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Adams-Griffin Project: Choices |
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New Orleans
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Wednesday, 18 January 2006 18:34 |
Adams-Griffin Project
Choices
Sound of New Orleans Records
By John Sinclair
The sound of music is everywhere in New Orleans. It provides a central focus for the city's vitally unique culture in a way that was once common to the African-American sections of all major U.S. cities but has long since passed from the scene.
Only here does the music remain alive in the fullest sense, throbbing at the core of everyday life and furnishing a pulsating soundtrack for the productive activities of its citizenry. There's music in the streets, music at the marketplace, music in myriad bars and taverns all over town, music to be heard in some way virtually 24 hours a day.
Yet the living music of New Orleans remains largely unknown outside this town. The few Crescent City musicians who are familiar to a national listening audience--the Fats Dominos, the Dr. Johns, the Wynton and Branford Marsalises, the Neville Brothers, the Dirty Dozens--constitute merely the tiniest tip of the vast iceberg of idiosyncratic sound that abounds in the New Orleans of today.
Discerning listeners may be aware of the great continuing work of New Orleans musical legends like Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Earl King, Snooks Eaglin, Eddie Bo, Tommy Ridgley, Walter 'Wolfman' Washington, Chuck Carbo, Deacon John, Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill, Roland Stone, Dave Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint, the Funky Meters and many others.
But you're still just scraping the musical surface. There's a burgeoning jazz movement that's produced a new generation of roaring young lions like Nicholas Payton, Marlon Jordan, Greg Tardy, Victor Goines, Brian Blades, Peter Martin, Steve Masakowski, Tony Dagradi, and a host of others, plus modern jazz veterans like Ellis Marsalis, Germaine Bazzle, Edward Frank, Harold Battiste, Alvin Batiste, Earl Turbinton, Fred Kemp, Clyde Kerr and their contemporaries.
There's a thriving contemporary brass band scene which is slowly being documented by this record label and others, led by the Treme Brass Band, the High Steppers, the Soul Rebels/Young Olympians, the Original Pinstripes, and the internationally known Re-Birth Brass Band, plus more traditional outfits like Dejan's Olympia Brass Band, the Algiers Brass Band, and the Young Tuxedo Brass Band.
And there's a steadily rising tide of fantastic gospel music performers like the Zion Harmonizers, the Heavenly Stars, the First Revolution Singers, the Friendly Travelers, John Lee & The Heralds of Christ.
Those even more closely attuned to the sounds of New Orleans may be up on the unfolding careers of rising stars like Marva Wright, George Porter Jr, Davell Crawford, Jon Cleary, Lillian and John Boutte, Kermit Ruffins, Derek Shezbie, James Andrews, Michael Ray, John Mooney, Jamil Sharif, Charmaine Neville, Willie Lockett & the Blues Krewe, Lenny McDaniel, Leigh 'Li'l Queenie' Harris, Coco Robicheaux, Irene & The Mikes, Sunpie Barnes, Samirah Evans, Paula Rangell, Rockin' Jake, J. Monque'D and the rest of the 'younger' set.
But we're still talking about singers, bandleaders and featured artists whose names headline records and marquees. Looking a little further beneath the surface of things you start to turn up the scores of sidemen whose contributions to the music of their employers are not only exactly what is required for its realization but also add an extra dimension of intelligence and creative spirit.
Drummers like Johnny Vidacovich, Herman Ernest, Kerry Brown, Shannon Powell, and the great Smokey Johnson; bassists like Walter Payton and Jimmy Singleton; guitarists like Clarence Hollimon, Kenny Holliday, Jack Cole, Cranston Clements, and Anders Osborn; hornmen like Leroy Jones, Charles Elam, Amadee Castenello, Snakebite Jacobs, and Tracy Griffin; keyboard players like David Torkanowsky, Sammy Berfect, and Marc Adams--these men bring something considerably more than their instruments and a high level of craftsmanship to their regular gigs.
New Orleans' leading sidemen rank with the leaders they work with because so often they are themselves simply stars in the making, creative musicians and composers who make a living by playing for others while they develop their own concepts to the point where they're ready to put them into action. They brighten the sound of their bandleaders in the meantime and utilize the additional playing experience to enhance their own musical conceptions.
I've said all this to place the premiere recording of the Adams-Griffin Project in proper perspective. Marc Adams and Tracy Griffin are outstanding sidemen with Marva Wright and George Porter Jr, respectively--two seasoned players in their 30s who are ready to leave relative obscurity behind and step into the limelight as performing and recording artists in their own right.
Keyboardist Marc Adams, a native of Davison, Michigan (this writer's home town, as it happens), has deep family roots in New Orleans and has resided here since the mid- 70s. A regular at Bourbon Street's Absinthe Bar by virtue of long stints with Bryan Lee and his own band, Adams has worked with Marva Wright for some time now and was prominently featured on the singer's excellent Born with the Blues album, produced by Carlo Ditta for the French label Sky Ranch last year.
Trumpet man Tracy Griffin grew up in New Orleans, graduated from St. Augustine High School and Xavier University, and is an accomplished composer, arranger and player in several idioms. Griffin is a member of George Porter's Runnin' Pardners; his trumpet, vocals and arrangements are featured on Porter's latest release, Things Ain't What They Used To Be (Transvideo).
This first product of their musical partnership, Choices, offers a full program of impeccably arranged original music, beautifully performed and powerfully sung by the principals and their superb supporting cast.
Marc Adams' gruff, soulful vocals are up front on the rocking title track, the infectious "Better Get Some," the macho anthems "Heat Seeking Missile" and "Port in the Storm," a could-be pop hit called "Talkin' 'Bout Love," and the sensitive ballad workout titled "All Over Now."
Tracy Griffin sings lead on "Pain in My Heart" and contributes some dynamite trumpet solos throughout, leading the way on the instrumental tunes "Emerald Dawn," "Tenacious," "Backlash," and the quintessentially funky ditty called "Indignatin' Altercation."
Their sidemen shine as well, with ebullient tenor sax solos from Ward Smith ("Missile," "Talkin' Bout Love," and "Backlash"), Runnin' Pardner Lance Ellis ("Can't Stop This Heartache"), and Irma Thomas' musical director, the mighty Charles Chuckie Elam, who also adds his acid alto saxophone sound to the proceedings.
Guitarist Anthony Brown is a tower of musical power for most of the program, replaced by Runnin' Pardner Brint Anderson on "Tenacious" and guitar slinger Jack Cole on "Choices" and "Pain in My Heart." Bassist Jim Markway and drummer Allyn Robinson provide a firm, deliciously funky bottom line, spelled by George Porter and Russell Batiste on "Tenacious." Batiste is also much in evidence on "Altercation," and percussionist Ali Abdin Jr adds his tasty touch to "Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Backlash."
Griffin furnished the super-fine horn arrangments, and Ms. Marva Wright makes a very welcome guest appearance on the extremely soulful ballad, "Can't Stop This Heartache," backed by the warm vocal tones of Tara Darnell, Earl J. Smith Jr. and Chuckie Elam.
Produced by Adams and Griffin, the album was brought into its nice, tight, smooth focus when the inestimable George Porter Jr. sat down at the controls and produced the final mix. "Man, he saved the whole project when he did that," Adams and Griffin exclaim almost in unison.
There are the facts, dear friends, but the joy lies ahead for you when you slip this disc on the turntable and give it a few spins. This is modern New Orleans music at its finest, rooted in the tradition but as fresh and funky as tomorrow. Take a tip from Marc Adams and Tracy Griffin:
"Better get some love down in your soul Time to let your emotions take control."
--New Orleans
June 1994
(c) 1994, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
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