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 | Hugh RaginFeel The SunshineLabel: Justin Time | Jazz | June 18, 2002Format UPC Order # Unit Price |
Credits Bruce Cox drums Hugh Ragin trumpet Jaribu Shahid bass Tanni Tabbal drums Craig Taborn piano Assif Tsahar bass clarinet and tenor saxophone Production Credits | TracksNo Title Duration Excerpts 02 Feel The Sunshine 00:13:07 03 Hugh's Blues 00:06:04 04 Pain 00:11:43 05 Gulf Coast Groove 00:06:36 06 Easy Living 00:08:10 08 Freedom Jazz Dance 00:09:28 Liner NotesThe model for his Trumpet Ensemble may be the World Saxophone Quartet, but the picture thats painted when all is said and done (and played) for Hugh Ragin is the late, great trumpet master Lester Bowie. As a model for interpretative strategies, veteran trumpeter Hugh Ragins been his own man for a long time. The link with Bowie, more musically spiritual than professional, derives from Ragins incredible thirst and capacity to take it all in, reinventing the trumpet as a voice capable of speaking in many languages.From pre-jazz to free-jazz, Ragin desires nothing less than to jump on the inspiration train, playing music that reflects life as it is lived and has been lived by others. Maybe it comes from his primary role as a music educator, but he seems most interested in conveying meaning and purpose about the music he creates, both as a composer and as a player. To quote a hero, Ragin must ascribe much meaning to Charlie Parkers adage that If you dont live it, it wont come out of your horn. To do this, he has called upon a variety of musicians from different walks of life. To do this, he has maintained openness to new sounds as well as old, encompassing a number of generations and styles. Hugh Ragins language, it appears, is the language of life itself, expressed through jazz in many of its varied, florid, and iridescent colors. Witness Feel The Sunshine, his third of three recordings for Justin Time. Like 1999s An Afternoon In Harlem and 2001s Fanfare & Fiesta, Feel The Sunshine exudes warmth and a kind of wisdom that come from a commitment to storytelling. What makes Feel The Sunshine different, however, is the tone, which is decidedly more upbeat and hungry in its search for inspiration. As he says, This CD is a quest for peace in the jazz community and in the world community. Feel The Sunshine is a reflection of how every day in every way we should be aware of the sunshine without and within. For this project, Ragin has enlisted the services of players who, by age and experience, put Ragin in the category of the revered, another indication of his desire to play with those musicians who he believes can best express his message at hand. In this case, the younger artists on Feel The Sunshine include tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist Assif Tsahar, pianist Craig Taborn, bassist Jaribu Shahid, and (alternating) drummers Tani Tabbal (who doubles on djembe for one cut) and Bruce Cox. It is a varied program that reflects at many musical angles; a must for the eclectic Ragin. Like Lester Bowie, he is impossible to categorize. Some may have considered Bowie an outcat. I disagree, if outcat suggests someone who plays outside the mainstream. Like Bowie, Ragin is all about jumping in and out of that stream; an ideal place to be for an educator. Both trumpeters have played music that is both inside as well as outside. A red flag goes up when the bio on any musician includes the kind of varied and sundry crew which has shared the stage and studio with Ragin. While many may know of his work with unconventionals like Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, and Andrew Cyrille (adding a priceless dimension to his work), there is also a side to Ragin that has embraced and been influenced by such mainstream stalwarts as Maynard Ferguson, Roy Hargrove, and Dizzy Gillespie. Perhaps right in the middle are artists like David Murray and Fred Wesley, who have recorded his music along with a score of other musicians from more than one generation. In fact, Ragins Fanfare & Fiesta featured his Trumpet Ensemble, a collection of five trumpeters (four if you count Clark Terrys flugelhorn), all playing mostly Ragin songs, backed by the rhythm section Ragins kept for all three of his Justin Time recordings (Tabbal is new to Feel The Sunshine). All of these names and faces must be understood in the context of Ragins commitment to music education, an education that currently includes private trumpet lessons for students at Metropolitan State College of Denver, and, for 10 years