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Review: Greg Garrison – Low Lonesome

  • June 6, 2011 11:40 am
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Review by Matt O’Donnell
Managing Editor

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“Charlie’s Song”

Greg Garrison already has a spectacular list of credits to his career. My first exposure to Greg came when he appeared alongside Chris Thile in the How To Grow A Band during a clinic at Berklee in February 2007. I already owned their CD, How To Grow A Woman From The Ground, but hadn’t really found all that much taste for it. That clinic vastly changed my mind, and when I dove into the record, I was really impressed with Greg’s playing. I went in search of more items in his catalog, finding a treasure trove in his playing with Leftover Salmon, the infamous bluegrass/rock/cajun-ish band out of Colorado. Furthermore, he is scattered throughout recordings and live bootlegs with Noam Pikelny, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and many others.
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What really knocked me out, though, was his playing on the debut album from Punch Brothers (the renamed and totally focused version of the How To Grow A Band), Punch. That record has a huge room sound to it, and Garrison (and his bass, Igor) soaks as much of it up as he can.

Furthermore, Greg is on faculty at Metropolitan State College in Denver. There, he uses his skills attained through a DM in Jazz Studies from the University of Colorado, having explored the common roots of all improvised forms of American music.

There’s all that floating around, but……….what does he REALLY have to say for himself?

This is where Garrison finally steps out with his first solo effort, Low Lonesome. The record is a beautifully laid back live jazz record, accompanied by Ron Miles on trumpet, John Gunther on tenor sax, Erik Deutsch on rhodes/organ, and Marc Dalio on drums. With this group assembled, Greg has clearly stacked the deck on stage.

I love the pace at which this record moves. For the most part, it’s a lot of mid-tempo flowing jazz, but with lots of stops in-between. The opener, “Intercom”, has Dalio presenting a strong backbeat in the drums, which sets up the keys to play lots of big, spacious tones. This track reminds me very much of something one would hear out of the Benevento/Russo duo, but with badass call and response horns taking it to the next level.

On “Charlie’s Song”, it’s a really nice touch for the bass solo to come second to last instead of before the restatement of the head. Very refreshing to ears that have waited too long through a tune for a Paul Chambers or Ray Brown solo! The last solo is received for the great Ron Miles, who always keeps his tone and timing perfect here. Miles runs the gamut here, but never blares at you or rushes to double-tounged passages. The rhythm section does wonders rising and falling in his solo, as well.

One of only two non-originals on the record, a medley of “Border Widow’s Lament” and “O Onochie O” are presented with just the right amount of remaining from their traditions. Through the head of “Border Widow’s Lament”, if you know the tune, you can close your eyes and drift through it without forgetting its familiarity. Also, the 3-based time comes at a very nice spot in the order of the tunes. Notable here is the tone of John Gunther’s sax, sounding like some of the sweeter moments in Eric Dolphy’s playing (as few and far-between as those are!)

The other cover, Billy Strayhorn’s “Johnny Come Lately” has spots where the record reaches it’s most intense. One of the things that has always, for lack of a better term, irked me about modern jazz tunes is how there always seems to need to be some sort of gimmick to every tune, whether it be an obstinato, or an odd time signature, or “advanced” chording. My preferred way of judging a combo is what they do when it comes down to flat out SWINGIN’. Garrison’s walking here over Dalio’s swing feel do not disappoint. When they need to knock down and drag out, they do. This is very telling. Be sure to listen for Dalio’s side-sticking in the trumpet solo. This is a fantastic high point for the song, coming at the perfect time of a tune clocking in at 9:43.

Lastly, what more can be said about a tune called “Almost Sleeping”? Long, broad tones from the entire ensemble, most notably Garrison’s hard-attack but heavy sustain bass that I fell in love with on Punch, are the perfect soundtrack to that time you know all too well when you’re….well….almost sleeping.

All in all, if you, like I did earlier, need to ask what Greg Garrison has to say for himself, then he needs to say no more! Six instant classic compositions, an ability to put together his own killer ensemble of powerhouse musicians, and above all great bass playing, and it goes to show that Low Lonesome is a beautiful glimpse straight into Greg Garrison’s musical heart.

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