Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Juan Vinuesa Jazz Quartet: Blue Shots From Chicago

Juan Vinuesa Jazz Quartet: Blue Shots From Chicago

By Mark Corroto
March 10, 2020
View read count

Juan Vinuesa Jazz Quartet: Blue Shots From Chicago

Chicago, a city of big shoulders, continues to present proof of poet Carl Sandburg's words from the poem of the same name... "Come and show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning." Why is this? Because Chicago in 2020 remains the same as evoked in these words from 1914, "fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action." It is a city that welcomes all comers who can bring it, whatever "it" is.

Case in point Juan Vinuesa's Blue Shots From Chicago. The Spanish saxophonist spent a few years in Chicago mixing with the city's cutting edge musicians and, judging by this recording, he must have been a welcome participant. His recording is the opposite of a vanity project, it has the character of an inveterate working quartet. A valid comparison might be the quartet Old And New Dreams made up of

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman's former sidemen

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman,

Charlie Haden

bass, acoustic
1937 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Haden,

Don Cherry

trumpet
1936 - 1995

" data-original-title="" title="">Don Cherry, and

Ed Blackwell

drums
1929 - 1992

" data-original-title="" title="">Ed Blackwell. Vinuesa's updated dreams include cornetist

Josh Berman

cornet

" data-original-title="" title="">Josh Berman, bassist

Jason Roebke

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Roebke and drummer

Mikel Patrick Avery

drums
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Mikel Patrick Avery, three musicians at the center of Chicago's jazz current moment.

All the music here was written and arranged by Vinuesa. "Ghost Town Studio" has the disciplined casualness only accessible by skilled performers. It is a blues wrapped in insouciance and powered by Roebke's firm hands. That blues feel permeates this session with the aromatics of "Red Line Ballad" and "The Alibi" a Coleman-inspired piece. Vinuesa's tenor can be described as a cross between

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman and

David Murray

saxophone, tenor
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">David Murray, combined with the sinewy brashness of Berman's cornet, the duo makes for a potent pairing."In Paul's Mirror" (for Paul Stocker) starts with

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk but surfs a New Dutch Swing with Vinuesa channeling his inner

Roscoe Mitchell

saxophone
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Roscoe Mitchell. "Luther's Mood" (for

Luther Thomas

b.1950

" data-original-title="" title="">Luther Thomas) is a lament �� la "Goodbye Porkpie Hat," sustained by some of Avery's sizzling cymbal science. Ending with the buoyant "I B?rneteater," which translates into "In Children's Theater" from the Danish, the quartet summons a circus that might have originated in New Orleans. Keep an ear out for Vinuesa's upcoming projects.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Ghost Town Studio; Red Line Ballad; The Alibi;?La Lola; Afro Asiatic Beat Poem; In Paul��s Mirror; Luther��s Mood; I B?rneteater.

Personnel

Juan Vinuesa

saxophone, tenor

Josh Berman

cornet

Jason Roebke

bass

Mikel Patrick Avery

drums

Album information

Title: Blue Shots From Chicago | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: NoBusiness Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Freedom
< Previous

Mixing Colours
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.