Street Culture
Paul Tobey
Arkadia Jazz
2000
9 tracks
This is conservative jazz. It's conventional and it's comfortable. What makes it stand out is not quirkiness or eccentricity but how extremely well it's done. As a composer and arranger, Canadian jazzman Paul Tobey excels. The songs on Street Culture would blend well into any set of standards. The performance is of the highest calibre and the production brings the talents of Tobey and his colleagues to centre stage, where they can shine.
In my opinion, production should never draw attention to itself. Production is not to show off with spectacular effects and electronic tricks but to provide a setting that best suits the performance. The performance on Street Culture benefits from just such a setting. The sounds are clear, sharp, and accurate. The instruments can each be heard clearly and the very effective stereo mix gives the sound an almost three-dimensional feel. Shut your eyes and you begin to feel you're at a stageside table listening to this wonderful quartet on stage.
The music sounds old. Not traditional necessarily, but old, like the jazz themes that pervaded television shows in the Fifties or were released, usually by jazz specialty labels, on so many wonderful albums in the Sixties. While there's a great deal of originality and inventiveness in these songs, they still have the comfortable feel of an old sweater on an autumn day.
As an arranger, Tobey seems to be able to maintain a level of objectivity which other arranger/performers might not. His arrangements are balanced, sharing out the lead roles to each of the four participants and allowing each to shine in his own right. And shine they do. Tobey is an accomplished pianist. He doesn't have that tendency some keyboardists have to want to fill every silence. His playing is restrained, filling the void where necessary but always leaving the music room to breath.
Tobey is blessed [or very clever] in his selection of musical partners whose skills are the equal of his own. The combination of Tobey on piano, Jim Vivian on bass, Terry Clarke on drums, and Mike Murley on tenor sax provides an ideal setting for his compositions. This may or may not be the ultimate jazz combo, but it's certainly the quintessential combo to present this music.
I must admit that I've always been a sax fan. Murley's cool solos on this release simply blow me away. What makes this release exceptional besides its overall high quality is the powerful individual performances by each of the musicians involved. Besides Tobey and Murley, both Clarke and Vivian make powerful contributions to this gem of Canadian jazz composition and performance.
This year, Street Culture received a Juno Award nomination for "Best Traditional Jazz Album." I would certainly recommend that anyone interested in what's happening in Canadian jazz today give Street Culture a listen. I have to wonder: if an artist comes out of the gate with a release this good, where can he go from here? It'll be interesting to find out.
For more information on Paul Tobey, including mp3 clips, pictures, and lots more, go to PaulTobey.com.
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