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The Jazz Word on Jordan Young “Cymbal Melodies”…

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2012

Jordan Young – Cymbal Melodies

2012 Posi-Tone

New York-based drummer Jordan Young delves into the classic sounds of organ jazz for his Posi-Tone debut Cymbal Melodies. With the inimitable Brian Charette manning the B3, Avi Rothbard on guitar and Joe Sucato on saxophone for four tunes, Young creates interesting twists on tunes that might be considered unlikely candidates for the record’s soulful vibe. “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and The Police classic “Roxanne” are dressed up with a tasteful sense of funk and swing. Other tracks like Grant Green’s “Grantstand” and Young’s original “Mood for McCann” fit the bill for this feel-good collection.

Rothbard and Charette know the language well and deliver sizzling solos throughout, most notably on the up-tempo version of “Easy Living.” Young demonstrates schooled diversity, digging in convincingly on a range of styles and staying focused on the groove.
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Jordan Young is Artist of the Month at Critical Jazz…

www.criticaljazz.com

Jordan Young is a prime example of the incredible young talent that Posi-Tone seems to hit pay dirt with year after year. What makes Young special is very simple. Melody. The art of the melody and a deep respect for not just jazz but for all music where I strong melodic sense or feel is something that is celebrated. Sure, Young can reharm a cover with the best of them but what he does not do is mangle a melody beyond all recognition. The music stands on it’s on. From classic melodies including those from Jimmy Webb to Sting not to mention a couple of killer originals, Cymbal Melodies shows the importance of letting a good tune stand on its own and just play!.
Below is my review:
From my interview with Young, his comments on the importance of melody in music today.
J.Y. – “I chose these specific tunes not only because I like them, but because they are examples of strong melody writing. Not to mention the harmonies are beautiful and give the musicians some substance to work with. These two ideas of strong melody and harmonic motion have gotten a little lost in most popular music today. Sure you can find it somewhere, but there is something special about that era of popular songwriting. I am referring to the late 60’s and early 70’s. Two examples on my record of this are “Raindrops…” and “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” A lot of these songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, Carol King, and Jimmy Webb really knew what it was to write a good melody. They knew about harmony and how it functions within a piece of music. Most of these people had some sort of musical training, studying the classics like Bach and Beethoven. The great jazz guitarist Pat Metheny said it best when speaking of some of the songs he recorded from this era on his solo guitar record. He said, “It was a period when harmony and melody were still important and viable elements in popular music. Every one of these songs has something going on that is just hip on a musical level, no matter how you cut it.” I couldn’t agree more Pat.”
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Jazz Wax writes up Jordan Young…

www.jazzwax.com

One of the best organ trio albums I’ve heard in a while is by drummer Jordan Young’s Cymbal Melodies (Posi-Tone). Too many albums of this sort are overly moody or too candy pop. This one is just right—upbeat, groovy and melodic. And there are superb tracks here: By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Lee Morgan’sFree Wheelin’ and Grant Green’sGrantstand as well as originals and other standards. Backing Young are Brian Charette on organ, Avi Rothbard on guitar and Joe Sucato on saxophone. Shades of the Mighty Burner, organist Charles Earland.

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Jordan Young gets a mention on The Jazz Breakfast

thejazzbreakfast.com

And the organ trios with a bit of added saxophone just keep coming… This one is led by drummer Young with Brian Charette on organ. Avi Rothbard adds some guitar and Joe Sucato is the saxophonist.

The book is pretty straight-ahead readings of classic guitar and organ material from the likes of Lee Morgan and Grant Greene with some covers including Jimmy Webb’s By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Bacharach’s Raindrops Keep Falling… and Sting’s Roxanne.

Pleasant enough small combo grooving that could have been made at any time in the last half century.

