by Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs
SHAREL CASSITY & ELEKTRA – “EVOLVE”
Relsha Music
Sharel Cassity, saxophone/flute; Christie Dashiell, vocals; Ingrid Jensen, trumpet; Marcus Printup, trumpet; Freddie Hendrix, flugelhorn; Mark Whitfield, guitar; Miki Hayama, Rhodes/piano/synth; Richard Johnson, keyboard; Linda Oh, bass; Jonathan Barber &Lucianna Padmore, drums; Riza Printup, harp.
Sharel Cassity has combined jazz genres, using her composition tools as the glue that sticks them all together. Opening with “Evolve,” a song that features tight horn harmonics and an ensemble arrangement, Cassity makes her presence known on saxophone. This is Cassity’s fourth album as a leader. This time around, she features a new assemblage of players called ‘Elektra’. However, her big band influence is prominent in most of these arrangements. She has previously been associated with the Revive Big Band led by Ignar Thomas and Nicholas Payton’s Television Studio Orchestra. This current offering of music is more funk-driven, Smooth Jazz that creates a strong trampoline for Sharel Cassity to bounce her saxophone skills upon.
The second tune is one that Cassity did not compose. It was written by pop star, Alicia Keys and is titled, “New Day.” With vocals by Christie Dashiell, it’s very pop-ish with Jonathan Barber’s drums pumping a funk groove beneath the production and stellar on his solo. When this song invites an all-instrumental performance, it is much more representative of Smooth Jazz. The powerful playingI heard on the first cut returns once the instrumentalists take over on the song production. Seven of the nine compositions are the original work of Cassity. She has chosen a ‘social change’ position with this music as the roots of her unspoken activism. Perhaps, using the song titles, she explains it best in her liner notes. The capitalized words are all song titles.
“As everything must EVOLVE, so must we as musicians. … We must be brave enough to BE THE CHANGE and take a stand against inequality for all. …the HERE, THE NOW is the only place and time to seize opportunity and live your truth. … If you remember that ALL IS FULL OF LOVE, you will spread positivity to yourself and others. This era is a NEW DAY, we should celebrate it while still pushing forward. If you are in a tough time, look up and find a WISHING STAR. In quiet moments, I may hear ECHOES AT HOME that bring me back to my early days with family. QUITTER is written for those who are least expected to succeed, but persist in the face of all adversity. Please enjoy this offering. It is an honest representation of what I feel.”
ROB CLEARFIELD – “WHEREVER YOU’RE STARTING FROM”
Woolgathering Records
Rob Clearfield, piano
The crystal clear soprano register of the grand piano tinkles, like shimmering snowflakes that cascade from heaven, Rob Clearfield sets a mood with his music. It’s ethereal at first, moving down the piano register on his three-minute prologue, like water in a clean stream. This pianist paints pictures with his music. “Starchild” follows, taking the same path of a melodic mixture of chords, played arpeggio with soprano notes, shining like shooting stars and dancing on top. It sounds like an improvisational, in-the-moment concert by this instrumentalist, rather than a structured piece. The music flutters and moves, like bird wings or waving grains of wheat. When I look at Clearfield’s CD cover, I read the poetry he has written. Suddenly, I know that I’m on the right path, describing his amazing art on the 88 keys. He is obviously a connoisseur of the piano, but there is something special about the way he composes and shares himself with his listening audience. As though I have tapped into his emotions and he, into mine, we become connected in a very artistic way. His classical base is always obviously present, but his interpretive genius moves the music in the type of improvisational way that perhaps only a jazz lover could embrace. As I stated above, this artist appears to be expressing himself, ‘in the moment’.
Rob Clearfield’s liner notes read, in part:
“Rain. Falling shards of glass, a broken necklace tinkling to the ground. Running through the park with friends, my best friend. Scooping them all up, the many beads, not broken not lost, just scattered, uncertain. I thought it was beautiful.”
This is a recorded musical experience, a 12-track opus, that reeks of honest and sincere exploration into feelings expressed by Rob Clearfield and channeled through his adept fingers and the piano keys that he plays. Two of Clearfield’s musical heroes are Johannes Brahms and John Coltrane. You will hear the inclusion of both iconic composers and musicians in his solo piano work. His interpretation of these two genius musicians is worthy of a listen and signal a tribute to America itself, by blending African-American history and musical art with European music. After all, that is the basis of jazz itself.