Dandelion Clock

Review Count this as the best jazz album of this young decade give it another ten years and it could be one of the best jazz albums of an old decade. Not only is Sarah Manning a fearless and intense player, she s a fearless and intense composer, shades of another first-class alto saxophonist, Kenny Garrett. Restless, irrepressible, unafraid and unfailingly terse, much of what she does here is transcendent. Like Garrett, she likes a stinging chromatic edge, often taking on a potently modal, Middle Eastern tinge. Like JD Allen, she doesn t waste notes: she doesn t waste time making her point and the result reverberates, sometimes because she likes to hit the hook again and again, sometimes because her punches delivers so much wallop. There are plenty of other influences on her new cd Dandelion Clock (Coltrane, obviously), but her voice is uniquely hers. An obviously inspired supporting cast of Art Hirahara on piano, Linda Oh on bass and Kyle Struve on drums do more than just support, they seize the moment as you do when you get the chance to play songs like this. The tracks are originals bookended by a couple of covers (isn t that what cover are for, anyway?). The most Coltrane-esque composition, both melodically and architecturally, here is the dark, bracing ballad Marble, Manning s circular hook giving way to Hirahara s thoughtfully slinking piano that builds to an insistent staccato crescendo. Oh s solo follows with similarly relentless insistence as piano and drums prowl around behind her. The title track contemplates the concept of time as children see it it s not finite. The song is pensive and uneasy, as if to say that Manning knows something the kids don t and this is her rather oblique way of telling them. Bernard Herrmann-esque piano builds expansively to a tense rhythm that ticks like a bomb, Manning emerging off-center, circling her way down to a simple but brutally effective crescendo and an ominous diminuendo from there. Crossing, Waiting is an even more potently intense exercise in how to build tension, beginning with Oh s marvelously laconic, pointed solo, Manning eventually adding raw little phraselets over Struve s equally incisive rattle. The high point of the album is The Owls Are on the March, something of an epic. Hirahara s haunted-attic righthand is the icing on Manning s plaintively circling phrases. The way she builds and finally sails her way out of an expansive Hirahara solo, turns on a dime and finally brings up the lights, then winds them down mournfully again is one of the most exquisite moments on any jazz album in the last few years. There s also the aptly titled Phoenix Song, Manning s easygoing congeniality a bright contrast with the brooding band arrangement until she goes otherworldly with them at the end; the equally otherworldly tone poem Through the Keyhole and the after-dark scenario Habersham St. The two covers are strikingly original, a defiantly unsettling post-bop interpretation of Jimmy Rowles The Peacocks, and Michel Legrand s The Windmills of Your Mind, taken with a murky tango feel to the back streets of Paris prime Piaf territory and then out to Toulouse. Manning is somebody to get to know now the album s just out on Posi-Tone. --Lucid Culture Abstraction and accessibility isn't an easy match, but alto saxophonist Sarah Manning weds the two with fine results on Dandelion Clock. Manning's desire to create "a working, stable group that through rehearsals and philosophy lives and breathes on stage as a musical unit," is largely achieved with this quartet, featuring bassist Linda Oh, pianist Art Hirahara and drummer Kyle Struve. These players aren't content to just play time or deliver, bland cliché-ridden music. While Manning bookends the album with two classics starting with Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks" and ending with Michel Legrand's "The Windmills Of Your Mind" her conception of these pieces marks her as a restless musical explorer and creative small group arranger. Her delivery of the melody on "The Peacocks" introduces a sound that, while controlled, has a slightly tart and edgy sound to it. Some saxophone phrases end with fluttery sendoffs and Hirahara pushes a bit, but then holds back, during a compelling piano solo. All the while, the rhythm section creates a loose, rumbling musical underbelly. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" takes shape with Manning and Oh beginning the piece. The music seems to be reverse-engineered and the pieces are put together and stabilized by Hirahara and Struve. Manning's take on this song contains more thrust than most, bringing something new to both of these well-worn pieces. The remaining seven songs Manning's compositions all are no less original. When "Habersham Street" begins, it sounds like it could have been a long lost relative of Billy Strayhorn's "Blood Count," but this doesn't last too long. The band picks up steam when Hirahara solos, and a saxophone cadenza closes out the song. The ticking of the clock on "I Tell Time By The Dandelion Clock" is represented by Struve's steady clicking and some repetitive, ominous bass and piano motifs that come and go. Oh's steady rhythm introduces "Crossing, Waiting," as Manning delivers a melody filled with mystery and paranoia, leading to Oh taking control with an exhilarating solo. Manning returns with a slightly more angular and rough sound, while Struve takes over for an unaccompanied solo. Struve and Oh create a doom-laden cadence on "The Owls (Are On The March)" features a unique rhythmic structure that allows the music to briefly morph into swing and then a Latin-esque groove, with Hirahara delivering his wildest and most unruly playing on the album. The highlight on "Phoenix Song" is the interplay and exchanges between Manning and Struve. Manning solos, with only drums beneath her, and then removes herself, allowing Struve to wreak some havoc. Manning's writing and playing, along with the singular, organic nature of this quartet, makes Dandelion Clock a winning listen from beginning to end. --Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz The cover of Dandelion Clock, Sarah Manning's third album as leader, shows the saxophonist in soft focus, lying on a bed of fallen autumn leaves and lightly cradling her alto. It's standard smooth jazz cover art but appearances can be deceptive, for Manning is one of the hardest-blowing and intense of musicians while her talents as a composer result in some fine original tunes. Manning's distinctively hard-edged, even aggressive, tone dominates this album from the opening bars of Jimmy Rowles' "The Peacocks." Pianist Art Hirahara's short and lyrical introduction soon gives way to Manning's alto and although she gives her fellow players plenty of opportunity to display their own talents this forceful first statement makes it clear who's in charge. Seven of Manning's own compositions follow "The Peacocks." The first of these, "Marble," is a light and swinging tune with Manning displaying a slightly softer approach while Linda Oh's bass and Kyle Struve's drums carry the tune's rhythmic drive. "Through the Keyhole" is freer and more meditative, as is "The Owls (Are on the March)" with its shifting rhythms and patterns. The album closes with Michel Legrand's "The Windmills of Your Mind" the opening duet between Manning's sax and Oh's emphatic bass is fascinating, but once the band start to play the overly-familiar melody this initial impact is lost. Scattered across the album are three memorable tunes with a real cinematic quality, evoking the moods and atmospheres of 40s and 50s film noir soundtracks. The gorgeously rich "Habersham Street" provides the perfect musical backdrop for images of a rain-soaked and reflective Sam Spade, "Phoenix Song" soundtracks the fast-moving nightlife of a city's streets while "Crossing, Waiting" with its insistent single-note bass intro from Oh builds up a menacing tension. If anyone is about to film another James Ellroy novel, this is the band to call. "Dandelion Clock" is an inventive and genuinely atmospheric album from a young leader with a distinctive take on the playing and writing of contemporary jazz music. The band is tight and talented and Manning's playing and writing is confident, mature and exciting. Hopefully there is much more to come. --Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz Product Description All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.