Since he began to seriously pursue a career as a jazz artist back in the 1960s, Dave Liebman has been on a transformative journey towards becoming a true original in the genre. After assuming sideman slots with the likes of Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, and Chick Corea, to name but a few, he has certainly earned his stripes. Those who've followed him more closely understand that he has become a deep and soulful storyteller in jazz in a way few others have.
So what would you say to a trailblazer
like Liebman when you discover he's taken a batch of beloved pop
songs-sweet, memorable, hummable "chestnuts" in the popular
lexicon-and completely deconstructed it?
Liebman has, over the years, proved to
be a risk-taker, a challenger, someone who purposely defies convention
in a way that every iconoclast, especially musical ones, dare to every
chance they get. After such an illustrious career, it's evident that
Liebman has earned the right to cherry pick his projects and
challenges. Lineage, his project with drummer Michael Stephans, is
just that kind of project.
Billed as "rock and pop classics
revisited," Lineage is actually a project long in coming. Liebman
and Stephans talked about the idea a few years ago and started
compiling a wish list of possible songs. Gven the trajectory and
complexity of Lieb's career, they never got the chance to pull it
off. Still, like all interesting ideas, it hung around and never
really faded out of view.
In 2010, the idea resurfaced. Lieb,
with Stephans, guitarist Vic Juris, Bobby Avey on keys, Evan Gregor on
bass, and woodwinds guru Matt Vashlishan began working on them the way
a baker kneads hunks of dough. The list of potential covers, begun
years back by Lieb included several of their favorite songs from the
50s and 60s by artists like Elvis, the Ventures, and, of course, the
Beatles. Song titles emerged: "Love Me Tender," "Wipeout,"
"Woodstock," and "Walk, Don't Run," among others.
Then the deconstructions started. Lieb
and company cracked chestnut after chestnut, and watched the shells
fly. Down goes "Mr. Sandman," re-harmonized in classic Liebman
fashion. The same goes for "I Only Have Eyes for You," the vocal
classic popularized in the 50s by the Flamingos. The Beatles'
"Eleanor Rigby" is less loose, but equally bewitching, fueled by
Liebman's soprano sax and a lovely counterpoint arrangement by Evan
Gregor. A funky take on "Tequila," a song Liebman admits led him
directly to the saxophone, is playful and rousing, but in a way only
vaguely reminiscent of the original. In every case, the band breaks
down these songs, the way Rodin destroyed his sculptures, with panache
and irreverence at the same time; treating the material roughly, while
also stroking it gently as one would a temperamental
animal.
Produced by Liebman and Stephans,
recorded at Tommy Tedesco's Tedesco Studio and mixed by Marty
Mellinger at Cross Keys, the recording, on the Whaling City Sound
imprint, falls at a beautiful and logical crossroads of Liebman's
careerŠin which he is comfortable enough to go "pop," inventive
and mature enough to deconstruct songs with wit and imagination, and
entertaining enough to make sure he doesn't leave listeners on
either the pop or the jazz sides behind in the process.
Excerpts from recent biographical
information from Dave's website:
Liebman presently serves as the
Artistic Director of the IASJ and is Artist in Residence at the
Manhattan School of Music, NYC. He has consistently placed among the
top three finalists of the Downbeat Critics Poll since 1973 in the
Soprano Saxophone category, gaining the top place in 2011 as well as
placing first in the Jazz Times Critic's Poll in the same
year.
From 1991 through 2012, the Dave
Liebman Group featuring guitarist Vic Juris toured and recorded nearly
20 CDs, ranging from jazz standards to Puccini arias, adaptations from
the John Coltrane and Miles Davis repertoires, as well as original
compositions in styles ranging from world music to fusion and free
jazz. Over the past several decades, Liebman has often been featured
with top European musicians such as Joachim Kuhn, Daniel Humair, Paolo
Fresu, Jon Christensen, Bobo Stenson, Michel Portal, Wolfgang
Reisinger and Jean-Paul Celea among others. His reputation in Europe
led to big band and radio orchestra performances with the WDR in Koln,
Germany; Metropole Orchestra, Netherlands; "new music" groups
Klangforum, Vienna, and the Ensemble Intercontemporain from Paris,
Avanti from Helsinki, Finland playing music specially commissioned to
feature Lieb's unique soprano saxophone style.
Liebman has also been featured on close
to 350 recordings, of which he has been the leader or co-leader on
150. His artistic output has ranged from straight ahead classic jazz
to chamber music; from fusion to avant garde and world
music.
Lieb's published materials include a
wide variety of books considered classics in the field as well as
instructional DVDs and chamber music (Aebersold Publications, Caris
Music and Advance Music): Self Portrait of A Jazz Artist, A Chromatic
Approach to Jazz Harmony And Melody, Developing A Personal Saxophone
Sound, several of which have been translated into multiple languages.
Liebman's biography is entitled, What It Is: The Life Of A Jazz
Artist (Scarecrow Press).
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