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 Roger Ebacher is an outstanding flautist and these two releases - 1998's
Flutation Device and 2000's Backyard Carneval - are standing monuments to that fact.Flutation Device finds him in a quartet setting with Sam Barrios on keyboards, Thomas Hebb on bass and Matt Taylor on drums. This is basically an album of jazz standards, superbly produced (and recorded) by Ebacher himself. Their rendition of "Footprints" is fresh, light and delicate. Ebacher's flute produces a beautiful tone that seems made for this music. "St. Thomas" captures the true vibe of the islands - a happy, joyous mood - with each member of the band contributing splendid solos. The opening minutes of "Beautiful Love" possess a forlorn quality but gradually develops into a real cooker. They end the set with a very funky version of "Willow Weep For Me". If you like jazz flute you'll love this album.  Backyard Carneval is somewhat less impressive if only because the songs (all
originals written by Ebacher) are simply not as strong as the standards that
appeared on Flutation Device. But while the melodies may be less than
memorable, the playing is no less spectacular. On this outing, Ebacher is
joined by Michael Shea on keyboards, Thomas Hebb and Paul Beaudry on bass,
Denny Pelletier on drums and Michael Wingfield on percussion. The entire
album sounds like a Caribbean party - it's the kind of jazz you want to get
up and dance to. It's heavily rhythm oriented and from that perspective is
very effective.Though these are two very different albums, they both contain superb playing by Ebacher and his bandmates and are both to be highly recommended. |
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