Ned Goold Trio - THE FLOWS (smalls)

[JSngry]

Well, I do, and Goold is nothing if not that.

Ned Goold is a new name to me, but I find that he's been recording since the late 90s, and that his "straight" gig is as MD w/Harry Connick, Jr. In fact, this album is made up of performances culled from a Connick tour that Goold's trio (Ben Wolfe - b, Ron Steen -d) served as the opening act for, which speaks highly of Connick's faith in his audience, because this music is as unpredictable as Connick's is cliched.

The obvious comparison is with mid-50s Sonny Rollins - pianoless trio, bright tempos (mostly), full swing, and improvisations that leave plenty of room for full trio interactivity. But a closer listen reveals a tone indebted to Charlie Rouse (and Steen's Frankie Dunlop-ish drumming really brings this out), a love of the angular phrase not dissimilar to Benny Wallace, a better-than-normal understanding of the cross-rhythms employed by Sonny Rollins in the 1960s, a harmonic rhythm akin to Lockjaw Davis' more lunatic moments, and a compositional sensibility that shows more than a little familiarity with the inner workings of Monk's more difficult pieces.

If that sounds like a complicated and heady stew, well, yeah - it is. And I'm not sure that Goold's dish is ready to be served to the full room yet - I think the ingredients can, and eventually will, blend into a unique and unified whole. But like I said, the ingredients in the recipie that Goold is working on are not ones that you can just "heat and serve". This guy's onto something different, something that if and when it ever comes together is going to be REALLY interesting. Consider this a taste from the pot, a reward for (and from) hanging out in the kitchen.

This album is a very tantalizing view of a "work in progress", I think. It will be much to the liking of people in this forum who like their music "inside" but with a twist or two(thousand ), I should think. I have no idea what Goold's previous recordings sound like, or to what extent, if any, his gig w/Connick is effecting/will effect/has effected his "jazz seasoning" in terms of the life experience that the best players inevitably bring directly into their music. But no matter - what's here NOW is more than a little interesting, and I hear more interesting things with every listen.

Time alone will tell if Goold goes on to put it all together and come out with the total mindfuck of a style that he so copiously hints at here. But even if he never does, this album is enough to make me keep an ear open for his future work, as well as being a quite satisfying listen entirely on it's own terms.

Check it out!

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nedgoold

Edited June 18, 2004 by JSngry

[jlhoots]

So should I buy it?

$11 (I'm a subscriber) from Cadence.

Plus shipping of course, another $1 or so depending how many CDs I buy.

[JSngry]

You might want to, especially at that price!

[Keita]

Goold will perform in Toronto in July. See this site:

www.QuintetSperandeiEnsemble.com

[Larry Kart]

The guy Goold reminds me of most is vintage JR Monterose. (BTW, contrary to many sources, Monterose's first name is JR, not J.R. -- JR stands for "Junior," his given name is Frank Anthony Monterose Jr.)

I don't know whether Goold has ever listened to a note of Monterose, let alone been directly influenced by him, but the writing of Goold's frequent musical partner bassist Ben Wolfe on the two albums of his own that I've heard, both featuring Goold, is eerily reminsicent of the sound and feel of several recordings -- on Bethlehem with Oscar Pettiford and other leaders, on EmArcy with various leaders and typically charts by Quincy Jones, plus other recordings that don't come to mind right now -- that emerged from an apparently shortlived mid-1950s NYC pre-hard bop scene. The music was at once neat and kind of "progressive" but ballsier than most corresponding West Coast fare of the time, and JR seems to have been related to that scene for a while (there is, or was, a CD of the Bethlehem sessions JR appeared on). Whatever, when framed by Wolfe's charts, an aspect of Goold seems to me to be revealed or at least showcased. On the other hand, being old enough to have lived through this music the first time through, its semi-recurrence these days (even if the similarities I hear are accidental or an utter mirage) gives me a queasy feeling.

[BbM7]

Funny you should mention it. This has been in my car CD player all week. That's a rather long residence by my standards. I'd picked this up at Downtown Music Gallery back in January, but didn't have access to a CD player until recently.

It's grown on me quite a bit, especially the standards which are so artfully and refreshingly de- and re-constructed.

Goold's approach - short, often repeated phrases - took me a while to warm to. He's not, for the most part, a guy who builds long, flowing, melodic lines. He pokes and jabs.

