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Rabid jazz fans - of
which l'm one - tend to be obsessive by nature. We pore over the fine details of
the music we love with an almost scholarly fascination, reveling in the various
facets of a musician's career and development. A recording by a new, or
previously unexplored, artist can be an occasion for discovery, a window onto a
world that may look like something we're used to, but, because of its
perspective, and its unique organization of the figures in its landscape, lets
us see with new eyes, hear with new ears.
Such was my reaction on first hearing Andrew Cheshire's
1997
release,
Another View,
his second album as a leader. Andrew was an unknown entity to me at the time.
The disc, sent to me for review by my editor at Cadence magazine, slipped
into my CD player unassumingly, one more entry to spin a couple of hundred words
on before flashing on the next one. But I was immediately drawn in by the music,
my blasé demeanor quietly sucker-punched by the edgy, circular guitar riff that
kicks off the title piece. What followed drew me in even further, through airy,
absorbing tunes with evocative titles like "Secrets,"
"Diverge,"
and "Saturn."
The tone was mid-'60's Blue Note, the era of Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter,
and Bobby Hutcherson - spacious, almost levitating music, with meaty,
intelligent improvising. But the feel of Andrew's music was quite something
else; a graceful, lyrical dance of drawings in mist, as viewed through the hot
house window of the creative improvising tradition.
Water Street
Revival lets us
look through the rear window, so to speak, of Andrew's own tradition, allowing
us to see some of the paths he's taken to get to his current confluence. The
earliest tracks, from
1990,
show him already possessed of a delicious tone, and a gentle, unhurried touch
that can, nevertheless, prod his bandmates into quick-reflex reaction. Andrew's
supple rhythmic flexibility, and the attention he gives to the duration of his
notes, are reminders that it's not only what notes a musician plays, or how many,
it's also the weight of each note, and how it's phrased, that distinguishes a
performance.
This "archival" material, as Andrew calls it (sorry, but that's
just too dusty a term for music that's so alive) is also proof that Cheshire was
bringing strong compositions to the table for his first recording sessions. "Our
World," from
1991,
is a luscious, floating ballad, with moments that show Andrew could probably
make quite a name for himself in the "Lite-Jazz" arena, had he chosen to pursue
that direction. "Search
For Truth," from
the same date, is a particularly strong example of Cheshire's melodie
imagination, with a beautiful secondary theme towards the 1:30 mark. The driving
"Portrait of
Ellsworth" is,
perhaps, one of the most stunning displays of Andrew's artistry on Water Street,
showing how he uses effects, such as delay, to enhance, not only his sound, but
the totality of the performance. Whether it's the fat chords of the more
traditionalIy "jazzy" "Jet,"
or the haunting beauty of the intimate, unaccompanied "When
l'm With You,"
there's a wealth of harmonious byways here.
Water Street itself, at the time of these recordings, was a desolate area
of old, closed warehouses near the East River in Brooklyn, where you could feel
the peculiar thrill of the original cobblestones under your feet as you walked
there. Looking at the great photographer Enid Farber's shots of this
area, you can almost feel the chilly secrets that these buildings must have held.
Here are some secrets that are now, happily, seeing the light of day: the
bedrock of one Andrew Cheshire, a musician who generates sufficient heat
to unlock untold mysteries.
Larry Nai
(trad. by
Annamaria Costalonga)
Other reviews:
Review: All About Jazz
Review:
Cadence
Review: All-Music Guide
Review:
Morrice's Jazz Review
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Last Modified Date: 15/01/2005
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