John Goldman: Press

JOHN GOLDMAN
In Walked Pierre (Blujazz)
Chicago saxophonist/flutist John Goldman employed the local Dan Cray Trio as his basic rhythm section for In Walked Pierre with happy results. Pianist Cray, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte, augmented at times by Neal Alger, Luciano Antonio or Jeff Parker on guitar, jell as a team, providing Goldman and trumpeter Pharez Whitted with the kind of secure foundation that allows them all to function at a high level. The leader plays confident mainstream alto, and Whitted, likewise, demonstrates an easy familiarity with the modern traditions of his instrument. Cray is especially impressive in his ability to develop simple motives into coherent, extended phrases.

Goldman arranged all the tunes, and, except for the standard "It Was a Very Good Year" and Billy Strayhorn's "Upper Manhattan Medical Group," composed them all as well. Their instrumentation ranges from a straight sax/trumpet/rhythm quintet to the fuller sound accorded by the overdubbing of soprano, alto and/or flute. Goldman's well-made compositions are as varied as the lovely "Ebony" for flute, the playful "Hicks and Yahoos," the modally swinging "West Nile," the hard boppish "Katerina's" (on "There'll Never Be Another You" changes) and the grooving "Mr. D.C.," where Goldman does more than just nod in the direction of Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

Top Twenty Jazz Music Albums of 2005
John Goldman - 'In Walked Pierre' (BluJazz 2005)

A fine saxophonist, John Goldman explores a variety of modern jazz styles throughout In Walked Pierre. Some of the music is essentially bebop, particularly "Katerina's" (which uses the chord changes of "There Will Never Be Another You") and "Column Blues," while some of the music, such as "Hicks & Yahoos," is eccentric post-bop. Somehow Goldman manages to turn the schlocky pop song "It Was a Very Good Year" into passable jazz, and the music in general ranges from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers to Greg Osby. Goldman's quintet/sextet is filled with currently obscure players but all are top-notch, versatile, and adaptable to the diverse material. The variety and heated solos, along with some subtle surprises, make this a consistently stimulating set of modern jazz by musicians who deserve to be much better known.

In Walked Pierre is the new disc from Portland, Oregon-born, Chicago-based saxophone and flute player John Goldman. Featuring an assortment of original compositions and choice, individualistic covers, the new disc is smooth, assured, and eclectic.

The opening title track, a Goldman original, is a soothing, loping number that features Pierre Walker contributing wordless vocals, often in unison with Goldman’s horn, until the leader takes off with a crisp, conversational alto solo. The track clocks in at a little over nine minutes, giving the musicioans plenty of time to stretch out and introduce themselves.

The performance of “It Was A Very Good Year” is a nice changeup, not least of all because it is rare to hear the tune performed without vocals. The instrumental treatment brings out the almost folk underpinnings of the melody, making it sound like a cousin to “Greensleeves.” Underneath Goldman’s soaring solo, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Greg Wiserpratt maintain a rock-solid backbeat. Goldman gets a chance to display his prowess on the flute on a take of the gentle ballad “Ebony” that also features gentle acoustic guitar work from Luciano Antonio. On the opposite end of the spectrum, “Katerina’s” is a hard bop spiced number that wouldn’t sound out of a place on a classic Blue Note session.

In Walked Pierre is a wide-ranging disc that has room for lilting vocal tracks, ethereal ballads, and hard-driving blues. The diverse moods are matched by uniformly accomplished and imaginative instrumental performances.

This album, "For All The People" by John Goldman is, surprisingly, an absolutely fantastic CD. Let me explain why I say "surprisingly". Normally, when I pick up a straight-ahead jazz CD for the first time, the first thing I do is take a look at the liner notes to get a feel for the songs, instrumentation, etc. There are three things that tend to be instant red flags for me: the use of any synthesizers, an album of all original tunes written solely by the band's leader and frequent personnel changes from song to song. This release contains all of these elements, yet in spite of that it is still an absolutely fantastic CD.
Call me a jazz purist if you will, but generally I believe that straight-ahead jazz is an acoustic medium - an art form meant to be created live, 'in the moment', without the use of overdubs and with a minimum use of electronics. That makes synthesizers a big no-no in my eyes. But the synthesizers used on this recording are so tastefully employed and produce such an organic sound that if I hadn't read it in the credits I would not have guessed there were any synths present.
Then there's the second red flag: original tunes. More often than not, the force driving a band to write all it's own tunes is ego. Lots of great musicians mistakenly think that they are also great composers or that they need to avoid standards for some reason, and so one ends up with an album of great playing but mediocre tunes. That is not at all the case with this album. Goldman is a wonderful composer. Each tune is engaging, tugging at the ear with melodies that sound at once familiar yet fresh. It's a truly impressive collection.
That brings me to the final red flag: personnel. The best, tightest sounding bands are usually the ones that maintain the same members over an extended period of time. And the best albums are usually the ones that maintain the same basic lineup from one tune to the next, creating a sense of musical continuity. This album, again, goes against the odds and wins. Besides Goldman playing alto sax, soprano sax, flute and synthesizer, you have Ron Perrillo on piano and synthesizer, George Fludas and Kobie Watkins on drums, Bobby Broom, Luciano Antonio, Neal Alger and Wilber Jarmon on guitar, Dennis Carroll and Tim Fullerton on bass, Dede Sam Pio and Walter O'Neal on percussion and Kareen Frank and Jackie Allen on vocals. Yet Goldman has somehow managed to mesh all these players together to create an extremely uniform, evenly produced album.
In addition to having written all the songs, Goldman also arranged each of them, some to stunning effect. On the song "For All The People" he uses Kareen Frank's voice strictly as a background harmony instrument, which makes for a very unique, very beautiful sound. Vocals are only used on three of the eleven tracks on this album (once with Frank and twice with Jackie Allen), always as background harmony instruments. Every note played on every song is superb, with each musician showing great technical as well a great improvisational skills. I'm very much looking forward to Goldman's next release, and after listening to this one, I think you will, too.