DOM MINASI
The Vampire's Revenge
CDM Records
Read Goin'
Out With Dom Minasi
Read the Jazzitude review
of Dom Minais/Time Will Tell
Dom Minasi’s 2-CD release, The Vampire’s
Revenge, is a remarkable achievement, both in terms
of composition and performance. The guitarist’s ten
compositions here are all inspired by Anne Rice’s
Vampire Chronicles. At the center of the whole thing are
Minasi and his longtime rhythm section of bassist Ken Filiano
and drummer Jackson Krall. That makes sense, because you’ve
got to figure that the time these guys have spent playing
together, both live and in the studio, have led them to
thoroughly understand and appreciate the way the other two
play. It also allows them to fulfill the possibilities of
Minasi’s compositions, by being open to new directions
that may subtly suggest themselves during performance, and
by the many special guests that Minasi brings aboard to
help realize his vision.
By altering the group that augments the basic
trio on each track, Minasi is able to continually produce
new sonic textures, keeping things fresh and allowing one
to see that although there are healthy helpings of free
blowing, there is also a great deal of structure that supports
that freedom. The structure provides the listener a ‘way
in,’ allowing one to enjoy and recognize signposts
along the way. Some may be put off by this recording because
of its length (around 112 minutes) or the fact that there
are no recognizable songs on which Minasi performs his magic,
as was the case on his last few releases, Takin’
the Duke Out, Time Will Tell, and Quick
Response. But even when playing Duke Ellington’s
well-known compositions, Minasi has always gone his own
way, and those discs certainly helped prepare many listeners
for this magnum opus.
The opening track, “The Seduction,”
features clarinet player Perry Robinson and uses a brief
melodic bite (yeah, pun intended. It really couldn’t
be avoided) to frame the sections of free improvisation.
On “Who’s Your Dentist?” (proof that Minasi
has a warm and intelligent sense of humor, which is clear
to anyone who’s ever spoken to him), he adds soprano
sax, violin, and cello and weaves free improvisation and
composed material together at the same time. The humor continues
with “Just One More Bite,” on which an increasingly
urgent and roiling instrumental group is joined by the vocal
histrionics (purposeful, in this case) of Carol Mennie,
who pushes the piece into high gear with her keening, orgasmic
vocal one-liner. “The Transformation” moves
positively into Mingus territory, and if one can say that
Minasi has learned quite a bit about composition, arrangement,
and creating texture with a small group from Mingus, that
certainly is high praise. “The Dark Side” brings
in pianist Matthew Shipp, whose work here is very simpatico,
sounding particularly complimentary to Minasi’s guitar
work.
Minasi plays great guitar on this disc, and
if you like his playing, there’s a great deal to enjoy
here. But the emphasis is most emphatically on Dom as a
composer and arranger, and this is a major piece of work.
Certainly his last three discs have created quite a bit
of buzz around Minasi and made him a noticeable fixture
on the downtown improvisational music scene, but this one
should alert an even wider network of listeners that he
is a strong and major talent.
The second CD is nearly as long as the first,
but contains only four lengthy tracks. “Blood Lust”
starts with more structure as a group of saxophones and
flugelhorn create a circular pattern that eventually gives
way to some heavy improvisation from Minasi and pianist
Borah Bergman. Though there are sections of flurried activity,
this second disc seems to feature more open, less densely
textured pieces that help to alleviate the somewhat claustrophobic
feel of the first hour of the composition. The most frenzied
piece here is the final one, the title track, which features
Minasi at his most energetic, while an array of horns blow
heartily.
The Vampire’s Revenge is easily
one of the most impressive and interesting free jazz recordings
to come down the pike in quite a while, and the more one
listens to it the more its rhythms and textures make sense
and reveal themselves as a coherent whole. For those who
are Dom Minasi fans or who are fans of free jazz, this is
going to be one of the best releases of the year.
