-takes-a-spark-to-start-a-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/09\/album-review-chicago-soul-jazz-collective-it-takes-a-spark-to-start-a-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Chicago Soul Jazz Collective \u2013 It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"On their first recording<\/a>, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective tackled a collection of familiar genre standards, and the results were impressive. For their newest release, however, the group applies its skills to seven original tunes, all from the pen of tenor saxophonist John Fournier.<\/p>\n

Among the defining characteristics of the soul jazz subgenre are strong, straightforward melodic lines, an irresistible groove and top-notch ensemble playing. These seven instrumental numbers have all those qualities and more. While something is inevitably lost for the listener when moving away from familiar material, presenting new music that holds its own alongside classics is always to be commended.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the case here. \u201cDetroit Will Rise Again\u201d has the sound and feel of classic \u201850s and \u201860s soul jazz, smooth and laid-back without ever falling into the dreaded smooth-jazz category. And the blues-based \u201cDown and Out in Buffalo\u201d is very much the kind of cut one would find on a vintage Cannonball Adderley Quintet or Lou Donaldson LP. The title track swings hard like Art Blakey\u2019s work. And the simmering \u201cHer Eyes Are Blue and Sometimes Gray\u201d with guest trumpeter Nicholas Payton hits a hard groove with tour-de-force leads.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all high-energy material, though. \u201cGod Bless the Patient Teacher\u201d is a lovely, contemplative piece. But then it\u2019s back to the soul jazz groove, with the album\u2019s sole vocal cut, the bluesy \u201cWhere Do You Go When You Dream?\u201d featuring Raul Midon on voice and powerful lead guitar.<\/p>\n

It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire<\/i> concludes as strongly as it began. \u201cNora Calls from the Moon\u201d starts subtly, taking its time to establish its signature melodic line. When it does, trumpeter Marques Carroll and sax man Fournier weave in and out of ensemble playing and complementary riffing. Brown takes a tasty, understated solo, and then Amir Fahmy digs deep into a smoky Rhodes bit. Even bassist Andrew Vogt takes a tasty turn. And then in classic soul jazz style, the whole band returns for a restating (or two, or three) of the head.<\/p>\n

Anyone who thinks that all the classic soul jazz records were cut decades ago is in for a schooling when they dig Chicago Soul Jazz Colllective\u2019s latest. It\u2019s a worthy addition to the subgenre\u2019s canon, and whets the listener\u2019s appetite for more, please, and soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On their first recording, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective tackled a collection of familiar genre standards, and the results were impressive. For their newest release, however, the group applies its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,42,49,65,69],"tags":[3817],"class_list":["post-20140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","category-soul","tag-chicago-soul-jazz-collective","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","cat-69-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20321,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20140\/revisions\/20321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}