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CD Reviews

Stuck: We’re Stuck
Stick Mess Music, 2002

If you are looking to raise your hipster quotient without the expense of moving to a loft in trendy Williamsburg, an easy way to start is to get Stuck’s debut album We’re Stuck. Formed over three years ago in Brooklyn, Stuck is anything but that in terms of genre. We’re Stuck is an eclectic and intellectual blend of fusion rock that bounces around through abrupt rhythmic changes with horn solos in minor keys, as the tempo ranges from downbeat to thrash, sometimes within the same song. My first free association when listening to their debut CD was the classic King Crimson album Discipline. I soon learned that this is because group founder Pat Cahill plays the Chapman stick, a 12-string guitar-bass hybrid instrument with a distinctive sound that is played by hammering on the frets with both hands. (It looks like a giant guitar neck with no body, like a, well, ummm, a stick. Anyway.) This instrument is also played by Tony Levin, local bass player of King Crimson fame, who used it most famously on the album, yes, you guessed it, Discipline. Spanning five and a half octaves over 12 strings, the right hand plays the bass lines leaving the left hand free to play melodies in the upper registers. It is extremely basic in concept with very complex results, combining elements of percussion, keyboards, and guitar. The version that Pat Cahill plays, a 10-year veteran of the Chapman stick, even has a MIDI connection enabling a very creative breadth of expression. Cahill’s compositions are interesting and diverse arrangements as he also plays the trumpet, sometimes at the same time as the stick during live performances. The Chapman stick is such an essential element in the mix that even the group name is a play on it. (The stick is their schtick because they’re Stuck.) But what keeps this album from being just another abstract jazz recording are the playful vocals of front-woman Chisa. Her voice has an airy quality to it and Chisa thoroughly explores her register in a creative and elastic manner as she goes from singing to whispering to screaming to rapping to scatting over the 11-track album. As she sings about subjects like sushi, her pet rat, and a fantastic secret, her style recalls early Bjork and the Sugarcubes or more recently the Japanese duo Cibo Matto. A former dancer and choreographer in the New York City scene, Chisa is known for her dramatic stage presence during live performances which they call pARTies, which usually happen at trendy and hip Manhattan art spaces and Williamsburg lofts. While not an easily accessible album (who ever said hipness was accessible?), this is a CD for people whose collections contain King Crimson, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Primus, Cibo Matto, Bjork, and the Sugarcubes. It is available on Sticky Mess Music at www.stickymessmusic.com.

—Jonathan King

Greg Glassman Quartet: Onward and Upward
Soluna Music, 2002

Jazz trumpet playing is often regarded as an athletic event. Trumpeters are judged by the velocity of their play and the extent of their range, especially the ability to hit the notes in the highest registers, rather than playing with emotional power. (Two notable exceptions, among many, are Chet Baker, a technically poor player who compensated in soul what he lacked in chops, and Miles Davis, who explored the low, lyric end of the trumpet range.)

Onward and Upward, the second CD of original work from the 26-year-old trumpeter Greg Glassman, steers closer to the Miles end of the spectrum (the Shorter/Hancock/Williams/Ron Carter-era Quintet) than to the stacatto climbs of Dizzy, but make no mistake—Glassman can blow hard and high and play with feeling. Glassman, on the jazz faculty at SUNY New Paltz, hosts a Wednesday night jam session at the bar Niagara on Avenue A and is well known in New York City.

“Lenox Avenue,” an uptempto attack that opens the CD, features some of Glassman’s most athletic playing on the album. Glassman never loses sight of the melody, however, keeping the piece intact, seconded by a percussive solo by Dave Pier on piano. Another agrressive piece, “Middle Passage,” is a steeplechase number, Glassman clearing the sonic hurdles and water hazards on a seven-minute rapid-fire run with added fuel from Donald Walden on tenor sax. The rest of Onward and Upward serves as a counterpoint to these pieces, tunes like “Tashi” showcasing Glassman’s ability to smudge the notes, rounding them out and letting the bass and vibes fill in the downtempo mood. Glassman blows the torch standard “If I Had You,” with a pronounced vocal quality, the melody swooning like a boozy midnight.

Glassman cites Marcus Belgrave as the trumpeter most influential on his style and it shows; like the versatile Belgrave, Glassman can play it all. Glassman has even toured with the Jamaican ska outfit the Skatalites, and his style relfects his musical eclecticism. I look forward to a long career of further explorations from this talented young trumpeter.

A CD release party for Onward and Upward will be held on Sunday, November 3, 4-7pm, at The Uptown in Kingston. $15 cover includes copy of CD. 339-8440.

—Brian K. Mahoney