ROSWELL RUDD AND THE MONGOLIAN BURYAT BAND -- BLUE MONGOL (Sunnyside Records, 2005)
Roswell Rudd: trombone, mellophone, and scat singing
Battuvshin Baldantseren: throat singing, limbe (flute), ikh khur (horse head bass), khomus (jaw's harp)
Badma Khanda: vocals
Dmitry Kalyaeva: lochin (dulcimer), khalmyk dombra (lute)
Valentina Namdykova: yatag (zither)
Coming on the heels of "Malicool", Roswell Rudd's very enjoyable collaboration with Malian harpist Toumani Diabate, I had to wonder when I first heard about this one: Was Rudd becoming like a Ry Cooder of jazz, playing with various world musicians as some sort of interesting gimmick?
Listening to thirty seconds of any cut on this album will dispel all notions that this is some kind of gimmick. This is a superb album, even better than Malicool. The group is terrific, the music is beautiful, and Roswell is magic.
The band of Mongol musicians are both fully steeped in their native folk traditions and are academy trained, and they manage to bring a sophistication to their playing in a way that does not diminish the authenticity of the traditional music, their soulful and beautiful pentatonic folk melodies, voicings and harmonies. It is their traditional music that serves as the framework for the album -- Roswell usually functions like some kind of musical leprauchaun, materializing unexpectedly and working powerful magic whenever he appears.
I wasn't do too much analyzing on this, my first listen. But a few quick comments on some of the cuts that stood out:
Djoloren -- a song by Malian Oumou Sangere, rendered gorgeously on Mongolian instruments in such a way as to highlight the bluesy feel of the piece and of the sound of the ensemble. As with fado, there is a powerful affinity with the blues here. (Think of the late Paul Pena, and 'Ghengis Blues'.) Well into the piece, almost 5 minutes in, Roswell comes in like the blues incarnate, and articulates the blues that the music had been suggesting, he shows what was inherent in the music that made it sound bluesy.
Four Mountains -- the closest the album comes to a blowing session, between the throat-singer hitting simultaneous highs and lows while Rudd provides and supple fat middle. Rudd sustains his inventive and playful improvisations while the overtone-singing gives way to the horse-head bass and the Jaw's Harp, making for an exciting and delightful romp throughout.
Buryat Boogie -- Buryat, from which the group takes its name, is a Mongolian ethnic group. This piece is a good-time string band boogie. The strings are a horse-head fiddle and a Monglian zither and lute, but the feel is unmistakably Appalachian. Rudd contributes some scintillating scat singing to this one.
The Leopard -- an ravishingly beautiful traditional ballad. About two minutes into it comes a totally alien and wondrous sound. It takes a few moments to realize it is Rudd's trombone, being played as though it were a traditional Mongol instrument. Stunning!
There are many other delights on this album, including a medley of traditional American tunes and a wonderfully lyrical final cut by Rudd. But, before we get into more specifics, I just wanted to heartily recommend this to all. Yes, folks like me who dig jazz-world music fusion will have to get it, and people who dig Asian music will find this is a must-have (the band is really great!). But I'm recommending to all because one of the masters of modern jazz, Roswell Rudd, is playing with so much life, originality, excellence annd joy that I think all jazz fans need to listen up!
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