| |
 Buy the CD or Digital
Download
RAPPORT
****
(Four Stars)
by L.M.
Plunge into the realm of the unforeseen when you drop
this jazz number down. Right off, the back cover photo gives you some indication of
what is to come: four youngish kids in rapper attire, against the backdrop of a
graffiti-smeared wall. The jacket, too, will give you a clue: among the instruments
is . . . an alphorn?
Rough, pure, clean; these are all descriptions that come to mind about
the CD as a whole. Plunge has a garage band edge to it; a kind of disciplined bebop,
humorous, chancy, yet all held together like super glue by the steady, unrelenting rhythm
section.
"Let the good times roll, man. I got ants in my pants and I
got to dance.: and off we go with this to guide us. The first cut, Wagdanz, is
energetic, with a film noir mood to accompany it. Were Mad magazine's "Spy Vs.
Spy" set to music, this might be a top pick for a backdrop.
Suddenly the ride lurches and rounds into a dark tunnel, and we find
ourselves gliding through 394, a whimsical, dreamy number, interspersed with what sounds
like a rapper's record "scratching," providing points of reference, and jolting
us out of our reverie.
The mood changes again with Beneath the Wheel, faster-paced still,
trombone and tuba immersed in a feverish, high-brow conversation that ends suddenly and
amicably. And picks up again with - the alphorn! - for all of 38 seconds, in
Reveille. Smooth, meditative; it feels like a refreshing daydream, stolen while the
boss went to get coffee.
But don't get too comfortable, 'cause there's a triple loop
roller-coaster ride just around the corner. Dog reminds us not to get too
comfortable, as we're thrown into sounds of the electric guitar [actually elec. trombone]
a la Jimmy Hendrix. Oddly, though, it seems fitting and appropriate.
All in all, this one's without a doubt worth the price of admission.
It's good to find artists like Plunge who are not afraid to take chances, and who
invite us to do the same.
|
|
