Matthew Brubeck & David Widelock - Really ! - CD jp 1030

Matthew Brubeck cello
David Widelock electric guitar and
acoustic 12-string guitar

Titles: Boogie Bored, You don't Know What Love is, Bigfoot, Really, Airwaves, Psyche's Springs

MATTHEW BRUBECK & DAVID WIDELOCK, Really !
If cello and guitar (electric- and acoustic 12-string) do not seem like the makings of a jazz combo, Brubeck (the son of jazz legend Dave) and Widelock (active with the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra) argue convincingly otherwise. While "You Don't Kno What Love Is" (the only jazz standard) and the delicate "Airwaves" have a distinct chamber feel, other pieces justapose atmospheric and classical textures against sharp blues rhythms and jagged timbral edges - suitable for framing against the backdrop of Oregon and Turtle Island (East Bay Guardian)

....mit Matthew Brubeck, dem Sohn des bekannten Jazz-Musikers Dave Brubeck, und David Widelock war hier ein ganz besonderer Leckerbissen geboten. In der ungewöhnlichen Besetzung Gitarre (Widelock) und Cello (Brubeck) spielten die beiden technisch perfekten kammermusikalischen Fusion-Jazz für einen kleinen Kreis von echten Liebhabern. Matthew Brubeck setzt sein Cello ebenso als gezupften Bass ein wie auch gestrichen, ähnlich der Jazz-Violine. Ein Virtuose ist auch David Widelock an der sechs- und zwölfsaiten Gitarre. Einflüsse aus Blues und lateinamerikanischer Musik prägen die Musik der beiden mit. (Pirmasenser Zeitung)

At the entrance to the studio, two young guys stand with instrument cases: a 'cello and two guitars. Perhaps we should wait for the others to arrive before we get started? "No. This is it" comes the response". We get a pretty full sound. "There is a moment's embarrassed silence, and I note the bumper sticker on the 'cello case that states, "Live is short but I'm not".
Meet Matthew Brubeck. A shy and off-hand manner doesn't seem possible for this fella when you hear his intense solos played in violin range to packed audiences at Tom Waits' concerts. There is absolutely nothing shy about Matt's playing. Born into a musical family, he has found his own way, constructing his own style. Rather than following in the footsteps of his Dad (Dave Brubeck), he is definitely making his own tracks.
David Widelock, at least, doesn't look down on the tops of our heads. He's the eyelevel one: intense, serious, careful. We can tell immediately that he's only going to be happy today when he's playing. Later comes the smile. David is currently writing new works for the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra. So now he's gone from two person writing to 20.
David and Matt have performed in the San Francisco Bay Area now for some time. It was time for an album of their music. What you hear in this first sojourn was recorded in a single day's work This isn't an album of multipe takes and careful editing to "get it right". What you hear is what they play with no nets.The music in Really is an equal venture. Accompaniment is a solo which simply makes a place for another soloist. Back-up harmonies are a chord solo with a friend. And, above all, the right rhythmic sense has to be created when there in fact is no rhythm section. David says that the process is a bit like trying to ride a bicycle for the first time. "You get your sea legs, you know, and off you go". In a duo of this type, the rhythmic drive succeeds when the actual rhythms are implied - less is more.
There is something new in the world of contemporary Jazz. We have passed fusion and "new age" here. Perhaps now we have "infusion". Infused in this music is an organic combination of blues, classical style, bebop, and fusion, each used at the right time. These are personal ways of setting a melody, conscious of where Jazz has been, and where their music is going.
Boogie Bored (Matthew Brubeck) Matt's boogie/shuffle saunters through it's opening with solo 'cello leaps and strong rhythmic accompaiment. There are interchanging solos all the way through, with a strong implied beat- and reflective answer. You Don't Know What Love is (Raye/De Paul) The only standard on the album, this arrangement presents another world from the well-known cuts found on Miles' "Walkin" album or Sonny Rollins "Saxophone Colossus". Their way: the tune is played by solo 'cello, with care, and more than a little personal involvement. David plays the center bridge with a pizzicato accompaniment. The melody returns with 'cello, and an improvisation comprised of double-stops and bluesy runs follows.
Tempo picks up, and there is a build over these clear and straightforward
changes. Scalar guitar passages are alternated with chordsolo phrase ends. The 'cello is both a walking bass, as well as a strummed accompaniment here. There is more than a touch of blues in the extended guitar solo. Back to a beautiful tenor range solo with gitar chords "squeezed out" to a quiet ending. Big Foot (David Widelock) Chords played together with a sense of space. There are series of bluesy gestures and a rhythmic build to a guitar solo using octaves - keeping a faster blues rhythm and feel going. An ending melodic tag makes way for a pizzicato 'cellosolo over a walking bass feel. "Big Foot" has a lyrical moody quality to it.

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