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Dave Sewelson: Smooth FreeJazz

By Mark Corroto
December 9, 2021
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If you're a lover of adventurous music, you've certainly had the following experience. You take a seat in a coffee house or even worse in your dentist's chair and out of the speakers flows (stifle your tears) smooth jazz. You might welcome the

John Cage

composer / conductor
1912 - 1992

" data-original-title="" title="">John Cage—ian sound of the espresso frothier or the Merzbow noise of the dentist's drill to liberate your ears from the banal music. Never fear, to the rescue comes

Dave Sewelson

saxophone, baritone

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Sewelson and his Smooth FreeJazz

For the saxophonist and founding member of the infamous Microscopic Septet, longtime horn with

William Parker

bass
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">William Parker's Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, and the

Captain Beefheart

vocals
1941 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Captain Beefheart cover band Fast 'N' Bulbous, the title is not an oxymoron. With Smooth FreeJazz, he vaccinates Yanni with an avant-garde virus and rebuilds

Kenny G

saxophone, soprano
b.1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny G into a free jazz OG. His rapscallion demeanor is on full display here. Opening with a nearly twenty minute version of "Nature Boy,"a hit for

Nat King Cole

piano and vocals
1919 - 1965

" data-original-title="" title="">Nat King Cole in the 1940s, and which has been covered by

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane and

George Benson

guitar
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">George Benson, the music has the pulse of Booker T. & The MG's "Green Onions" which persists throughout. It' is only that Sewelson's baritone saxophone and growling vocals roguishly capsize the commonplace with his honk, wail and moan. The steady groove from fellow Micros bassist

Dave Hofstra

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Hofstra, drummer Bernice "Boom Boom" Brooks, and lap steel guitarist

Mike Neer

guitar, steel

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Neer persists throughout, but it's Sewelson and the blues-drenched guitar of Neer who frees the the smooth from its confines. The remaining three songs are Sewelson originals. The saccharine pulse of "Song Moth" and "The Moment" both get stretched by notes blown from upper registers, and the reggae sounds of "Bill" are flavored by an inebriated walking horn and some sly lap steel guitar.

The quartet reprises "Nature Boy" with a radio friendly three minute version, made especially for your hipper dentists.

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Track Listing

Nature Boy; Song Moth; The Moment; Bill; Nature Boy (Radio Version).

Personnel

Dave Sewelson

saxophone, baritone

Mike Neer

guitar, steel

Dave Hofstra

bass

Bernice Brooks

drums

Album information

Title: Smooth FreeJazz | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Mahakala Music

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