AMP Trio's M(Y)our World, Dallas area Album of the Year

Matt Young, Perrin Grace, Tahira Clayton, Addison Frei.

AMP Trio’s M(Y)our World (2015) is our Dallas area Album of the Year. How fitting! One of the songs is called Dallas.

We excluded all the mega-stars (the Erykah Badus, the Leon Bridges, the Kirk Franklins, the Shaun Martins) from consideration for this honor. Of all the other 2015 releases in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, M(Y)our World is the most creative.

AMP Trio opens with Riding Periphery, composed by drummer Matt Young. It is a bit of straight-ahead jazz which gives the feel of expansiveness and wide-open possibilities.

Stand by You comes in on a bouncy piano by the nifty-fingered Addison Frei and some funky basslines by Perrin Grace. The pleasant surprise here: AMP Trio introduces the gorgeous voice of Tahira Clayton which elevates the group to yet another level.

The title track M(Y)our World, the centerpiece, is a kaleidoscope of sound. It has some electronica and other interesting sounds.

The song Circa continues with the experimentation in sound. It is the expansion of the jazz trio, the breaking of boundaries, the freedom of the artist.

Boundless presents the beautiful voice of Tahira Clayton once again. She demands and commands your attention; her phrasing, her articulation, backed nicely by the trio. In between the breaks of Tahira Clayton’s singing, pianist Addison Frei cuts loose, lets it go, and shows everyone what he’s got. And on her return, Tahira Clayton is prepared to match his virtuoso and holds her ground to bring the song to an end.

This new work by AMP Trio, the follow-up to their first release Flow (2013), is a celebration of sound and demonstrates that this group is hitting its stride and ready to burst out on the scene.

Kamasi Washington, The Epic, Album of the Year

Kamasi Washington and band in Los Angeles. Photo: K. Ho

The most ambitious album of the year is Kamasi Washington’s The Epic (Brainfeeder, 2015); and that makes it our Album of the Year. Kamasi Washington brought together some friends he has known all his life. It is amazing that a group of friends and acquaintances all grow up to be world-class musicians.

The result is a cornucopia of sound that recall the styles of classic jazz, rhythm and blues and orchestral music.

This three-disc album starts off with Change of the Guard which opens with a 32-piece orchestra led by piano, rolling drums and a 10-piece choir. Cameron Graves comes on with a piano solo and Igmar Thomas follows on trumpet. Kamasi Washington moves in with a bebop solo on tenor saxophone which ends in frenetic screams. Then in come the drums which add to the turbulence, strife and turmoil. Some of the songs are long and Change of the Guard, over 12 minutes long, continues into a slow elegy, all the time the choir in background like a Gregorian chant.

Askim opens with the bass of Kamasi Washington’s childhood friend Thundercat and has Leon Mobley on percussions; a slow, jazzy tune with moments of patience.

Final thoughts is a danceable, jooky tune with great horn melody and a grating, scratchy tenor sax solo and some rollicking drums. It unfolds and unfolds like a river emptying waterfalls on several levels; a fierce, frenetic pace.

Rhythm Changes is destined to be a favorite of many with a rollicking piano, island drums and elegant vocals by Patrice Quinn. The choir encourages her and carries her along to a trumpet solo which plays her voice and onto a tenor sax solo with articulate phrasing.

Patrice Quinn sings, ‘Our minds, our bodies, our feelings, they change, they alter, they leave us. Somehow, no matter what happens, I’m here.’

An outstanding album; Kamasi Washington and crew deserve all the love and recognition they are getting for this work.

Shaun Martin's players: Seven Summers Musicians

Robert Glasper & Bobby Sparks. (Photo: Jeremy Tudor Price)

Shaun Martin recently completed a tour of southern U.S. cities in support of his album Seven Summers (Ropeadope, 2015). We continue with our look at some of the players on the album.

Bobby Sparks

Bobby Sparks grew up in Corsicana about 50 miles south of Dallas. He began playing piano at the age of three. He moved to the Dallas area where he met Kirk Franklin. The two worked together for many years with Sparks playing as well as serving as musical director. He is on numerous movie and TV soundtracks; worked with many of the greats like Prince and Herbie Hancock; and even played at the White House.

Bobby Sparks plays organ on the song One Big Party on the Seven Summers album.

Jamil Byrom

Jamil Byrom, a graduate of Alcorn State University, won the prestigious Guitar Center Drum-off. He has played with Roy Hargrove, Kirk Franklin and Erykah Badu.

He was inspired by drummers like Dennis Chambers, Vinnie Calaiuta and Steve Jordan.

Around town in Dallas, he heads his own band called the Grown Folks and he also plays with Andrew Junior Boy Jones Blues Band.

On Seven Summers, Jamil Byrom plays drums on One Big Party, Have Your Chance at Love, Long Gone, and The Torrent.

Nate Werth

A native of Dyer, Indiana, Nate Worth started playing drums at the age of seven. He studied orchestral percussions at the University of North Texas where he worked under instructors like Poovalur Sriji, Jose Aponte, Gideon Alorwoyie, Paul Rennick, Christopher Deane and Mark Ford.

 

He plays percussions for Snarky Puppy. Nate Werth and Snarky Puppy bandmate, Robert ‘Sput’ Searight recently formed a new band Ghost-Note and put out an album Fortified (RSVP Records, 2015).

Nate Werth plays percussions on Seven Summers' Long Gone.

 

Quamon Fowler

Quamon Fowler, from Fort Worth, attended Weatherford College under the guidance of Tom Burchill. He transferred to Southern University in Louisiana to work with jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste. Batiste encouraged him to put out his first CD called Introducing Quamon Fowler.

He went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Music Performance at Texas Tech. He plays the tenor sax and the EWI. He has won the Herb Albert Young Composer Award twice. Some of his favorite players are Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffith, Cannonball Adderley and Branford Marsalis.

Quamon Fowler plays tenor sax on Seven Summers' One Big Party.