Respect in Yule
Christmas Must Be Tonight (Robbie Robertson) 6:38
Suddenly It’s Christmas (Loudon Wainwright III) 1:45
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (Frank Loesser) 4:25
The Lamb (Sir John Tavener) 8:42
Sevivon / I Have a Little Dreidel (Traditional / Mikhl Gelbart, Samuel Goldfarb) 7:10
Bopin’ Around The Christmas Tree (Ted Poor) 1:50
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Jule Styne) 6:17
Hypochristmutreefuzz (Misha Mengelberg) 5:39
A Spotless Rose (Herbert Howells) 8:38
It’s Christmas Time (Alton Abraham, Sun Ra) 4:36
A Merrier Christmas (Thelonious Monk) 2:16
The Respect Sextet
Eli Asher: trumpet, toys
James Hirschfeld: trombone, toys
Josh Rutner: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, toys
Red Wierenga: piano, Hammond organ, toys
Malcolm Kirby: bass
Ted Poor: drums, bells
With Guests:
Marco Cappelli, electric guitar (10)
The JACK Quartet (2, 4)
Ensemble Signal (9)
Brad Lubman, conductor (9), tympani (2,5)
Respect In Yule promises to be among the most fun and eclectic holiday albums ever – the album ranges from introspective to ecstatic, from the popular to the obscure, the sacred to the secular.
In choosing the repertoire, The Respect Sextet wanted to pull together some of their favorite holiday music from all genres and view them through Respect-colored glasses. Featuring compositions by Misha Mengelberg, Loudon Wainwright III, Frank Loesser, Robbie Robertson (of The Band), Thelonious Monk, Jule Styne, Sun Ra, and many more, Respect In Yule represents the best of all possible worlds!
A truly unique holiday release that is bound to appeal to new music, jazz, improvisation, and … holiday music audiences alike.
They are joined by guests from the new music and improv world: the JACK String Quartet, Ensemble Signal with conductor Brad Lubman also hitting the tymps, and guitarist Marco Cappelli.
Their previous CD on Mode Records, Sirius Respect: The Respect Sextet plays the music of Sun Ra & Karlheinz Stockhausen, was called “one of the most compelling recordings of the year” by the Wall Street Journal, “one of [2009]’s under-the-radar jazz gems” by the Boston Globe, and Newsweek magazine proclaimed: “LOVE IT”.
Reviews
There are bits of recognizable yule music on this disc, but they’re embedded in completely crazy cocoons of sonic fuzz. (The virtuosic breakneck cover of Misha Mengelberg’s “Hypochristmutreefuzz” is just one of 11 titillating tracks.) The Respect Sextet, formed 11 years ago at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, opens with “Christmas Must Be Tonight,” a heavy, funky bass-and-drum intro yielding to feral tenor sax and Hammond organ solos, with trumpet and trombone accents. Christmas music is not the first thing you’ll think of, but listening to the original version by The Band was a long holiday tradition for pianist Red Wierenga’s family, so here you go. The sextet segues into a short, frenzied party number by Loudon Wainwright III, “Suddenly It’s Christimas” and then suddenly it’s time for the slow dance and some wonderful low-key playing. Next up is a cover of John Tavener’s “The Lamb.” A great bass solo starts this gentle chaos of a song, which adds wacky strings to the streusel. With “Sevion/I Have a Little Dreidel,” the sextet’s plodding dirge accelerates to cacophony and some remarkable playing by Wierenga and others. The band’s “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” is nothing less than splendid screaming anarchy. More adventures follow, including the closer, Thelonious Monk’s “A Merrier Christmas.”
— Paul Weidman, Pasatiempo (New Mexico), 21-27 December 2012
Il gotha degli autori italiani di musica da film, periodo fine anni sessanta inizio settanta, riunito in questa incisione dal chitarrista Marco Cappelli che, con quei film e con quella musica, è cresciuto, sognando praterie sconfinate, cavalieri intrepidi, surfisti spericolati impegnati in evoluzioni sotto lo sguardo ammiccante di ragazze mozzafiato. E naturalmente le chitarre dei Beach Boys e di Dick Dale come colonna sonora.
E’ quello che succede in The American Dream che non è una italica versione della surf music californiana ma un’idea che recupera alcune perle musicali da film come “5 Bambole per la Luna d’Agosto” e “Danger: Diabolik” di Mario Bava, “Il Buono, il Brutto e il Cattivo” di Sergio Leone, “Sesso Matto” di Dino Risi, riproponendole sotto una luce assolutamente inedita. I temi rimangono fortemente connotati, con ritornelli difficili da dimenticare ma i tre musicisti hanno dalla loro la consuetudine ad andare oltre la superficie, a frullare gli elementi con inventiva ed ironia, a stravolgere i luoghi comuni.
Ci troviamo così difronte ad una proposta musicale che funziona autonomamente, fortemente connotata dalla creatività del trio, a prescindere dal legame solido e affettuoso con i modelli originali. Prendete “The Sundown/San Antonio Mission” dal citato film di Leone, brano che evoca sì paesaggi western ma conditi da una visionarietà che flirta con l’avanguardia e con il folklore mediterraneo. Oppure il rockabilly sbarazzino di “Cinque bambole” tramutato ritmicamente e timbricamente in un spiritato convegno di amanti del bel canto. Ma è “Sesso Matto” la traccia che incarna al meglio lo spirito della registrazione. La voce di Gaia Mattiuzzi si sbizzarrisce in evoluzioni orgasmiche su una ritmica funky che pompa adrenalina a tutto spiano, con la risata prorompente quale miglior istantanea possibile di The American Dream.
— Vincenzo Roggero, All About Jazz Italia, December 2012
HOLIDAY albums marinate in consensus: given our fragmented age, songs of the season are probably the closest thing we have to popular standards. So it’s worth paying attention to the outlier that acknowledges the familiar but reaches for the obscure. RESPECT SEXTET, a mischievous and technically accomplished jazz combo, has struck that balance on “Respect in Yule” (Mode), one of the year’s most freethinking holiday releases.
There are a few chestnuts — like “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” — but the heart of this album lies in expeditionary versions of fare like “Suddenly It’s Christmas,” by Loudon Wainwright III, and “The Lamb,” by the British composer John Tavener. The band, whose roster is one-third Jewish, also delivers a keening pair of Hanukkah songs and soulful readings of lesser-known Christmas tunes by Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra. And then there’s Misha Mengelberg’s “Hypochristmutreefuzz,” which could be a Respect Sextet anthem. Expect to hear it in a show on Friday at Joe’s Pub. 7:30 p.m., Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 539-8778, joespub.com; $12 in advance, $15 at the door.
– Nate Chinen, The New York Times, 14 December 2012
