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Darius Jones "Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing)"


sonnymax

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A search of the board failed to reveal any mention of the debut by 31-year-old altoist Darius Jones on the AUM Fidelity label. Admittedly, the artwork accompanying this recording is horrendous (that kind of urban art doesn't speak to this middle-aged white guy from Newport). The music, however, is a different story. I'm not as good as others here at describing a musician's style, but to my ears there's sweetness to his balladry, a swagger in his mid-tempo excursions, and an Ayler-esque cry to his most passionate expressions of self. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have two incredibly talented veterans to spur you on, namely Cooper-Moore on piano and the "diddley-bo", and Rakalam Bob Moses on the drums. There's a "hidden" bonus at the end of the CD, a live track featuring Jones with Adam Lane and Jason Nazary. As good as it is, I would have left this selection off, because it's more mainstream sound doesn't really fit with the rest of the album.

Check out the audio clips at emusic or amazon and let me know what you think.

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I told ya it was ugly. ^_^

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  • 2 years later...

Getting to this one now and liking it a good bit. A lot of the "new" jazz today doesn't really grab me because a lot of it seems kinda "been there done that" to me personally, and this guy could fall into that vibe. But his energy strikes me the right way (whatever that means), there's a deep enough personal voice that the vocabulary gets shaded into the personal, and that's all I'm looking for really. That and some skills, which he's also got.

Not at all bothered by the cover either. It just looks like a isolated portion of an old Pedro Bell Funkadelic cover or something. Can't get enough Pedro Bell!

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What I really liked about his playing was that nothing sounded careless in terms of pitch and fingers. I've really, really come to dislike bluffing in that regard, and it's really easy to bluff in that regard on saxophone, especially on alto. And sometimes strength of identity gets it over, for a little while, anyway. But this guy, everything I heard sounded fully intentional. AND it had identity. Win-win afaic.

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His two subsequent recordings (with artwork by the same artist) are also quite good. I had the opportunity to hear the quartet with Matt Mitchell, Sean Conly and Ches Smith last May at Firehouse 12 in New Haven. One of my favorite live performances of the year. I am a fan!

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Back when he lived in Richmond, he was in a trio with my brother called CUD. Scott Clark was the drummer. I remember hearing them at Tropical Soul one night, amazed that the room was completely packed to hear a free jazz trio. It was an odd venue for this type of music, but people were all in. Folks from all walks of life!

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  • 8 years later...

He has been fairly active over the years. I have grown into a big fan over the years and have had the pleasure of hearing him live at least five times, including once when I brought him to Hartford for a show. Love his group Shades of Black with Sam Newsome, Cooper-Moore on organ and Chad Taylor on drums. It is kind of a Sun Ra meets Larry Young organ quartet. I had a conversation one of the last times I saw him about the lack of recent recordings. I got the sense that he just had not been ready to record anything yet and he was working some musical things out. Anyway, I believe he has a recording on Giant Step Arts that will be coming out hopefully some time this year.

Edited by relyles
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36 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Anyone listened to 'The Oversoul Manual' written for voices only. I was quite taken by it initially but haven't returned to it.

Count me as a fan of the cover artwork on his albums too

Listening to 'Oversoul...' now. It's certainly an interesting departure and holds my attention, intriguing.

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