Jazz musician, composer, and bandleader Michael Marcus is known for his superb work as a multi-instrumentalist, but in 2007 he made a bold decision: he laid down his wide array of horns and turned his focus to the B-flat clarinet. The clarinet has an illustrious history in jazz, and in the days when Benny Goodman reigned supreme, the clarinet was the sound of jazz. In recent decades, however, the clarinet has turned into the Cinderella of the jazz world: woefully neglected, but once cleaned up and put center stage, she is undeniably the belle of the ball.
But there's another change afoot with Marcus: although he has played the freest of free jazz (his collaborations with Jaki Byard and Sonny Simmons immediately come to mind), on his new CD For Yes!, he chooses not to. This doesn't mean Marcus's beautiful sense of freedom has disappeared; on the contrary, it is now sharpened and refined, and in the service of Marcus's exploration of the traditional quartet/quintet format. Marcus is keeping alive one of jazz's essential flames, and he is doing so by infusing it with the spirit of his considerable avant-garde oeuvre.
A wonderful aspect of this CD is that most of the songs sound like standards, whereas in fact all the compositions are originals by Marcus. Take for example "Mojo Breakfast," a clean, jaunty melody with simpatico frontline work by Marcus and trumpeter Lenwood Turner. Marcus's solo is warmly intricate, with stratospheric forays reminiscent of Pee Wee Russell. The tune is full of juice and joy, held up by an architecture of discipline and economy reminiscent of classic Blue Note recordings. The other songs on the CD are equally compelling, full of generous solos by Marcus, Lenwood, and bassist Rashaan Carter, not to mention John Austria's fine work on Rhodes piano.
After a long career with much hard work and much beautiful music, Marcus seems to have reached another level. With the help of the clarinet, he is coming into his mature voice, full of confidence and ease. And at the risk of making any kind of statement about the "current state of jazz," it seems that Marcus is part of the happy marriage emerging between the traditionalists and the avant-garde. There are two magnificent streams within this music, and the combination of their strengths is an exciting prospect. For Yes! is a step forward that leaves no one behind, and it's also one of the most thoroughly enjoyable albums in recent memory.
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