By: Joe Lang
Aside from Al Di Meola's 1988 album Kiss My Axe, I'd never really heard Rachel Z play. Sure, I knew she played with Peter Gabriel, Di Meola and Wayne Shorter, so I knew she could obviously play, but I'd never heard her solo music. So last Friday, out comes Rachel Z rocking a Russian hat and a bright pink necktie. No joke. Perhaps coincidence, perhaps an effort to support female artists, the crowd seemed uncommonly populated by women—including a threesome of middle aged women sitting in front of the bar drinking fancy mixed cocktails and talking very LOUDLY. They decided it was a good idea (albeit, perhaps, an unconscious one) to not pay ANY attention to the show. I referred to the trio as "when Sex and the City grow old."
No matter. Rachel Z was at the Dakota supporting her new album, The Department of Good and Evil. Throughout the set, Z played several covers, standards, originals and originals that sounded like standards. But no originals that sounded like covers. Z started out with "Soul Mate's Body," a piece she remarked was mistaken as a standard by a woman who wanted a copy of the chart. It didn't really surprise me. The piece had a strong minor Cuban groove, and sounded a lot like Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue." The trio then played the slower "Under the Milky Way," from Z's new album. Shortly after, trumpet player Eric Naslund joined the trio of Z, drummer Bobby Rae and bassist Maeve Royce and they went into a slower melodic ballad jam. Naslund's playing is a double-edged sword. If you are looking for a Miles Davis clone, look no further. I've never heard a player conjure up Miles' phrasing, if not his harmonic language better than Naslund. But if you are looking for an original sound and voice, Naslund ain't the cat you are looking for, at least from what I can tell. Afterward, the group jumped into Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P.," and into a piece from the opera Lachme. The trio did a good job with the Shorter piece, but they probably could have picked a better piece than the opera—the head sounded almost exactly like "Take Five." I could do without ever hearing a cover of "Take Five." The trio's last two pieces were a wonderful melodic deconstruction of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb,” with Naslund playing out the Miles-esque (Milesque if you will) runs over the slow melodic landscape and Alice in Chains' "Angry Chair." The Chains piece sounded fine, but lame as I am, I don't have any reference. I've never heard the song.
After the set, I couldn't help but wonder If Z was ripping off the Bad Plus by doing so many pop cover tunes as jazz reinventions. After closely scrutinizing her discography, however, that impression was dead wrong. Z's been taking on pop tunes for years (way before the Plus' debut in 2001), which is, in my estimation, good for jazz. When listeners can latch on to familiar melodies and get into the piece, they aren't alienated. My thoughts: if you want to go see a jazz show that's accessible, yet provoking, Rachel Z might not be a bad place to start.
Location Info:
Dakota Jazz Club
Artist Info: Rachel Z
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