REVIEW
THE LOU MALANDRA TRIO
Out of Our Silence
CD
[1998 ALM Publications & Recordings]
Seriously though, this disc is simply marvalous. Lou Malandra is a smiling
hipster, who has comprehensivly combined two very distinct classics: JAZZ
and VERSE.. a new idea? not really.. but the way it is done, is just so
sweet and eloquent...a combonation of poetry and jazz Malandra calls
"POEJAZZ". The disc starts with a reciting of the title poem, written and
delivered by Malandra..a wonderful poem celebrating the simplicty of
life's silences and the music of it.. and then it flows into sweet jazz
music of Miles Davis rendered by the trio's rythym section of Doug Roche
and Ron Bland, soon Malandra is dancing verbaly over the groove these cats
are laying down..and this disc switches quick to something really special
and way too cool for just any 'ol day.. this is one of those lazy sunday
night, loungin' on the porch, type grooves.. and then Malandra pushes the
hip meter a little higher and he slips into delivering words of other
poets.. as if they were his own...in this style that would make Kerouac
himself smile and tap his foot in the groove. This disc is filled with
classic poetry. Words from T.S.Elliot, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, Maya
Angelou, Malanda himself, and others..(even Robert Frost)..each delivered
in a true be-bop/beat style and interplayed with the sweet jazz of a piano
and bass duo. The overall feel of this disc is similar to the most recent
Bob Holman release. But where Holman's release is too over produced and
filled with sound effects and multiple instrumentation...this disc shows
how to really send the message of POEJAZZ home with sublime simplicity.
(ALM Publications & Recordings, 5510 S. Curtice St., LIttletown,CO 80120)
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