REFLECTIONS - Mandymagic Music, [No CD #1].
Mandymagic Music; Tel: 650-616-9408. Recorded August and October 2000. Released
2000. But If We Never Meet; Segment; Emily; Dreamsong; Simple Loneliness;
Fear And Constraints; Reflections; Possibility; I've Never Been In Love Before;
August; First Song; Moose The Mooche.
PERSONNEL: Mandy Flowers, acoustic bass; Alex
Murzyn, saxes, flute; Noel Melanio, piano, harmonica.
By
Ray Hoffman
"...a young woman to watch for"
Mandy
Flowers has been working hard on her bass playing, and that comes through on
this recording. Her love for great swinging tunes and her obvious influence of
Charlie Parker comes through, too. Flowers' credentials are fairly impressivea
summa cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music, she has studied stand-up
bass with Peter Kontrimas, the great Ray Brown and LA-based super-bassist
Charlie Haden. Clearly, she has learned her lessons well and has developed a
solid, fat, sound that resonates with the warm, woody qualities of her
instrument. Flowers nicely ties her ensemble on this disc together with her
straight-ahead playing style and her creative voice as a composer, as well.
It
has been said that it is a wise thingif one is young or relatively unknown and
just starting out musicallyto include some well known standards on one's CD,
along with any original compositions. This allows listeners to have something
to relate to, as a send-off point, so to speak, for hearing a new artist. Mandy
Flowers has taken this approach, including two of 'Bird's' tunes, "Moose
the Mooch" and "Segment." She also shines on Mercer and Mandel's
"Emily," and Frank Loesser's "I've Never Been In Love Before."
Nodding her head to her teacher Charlie Hayden, she includes his composition
"First Song."
But
she also sprinkles Reflections liberally with tunes of her own composing. Most
successful of these are "But If We Never Meet," "Autumn,"
"Dreamsong," "Fear And Constraints" and the title track
"Reflections," which is memorable and lovely. This tune, in
particular, shows the gracefulness and the sophistication of a mature musical
voice.
The
original track "Simple Loneliness" holds up to the expectations of
its titlealmost dirge-like, it's an interesting duet between bass and flute,
and one can truly feel the loneliness. "Possibility" is a similarly
slow piece, allowing the lone bass to be the centerpiece.
In
general, Mandy Flowers does not take a lot of solos, nor does she dominate the
songs. She provides the glue holding the sessions together, and she lets her
two accompanists to fully take the stage. Alex Murzyn has a nice sound on the
saxophones and flute. Noel Melanio is a better than decent piano player, but
his instrument on some of these takes was in need of tuning.
When
I received this CD to review for Jazz Improv, I have to admit that I had my
reservations. Of course, I was unfamiliar with Ms. Flowers' work, but in
addition to that factor, I was nervous upon seeing the CD jacket and packaging
which, quite frankly, look really terrible. The fuzzy, blurry, home-made inkjet
printer CD insert, and the lack of either a CD release number or a barcode
usually spells "u-n-p-r-o-f-e-s-s-i-o-n-a-l." But, my fears were set
aside after hearing the pleasing opening notes of the first track.
Mandy
Flowers, as it says in the accompanying press release I received, feels that
one should approach playing the bass as if it were "a conversation with
your best friend." I like that sentiment, and I can hear in Flowers' work
that she has taken that idea to heart. The result is a conversational and most
a pleasing independent release from a young woman to watch for.