Album reviews

THE STANLEY CLARKE BAND Up (Mack Avenue) Bandleader and bass master Stanley Clarke follows his 2010 Grammy-winning album, The Stanley Clarke Band, with a suitably vigorous collection of mostly originals. In addition to stalwart bandmates Ruslan Sirota (piano) and Ronald Bruner Jr. (drums), Up features an imposing list of collaborators. The big-name guests are Stewart Copeland, Joe Walsh, and Chick Corea, but the diverse participants include a vocal choir and the Harlem String Quartet. So intent are these musicians on proving their virtuosity that the listener might wonder if Clarke were paying his performers by the note. The second track, “Last Train to Sanity,” doubles through its title as a sort of warning — there’s no turning back from the wall-of-sound wizardry that characterizes this song and those that ensue. Musical intensity and intricacy reach an apex with the only nonoriginal on the album, “Brazilian Love Affair,” which is dedicated to its late composer, George Duke. But the highlight of this album, somewhat paradoxically (considering the star power on display), is a series of three solo tracks on which Clarke alternates between acoustic bass and Alembic electric tenor bass. Elsewhere on Up, one can often feel as if the players are too insistent on proving their already-established prowess, but Clarke’s solo pieces come across as most impressive because they fully capture the bassist’s amazing finesse and subtlety. — Loren Bienvenu MEDESKI SCOFIELD MARTIN & WOOD Juice (Indirecto Records) Guitarist John Scofield’s ongoing collaboration with beat-minded improvisation trio Medeski Martin & Wood has always been about fit and balance. Beginning with A Go Go in 1998, Scofield gave MMW — a combo in which each instrumentalist is a soloist — another solo voice. But he’s also wise to the keyboard-bassdrums-rhythm-section side of the band. Juice is something like A Go Go in its retro ’60s material, its Latin influence, and its tight, insistent beats. This latest MSM&W collaboration has a distinctive pop flavor, pulling from Top 40 psychedelia and counterculture protest music as well as the soul jazz movement. Eddie Harris’ “Sham Time” runs on a relentless shuffle as Scofield seems to marvel at the melody, finding its flow and embellishing little. The guitarist shamelessly rocks out to a “Louie Louie” riff on the group’s original “Juicy Lucy.” The musicians play the Doors’ “Light My Fire” straight, sticking closely to the melody while amplifying the 4/4 beat. Scofield captures some of Morrison’s vocal style in his phrasing as well as some of the singer’s unpredictable emotion. Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” softens up the original’s militaristic beat with a reggae groove. Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’” is self-consciously reverent, with Medeski sounding church chords on organ and Scofield playing considered quotes from Dylan’s lyric. What happened to the groove? — Bill Kohlhaase