(1987) Marty Cook Group - Red, White, Black & Blue ***

 

With: Marty Cook (trombone), Jim Pepper (tenor & soprano saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Ed Schuller (bass), John Betsch (drums)

Record date: November 23 & 24, 1987

Marty Cook is an American trombone player who is a little underrecorded. In the 1970's he appeared mostly in freejazz or avant-garde settings with the likes of Marzette Watts, Jeanne Lee and Gunther Hampel. He moved to Munich in 1979 and that is probably how he met Mal. He formed his 'New York Sound Explosion' band there that also consisted of players like John Betsch and Jim Pepper. The whole quintet playing here knew each other from several occasions and most of them were to play on more records together. Mal recorded with Pepper before that very same year and the excellent rhythm section present here would appear on quite a few albums by Waldron. Mal does not appear on all of the tracks but only on 'Spirit War', 'Love Life', 'Grab Bag' and 'Trapeze'. 

Not a lot of avant-garde or free music to be found here. It's all a pretty big step from the New York Loft sounds of the 1970's where Cook also participated in. The music is structured and mostly in the modern bop tradition. The few outbursts by Pepper's tenor aren't very shocking. Though is group definitely has it's moments it fails to make up to it's potential. Most of the musicians sound a little uninspired. Marty Cook improvises in a very monotone and predictable way without any interesting turns or twists. Pepper sounds like he did not had his day. I miss the powerful almost paranoid like playing from his later recordings with Mal. He mostly draws between the lines perfectly but his capable of more than that. Mal is on 4 tracks but his solo space is very limited. The first place to show off a little is on the 3rd track where he is present. He mostly sounds a little restrained but does give a glimpse of the stuff that to come with the rhytm section. 

So what's there to say in a positive way about the recording? Mosty of the compositions are pretty catchy. Stuff like Spirit War, Mr. DC and Trapeze sound excellent and make a lasting impression. It's a pity that they were only played on this session, for as far as I know. Also none of the guys plays bad. It's clear that every single one of them knows what he is doing and the technical skills and licks are all great. And finally: the rhythm section. Schuller and Betsch together works like magic, hand in glove. They complement each other rhythmically and their playing here definitely lifts the music to a higher level. 

A pretty much ok recording but far from essential. If you want the complete session you'd best get the CD version on Enja or TUTU. Plenty of copies to be found.