Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Todd Bishop Group: Little Played Little Bird

Todd Bishop Group: Little Played Little Bird

By Dan McClenaghan
April 17, 2012
View read count

Todd Bishop Group: Little Played Little Bird

Fans of alto saxophonist

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman have had to sit through a long wait since the free jazz pioneer's last recording, Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar Records, 2006), a marvelous set that garnered the artist a Pulitzer Prize. Those fans are still waiting, though the iconic jazz man has teased them with his bits and pieces (non-album length) of his distinctive playing on bassist

Jamaaladeen Tacuma

bass
b.1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Jamaaladeen Tacuma's For the Love of Ornette (Jam All Productions, 2011) and saxophone legend

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins' Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Doxie Records, 2011).

So for now it's up to other players to shine the light on Coleman's compositions: Jamaaladeen, saxophonist

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman—with one of his finest recordings, Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Jazzwerksatt, 2010)—and now, the Todd Bishop Group, with Little Played Little Bird.

Drummer Bishop, whose 69 Aannee Erotique (Origin, 2009) celebrated the music of the late French pop songster

Serge Gainsbourg

b.1928

" data-original-title="" title="">Serge Gainsbourg—and landed on several top ten lists for the year—now turns his eye on some of the tunes by Coleman that are not often covered by other artists. Like Liebman's tribute, Bishop's group eschews Ornette's main instrument, the alto saxophone. The Bishop Group goes with two players,

Tim Willcox

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Willcox and

Richard Cole

saxophone, tenor
b.1957

" data-original-title="" title="">Richard Cole, who share the reed duties on bass clarinet, baritone, tenor and soprano saxophones. Bishop also incorporates, as did Liebman, a chording instrument, which is a rarity on Coleman recordings. With Liebman, it was

Vic Juris

guitar
1953 - 2019

" data-original-title="" title="">Vic Juris' wild and wooly and sometimes stratospheric guitar. Bishop's inspired choice is Brazilian pianist

Weber Iago

" data-original-title="" title="">Weber Iago who, on the set's opener, "Mother of the Veil" shimmers and broods, and slips into deep introspection on his solo slot between the sweetly wandering reeds.

Little Played Little Bird sounds unlike any set that Coleman has ever put together, despite the temptation to compare it to his Hidden Man and Sound Museum Three Women—simultaneously-released on his Harmolodic Records label in 1996—mostly because these overlooked gems in Coleman's discography included pianist

Geri Allen

piano
1957 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Geri Allen. In terms of sound, Cole's baritone sax—fierce and growling on "Enfant"—recalls tenor saxophonist

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman's work during his Blue Note Records years with Coleman. Aside from that, the vision here is purely the Todd Bishop Group's.

For those with passing knowledge of the saxophonist/composer's sound, this wouldn't, on a blind listen, be recognizable as Coleman's music. For his ardent fans, the melodies are there, laid down with a compellingly original harmonic and rhythmic approach, with bassist

Bill Athens

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Athens—who is essential to the music's unqualified success—laying down a viscous and pulsating murk that flows through Bishop's idiosyncratic steam hiss cymbal sizzles and off-kilter but-tight drum work on this immaculate exploration of Ornette Coleman's music.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Mothers of the Veil; Enfant; Feet Music; Comme Il Faut; Friends and Neighbors; Check Up; Country and Town Blues; Lonely Woman; Strange As It Seems.

Personnel

Todd Bishop

drums

Richard Cole: bass clarinet, baritone, tenor and soprano saxophones; Tim Willcox: tenor and soprano saxophones; Bill Athens: bass; Todd Bishop: drums.

Album information

Title: Little Played Little Bird | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Origin Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Bridges vs. Walls
< Previous

Take Five With Aidan Carroll
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.