previous, teaching at Colorado State University, among other schools. (At one point, Bowie asked Ragin to become part of one of his orchestral projects; Ragins teaching commitments came first.) Indeed, Feel The Sunshine reflects at many musical angles. Nowhere is the contrast more apparent than with the first two numbers, Caravan and Feel The Sunshine. While Juan Tizols Ellington classic Caravan sets the pace for what is truly an album full of light and spirit, played at a conventional medium-tempo pace and with that familiar arrangement, Ragins Feel The Sunshine sends the music is another direction entirely. Caravan moves and swings; Feel The Sunshine lingers like a morning mist with barely a breeze to feel. The title track - a lovely rubato piece that finds bassist Shahid playing arco against Tabbals almost imperceptible percussion and Tsahars enveloping bass clarinet - is carried along by poignant voicings from pianist Taborn, but especially from Ragins cozy, muted trumpet, with theme statements that offer up lovely melody lines and their variations. Echoes of In A Silent Way mix with Coltranes After The Rain and Tranes intro section to India. And yet, theres no question that Feel The Sunshine is all Ragin, leaving one to linger in the glow of this centerpiece of peace. But no sooner are we left with calm following the pep of the opening track than Ragin kicks it back into gear with his Hughs Blues, reminding us that this is not a concept album beyond the themes, with every track reinforcing each other. Okay, Hughs Blues plays like a lazy river, not something to make you really shake your butt. But the attitude is as strident as Feel The Sunshine is reverential and all embracing. Taborns Monkish lines follow the tunes intro, lines that are, in turn, followed by Tsahars loopy tenor and Ragins bright, outward-bound trumpet. The influences seep out of Ragins horn, coming from Eldridge, Gillespie, and Terry, and going right through his unique tone and phrasings: a little pert, on the money, disarming, slightly off-kilter. In other words, Ragin has a technical command worthy of his predecessors, but checks his need for perfection at the door. Pains seemingly tepid mood is suddenly altered by an abstracted swing that showcases Taborns rolling figures and Ragins gentle dissonance as it reaches high only to land softly, the songs groove the only thing that seems to keep it all together. Again, its about shifting gears, drawing on other urges and strains. The ears and hearts of this band are utilized in yet another fashion to create a song of unusual, slightly unnerving calm. The edge leaves as his Gulf Coast Groove gives us an updated take straight out of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. Its a funky groove, complete with Tabbal adding some texture on djembe. Ralph Raingers Easy Living is only one of three other tunes here that Ragin chooses thats not an original of his. And, true to form, it contrasts nicely with the little bit of grease we get with Gulf Coast Groove, an air of sophistication reminding us that Ragin can play the standards with the best of them. If you are lulled into a dreamlike state with Raingers ballad, Master Mind may throw you off the couch, as it dishes some frisky, free-form, and delightful band shenanigans. Perhaps wishing to return once again to a tried-and-true method, Ragin inserts a funky, medium-tempo take on Eddie Harris Freedom Jazz Dance. Featuring a free-form flurry toward the end that keeps things slightly off balance, the upbeat mood works like a recurrence of Gulf Coast Groove, Part 2. Saving the best for last, some real nice solo trumpet musings can be heard on the playful Say Goodbye. Its as if what we have been hearing all along with others around him now is heard in its purest form. Hugh Ragins talking trumpet includes everything from birdcalls to mumbles to cries to puckish and otherworldly sounds. Not surprisingly, it all ends up sounding very musical. Say Goodbye is only a little over two minutes in length. One can almost hear this music as meditations on his words: When we deal with the ups and downs of life, the sun shines on all of these experiences. After a difficult period, we emerge stronger than before. There are moments on Feel The Sunshine that reflect on the difficulties of life, but it is the sunshine of Hugh Ragins music that comes through much more often than not. And yes, the connection with Lester Bowie includes another quality that defines both artists: Joy. John Ephland |
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