Review: Heaven’s Gift – Arkadia Jazz All-Stars
- by Nicholas Gaudet
- in Reviews
With a star-studded cast composed with Pat Metheny, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart and Cecil McBee, it’s really hard to go wrong. Quite on the contrary, the supergroup’s new single, Heaven’s Gift, is everything but bad – it’s legendary.
In a world where music is constantly evolving, there’s something somewhat refreshing when hearing brand new tracks that sound like they could’ve come straight from 1970 right at the tail-end of the bebop era. What I thought was especially endearing was hearing Pat Metheny in this style. I’ve been a massive Pat fan for the last couple years as I started getting into jazz guitar myself, and his albums have always proved to be extremely dynamic and different from anything else. The closest I’ve ever been able to compare Metheny to was tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s two projects: The Epic and Heaven and Earth (both of those are quite unique in their own way). So, hearing Pat back into the classic late-bebop sound was quite a treat, and he really did wonderfully here.
His solo absolutely froze me in place upon the first time hearing it. He has a very interesting tone, one that I didn’t quite agree with upon first hearing it, but the more Pat noodled on his guitar, the more I liked it. It’s almost like he cut out all high-frequencies and most of the mid-frequencies, left only with the bass from his amp. His improvising is out of this world, as are the rest of the musicians as well. I found the drums were so full of life, really communicating with the musicians in a way more than just providing rhythm. The whole band was really all on the same frequency in this recording. It reminded me of hearing young jazz bands playing at the late hours of my town’s nightlife, full of adrenaline and energy, simply letting the music pour out of them.
Heaven’s Gift is an absolute must-listen for all who enjoy jazz as a whole. It’s not too abstract for those unfamiliar with bebop, and it’s not overly simple for diehard 1960’s hard bop fans. It’s music down to an almost perfect state, a true expression of each of the musicians in this recording.
