Bruce Arnold Trio
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Review of "A Few Dozen"
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By: Don Heckman
t's appropriate--given the new year, the new century, the new millennium, yada yada--that the January jazz releases include unusually pioneering efforts. Some come from established artists, some from relatively unknown new performers; all have compelling qualities.
The use of 12-note rows in jazz has popped up from time to time, rarely successfully, given the relatively non-harmonic nature of serial composition. Guitarist Bruce Arnold's new album, "A Few Dozen" manages to maneuver its way through a difficult musical thicket to produce some intriguing results. It's not clear to what extent Arnold has actually attempted to use the serial method of proceeding through a 12-note row (with its retrograde and inverted forms) as a fundamental element in the way he has structured the music. But, ultimately, what matters is the effectiveness of the results rather than the nature of the method. And Arnold's music--as performed by his trio, with drummer Tony Moreno and bassist Ratzo B. Harris--never loses its contact with jazz, even when both the linear and clustered sounds emerge in unexpectedly acerbic fashion. At the very least, he deserves credit for his effort to expand the potential of the jazz palette.
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Don Heckman / Los Angeles Times
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