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MICHAEL WOLFF
Impure Thoughts (Indianola)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
The best thing that could happen to Michael Wolff would be that most of the people will have long forgotten that he was once Arsenio Hall's bandleader and just pick his CD up in the store and ask for the headphones for a test drive. Any serious jazz fan, at least any fan of post-bop, is going to be intrigued by the first minute and sold by the second. Wolff, a pianist of no small talent, leads his band through a multitude of genres and in doing so leads the listener -- you if you're lucky -- through a wonderful world of cultures and places, from the darkest depths of Africa to the markets of Bombay.
Saxophonist Alex Foster bides his time within various frameworks throughout, playing passages any decent jazz player could play, fooling you in the same way Bobby Hayes used to fool a defensive back on an out pattern. No problem, you got 'im, you got 'im, and then in a flurry of chaos he's gone. The control he exhibits is really surprising. I've rarely heard anyone explode and pull it together in such short spaces as he can, nor as often. He makes it seem effortless. Badal Roy (tablas), Frank Colon (Percussion), Cafe De Silval (percussion) and Victor Jones (drums) add such a richness and ethnic authenticity to each piece, often carrying the framework for what it is that makes it an African piece, or an Indian piece, or an American piece. To the latter list we include a very strange, dreamy cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin," nearly unrecognizable at first outside of a nagging feeling that you know this song, but as the song builds in intensity and speed it becomes obvious.
The glue is bassist John B. Williams, who switches off on acoustic and electric upright basses and holds everything together throughout. Michael Wolff's history with the Arsenio Hall show shouldn't brand him or stop you from listening with open ears. Open them wide and allow yourself to forget that gig and I promise you this: Impure Thoughts will surprise you and move you, please and perhaps even open a new door for you, depending on your current tolerances for jazz. Soft and beautiful without being "smooth jazz," exotic without resorting to cliche, it's simply one of the most satisfying jazz releases of the year thus far.
© 2001 - DJ Johnson