Album review: Charles Chen - Building Characters (Cellar Music)

Charles Chen (piano); Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugel); Bob Sheppard, Lawrence Feldman (tenor sax); Mike Richmond (bass); Adam Nussbaum (drums).

In his notes Chen explains the concept of the album. It's too complex to go into detail - I'm not quite sure I understand the denouement myself - but basically he's paired jazz legends with other legends that grabbed his attention from fiction, myth and anime.

Kismet has nothing to do with Borodin or Vic Damone but refers to one of Chen's good buddies of that name and is a beautiful and meandering ballad played with only bass and drums. Anything else would have killed the feeling.

Zhong Fei, Fierce Warrior draws inspiration from one of the characters in Romance of the Three kingdoms along with John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner. The tenors slug it out, Brecker more restrained, Chen hitting on a Tyner groove with bass and drums 'doing' Reggie and Elvin.

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is described as a postmodern nod to Italo Calvino and Wayne Shorter. Brecker is lyrical, not pushing the boundaries too far. Very effective, setting the scene for one of the tenors followed by the leader's piano - reminiscent of Herbie when he played jazz.

Colossus of Rhodes has Chen switching to Fender Rhodes after Brecker and one of the tenors take a few. The switch is significant as the inspiration is sourced from Hancock and Metheny. Apt (ish) title.

Alice in Wonderland, arranged by Chen, is one of only two non-originals. The inspiration is drawn from Bill Evans and Chick Corea and, possibly, the White Rabbit. The horns are sent packing and it's left to piano, bass and drums to create  the magical mood. 

Straw Hat. There are some strange bedfellows in these pairings! This is where Straw Hat Luffy meets Horace Silver doing the boogaloo. The groove is in. It's a 12-bar. It's a slam dunk for these guys to cut it.

Soph, Aeon of Wisdom was a divine being in Gnostic cosmology and Brecker pays worship on flugel, Chen feeds the myth with tasteful respect and Sheppard brings a degree of light to the dark solemnity of it all.

Stardust. Sheppard's gentle reading of the verse over Chen's chording brings piano, bass and drums into play. He covers all the bases when he cites fellow pianists Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal and Gene Harris as the inspirational forces. The prolonged coda suggests maybe Freddie Chopin could be added to the above list (Liszt?).

There's a lot of good listening and it's well worth having a punt. Check it out on BANDCAMP. Lance