Conversin' with the Elders

Artist: James Carter
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 075678290824
EAN: 0075678290824
ASIN: B000002J9Z

Release Date: 1996-06-04

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Listmania:

Focus: Saxophone (With Bird Assumed)
NEW TO JAZZ?
jazz that will blow you away
Time To Blow!
Essentials CDs for 1996

Tracks:

Freereggaehibop - James Carter featuring Lester Bowie
Parker's Mood - James Carter featuring Larry Smith
Lester Leaps In - James Carter featuring Harry 'Sweets' Edision
Naima - James Carter featuring Hamiet Bluiett
Blue Creek - James Carter featuring Buddy Tate
Centerpiece - James Carter featuring Harry 'Sweets' Edision
Composition #40Q - James Carter featuring Hamiet Bluiett
Moten Swing - James Carter featuring Buddy Tate
Atitled Valse - James Carter featuring Lester Bowie

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Customer Reviews:

Don't get too comfortable.......2003-10-05

James Carter clearly has a great command of his instrument. Whether being playful, romantic, or engaging in rude blasts of atonality, he is always fascinating to listen to. Here he teams up with a varied array of influential jazz masters to produce a disk of consistent quality. The only flaw is that Carter fails to maintain a cohesive atmosphere among his disparate elements, resulting in a hodgepodge of admittedly excellent tunes. This remains a challenging and rewarding listen that refuses to let you get too comfortable. A standout is the drunken, careening "Freereggaehibop."

a joyous celebration of the jazz tradition.......2001-08-19

If you're a "smooth jazz" fan or one of those Wynton Marsalis-style aesthetic ayatollahs who likes to tell everyone what is or what is not jazz, you probably won't like this CD. If, on the other hand, you have an open heart, an open mind, and open ears, this disk's a treasure.
James Carter's command over his horns is truly stunning. On this disk he deploys it in a variety of quintet encounters with other horn players (Lester Bowie (on good behavior), Harry "Sweets" Edison, Buddy Tate and others) from various jazz traditions, and its not often that one encounters such a varied disk of straight-ahead jazz. Carter and his remarkably consistent and able rhythm section (Craig Taborn, Jaribu Shahid, and Tani Tabbal) handle everything from Bennie Moten's "Moten Swing" to reggae to waltz to Anthony Braxton's "Composition #40Q" with aplomb.
OK, so Carter and Co. engage in an occasional shrill squeal (oh!), atonal blat (oh, no!), and even the dreaded widdly-woo and a honk or two (eek!!!)....

Exellent Compilation.......2001-03-21

Especially the first track is amazing, The rest is worthwile.

3 1/2. the theme drives uneveness in style, not in quality.......1999-08-06

3 1/2 stars. All the tunes are good individually but as a whole, the album can be an uncomfortable listen since style of the tunes vary so widely. This is because Carter is adept at conversin', empathizing, and understanding his elders, while being able to contribute his unique style of playing each time. The problem is is that he needed to work at being a more solid anchor of the music throughout this album. His respect for his elders veers toward blind deference which affects the originality of his contribution to the album. Each tune is individually excellent. They are just too much a hodgepodge to make the album as rewarding a listen as it could have been. Maybe he should have emphasized only 2 or 3 "elders."

Still Carter is an amazingly talented and expressive player on this album. He obviously dearly needed to express who his influences are. It is refreshing to see that his influences cover such a wide range of innovation and improvisation. I'm particularly glad that he recognizes Anthony Braxton as an influence. Not that I'm a huge fan of his, but Carter shows that Braxton is undeservedly ignored by the larger jazz press.

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