Double Bassist Magazine

Spring 2007

CD: Sketches from a Bassist’s Album

Ari Roland (db)
Chris Byars (tsax), Sacha Perry (pf), Phil Stewart (dr)
Smalls Records SRCD 0012

I first heard Ari Roland on a CD by the late, sadly neglected pianist Frank Hewitt, one of the progenitors of the ‘advanced bebop idiom’ that producer Luke Kaven, in his liner notes, suggests is the context from which Roland’s own playing has sprung. The music on Sketches certainly has deep roots in bebop, yet is very different from the over-stylised, retro-bop that many other contemporary groups turn out. Roland’s group, while steeped in the disciplines of the idiom, also recognise the imperative to be original, and their playing is fresh and unpredictable.

Seven of the ten compositions are by Roland, though one is his reworking of Embraceable You, which becomes Replaceable Me as Gershwin’s song is refracted into a more oblique, haunted take on romance. Other Roland pieces encompass a formidable gamut, from the fast, intricate Swamp Thing Goes to the Indy 500 to a restrained and soulful Mensch Blues, named for classical bassist Homer Mensch. (The cover versions embrace similar extremes, Elmo Hope’s frantic Mo’s On to a jaunty, strolling I’ll Walk Alone.) Roland’s instrumental skills are no less impressive: he plays great walking bass, strong, resonant notes adroitly placed, while his solos - nearly always played arco - are purposeful and focused, saying a lot in a short space of time. His colleagues deserve mention too, especially tenorist Byars, whose light tone and pliable, quirky phrasing make him an intriguing soloist. Four guys, bursting with ideas and clearly enjoying themselves, who are a pleasure to hear.

-- Graham Lock