From June 2001 Issue of DC's SnapPop!
Daniel
Clarke - Danny C's Musical Review (Courthouse)
BANG!:
Fan-rific!
Daniel
Clarke
has developed a rep as a local jazz phenomenon with promising keyboard
chops as well as arrangement and composition skills. The word "prodigy"
has been thrown around a bit, too. But that's a word that's worn
out from being bandied about so much. You've got to play to prove
the point. Prima facie evidence for this encomium is the first few
bars of Clarke's rendition of Bill Withers' "Let Us Love." Handling
piano and vocal with ease and skill, Clarke leads the Old Dog New
Tricks ensemble (one of six different groupings on the album) through
a spirited run on this soul classic. Colin McEnearney adds some
nice solo guitar, too.
The
list of covers is nicely catholic: Withers, John Prine, Nat King
Cole, Tadd Dameron, Paul Simon, John Sebastian, Wayne Shorter, James
Taylor, Billy Preston, Sly Stone, and Stevie Wonder are all paid
respectful homage here (the later three on a triptych composed of
equal parts "Dance to the Music," "Will It Go Round in Circles,"
and "I Wish.") Clarke is given co-composition credit on "Mullets."
Which
leads to the one big regret: for such a talked-about local talent,
it would've been nice to have heard more of his own compositions.
"Mullets" is a good, solid piece of soul, inventive in its bass
and guitar riffs, with nice touches of funky organ from the co-writer.
On the other hand, it's miserly to carp when that's followed by
a quietly scintillate interpretation of Prine's "Angel From Montgomery,"
with a full-voiced, haunting vocal from Maria DeMaio, backed by
Clarke's gospel-style piano.
Clarke's
vocalizing comes on again in another Withers' cover, "Grandma's
Hands." Nice doesn't do it justice. It sounds like he got so far
inside the song that he tapped into a range of feelings that you
don't expect to hear from a 20 year old -- feelings like the bittersweet
taste of regret mixed with laughter. Clarke follows this up with
some solid, screeching organ work on "Dance/Will It/I Wish." T.
C. and the Hot House Band (led by his father Tommy) play it like
they want everyone in the room to get the funk off their chairs
and shake it like they just don't care or something. And from the
sound of it, that's what the audience at the Cultural Arts Center
in Glen Allen, VA did.
-- Andrew Williams
|
Daniel Clarke, "Danny C's Musical Review," (Courthouse) - Much of the music included in this fine project is not my usual musical cup of brew, but it would be criminal to say this recording is anything short of astonishing. Recorded live in June 2000 during two shows at The Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, the CD features an amazing group of 21 musicians led by monster keyboard player Daniel Clarke, a Virginia Commonwealth University music student, and his cohorts display an enormous versatility as they cover jazz and funk tunes byartists ranging from Nat King Cole
to Wayne Shorter to Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder, as well as folk/pop tunes by Paul Simon and John Sebastian. Moving from Jazz ensemble settings to acoustic-based trio arrangements to frenzied group orchestration, Clark and his musical crew stir up a groove and an energy that both swells with dynamic tension and lies back with and easy-chair touch. Cut to cut, this thing jumpswith surprises, and by the time the band concludes both the players and listeners are exhausted and exhilarated by the wild ride. This is a truly inspired recording from a powerful group of players and a gifted bandleader with a bright musical future.
- A.A.