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Lucid Culture on Jordan Young “Cymbal Melodies”…

lucidculture.wordpress.com

It’s been too long without a B3 record here. Luckily, drummer Jordan Young’s new one Cymbal Melodies is just out on Posi-tone. The title is ironic since Young plays this one very low-key and in the pocket: there are cymbals here but they’re typically providing judiciously whispery atmospherics rather than ostentatiously whirling sonic snowstorms. Recorded in a single day last winter in Brooklyn, this is mid 60s-style gutbucket jazz-lounge stuff, a sometimes tersely robust, sometimes contemplative soundtrack for gin-fueled conviviality. As with Young’s previous release, the ubiquitously original Brian Charette plays organ alongside guitarist Avi Rothbard and saxophonist Joe Sucato.

They open with a jauntily swinging roller-rink version of Wichita Lineman, veering in and out of a jazz waltz with tastily bluesy guitar over a vamp as it fades out. Lee Morgan’s Free Wheelin’ revisits a jazz waltz rhythm with carefree sax, terse guitar and one of Charette’s trademark spinning, distantly carnivalesque solos. They tackle a couple of ballads, giving Ghost of a Chance a purist bluesiness, strutting their way through a sax-and-drums version of Best Thing for You Is Me

They reinvent the Police’s Roxanne as a clave tune – it’s better than the original. Grant Green’s Grandstand sticks to the oldschool afterwork party vibe, right down to Young’s martial volleys. There are also a couple of solid Young originals here: Bird Bath, a catchy blend of Booker T. groove and lush Charette melodicism, and the pulsing, bluesy Mood for McCann. The album closes with a briskly walking take on Easy Living, with a tip of the hat to Art Farmer. The only miss here is an attempt to redeem a cloying early 70s easy-listening radio hit as a swing tune: epic fail. With all the great songs out there, the choice of that one is the only mystery here: otherwise, the tunes, if not the cymbals, hit you upside the head in a good way.

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SomethingElse Reviews Jordan Young…

somethingelsereviews.com

A few years ago Pat Metheny made a solo guitar “covers” record What’s It All About, a record I adore as much for the melodies he picked as how he nursed them. In discussing the idea behind the album. Metheny said,

I was born in 1954 and all of these songs were songs from the Top 40 during my childhood and early teen years. It was a period when harmony and melody were still important and viable elements in popular music. Every one of these songs has something going on that is just hip on musical level, no matter how you cut it. These are all pieces that have stuck with me over the years.

This was truly a golden era of the pop songwriter, and one of the most successful songwriter teams, because they were one of the best, was melody maker Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David. Metheny did in fact cover one of their famous songs, “Alfie,” but any of another of their hits could have fit on that collection: “The Look of Love,” “Walk On By,” “Close To You,” “Always Something There To Remind Me,” “Do You Know The Way To San Jose,” and so on.

From the time of Tin Pan Alley, good melodies have made great fodder for jazz musicians, and one particular jazz drummer from Detroit recently tapped the Bacharach/David mother lode for his upcoming second release Cymbal Melodies. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” the 1969, Oscar-winning chart topper as sung by B.J. Thomas, is handled in a creative way by Young and his band.

Young makes the song a tale of three rhythms, starting with boogaloo, moving on to a James Brown funk cadence and then shifting to the double-time swing hinted at earlier. Ace organist Brian Charette, a veteran of Lou Donaldson’s bands, is well suited for this task, stating that classic melody for a couple of go around before holding down chords while Young briefly erupts on his trap kit. Later, the organist settles in on the harmony as guitarist Avi Rothbard steps to the fore with scorching notes and egged on by the increasing intensity of Charette and Young that brings the song to a rousing ending.

Hal David, as we all know now, passed away Saturday at the ripe old age of 91. But his songs, his conversational lyrics, will always remain fresh and youthful to folks like Pat Metheny, Jordan Young…and me.

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JazzWrap on Jordan Young “Cymbal Melodies”…

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I said last year that Jordan Young had great skill as a leader as well as performer. His group is solid and concise.

Making the jump from his independent self-titled debut to the perfect home of Posi-Tone Records, Jordan Young delivers his newest release, Cymbal Melodies. And it is just as pronounced and confident as his debut. A strong step forward.

