ALLAN BROWNE — Shreveport Stomp (review)

ALLAN BROWNE — Shreveport Stomp album cover Live album · 2011 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
Acoustic piano trios have been one of the more happening trends in recent jazz history, and while there was a sameness setting in for a while as too many trios seemed to copy the popular sound of the trend setting e.s.t., in recent years these modern trios have been showing a lot more variety, as well as a stronger willingness to push themselves into new musical territories. With this rise in creativity comes new challenges as aspiring pianists try to find ways to rise above the pack.

Although “Shreveport Stomp” is credited to drummer Allan Browne, this album is really all about up and coming piano virtuoso Marc Hannaford, not that Browne and bassist Sam Anning aren’t very talented in their own right, but Hannaford is the well deserved star of the show here. Marc has a strong jazz side, but after just a few minutes listening you can tell he is very comfortable with modern concert hall music too. One of the first things that hit me about Hannaford was that I thought I heard a strong element of 12-tone serialism ala Arnold Schoenberg etc. In fact Marc often sounds like a humorous unlikely mix of the abstractions of Schoenberg with the further jagged abstractions of Theolonius Monk.

Serialism is a composer’s style of music that uses math-like formulas to construct music in which all notes and rhythms share equal importance and any repetition of material is avoided. This process may sound cold and intellectual, but I’ve always found the piano music of total serialists such as Milton Babbit to be anything but cold or sterile. What is remarkable is that Hannaford can duplicate this composer generated style in an improvisational setting. The big plus with Marc is he makes all this sound fun, with plenty of deconstructionist humor and just plain bizarre takes on some tunes we may have heard before from Monk, Jellyroll Morton, Brian Wilson and others.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Charles Gayle / Milford Graves / William Parker : Webo Avant-Garde Jazz
CHARLES GAYLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sonic Creed Volume II : Life Signs World Fusion
STEFON HARRIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
My Ship Soul Jazz
WILLIE JONES III
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ice Breaking Post-Fusion Contemporary
DAG ARNESEN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lee Ritenour & Dave Grusin : Brasil Latin Jazz
LEE RITENOUR
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Cravo E Canela (Cloves & Cinnamon)
LEE RITENOUR
js· 3 hours ago
GoGo Penguin - From the North - GoGo Penguin Live in Manchester
GOGO PENGUIN
js· 14 hours ago
03 Willie Jones III My Ship #NightIsAlive
WILLIE JONES III
snobb· 1 day ago
Fall
SUNNY KIM
js· 2 days ago
Twilight
RANDY SCOTT
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed