ART BADEN

HOW MUCH OF IT IS REAL?

Rainy Days Records

Art Baden, tenor saxophone/bass clarinet/flute; Jay Anderson, bass; Jeff “Tain” Watts, drums; Joe Locke, vibraphone/keyboards.

This ensemble opens with a tune born from a composition assignment Art Baden was given at the Herbie Hancock Institute by Hancock himself.

“This piece went through cycles of revisions,” Baden, a Russian-born tenor sax player, shares in his liner notes. “Evolving its melody, arrangement and title, the fourth section of the composition resolves its overarching themes. As I was finalizing the title, discussions with peers and mentors sparked my interest in life cycles and soul reincarnations, inspiring the name “4^th Cycle” for this piece.”

Baden’s music reflects a tumultuous time in his young life.  This period included the pressure of music study, complexities of interpersonal relationships, missing family and friends, the tumultuous shifting of global landscapes, and an awakening to the beauty of things beyond music.

The young reedman was hugely impacted creatively by drummer and mentor, Ralph Peterson. He played in Ralph’s notoriously excellent big band. Sadly, Ralph died during this album production-time.  So did another one of Art Baden’s idols, Wayne Shorter.  They both passed away around the same time that Baden lost a close cousin. Sometimes, these types of traumatic grief experiences can spark and instigate creativity.  Music can become an outlet for emotional overload. Art Baden started composing like crazy.

One of the singles that dropped from this album was “Chaotic Neutral,” which perhaps musically describes some of what Baden was feeling during this challenging period of his life.

He has contracted a group of all-star bandmates.  With Art Baden taking the lead on tenor saxophone, and sometimes on bass clarinet and flute, he has also composed and arranged every tune for this ensemble to play. Jay Anderson is on bass. Jeff “Tain” Watts smacks the tempos into place on drums, and Joe Locke, plays a mean vibraphone and sometimes keyboards on this project.

During a tune called “Animal Intelligence” Jeff “Tain” Watts soars during a power-packed drum solo. I was touched by the emotion and sincerity I hear from Baden’s horn on a ballad he penned called, “Real People.” Anderson makes a bold statement on double bass during his solo.

This is an album that tickles our brain with its title that philosophically queries, “How Much of it is Real?”  At the same time, this project looks for answers inside the compositions that Baden has written and arranged. These musicians take on his questions with untethered excitement.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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