Native Son

Following two successful big band projects—the swinging and swaggering Time Within Itself and Origin Suite—drummer-composer-bandleader Michael Waldrop has brought things down to a more intimate level on Native Son.

In some ways a return to his first album as a leader, 2002's Triangularity, a sterling piano trio outing which he reissued in 2019, Native Son finds Waldrop in an interactive piano trio setting, augmented by veteran percussionists Brad Dutz and former Weather Reporter Jose Rossy. Together, the percussive tandem lends a wholly distinctive quality to Waldrop's fifth recording as a leader.

"I love piano trios but timbrally-speaking it can get monotonous," he confessed. "So Brad really added a lot of timbral color, whether he was playing berimbau, bougarabous, pandeiro or doumbek. I wouldn't say that's completely unique, though. I like a lot of Eliane Elias albums, where she added percussion, like the ones she did with Nana Vasconcelos (1990's Eliane Elias Plays Jobim and 1993's Paulistana). But not a lot of piano trio albums add percussion."

A deeply affecting project that runs the gamut from the churning percussion-fueled title track to tender ballads, a slamming funk-laden number in seven and spirited tributes to masters Nana Vasconcelos and Elvin Jones, Native Son also serves as an introduction to the remarkable pianist Vasil Hadzimanov. While the Serbian musician is well known in his native country and throughout Europe (he has 12 albums as a leader or co-leader and over a dozen soundtracks to his credit), Western listeners may have only heard of him through his two fiery fusion albums released Stateside on the MoonJune label, which found him emulating Joe Zawinul's orchestral virtuosity on two electric keyboards. But here, Hadžimanov focuses strictly on piano in a sparkling display ranging from Bud Powell virtuosity to Bill Evans delicacy to Keith Jarrett spontaneity. "I was really thrilled with his interpretation of everything on the album," said Waldrop.

Setting the table alongside in-demand Macedonian bassist Martin Gjakonovski and the percussive tandem of Dutz and Rossy, Waldrop shapes the proceedings with his coloristic approach on the kit while navigating some tricky rhythmic terrain along the way. He explained that the genesis of this project came about from a trip he had made to Serbia several years ago: "My wife is Serbian, so we go to there once a year to visit her family. And I've been doing that since we were married. On one of those trips, I heard Vasil play with his fusion band in a nightclub in Belgrade, and he just blew me away. Meanwhile, I had written this tune while I was there in 2001—one of my more interesting tunes, at least harmonically speaking—and I called it 'Belgrade.' It was kind of an emotional reaction to Belgrade itself and I ended up recording that on Triangularity. And that's a really good version but I wanted to hear how somebody from Belgrade would play 'Belgrade.'"

Waldrop then proposed that he and Vasil do a remote collaboration on this song. "This was about 2022 and we were still kind of in the pandemic mode a little bit, so I thought a remote recording made sense. Initially, I thought I'd just post it on Facebook or something. I didn't have a plan for an album. So I sequenced myself playing piano and bass and then overdubbed drums on it, then sent the stems to Vasil. He played amazingly well on it and I was like, 'Wow!' Then I sent it to a bassist in Seattle, Chris Symer, and he put on his parts. Then it went on to Brad Dutz, who overdubbed his percussion parts at a studio in Kelso, Washington near his ranch about 40 miles north of Portland. And it sounded great. That is the only track on the album that was done remotely. The rest were recorded in two days last August at a studio in a suburb of Belgrade called Pančevo."

The collection opens on a meditative note with the churning title track, a 3/4 number with an underlying 4 against 3 feel to create a kind of M.C. Escher-sque polyrhythmic puzzle. Hadžimanov carries the enchanting melody on top while the percussive tandem of Rossy on djembe and Dutz on pandeiro and Senegalese bougarabous, in combination with Waldrop's insistent backbeat, creates a pulsating undercurrent for the pianist to ride on. Gjakonovski adds an outstanding upright bass solo on this multi-layered jam, and the leader unleashes a salvo on the kit near the end.

