Mike Mainieri: Crescent
May 13th, 2011 by gcunniff
“Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri is hardly the first jazz artist to pay tribute to John Coltrane, but he may very well be the first to do so accompanied solely by alto saxophone (the late Charlie Mariano) and double bass (German Dieter Ilg) — no drummer or pianist in sight. Mainieri says in his liner notes that most of the recordings here were first takes, unrehearsed at that, and indeed there is a sense of spontaneity throughout. But that seat-of-the-pants approach, rather than resulting in a chaotic mess, works to the musicians’ advantage, leaving them free to explore without worrying about precedents. Crescent manages to pay tribute to Trane by not trying to be Trane, and as such it stands as one of the more enjoyable nods to his creative example.” –All Music Guide