Graham Reid | | 1 min read
Cry Me a River
More than a decade ago when reviewing trumpeter/flugel player Kim Paterson's album The Duende we noted that for someone who has been so important in New Zealand jazz he was sorely under-represented by albums under his own name.
In fact back then in 2012 we couldn't think of another, besides the one in hand.
Paterson's name may be more familiar to wider audience now because he was in the innovative band Dr Tree whose sole album from was given a vinyl reissue last year to great critical acclaim.
Paterson was also in the bands Space Case and Jazzmobile whose albums are worth discovering and in more recent times has played with Gianmarco Liguori.
The Duende, which featured Mike Nock, Nathan Haines, Murray McNabb and others – a roll call indicative of the esteem in which he is held – was an excellent album but it has taken a dozen more years before another with his name up-front, this one with Fender Rhodes player Ventling.
Recorded at Paterson's home a year ago, the nine pieces find the duo using standards (How Deep is the Ocean, You Stepped Out of a Dream, Bemsha Swing, Cry Me a River and others) as the basis for their conversations which can be gorgeously languid (Spring is Here where Paterson invokes the spirit of brighter days with hints of a fresh breeze) or quirky (Ventling's slightly funky pointillism which opens the backdrop on All the Things You Are).
Thelonious Monk's Bemsha Swing in two distinct parts – a bluesy composition which spins off in various unexpected directions – allows both parties a very free range of interpretation: Paterson cleaving close to a melancholy melodic line in the first part then Ventling laying down a more funky rhythm in the second which allows Paterson a more assertive voice in their conversation.
Joe Henderson's lovely ballad La Mesha gets a superb, slow and almost mournful reading by Paterson as Ventling provides a warm and sympathetic sound bed with unexpected punctuations behind the lonely expressionism.
It closes the album which has opened with a similar emotion on the standard Moon and Sand.
In passing we might note that this fine album shares a title with the guitar and bass album of 2023 by Dixon Nacey and Kevin Haines, two other local players who – like Ventling and Paterson – are separated by decades but also manage to find something to say in their conversations.
We need to be able to eavesdrop more on such dialogues between fine players such as these.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here
We also profiled Kim Paterson at audioculture in 2019. See here.
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