I like the trio format in general and it works here, with a fairly open feel. (I'm not sure Goold's approach would work as well for me with a larger group, though a spare/minimalist pianist who knows how to step out of the way, might be a complement.

[lkaven]

The guy Goold reminds me of most is vintage JR Monterose. [...]

I don't know whether Goold has ever listened to a note of Monterose, let alone been directly influenced by him, but the writing of Goold's frequent musical partner bassist Ben Wolfe on the two albums of his own that I've heard, both featuring Goold, is eerily reminsicent of the sound and feel of several recordings -- on Bethlehem with Oscar Pettiford and other leaders, on EmArcy with various leaders and typically charts by Quincy Jones, plus other recordings that don't come to mind right now -- that emerged from an apparently shortlived mid-1950s NYC pre-hard bop scene. The music was at once neat and kind of "progressive" but ballsier than most corresponding West Coast fare of the time, and JR seems to have been related to that scene for a while (there is, or was, a CD of the Bethlehem sessions JR appeared on). [...]

Those early outings with Ben Wolfe have an identifiable (and avowed) influence in a quite adventuresome record of Paul Chambers called "First Bass Man", which features Yusef Lateef, PC, and Lex Humphries along with Tommy Turrentine. Ben and all of usl knew Tommy in his last few years. Tommy tells us he was a last minute sub. Anyway, these tunes are some of the most beautiful and dark sounds, and Yusef knows some heavy stuff by now which he refined later on with the help of Dr. Roland Wiggins. I recomment this record very highly to anyone.

As for Ned, he will try to give the coordinates of his style by triangulating between Bix, Bird, and James Brown. Technically, it is his system that underlies his playing. From three notes-the root, the minor third, and the fourth, through a series of transformations, he derives an entire tonal system that he is able to superimpose on top of functional harmony, and thus, the entire array of standards. He will screw with it though, and have the bassist (Neal Caine, also on my label) run retrograde cycles while he runs a progression.

Luke

[lkaven]

Funny you should mention it.  This has been in my car CD player all week.  That's a rather long residence by my standards.  I'd picked this up at Downtown Music Gallery back in January, but didn't have access to a CD player until recently. 

It's grown on me quite a bit, especially the standards which are so artfully and refreshingly de- and re-constructed. 

Goold's approach - short, often repeated phrases - took me a while to warm to.  He's not, for the most part, a guy who builds long, flowing, melodic lines.  He pokes and jabs.

I like the trio format in general and it works here, with a fairly open feel.  (I'm not sure Goold's approach would work as well for me with a larger group, though a spare/minimalist pianist who knows how to step out of the way, might be a complement.

I agree that Ned's music has to work itself in, and the listener has to have a certain Gestalt to receive it. To some people, it sounds like he's playing Epistrophy again and again. But when you hear the counterpoint between him and the bass, it is something else and much more artful. I put out The Flows because it involved a huge amount of material edited down to one CD, and it is really his prime material. All those tracks have something to offer over a long term.

These days, he's been playing early at Smalls every Saturday (8pm). The last two weeks he added Sacha Perry on piano, and the results were actually very interesting. Sacha is a master of chromatic harmony, and he actually doesn't play spare in this context, but it (somewhat surprisingly) works out to be a very nice, dark, mix.

Luke

[Gary]

I'm going to have to buy THE FLOWS , I've just heard this amazing CD today which includes Ned Goold

neal caine

backstabber's ball

Neal Caine (bass), Ned Goold (tenor sax), Stephen Riley (tenor sax, alto clarinet), Jason Marsalis (drums)

Some really great playing by all involved & will certainly be in for some heavy rotation in the Gary household.

Edited September 14, 2005 by Gary

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah, it's a really, really fine disc. I just did a little feature on the label for Coda (in the Sept issue)--caught Neal & Ned while they were in town & interviewed them a little & so the piece has a brief snippet from the interview.

[lkaven]

Yeah, it's a really, really fine disc.  I just did a little feature on the label for Coda (in the Sept issue)--caught Neal & Ned while they were in town & interviewed them a little & so the piece has a brief snippet from the interview.

←

Since last I was here, I arranged to take Ned Goold's latest group with Sacha Perry and Neal Caine (and Charles Goold Jr!) into the studio to make a record. The chemistry in that group is remarkable, and everybody is getting into something interesting with it. I'll write more later in October after the recording.

Luke