Chris Greene Quartet
Reviewed on this page:
On The Verge - Jazz - Soul And Science, Volume One - Soul And Science 2: Electric Boogaloo - Merge - Playtime
It may be fair to say I go way back with Chris Greene, though I've never met him: the Chicago-based sax player, band leader and composer has been sending me his work since the late 90s, when he was working mostly in a funk fusion vein and playing alto. Now he's on tenor or soprano, and his Quartet takes traditional jazz approaches to pop tunes, Latin jazz approaches to funk tunes, and especially subtly funky jazz approaches to subtly funky jazz tunes - the approach isn't too far from Wayne Shorter's contemporary quartet, though more grounded.
His influences include Steve Coleman,
Prince, John Coltrane and James Brown, and while I can't always hear that in his work, what Greene does himself is quite sufficient, both as a soloist and as a composer.
I even spun one of Greene's compositions ("(Yet Another) Lonely Saturday Night") at my wedding.
I'm not as crazy about the fact that he continually re-records his tunes: "Adamantium" is on four of the six discs I've reviewed, and the arrangements don't vary as much as, say, Mitchell's four released versions of "Woodstock."
Greene is big on social media in addition to his own site: I'm following him on Twitter, friending him on Facebook, seeing what he's reading on GoodReads, and I'm not even sure what else.
(DBW)
 On The Verge (Chris Greene/New Perspective: 1998)
New Perspective being Charles D. Bayne on keys, Kohki Ohno on bass and Ron Lambert on drums: they're quite adept at solid, retro funk grooves ("Mister Congeniality," recalling the Average White Band; "Bootsy"), but what's more impressive is Greene's writing: "(Yet Another) Lonely Saturday Night" is a masterful, memorable ballad.
And he sneaks in some snazzy tricks: "Core Of Vitality" is such a solid groove it's shocking to notice it's in 5/4 time, and he soars into Trane territory on the opening of "Dragonfly." However, there are a lot of midtempo funk tunes that are too laid-back to generate any heat ("Baby Fitch"), and most of Bayne and Greene's solos are likewise overly timid: they lack the bite, energy and restlessness that's all over the recordings of the leader's influences.
(DBW)
 Jazz (Chris Greene and New Perspective: 2004)
This time Greene is backed by Damian Espinosa (keys), Vic Jackson (bass) and Andrew "Blaze" Thomas (drums), and they seem
better suited to his laid-back approach to funk, spinning out slowly mutating, elastic grooves ("Take Care Of Yourself,"
which stretches to thirteen minutes without repetitive vamps or mind-numbingly long solos). Greene's soloing is also more
energetic, and Jackson ("Consider The Source," which upshifts from ballad midway through) and Espinosa
(Tyneresque acoustic piano on "Fat Stuff") also get their opportunities. The compositions are solid
even if nothing's quite as striking as "Lonely Saturday Night."
Two tunes are revived from On The Verge - "Adamantium" and "Core Of Vitality" - and though I'm surprised Greene
couldn't fill out his first record in six years with all-new material, both sound better this time around.
(DBW)
Soul And Science, Volume One (2007)
One original ("4.23") and four covers, two pop ("Boogie On Reggae Woman" and "King Of Pain") and two jazz (Ellington's "Caravan").
The Chris Greene Quartet - Espinosa, acoustic bassist Marc Piane (who co-produced) and drummer Tyrone Blair - is proficient in a wide range of styles from salsa to funk, and wants you to know it, but the continual improvisation puts a jazz stamp on whatever idiom they're taking on. At times when each one of them is playing what amounts to a simultaneous solo - somehow without losing the sense of a shared whole - they recall the Davis-Shorter-Hancock-Carter-Williams band, which is about as high praise as I can give. Through this process, they recompose the tunes so much they're unrecognizeable (which in the case of "King Of Pain" is highly welcome). At other times, though, the band is more ordinary: Tommy Turrentine's "Bonnie" sounds like a jazz ballad you could hear anywhere.
(DBW)
 Soul And Science 2: Electric Boogaloo (2008)
The album title of the year, so far, and it's also Greene's most enjoyable effort yet. The quartet is as cohesive as they were on Volume One, and the soloing is more striking, with Greene in particular pulling out strings of melody as if he were a magician tugging on one of those endless hankerchiefs.
When the band sticks close to traditional bop they're tough to beat ("Bernie's Tune"), but they also stretch out with electric piano-based fantasia (Dave Holland's "The Oracle")
and gear up for a low-down, greasy version of the Hank Williams tune "You Win Again."
If you've been following Greene, though, there's a lot of familiar material here:
Re-recording the funky "Adamantium" and the ballad "Take Care Of Yourself" is one thing, but I don't really see the point of re-covering "Boogie On Reggae Woman" ("Boogie 2.0"), especially when the approach is similar (after a brief P-Funk quote)
and Stevie has so many terrific overlooked tunes. Next time, how about "Smile Please," or "All Day Sucker," or "Just A Little Piece Of You"?
(DBW)
 Merge (2009)
As the title indicates, the different styles and forms the Quartet has tackled before are blended here. Basically, every dial is set to "Medium." If you're old, you may remember Michael Dukakis promising "good jobs at good wages." Well, these are middling tunes at middling tempos ("M. Tati"). It's all sort of funky ("Good Riddance"), sort of Latin ("In Confidence"), sort of soothing ("Coffee 'n' Scotch"), but never really enough of anything. I might not have a problem with that if the tunes were more memorable, but apart from "You'll Thank Me Later (For MJ)" they aren't notable. As usual, the Quartet's sound is coherent and confident, both on the ensemble passages and solos - Greene working up slowly and surely to a dramatic climax on "Out Of Nowhere"; Espinosa pulling out all the stops on "Confidence" - and I suspect Greene got exactly what he was going for here, though it's not floating my boat.
Following the previous album's pattern, there's one jazz standard (Billy Strayhorn's "Lotus Blossom") and one pop tune (Madonna's "Borderline").
(DBW)
Playtime (2010)
A live set Greene's giving away online; material draws from as far back as "Adamantium" through last year's "In Confidence." The performances are Opeth-length (four are over ten minutes, two over fifteen), but rather than wearing out the listener they become more enveloping as they go on. In fact, I might make my case now that modern jazz artists should forget about keeping the running times brief and instead try to get everything they can out of each tune, for the following reasons:
1) Downloads have largely removed the time limitations of LPs and CDs. 2) Writing great songs isn't easy, and it's easier to come up with four or five for an album rather than nine or twelve. 3) Anyone who listens to jazz these days is already breaking with the spectacle/instant gratification/short attention span approach to consuming culture, so they'll go along with very long tracks if the quality is there. Anyway, digression over. The energy never flags - particularly on the blistering setcloser "Caravan" - but never spills over into a chaotic free-for-all either, and Greene continues to develop as a soloist, pouring out melodic ideas as easily as you or I turn on the tap to fill the bathtub.
No new compositions, but the Quartet hadn't previously recorded "In A Sentimental Mood" or "Equinox" (which features a dynamite Espinosa solo).
(DBW)
Based On A True Story: Live At The Jazz Showcase (2010)
A DVD capturing a enjoyable live performance of the Quartet. We don't typically review DVDs, but I'll note that the set list is almost entirely different from Playtime, so if you download that one and like it, you'll want to try this.
(DBW)
You'll thank me later.
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