The two opening numbers, “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” are killer. Jordan turns “Raindrops…” into a real barn-burning. It’s smokin’ and really fun. You almost don’t recognize it thanks to some crafty and infectious work by Charette and Rothbard. But Young’s kit sounds explosive throughout. “…Phoenix” is midtempo with a groovy melody that is set with some clever and understated timing by Young. This while Charette and Rothbard give the tune a real sense of emotional structure.
“Bird Bath” is sneaky in its structure thanks to Charette’s hip crunchy styling. The dialogue between Young and Charette (longtime bandmates) is superb. “Mood For McCann” is a funky number where Young unleashes Sucato and Rothbard to exchange some fierce lines that are quite soulful; they might have you reminiscing for Jack McDuff and Grant Green.
With Cymbal Melodies , Jordan Young reaches the next level in what looks to be a sparkling career. Posi-Tone was the perfect choice for this release, fitting nicely with the label’s current stable of artists. But more importantly, a great number of people will and should get to hear an artist who is quickly finding his voice as a composer and performer. Cymbal Melodies is a solid must listen.
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Music and More reviews Jordan Young “Cymbal Melodies”…

jazzandblues.blogspot.com

Jordan Young is a drummer leading a group on this recording that features Brian Charette on organ, Avi Rothbard on guitar and Joe Sucato on tenor saxophone. Young is a subtle drummer, using shades of texture and nuance instead of dramatic loud playing. The album is a very solid mainstream jazz session melding pop music, the earworm melody of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” which flirts with cheese but never quite succumbs and “Roxanne” which is played a seductive and slithering funk, weaving in and out of the song, developing a nice feature for Sucato. The groups jazz roots are firmly planted, with a fine interpretation of Grant Green’s “Grantstand” taken as a fast trio performance with nice guitar soloing. Also interesting is “The Best Thing for Me Is You” where organ and guitar sit out, leaving Young on brushes and Sucato building deep and dark tones from his tenor saxophone, taking a unique and quite successful duo approach. The group ends the album with three trio pieces, all uptempo, anchored by the Young original “Mood for McCann” which deftly adds elements for soul to an already simmering stew.

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Here’s the first review for Jordan Young’s “Cymbal Melodies”…

www.criticaljazz.com

I have to admit when I first saw the tune selection on this disc I wondered how in the world Jordan Young could pull it off. You have a hard bop tune  from Lee Morgan along with some more classic covers from Grant Green and Irving Berlin and mixed in you see some more dated popular standards from Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb and Sting. 

Life is easy, people make it hard. Same goes for music.

 Jordan Young’s Cymbal Melodies streets on Sept. 11th 2012 and given the variety of tunes served up the transitions are seamless and obvious potential pitfalls are easily avoided. The key to any good tune is melody. There is what I consider a predominant school of thought among some younger musicians that hanging out in odd meter and the speed is king mentality is a sure ticket for jazz stardom. Never reharm a cover tune to the point the original composer would have a hard time recognizing his own work. Young doesn’t. The release works so well because Young and this formidable 4tet allow the melody to take center stage. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” is turned into a shuffle beat with the intensity kicked up just a notch to breath fresh life into a perhaps tired classic. Sting’s “Roxanne” is at the same time left essentially alone as is “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” made popular by Glen Campbell. At time a beautiful melody can and needs to stand alone. Brian Charette does an amazing job playing it essentially straight and has a harmonic foundation as solid  as any organ player working today. Guitarist Avi Rothbard and saxophonist Joe Sucato work with the same sense of lyrical integrity to combine for an incredibly entertaining release. Should this 4tet continue working together and with this level of proficiency then the sky is the limit. 

“Best Thing For You Is Me” from Irving Berlin has just the right amount of pop to it without bordering on the easy listening on steroids cheese factor others have given the tune. Young contributes two originals in “Bird Bath” and “Mood For McCann” which sound like standards waiting in the on deck circle. As a drummer, Jordan Young has an innate ability to swing and play with the type of finesse that other players twenty years his senior struggle with at times. An exciting young talent to keep an eye on!

Another Posi-Tone debut that takes 5 stars easy. This is old school made new cool and done the right way.