A Girl Named Joe

Chris Cheek

Cheek’s original music is prominently displayed in this set of challenging yet appealing pieces. Featuring an impressive band with a unique instrumentation. This session features Cheek and Mark Turner on tenor sax, guitar wizard Ben Monder, Marc Johnson on bass and Jorge Rossy and Dan Rieser on drums, which showcases the communion between the pairs of doubled instruments, and Cheek’s improvisational and compositional talent as well. “Cheek deserves praise for this intelligent set of creative, original music” (Bird Jazz Magazine).

Tracklisting:

1. Slide
2. September
3. Arctic Barbeque
4. Lowered
5. Late Green
6. Plant Dance
7. A Girl Named Joe
8. Then
9. Siege
10.Water Mile

Recorded in New Jersey, 1997


Reviews:

"Chris Cheek takes a bold step forward with this all-original date. With two tenors (Cheek and Mark Turner) and two drummers (Jordi Rossy and Dan Rieser), the instrumentation is somewhat unusual. Guitarist Ben Monder and bassist Marc Johnson complete the lineup. Johnson is an excellent choice, given the rock leanings of "Arctic Barbecue" and "Plant Dance," the dark folk elements of "Lowered," and even the country traces of the title track. With his own groups, Johnson has flirted with precisely this sort of eclecticism. Cheek's compositions, like Johnson's, are tuneful and surprising, full of moves you wouldn't expect from a jazz player. Perhaps it's his middle-American upbringing coming to the surface.

On the jazzier side are Cheek's waltzes "September" and "Siege" and his closing 6/4 chart "Water Mile," which features probing solos from the two tenors. Monder's playing on every number is strong, as usual, not least on his own "Late Green," the album's most radical track and the only one not written by Cheek.

By David R. Adler (All Music Guide)

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