(Okay, I might be a little biased by the ale that the artist in question insists on serving me, but I've also been a widely published jazz journalist over the past decade. A few other friend jazz critics I've previewed NTS to, and who were not particularly enamored with most of AH's recent solo recordings, strongly agree with me about NTS).
The recording features arrangements of standards and new compositions by the great English jazz pianist, Gordon Beck. It's not the first recording which have teamed Holdsworth and Beck, as many Atavachron subscribers know, but as AH puts it, "It's the project I always wanted to make with Gordon." None Too Soon is the first recording the pair have made where they've had a decent budget with which to make a studio album with a group. The album also features one of the most powerful rhythm sections AH has ever employed, from Scott Henderson's Tribal Tech band. However, while the project brings Gordon Beck very slightly into a "fusion" context on one or two tracks, more accurately, it further draws Gary Willis and Kirk Covington into the straightahead/modern bob medium first explored with this band's recording of the Beatles tune, "Michelle." Willis and Covington ignite a major rhythm fireworks display that in the end, unleashes a hard swinging, runaway train.
This comes to the fore in the album's opening track, John Coltrane's "Countdown." Some of you may remember AH and Gary Husband dueling ferociously; in similar fashion Covington and AH explode in a short improvisation that so clearly recalls similar exchanges of melodic/polyrhythmic abandon between Elvin Jones and 'Trane. Suddenly AH breaks into the sweet progressions at the head of "Countdown," and GB begins driving it with his trademark comp phrasings -- AH then bursts into a Coltranesque tribute of warp-speed fluries and horn-like sustained intonations. It's a short track, but pure bliss, nonetheless.
The second track is a Django Reinhardt ballad, "Nuages," featuring AH opening with lush SynthAxe chords. It's a beautiful tribute by a guitar master to the instrument's master of his father's generation, and when AH's solo comes up, it's his trademark electric heavy tone that glides so gracefully -- as cutting edge as ever in its sound, but plumbing deep into the realm of nostaglic emotions. Gordon's first solo on the record shines equally, and what really makes this album is that it's the first AH has made where creatively two masters find a balance, rather than the whole project being dominated by AH. The band then kick's into mid-swing high-gear in Berlin's classic, "How Deep Is The Ocean." Allan embellishes about half of the tracks with some amazing Synthaxe chordal phrasings, and this is one. There's only one synthaxe solo on the album, which comes later in Bill Evans' "Very Early." "Ocean" is a standard's standard, and AH, Willis, Beck, and Covington stir up a gentle hurricane loaded with inventive phrasings -- when Branford and Wynton hear this, they may start wondering if they've missed the boat.
"Isotope," is a stunningly mean and clever blues vamp, and both GB, GW, and AH shred it lovingly to smithereens with their solos. A fittingly jazzy followup to "Devil Take The Hindmost" with GB and AH doubling a dizzying head melody line. Gems abound throughout "NTS." The title track is a AH/GB arrangement of a new GB composition which delves into the jazz avante-garde and an ambient synthaxe interlude bridging two sections. Covington and Holdsworth scorch through incredible solos on this intense, contemplative piece. So while there is an orientation toward standards, AH has not been content to confine this project to a rigid format. There are enough technically audacious and arrestingly beautiful synthaxe embellishments gracing the overall sound, that gives the album presents an "in your face" snubs to those would prefer the acoustic purist route for a jazz quartet.
The band's cover of GB's original arrangemment of "Norweigan Wood" is sheer joy. As a monster jazz pianist, although GB is not well known in the U.S., he is the genuine article and like Alan Pasqua, he's one of the only keyboardists on the planet that can solo and improvise alonside AH while keeping a strong musical personality intact. AH's soloing to my ears has never been more focused -- the melodic runs navigate the chord changes with fiery panache and often lyrical restraint. In GB's "San Marcos," there's a healthy taste of completely over-the-top riffing, leaving all other jazz guitarists a good excuse not to sit down for a while. His solo tone has never sounded cleaner and richer. What makes the project special for AH however, is that the familiar context of the changes are more conventional chordally than the heady concoctions AH writes for album's like "Secrets," "WT," and "HHA." Jazz audiences will be able to hear, really for the first time, AH playing in musical context that will demonstrate both his conception and improvisatory inspiration such that it can easily be compared with say, Keith Jarrett, Michael Brecker, or Branford Marsalis. A few of those blokes may find themselves having to step aside and take notice.
The other musician that NTS is a major showcase for is GW. It's not that you won't find nine or ten classic, choice AH solos here, but Willis is a featured soloist on three tracks (he plays mostly fretless), and his supporting bass lines lead me to conclude this is his most important and impressive recording to date, nevermind Wayne Shorter or Tribal Tech. He's matured incredibly as a player and soloist, and AH and GB have provided just the right setting for his technical mastery of the bass to come to the fore. Willis plays here with confidence and conjures up superb melodic inventions, and many of you will conclude he's the most dynamic and technically gifted bassist AH has worked with since Stanley Clarke or Jeff Berlin.
I've discussed some of the highlights, without trying to reveal too much or take away from the initial surprise of enjoying this album. Like me, I think many of you will conclude (jazz lovers or not) that this will mark a breakthrough project of sorts for AH. Most importantly you'll be able to hear a lot more fun and humour in this project, while the musicianship never fails to be dazzlingly serious.
--Chris Hoard
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