JOEL PENNER SEXTET
The Church of the Little Black Dog
Sea
Breeze Jazz
The little black dog in question is Penner’s
dachsund, Chihuahua, pit bull mix, name Jasmine, and she
contributes some vocal work on the CD’s final track,
a version of Airto Moreira’s “Tombo In 7/4.”.
She is a cute little one, with super-large, pointy ears
and a cute, quizzical expression. The pup also served to
pique my curiosity about this disc, even though I could
clearly see from the track listing that we were dealing
with an array of jazz standards for the most part. I’m
happy to report that the Joel Penner Sextet have a winner
with Curhch of the Little Black Dog, which turns
out to be a straightforward sextet that offers some nice
twists on the arrangements of these tunes. In addition,
Penner and his band play well and don’t seem to find
it difficult to keep the listener’s interest throughout.
“You’d Be So Nice To Come Home
Through” starts things off by creating a large group
sound for the sextet, with a nice intro on which Penner
plays the leading figure and saxophonist Michael Rose blows
some nice tenor responses. Then it’s off on the tune,
with some nice ensemble playing that shows some effort has
been put into the arrangements. They’re all done by
Rick Hills, who also contributes organ/synthesizer to the
Airto number. Next is the old standby “Invitation,”
done as an easy swing number with a hint of Latin, courtesy
of guest percussionist M.B. Gordy. Guitarist Doug MacDonald
gets off a really nice guitar solo, while Penner and Rose
outline chords behind him. The Freddy hubbard tune “Straight
Life” introduces a bit of a funkier groove and gives
the band a chance to demonstrate that they can play equally
well in less traditional styles. Penner’s solo builds
nicely, and nearly everyone gets in on the act, with pianist
Gengiz Yaltkaya, MacDonald, and drummer Steve Pemberton
all taking solo turns. Rose really pushes it to the boiling
point in his brief solo, throwing in a few squeaks and squawks
that give his solo an edge.
According to Penner’s website, the set
list of this CD came to him in a dream, and he felt that
“Laura” would be the focus of the album. The
intro is a familiar ballad, with Penner stating the theme
simply, yet eloquently. However, it doesn’t take long
for the song to morph into an all-out Latin jazz number,
complete with percussion and great drumming. The band is
more than up to the task, playing a great round of solos
and jamming through the montuno section. It was exciting
to see Keith Jarrett’s “The Windup” on
the track listing, because it’s always been a favorite
performance by Jarrett’s ‘European’ quartet.
It’s not perfect, but the group attacks the piece
with energy, and the arrangement, which passes the melody
around between the horns and the piano, is tight and exciting.
Penner takes it to church at the start of his solo, which
he plays backed only by drummer Pemberton before the whole
rhythm section kicks in again and carries him along. Valtkaya
plays his best solo on this track, fittingly, since a pianist
wrote it. By the end of these middle two tracks, I was breathless.
“My Funny Valentine” allows for
some breath-catching, and Penner plays this trumpeter must-do
standard beautifully. His tone is clearer and brighter than
either Miles or Chet Baker on their versions of the tune,
yet it does not lack an element of wistfulness. Rounding
out the set are guitarist MacDonald’s composition
“T&G,” which provides the basis for a basic
blowing session, and Moreira’s “Tombo in 7/4,”
which besides being in 7/4 is also a very energetic tune.
Church of the Little Black Dog is
one of those really nice surprises that you get when you
review records regularly—it’s unpretentious,
shows something of the personality of the musician behind
the music, but most importantly, the music itself is well-crafted
and wholly entertaining.
