Tangria's Latest Greatest
Bruce Von Stiers
A short time ago I reviewed an album by the Tangria Jazz Group called Mebane's Eleven. It was an interesting and fun album to listen to. Now the jazz trio has a new album out.
The new album is self-titled and comes in at just under forty minutes for a playing time. There are seven songs on the album with two of those being original compositions.
The members of Tangria Jazz Group are Simon Rochester, Sheryl Mebane and Justin Hellman. Simon is on piano, while Justin is on bass. Sheryl is the erstwhile leader of the trio and its drummer.
Nature Boy is the first song. This song has been performed all over the musical spectrum from John Coltrane through David Bowie in both instrumental and vocal formats. Here, the trio makes good use of Simon's wonderful piano as the focal point for the song.
Bill Evans and other jazz musicians have done a wonderful job with John Carisi's Israel . The bass work by Justin gets a nice solo on the trio's rendition of this great song. But Sheryl and Simon both get a chance to shine at different spots in the song.
I am a huge Coltrane fan. One of my favorite pieces of his is Impressions. The trio does a really decent cover of this wonderful tune.
The next song is an original composition by Sheryl. The title, Teach Yourself To Live Elsewhere, might seem a bit strange. But the content of the song, with very strong and vibrant piano, almost feels like a story about telling someone to move on and get lost. The bass and drum work is also interesting and entertaining on the song.
A really busy tune is Isotope. This is a Joe Henderson tune that makes good use of Justin's bass.
Bamako Love Walk is another Sheryl Mebane original composition. It is a pretty cool tune that makes you want to do some definite head bopping, toe tapping, body swaying movements.
The album ends with a terrific rendition of the Wayne Shorter tune, Black Nile.
The Tangria Jazz Group is a very, very talented jazz trio. This latest effort by the trio is one that is definitely being added to my jazz collection.
Hear samples from the album on CD Baby, which has it for sale.
The web site for Tangria Jazz Group is www.tangria.net .
© 2008 Bruce E Von Stiers