"Vasconcelos," a tribute to the aforementioned Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos of Pat Metheny and Codona fame, is a Waldrop original that he previously recorded in a big band incarnation on Origin Suite. Highlighting Dutz's berimbau playing, the driving tune shifts nimbly from 6/4 to 12/8 while also showcasing Hadžimanov's vibrant, cascading piano lines. Bassist Gjakonovski turns in an especially expressive solo here while the leader also opens up on the kit in some extended stretching near the end of the triumphant piece.

"Pythia: The Speaking Water" is a dramatic minor key ballad with some loosely interactive drumming by the leader. An air of mystery hovers over this pensive track intended to convey an ancient vibe. Gjakonovski delivers another resounding bass solo and Dutz adds touches of bowed waterphone near the end to enhance the Delphic vibe. "I didn't know that instrument before Brad introduced me to it," said Waldrop. "He has played that instrument on a plethora of soundtracks for movie and TV including many episodes of Star Trek Next Generation. Film and TV composers seem to want that instrument because it's so ethereal sounding."

The relaxed, mid-tempo swinger "El Vino," which previously appeared on Time Within Itself, is Waldrop's ode to his drum hero, Elvin Jones. Gjakonovski walks persuasively on this blues-tinged number as Hadžimanov delivers his most potent, straight-ahead solo of the set, referencing Herbie Hancock along the way. Gjakonovski also contributes another forceful bass solo while Waldrop executes some slick fills on the drum breaks. "This was the first track we recorded for this session," said the leader. "We had never played together before live and I was just trying to get the feel of it. We did a number of takes and ended up getting a good one. And they played blues great, but it's a little bit different than an American vibe, which I loved. After that, I was like, 'OK, I can really play with these guys.'"

There's a tinge of melancholy to the mellow "Belgrade," the Waldrop original that he had previously recorded on Triangularity and Origin Suite. Hadžimanov takes his time and delivers a thoughtful reading, beautifully capturing the heartfelt essence of the tune, while Dutz's use of doumbek and riq add a Middle Eastern flavor to the proceedings. "I requested that because Belgrade has a lot of Middle Eastern influences since it's the Balkans," said Waldrop. "Serbia was occupied by the Ottoman Empire for a period of time, so that's inherent in a lot of the music there. And I was trying to capture a little bit of the spirit of Belgrade by adding that middle Eastern percussion."

The hard-hitting, funk-laden "Bitter End" opens in 7/4 before morphing to 6/4 near the end, showcasing some spirited keyboard flurries by Hadžimanov along the way. The pianist then dials it back on the delicate and spacious "Still Life," a ballad that Waldrop had originally written in Munich in 1996 and later recorded in Origin Suite. Hadžimanov treads lightly into Bill Evans territory here while also summoning up the hauntingly beautiful vibe of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage." As Waldrop noted, "He's playing the melody, embellishing it slightly, but then he plays these left handed fills within it and I was like...'Wow!' I thought it was brilliant." Gjakonovski also turns in a lovely bass solo on this lyrical number.

The lone cover here, and one of two tunes (with "El Vino") featuring the piano trio sans percussion, is Alec Wilder's 1959 tune, "The Wrong Blues," which was also famously recorded by Keith Jarrett on his 1986 Standards Live album with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette. "That's totally the vibe we were going for," said Waldrop. "I love Jack and that trio. Everybody does. On that track they play the head and solo masterfully, but I felt the ending was perhaps a bit unclear. Then I heard a version of that tune with Sandra Dudley, who's a really fine jazz singer from Nashville that I've worked with before. And they had an ending coda on it which I believe is Wilder's original ending. So I contacted her and I basically took their arrangement and did a little alteration to the last four bars and put my own end to it."

Their easy-going, loosely swinging interpretation of this Wilder classic brings Native Son to a close with a genteel exclamation point.