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Review: Josh Roseman Unit/Treats for the Nightwalker
I have just bought Josh Roseman Unit/Treats
for the Nightwalker off Napster (the new LEGAL Napster, where you
pay for songs...) and subsequently have ordered Cherry
from CDBaby, and I have to say the last time I heard music so stirring was
when a certain motley crew with names like Zawinul, Shorter and Pastorius
were breaking ground in the 1970s and 80s.
I have just bought Josh Roseman Unit/Treats
for the Nightwalker off Napster (the new LEGAL Napster, where you
pay for it!) and subsequently have ordered Cherry
from CDBaby, and I have to say the last time I heard music so stirring was
when a certain motley crew with names like Zawinul, Shorter and Pastorius
were breaking ground in the 1970s and 80s.
Roseman assembles rich textures, funky sounds, layered harmonies and
thobbing trance-grooves with diverse instrumentation and one of the best
collections of talent one could likely find on planet Earth - or beyond
(track 1's Organ Invocation offers a Sun Ra channeling session that
reqcquaints everyone with our favorite interplanetary traveler). As we
listen, scents as diverse as Ra, Bob Marley, Chicago, Common, TOP, Weather
Report and George Clinton waft through the room.
This is not to say that Roseman is not a monster trombonist. His 'bonistic
abilites rival anyone who has come down the pike; his toolkit is potent
indeed. But what is unique is his approach to solo composition: every
element of his playing is aligned towards a greater goal of telling a
musical story or completing an idea. There is no marking time, no genre,
no trademark licks; just a pure essential sound that is in the deep end of
the groove and the fast current of the song.
His playing and the compositions are inseparable, and yet his individual
sound is undeniably identifiable...
In short, Treats is more than a
snack, it is a rare 10-course meal of epicurean delights from the cosmos.
Dig (in).
©2003, Joe Jackson. All rights reserved.