"Miles didn't really hire his boys. Miles just went out and got the people he thought would fit best together to create something new. I think it's easy to hire people that you're comfortable with: we know them, we know they can play, we'll know they'll get it done. But I tried to pick people who I'd played with but didn't necessarily know all that well, bring them together and see what kind of sound came up. And the rhythm section that came out of that is very unique." —Sean Jones
One of the best aspects of jazz—and the hardest nut to crack in music—is its propensity to supplant words with groove. Instrumental jazz is jazz every musician on that bandstand can get into and vibe off on, in solos and those famous back-and-forth conversational pieces.
To do instrumental jazz well is to understand and love the language of music, and convey that to the audience of listeners until they’re feeling it too.
Sean Jones does this to a supernatural degree in his latest CD offering, “No Need For Words,” his sixth Mack Avenue recording—released May 24, 2011. The Philly trumpet player who worked with Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as a lead for over five years and toured Europe with Marcus Miller, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock this past summer shows his innate gift for the universal languages of music and love on every track.
Inspired by the music he hears in his head and the expressions of love he hears from loved ones and strangers, Jones artfully and intuitively put together an album that spoke to listeners without saying a word. “It's definitely an emotional statement. I tried to make sure that the melodies I created and the vibe that I put on each particular tune really carried the message rather than having it expressed verbatim."
He also explored a wider range of interpretation than the typical, clichéd love story between a man and a woman. His songs touch on feelings of resentment and anger against a father, utter devotion and appreciation for a sacrificial mother, the hot, naked passion of lovers, and an animalistic hunger that ravages ruthlessly. "I didn't want to do your typical love songs record that just deals with one aspect of love," explained Jones. "Not just the love from a man to a woman or the positive emotional side of falling in love. I wanted to do an album that really dealt with a few different shades of love.”
Backed by a stupendous rhythm section Jones purposefully selected based purely on talent over just the familiarity and comfort zone of a clique, “No Need For Words” goes from big band brass (“Look And See”) to piano-and-bass-based intimate (“Obsession [Cloud Nine]”), to violent, but focused, interwoven horn dissonance (an outstanding theatrical statement in “Love’s Fury”).
Many of the main musicians on his current CD have been on previous CD recordings, about four altogether in five years. Back in 2006, Jones took inspiration from the late, great Miles Davis in bringing together a solid cast of characters required for an outstanding, organically fiery collective. "Miles [Davis] didn't really hire his boys. Miles just went out and got the people he thought would fit best together to create something new,” Jones detailed. “I think it's easy to hire people that you're comfortable with: we know them, we know they can play, we'll know they'll get it done. But I tried to pick people who I'd played with but didn't necessarily know all that well, bring them together and see what kind of sound came up. And the rhythm section [pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Luques Curtis, drummer Obed Calvaire] that came out of that is very unique."
Comments