COMPOSERS: James Carter
LABELS: Atlantic Jazz
WORKS: The Real Quietstorm
PERFORMER: James Carter (b-f, b-cl, ss, as, ts, bar-s); Craig Taborn (p); Dave Holland/Jaribo Shahid (b); Leon Parker/Tani Tabbel (d)
CATALOGUE NO: 7567-82742-2
James Carter looks set to carve out a highly successful solo jazz career for himself, if his ravishing playing on this album of recherché swing and modern classics leavened with the cogent originals is anything to go by. On baritone he combines a deftness and agility not normally heard from the instrument with a wonderfully earnest sonorousness. On tenor and alto, he achieves an almost rapturous elegance reminiscent of Johnny Hodges in ballad mode; on soprano he is sinuous and quick-witted, but unusually full-toned. He also plays adventurous bass clarinet and more than passable flute. There are occasional flashes of ingenuity, like the single note held for nearly a chorus in Round Midnight, but overall, Carter has delivered on his liner-note promise to provide ‘something intimate, laid-back, romantic’ in this highly auspicious major label debut. Chris Parker
James Carter: The Real Quietstorm
James Carter looks set to carve out a highly successful solo jazz career for himself, if his ravishing playing on this album of recherché swing and modern classics leavened with the cogent originals is anything to go by. On baritone he combines a deftness and agility not normally heard from the instrument with a wonderfully earnest sonorousness. On tenor and alto, he achieves an almost rapturous elegance reminiscent of Johnny Hodges in ballad mode; on soprano he is sinuous and quick-witted, but unusually full-toned. He also plays adventurous bass clarinet and more than passable flute.
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:07 pm