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Charles Tolliver Big Band
With Love
(Blue Note/Mosaic)
First Appeared in The Music Box, July 2007, Volume 14, #7
Written by John Metzger
Charles Tolliver has been out of sight and out of mind for the better part of
30 years, but after relaunching his Big Band to perform a series of concerts in
2003, he now has turned his attention to restoring his legacy as a composer and
arranger. His opening salvo is the seven-track set With Love, and while
it isn’t necessarily an unqualified success, it shows that Tolliver hasn’t lost
his penchant for crafting relentlessly exhilarating music. The opening cut Rejoicin’ sets the tone for the endeavor as trumpets, saxes, and trombones
send forceful, punchy blasts of color sailing over the song’s crackling,
propulsive rhythm, while newcomer Robert Glasper nearly steals the show with a
frantic piano solo that twists McCoy Tyner’s inventive approach into knots.
Glasper strikes again during Hit the Spot by sparring playfully with
drummer Victor Lewis. Providing some stylistic contrast, Tolliver’s longtime
collaborator Stanley Cowell matches Glasper’s spunk, particularly on Mournin’
Variations, which fuses a hymn-like procession of flute, clarinet, and sax
with the turbulent drama unleashed by the full ensemble.
Elsewhere on With Love, however, Tolliver falters. The title track,
for example, seems stuck in the ’70s, and his manic energy doesn’t jive well
with the song’s relaxed, swinging groove. Likewise, his interpretation of
Thelonious Monk’s ’Round Midnight, while intriguing, never finds a way of
comfortably uniting its polarized extremes. Although Tolliver’s risk-taking
maneuvers are refreshing — especially when one considers how conservative the
music industry has become, regardless of genre — they also occasionally become
mired in the busyness of his arrangements. For all its flashiness, for all its
explosiveness, deep down inside With Love, the emotion is missing. 
With Love is available from Amazon.com.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2007 The Music Box
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