Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Michael Dease, Mike Fahie: Attack of the Killer Trombones!
Michael Dease, Mike Fahie: Attack of the Killer Trombones!
By
J.J. Johnson
trombone1924 - 2001

Grace
Jazz Legacy Productions
2010

Michael Dease
tromboneb.1982

Sharel Cassity
saxophone
Slide Hampton
trombone1932 - 2021
Dease's primary backups are pianist

Cyrus Chestnut
pianob.1963

Rufus Reid
bass, acousticb.1944

Gene Jackson
drums
Claudio Roditi
trumpet1946 - 2020

Mark Whitfield
guitarb.1966

Antonio Carlos Jobim
piano1927 - 1994

Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991

Roy Hargrove
trumpet1969 - 2018
Thankfully, Lee doesn't stuff Dease into a pigeon-hole.

Bix Beiderbecke
cornet1903 - 1931

McCoy Tyner
piano1938 - 2020

Eric Alexander
saxophone, tenorb.1968

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967

Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007
Chestnut's work on Grace is off the charts. As a primary foil for Dease, he couldn't be better, and his solos are beautifully constructed and beyond soulful. Cassity contributes both alto sax and alto flute to "Setembro," splashes more flute onto a meaty arrangement of

Randy Brecker
trumpetb.1945

Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
It's cool that JLP gives Hall of Fame jazzers a place to play. But Lee's decision to devote at least one release a year to an up-and-comer may be his best decision of allparticularly if all the newbies make something as great as Michael Dease's Grace.
Visit Michael Dease on the web.

Anima
Brooklyn Jazz Underground
2010
Connecting a disc's title to the spirit of music itself may sound resoundingly pompous, but

Mike Fahie
tromboneb.1976
"The Journey" opens the disc with a trip to the spiritual beginnings of music: Fahie's echoing in-the-clear solo symbolizes the first time some prehistoric man picked up a bone with holes in it and blew in one end just for fun. It's stark, it's spare, and it's a haunting attention-getter, particularly when Fahie starts to burble and hiss like some long-gone creature. His solo and accompanying music broadcast a Middle Eastern influence that tempers the piece's Western direction;

Bill McHenry
saxophone, tenor
Ben Monder
guitarb.1962

Billy Hart
drumsb.1940

Ben Street
bassFahie's writing, arranging and leadership talents possess the same outstanding quality that saturates his playing skills. The layered meditation "June with John" has a seemingly-simple premise: play a tune, remove one note per measure from 8 to 0, put all those measures back, and keep repeating the process. (Sounds easy? Try it while improvising; if it's half as good as "June," consider it a success). Fahie throws

Paul Simon
composer / conductorb.1941
Despite the quintet matrix and the extreme talents on offer, there's a sense that Anima has been stripped to the bare essentials, even as it offers maximum enjoyment. McHenry could have gone big on the bebopping "Village Greene," but he avoids the need for a "big" sound because of the adventurous choices he makes. Hart can (and does) go big whenever he wants, but it's his site-specific accent work on Anima that makes the biggest impression. As usual, Street and Monderor, as Fahie refers to them, "The Bens"are so dialed into each other, they are essentially one four-armed, ten-stringed instrument that brings robust shape and stunning texture to whatever they touch.
Jazz needs all the new experiences it can get. Mike Fahie goes one better: Anima gives the genre a taste of new lifenot a bad accomplishment on a debut.
Visit Mike Fahie on the web.
Tracks and Personnel
Grace
Tracks: Discussao; Blues on the Corner; In a Mist; I Talk to the Trees; Four; Tippin'; Setembro; 26-2; Toys; Love Dance; Grace; Salt Song.
Personnel: Michael Dease: trombone, valve trombone, tenor sax, soprano sax; Cyrus Chestnut: piano; Rufus Reid: bass; Gene Jackson: drums; Claudio Roditi: flugelhorn (1, 4, 7, 11); Roy Hargrove: flugelhorn (3, 5, 9), trumpet (6); Sharel Cassity: alto flute (4, 7, 9), alto sax (7); Roger Squitaro & Circle Rhythm: percussion (1, 4, 10, 12); Mark Whitfield: guitar (1, 10); Yotam, Tarik Zephraim: guitars (7, 12); Eric Alexander: tenor sax (2); Greg Gisbert: trumpet (4); Jeremy Miller: trombone (4); Robert Edwards: bass trombone (4); John Lee: acoustic fretless bass guitar (4); Bashiri Johnson: percussion & vocals (4)
Anima
Tracks: The Journey; Village Greene; Waltz for P.C.; An Axe to Grind; Cecelia; June with John; Work; Democracy; Seven Sisters.
Personnel: Mike Fahie: trombone; Bill McHenry: saxophone; Ben Monder: guitar; Ben Street: bass; Billy Hart: drums.
Tags
Multiple Reviews
J Hunter
United States
J.J. Johnson
Michael Dease
Sharel Cassity
John Lee
Slide Hampton
CYRUS CHESTNUT
Rufus Reid
Gene Jackson
Claudio Roditi
Mark Whitfield
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Miles Davis
Roy Hargrove
Bix Beiderbecke
McCoy Tyner
Eric Alexander
John Coltrane
oscar peterson
randy brecker
Herbie Hancock
Mike Fahie
Bill McHenry
Ben Monder
Billy Hart
Ben Street
Paul Simon
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