Ethan Iverson - Live At Smalls

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:52
Size: 152,4 MB
Art: Front

( 7:39)  1. Night and Day
( 3:59)  2. Chronology
( 5:07)  3. Theme From "Mr. Bean"
( 8:01)  4. The Look of Love
( 7:20)  5. Have You Met Miss Jones?
(10:43)  6. In Love in Vain
( 8:26)  7. How High the Moon
( 8:32)  8. You've Changed
( 6:01)  9. Blues Coda

Pianist Ethan Iverson and tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry focus on quirky readings of standards in this co-led band, which they've unofficially named "Sub-Standard." The quartet is completed by bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Jeff Williams, both of whom supply a kind of perpetually off-kilter rhythmic feel underneath the two adventurous soloists. The music's in tempo, but not quite Anderson rarely walks a bassline, for instance, instead reacting to the entire band in unpredictable ways. Loosely speaking, on records this style has been Iverson's calling card more than McHenry's, although the tenorist has no problem fitting right in. Recorded live at Smalls in New York, the album boasts a good, intimate sound. The band begins with a loopy Latin treatment of "Night and Day," and proceeds to offer similarly off-the-wall readings of "Have You Met Miss Jones" and "How High the Moon," making a point of deforming these played to death vehicles. In a more rueful mood, they render the lesser-known standard "In Love In Vain" and the ballad "You've Changed." McHenry's entrance on the latter is so exquisitely high and soft that it could be mistaken for a flute. The more unusual repertoire choices are Howard Goodal's "Theme from 'Mr. Bean,'" which oddly enough sounds like something Bill McHenry would write, and Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love," played with a satisfying faithfulness to the written melody. Closing the set is McHenry's "Blues Coda," which, along with Ornette Coleman's "Chronology," represents the most modern portion of the set, at least in authorial terms. But Iverson and McHenry do all they can to make everything even the moldiest standard sound modern, in their distinctive sense of the term. ~ David R. Adler https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-smalls-mw0000114938

Personnel: Piano – Ethan Iverson; Double Bass – Reid Anderson; Drums – Jeff Williams; Tenor Saxophone – Bill McHenry

Live At Smalls

---

Jeff Williams - Outlier

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:51
Size: 121,2 MB
Art: Front

( 7:35)  1. Outlier
( 5:34)  2. The Interloper
( 6:40)  3. Dream Visitor
( 6:54)  4. Meeting a Stranger
(10:10)  5. New and Old
(10:15)  6. Hermeto
( 5:40)  7. Oddity

Drummer Jeff Williams is an American expatriate now residing in London, England. Following his formal drumming studies commencing in 1968 at Berklee College of Music, Williams became a seasoned veteran of the U.S. jazz scene, accompanying some of the biggest names in the business including Stan Getz, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Cedar Walton, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans, John Scofield, and Miroslav Vitous. Outlier is his third album for Whirlwind and he's assembled a great line-up of British jazz musicians for this date. The opening title track maintains a plaintive trance-like modal mood throughout with deft interjections from Phil Robson on guitar, Kit Downes on piano and Josh Arcoleo on tenor saxophone. "The Interloper" is quirkier with a definite Monkish feel and appropriate block piano chords with occasional swirls of sound all underpinning Arcoleo's tenor, followed by solos from Downes and Sam Lasserson on bass. But then the mood changes with a comparatively heavier "Dream Visitor," Phil Robson's guitar work is very much to the fore here, most especially when treated with electronic effects, whilst drums and piano provide a powerful backdrop before the theme is taken over by the tenor. Almost at once the tempo slows dramatically whilst still maintaining the heavy feel with a repeated vamp on guitar and electric bass before returning to the original opening riff.

