Tom Caraher - Tenor Saxophone
Paul Dunlea - Trombone
Darragh O'Kelly - Fender Rhodes
Barry Donohue - Electric Bass
Shane O'Donovan - Drums
Saxophonist Tom Caraher should be counted with note among the many Irish Jazz musicians who deserve far wider recognition. A childhood partly spent in The United States, and then subsequent study with seriously-heavy Jazz musicians such George Garzone and Hal Crook at Berklee School of Music, makes Caraher a valuable asset to the Irish Jazz milieu. One might well envisage him as some form of oddly-hatted Jazz monk, via his new album Ninety Degrees, delivering the dhama of contemporary fusion saxophone playing to us, the pleading folk of far away lands.
Like many monks before him, Caraher went into deep isolation to conjure the six compositions which constitute this recording; five of his own and an arrangement of The Beatles tune Michelle. A remote banana stand in Kerry proved to be the ideal location, and when he emerged with potassium-filled explosive energy he surely knew precisely the players that he would need to realise his writing. Drummer Shane O’Donovan, bassist Barry Donohue, and pianist Darragh O’Kelly (heard here on the Fender Rhodes electric piano) do an outstanding job laying down a varied palate of grooves, and when joined by Paul Dunlea, whose solos always contain a pleasing undercurrent of wry whimsy, Caraher’s tunes seem to focus and direct the ensemble’s energy neatly.
The title track Ninety Degrees begins with an intro like the morning sun rising over a gently undulating golden wheat field of electric bass and fender Rhodes. When Caraher enters with the melody its is with a wide vibrato and no fear of a little sprinkling of Contemporary Jazz romanticism. I like it. It is a very good thing. Firstly as a child of the late 20th century, I feel it is nice to hear this style of playing retroactively come back into fashion a bit of late, and secondly it is simply a warm musical gesture that allows listeners into the music notwithstanding any prior Jazz exposure. The saxophonist reminds me somewhat of some of the 90s Bob Berg recordings here which I personally covet.
My personal favourite track on the recording is the third, entitled Call the Cops! O’Donovan really takes this broken shuffle feel outside and gives it a good talking to. The rhythm section here bring the scent of Medeski, Martin and Wood to my mind before we get two of the best horn solos on the record from Dunlea and then Caraher in turn. Dunlea is in particularly good form on this take, with snapping staccato punctuating satisfying 8th note lines that structure melodies that felicitously read the energy of the tune. The title of the tune is surely a reference to the almost TV theme-like nature of the main melody. It is yet another thing that makes this recording fun. There is a palpable sense of joy about the whole session, which unto itself is worth the price of admission.
Michelle is another really solid take. I would happily buy a whole record of The Beatles’ songs in odd times (especially if it was all on Moog). O’Kelly, having forgotten his Moog, nevertheless sounds killing on the Rhodes in his solo, the epitome of “not sweating it” with a gentle build throughout. Perhaps slightly more so than all the other takes, the horns feel like they have the ensemble playing well balanced here with a good sympathy between the two of them. All in all: another banger.
It is great to see Tom smash out such a solid recording. It is a work with a lot of stylistic intent, and it is well evident that he has spent a good deal of time planning the compositions and crafting them to suit the direction he wanted to take the music. It is music that will appeal to any listener that likes a little funkiness on their spork. Buy two copies: one for yourself and one for your weirdest uncle. He will dig it.