For his fourth Palmetto CD,
Matt Wilson sends his regular quartet on a brief vacation and recruits
Terell Stafford on trumpet,
Larry Goldings on piano (not organ), and Dennis Irwin on bass. Previous efforts with
the Matt Wilson Quartet and with
Dewey Redman have gained
Wilson a left-of-center reputation, but on
Arts and Crafts the drummer confounds expectations altogether. He begins with
Rahsaan Roland Kirk's "Stompin' Grounds," a no-frills ride through "Stompin' at the Savoy" changes. Two tracks later, the band runs down
Bud Powell's "Webb City," packing an enormous punch without exceeding four minutes. But just when it seems this might be a bebop record, the band puts a boogaloo spin on
Ornette Coleman's "Old Gospel" and throws yet more curves on
Wilson's three adventurous originals. "Lester," written in honor of the late
Lester Bowie, develops into a slow shuffle blues; "Final Answer," a diatonic free bop theme, features
Goldings challenging the ears with some bracingly "outside" playing; and the title track, a slow groove, again finds
Goldings reaching in subtle but marked contrast to the superb bop playing he does elsewhere on the disc. (Indeed,
Goldings' presence is one of the album's biggest draws, not least because his outings on acoustic piano are so rare.) Back in straight-ahead mode, the group offers
George Gershwin's "Love Walked In," Hal Hopper's "There's No You," and
Nelson Cavaquinho's bossa classic "Beija-Flor." The disc wraps up with a soothing, simple arrangement of the folk melody "All Through the Night." On balance, this could be considered
Wilson's most straight-ahead record yet, but it's clearly not
Wilson's intention to fit neatly into any category. If anything, with
Arts and Crafts he seems to insist, quite eloquently, that musicians need not declare allegiance to any of jazz's warring camps. ~ David R. Adler