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BEATLEJAZZ
A Bite Of The Apple (Zebra)
Another Bite Of The Apple (Zebra)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Mea culpa. Somehow, I let the release of last year's A Bite Of The Apple by Beatlejazz, the remarkable trio of Dave Kikoski (piano), Brian Melvin (drums) and Charles Fambrough (bass) completely escape my notice, which means I completely failed to call it to your notice. Happily, the release of the second installment in what I hope will be a long series of Beatlejazz releases gives me the perfect opportunity to make amends.
Kikoski, Melvin and Fambrough first came together in the late 1980's as the house rhythm section at New York City's Blue Note nightclub. Each of the three has impeccable and impressive credentials, from Fambrough's tenure with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers to Kikoski's ongoing relationship with the Brecker Brothers to Melvin's work with Jaco Pastorius. Those are just hints, actually, that barely scratch the surface of the experience the Beatlejazz trio bring to the table.
Melvin had been working arrangements of Beatle songs into his sets for years, and knew that Kikoski shared his love for the music of the Liverpool quartet. When they finally joined up to begin this project in 1999, the choice for bassist was obvious to both of them. Reunited, they set out to explore the songbooks of Lennon/McCartney, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as the source for a new set of standards, much as their bebop predecessors had mined the popular songs of earlier decades for songs which have become foundation stones in the architecture of jazz.
That exploration struck a motherlode on the first Beatlejazz release, A Bite Of The Apple, and the vein is just as rich on the new album. In fact, they've only explored 20 songs from among the hundreds released by the Beatles as a group or in their various solo incarnations. The choices they've made for these collections are excellent, if not always obvious, but there are dozens of others I would love to hear them tackle. Of course, there is a commercial consideration. If we're going to get Beatlejazz III, it wouldn't hurt a bit if you popped the first two into your shopping cart. It wouldn't hurt your CD collection a bit either, because these are two of the best jazz albums on the shelves today.
Track Lists:
A Bite Of The Apple: Junk * Come Together * It's Only Love * If I Fell * Eleanor Rigby * I Am The Walrus * Within You/Without You * Mother Nature's Son
Another Bite Of The Apple: I'll Follow The Sun * Here, There And Everywhere * Let It Be * Give Me Love * Michelle * Magical Mystery Tour * It Won't Be Long * Blackbird * Julia * Blue Jay Way * Tomorrow Never Knows
© 2001 - Shaun Dale