Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Cloning Americana: For Which It Stands

Cloning Americana: For Which It Stands

By Raul d'Gama Rose
February 22, 2012
View read count

What are the color and the tone and texture of the music of protest and rebellion? Not red, it appears, but red white and tinged with the blues. At least this is what is posited by Cloning Americana, the ensemble that comprises saxophonist/clarinetist Billy Drewes, pianist Gary Versace bassist

Scott Lee

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Scott Lee and drummer

Jeff Hirshfield

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeff Hirshfield. Their quiet protest is a result of the belief that there is a "decline in the basic social values of respect, compassion and tolerance." This is not the first time that jazz has called America out on its hypocrisy—of preaching human rights and values but having none. It is often forgotten that jazz has always been the music of protest, from the plantation to the penitentiary; from the backyards of chicken shacks to gilded concert halls. It began as the language of the African-American slave, shouting out for his and her pain to be heard. It continued in the stolen music by empathizing white Americans, who understood what it was to feel deprived and downtrodden.

Does such an acrimonious reality have room for the luscious sound of Drewes' saxophones and bass clarinet to coexist with the forthright bopping of

Eric Dolphy

woodwinds
1928 - 1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Dolphy? Does the quietly mournful music of this ensemble (albeit a quartet) sit where the strident holy rolling of bassist

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus once sat? Strange but true. The music of Cloning Americana is charged with quiet protest. It is music that questions before the stammering of machinegun protest. The ensemble presents its unique protest music in a singularly harmonic, tonal manner. The cheers in "The Change-Up" nestle cheek by jowl with the madness of "Poster Boy." Yet "Comic Relief" stands in sharp contrast to "For Which It Stands." All of this, however, is meant to protest the declining values of America.

Cloning Americana presents the other side to stridency: calm. The turmoil in the soul is also manifest in the taut energy of Versace's dazzling runs on the piano. Lee's occasionally mournful bass speaks volumes for the white hot fever with which he rips through "Just Running Around." Only Hirshfield's rattling of the tom-toms and his tumultuous clashes with the cymbals show how taut the music really is. It pirouettes on the end of the ultimate stretch of the elastic and it could snap at any time, but is held together by the poise and grace of a band that is determined to sing protest and anger and grief through harmonic engagement, quietude and the joy of the true ideals of a socially just America.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

The Lament; Don��t Put Your ��Hoe-Down��; The Change-Up; Old Dirt; Poster Boy; Our Pastime, Passed Down; The Road That Leads To; On The Rise; Of Two Minds; Comic Relief; Wetlands; Just Running Around; For Whish It Stands.

Personnel

Billy Drewes: saxophones, bass clarinet and vocal; Scott Lee: bass; Gary Versace: piano; Jeff Hirshfield: drums.

Album information

Title: For Which It Stands | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Sunnyside Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Yonkers
< Previous

The Eleventh Hour
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.