"Meeting A Stranger" is a relaxed ballad with leader Jeff Williams sensitively encouraging the momentum. Kit Downes and Phil Robson turn in fine solos here too. Downes introduces the breezy, medium tempo "New And Old" with solos from Lasserson, Downes and Arcoleo. "Hermeto," the longest track on the album, is Williams' paean to one of his heroes, Hermeto Pascoal. Whilst not imitating Pascoal's compositional style, it possesses its own unique attractiveness, particularly in its opening themes stated alternately by guitar and tenor. The closer, "Oddity" opening with a brief drum foray, is a breezy fast-paced number featuring some vibrant solos from the entire group. This is a very good album which benefits from Williams' imaginative compositions and the ensemble's excellent musicianship. It's also a grower, so play frequently for a lasting effect.~ Roger Farbey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/outlier-jeff-williams-whirlwind-recordings-ltd-review-by-roger-farbey.php

Personnel: Jeff Williams: drums, percussion, Fender rhodes; Josh Arcoleo: tenor saxophone; Phil Robson: guitar; Kit Downes: piano and Fender Rhodes; Sam Lasserson: double & electric basses.

Outlier

---

Jeff Williams - Another Time

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:31
Size: 120,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:23)  1. Search Me
(7:49)  2. She Can't Be a Spy
(5:05)  3. Double Life
(8:02)  4. Purple, Blue and Red
(7:20)  5. Fez
(5:29)  6. Under the Radar
(6:42)  7. Go Where You're Watching
(5:38)  8. Another Time

The catch-all term "playing time" is often used as a descriptor for drummers that find a steady, supportive pattern and play it ad infinitum, whether to the benefit or detriment of a band, but that definition has always been limiting. Drummer Jeff Williams, for example, has and plays impeccable time, but he paints around the lines and shifts patterns to accent and highlight what's happening in the music at any given moment. He's the rare drummer who understands and conceptualizes time as something beyond the standard "spang-a-lang" status quo, and this ideal comes to the fore with Another Time. While Williams has been an important voice on the jazz scene for four decades, he's always managed to stay slightly under the radar because his credits have often marked him as a supporting player rather than a leader. Williams secured his place in jazz history as a founding member of the far-reaching band Lookout Farm in the early '70s, and racked up an impressive list of sideman credits in the decades that followed. He has constantly been called upon to provide backing for left-leaning artists-in-the-know, like fellow Lookout Farm members Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach, pianist Richard Sussman, the legendary Lee Konitz, and saxophonist Bill McHenry, but Williams has only stepped out on his own on relatively few occasions over the past two decades. For this, the first record released under his name in the new millennium, Williams brought together a piano-less quartet that occasionally leans on the sound of early Ornette Coleman ("Search Me"), but isn't handcuffed to any single influence. 

Williams penned five of the eight pieces on the album, with each of his band mates contributing one song each to round out the program, and he brings different artistic elements into the mix on each number. "Fez" marries Coleman's ideals with Middle Eastern sounds a la John Zorn's Masada and the title track begins without drums, with some buzzing arco work from bassist John Hébert underscoring the horn lines of trumpeter Duane Eubanks and alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher. Elsewhere, Williams shifts the sands of time from slow and dirge-like to spirited and snappy ("Purple, Blue And Red"), shines a spotlight on Hébert sans band ("She Can't Be A Spy"), and gives plenty of solo space to the fine horn players he employs. While Another Time is another clear indicator of Williams' drumming talents, it also serves as a fine display of his skills as a composer. One can only hope that he doesn't wait so long to release his next disc. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/another-time-jeff-williams-whirlwind-recordings-ltd-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Jeff Williams: drums; Duane Eubanks: trumpet; John O'Gallagher: alto saxophone; John Hébert: bass.

Another Time

---

Jeff Williams - Coalescence

Size: 155,6 MB
Time: 67:23
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1992
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front & Back

01. Eyes Of Recognition ( 5:20)
02. Missing Link ( 8:11)
03. Skulduggery ( 6:14)
04. Dialogue Coalescence (10:29)
05. Wondering ( 7:47)
06. Debrosses Street ( 7:27)
07. Autonomy (12:10)
08. The Messenger ( 9:42)

This is the first leader recording by drummer Jeff Williams whose impressive list of credits includes Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Dizzy Gillespie among others.

“… The eight themes here are resoundingly free of hard bop cliché or empty rhetoric…throughout, Williams works to make the music unpredictable… Excellent sound .” (The Penguin Guide to Jazz).

Coalescence

---