aaamusic | On 12, Jul 2013

Aztec Jazz, Tom Russell’s latest album is a collaboration between the American singer-songwriter and the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, recorded live in concert in Halden, Norway. Russell is highly regarded for his songwriting skills, his diversity of subject matter and his contribution not only to the music world, but also to art and literature. Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac and Richard Thompson spring to mind when his low voice, fast vibrato, half spoken vocal lines and American folk stories fill the ears.

And so it was that ‘Love Abides’, the first track on the album took me completely by surprise. Having said this I am not entirely sure what I expected to hear from an Americana singer-songwriter and a national wind ensemble but it certainly wasn’t an introduction beginning with solo bassoon, followed by fruity crush chords across the winds with quite abrupt harmonic changes leading into Russell’s entry.

Initially I wasn’t entirely convinced that the two musical forces worked as well together as they do individually, but as I heard more of the album I started to revise my opinion. The latter tracks do seem to have an enhanced energy in comparison to the first few and I wonder if this is due to the musicians warming into the concert situation. It sounds like it took a good couple of songs for the atmosphere to settle into a comfortable place to allow creative juices to flow and for the musicians to let go of any inhibitions.

It is also worth noting the audience reaction throughout the album, which becomes more and more enthusiastic – especially after ‘Stealing Electricity’ in which the rhythmic drive is enhanced by the wind ensemble and vocal breaks (with audience participation) are very effective, and ‘Mississippi River Running Backwards’ where there is further interesting rhythmic interplay between Russell and the ensemble (the trumpet stabs are particularly powerful). The more upbeat tracks work really well and the energy between Russell and the wind ensemble in the above two tracks is astonishing. I particularly enjoyed the harmony and use of trumpets in ‘Goodnight Juarez’, a song about poverty in the Mexican city; effective arranging on the part of Swedish composer Mats Halling to create the sound of a Mariachi band (“The Mariachi horns are sad, the guitars can’t make a sound”).

This is in contrast to the slower songs such as ‘Nina Simone’, which feel a bit over the top in places. The arrangements could come across as a bit too clichéd – the wind ensemble parts seem to over-emphasize moments of tension and climax in Russell’s songs which makes for a rather cheesy film music sound. However, it seems that he was happy with the effect: “The results were beyond our dreams. Sometimes it sounded like Western movie music and sometimes it called up Miles Davis’s ‘Sketches of Spain’.” – Tom Russell

It is an album which certainly gets better with time but I wonder if it would have been enough to keep the collaboration to the live concert rather than making an album of it as I think much of the energy and the atmosphere could have been lost, and it doesn’t hold the charm I imagine the live concert to have had. In general, I would prefer to listen to Tom Russell and his songs on his earlier albums. Having said this I think it is important for artists to push the boundaries of genre and experiment with other musical styles, and in this respect Aztec Jazz serves as an interesting exploration into new sounds.

★★★★★

Heather Ryall