What’s newでスタイグのフルートにほれ込み、エディー・ゴメスとのデュオを聴きたいという願いをOutlawsでかなえ、デュオをもっと聴きたいという願いさえJamでかなえた。さて次の望は何だ。ジェレミー・スタイグとエディー・ゴメスのデュオという方向は定まったのだから、次の一歩を聴いてみたい。つまりデュオの拡大だ。ベースとフルートのデュオを核とする以上、彼らの音を妨げるようなピアノはさしあたり不要だろう。加えるなら打楽器だ。やや順番が前後してしまうのだが、Outlawsが1976年録音なのに対してHowlin’ for Judyは1970年。OutlawsやJamでは、二人しかいないという人数の少なさのおかげで、スタイグの息遣いやベースの絃の震えまで聞こえたが、ここではスタイグが音空間を占拠しており、エディー・ゴメスのベースもドン・アライアスのパーカッションもよく聞こえない。ボクが期待していた音楽とは違っていたが、これもまたジェレミー・スタイグの世界の一面だ。音空間を占拠した太い音はジャズ・ロックに親和性を持っているように思える。実際、フルートのリフレインはロックのビートを刻み、マリファナの煙が立ちこめたような幻覚的な雰囲気を醸し出す。こういう音楽は少し苦手かも。今回ばかりはNardisの馴染みのメロディーに救われた。次はジェレミー・スタイグの初期ジャズ・ロック作品Jeremy & the Satyrsを聴いてみよう。
I have first heard Jeremy Steig on Bill Evans cd, a compilation that contained compositions from different performances. This one with Steig was quire remarkable. I have relized that I have found nearly the first jazz flute player that I did like so much, a great jazz improviser extracting the maximum from the instrument he plays. Steig sometimes resembled me Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, though Steig has begun earlier, so the influence should have been in the opposite. In fact, I have found Steig going deeper. This particular cd recorded in 1970 has 7 wonderful compositions with Eddie Gomez on bass and Don Alias on drums. The recording quality is quite good with deep nice base.
Jeremy Steig on flutes and alto piccolo, Eddie Gomez on bass and Don Alias on drums and percussion. This February 1970 set, headed by 'that tune' sampled by Beastie Boys on their 'Sure Shot' ('Howlin' For Judy'), meanders along in the manner only albums recorded at the time could do; unintentional breakbeats which somewhat self-consciously dissolve into free tone poems and back again, the novel (at the time) idea of overdubbing competing solos on top of each other (Two simultaneous flutes in a no-holds-barred flute-off? Ouch!) and all framed within some vague notions of joy, oneness and love and peace between all men.
The hiphoppers will be flummoxed by the jazz:pilferable beats ratio. If you ever wondered, the rest of 'Howlin'' is exactly the same as the Beasties sample, but just gets faster and headache-inducing. The jazzers will know what to expect of 70's Bluenote (ie: not much). And they'd be right; Steig's reading of Miles' 'Nardis' aside, tempos and motifs remain fairly contained.
All said, it's a fair to mediocre session that begs out for a fourth instrumental voice as though it was one of those guys you get on the night trains out of London who 'just need £8 to get into a hostel' (FWIW, I'd have had Bobby Hutcherson or Andrew Hill as my fourth man, too late now though). The trio, tight as it is and even with the overdubs, is really held back in this respect. The 'Rare Groove Series' is a bizarrely out of fashion line for Mr Cuscuna to inject new life into. The recent Gene Harris re-issues were welcome, if 9 years too late. Personally, I'd appreciate less of this badly aged stuff from the arse end of Bluenote and more of the overlooked/rarely re-issued stuff from the early 60's instead, considering both are as unhip as each other in today's clubland
In this compilation of the two albums left on lp: 'Legwork' and 'Wayfaring Stranger', we can appreciate the strength and dynamism of this extraordinary flutist that marked a milestone in how to interpret the flute. He is owner of a technique very peculiar in the flute based on "loud snort" (resoplido). Great improvisador and already covertido in a legendary flautist, Steig shows 7 themes with his inseparable friends Eddie Gomez on bass and Don Alias on the drums. An extraordinary trio. Wonderful interpretation of the themes 'Mint Tea" y "Nardis".
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