A Plastic Sax review of a 2011 performance by Steve Lambert suggested that the young Kansas City saxophonist evoked past masters like Johnny Griffin, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and John Coltrane. Lambert’s new album Seven Stories confirms that early assessment.
Lambert’s aggressive attack, muscular tone and defiantly old-school approach have become more pronounced in the intervening years. Aside from the electric bass on “Mente de Corazon,” few elements of Seven Stories would have sounded out of place on the 1959 recording Bags & Trane. As with the classic release by Milt Jackson and John Coltrane, the selections on Seven Stories consist of rounds of solos following the statement of a theme.
The energetic playing of Lambert, vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, pianist Andrew Ouellette, bassists Ben Leifer and Dominique Sanders and drummer Brad Williams counteracts the somewhat stodgy format. Lambert’s thrilling soloing on the rousing “Bells of War” would be capable of bringing audiences to their feet at the Green Lady Lounge or the Mutual Musicians Foundation, forums in which the stirring music of Lambert and his cohorts is best experienced.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
3 comments:
"... somewhat stodgy format?" Ah man - I was enjoying your otherwise positive review until you slipped that one in. Why?
How about staid? Prosaic, perhaps?
Aside from the sound of the record, the motive of the compositions, the melodies and the harmonies, and the stylistic choices of every solo, this record sounds exactly like that one thing I listened to from a long time ago that other people who led different lives in a completely different era. Also that gig I went to for 15 minutes 6 years ago allows me to speak with authority about the musicians sound, style and concept.
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