Graphic

Bill McHenry

4**** by All Music Guide

This second CD by Bill McHenry confirms him as one of the most original voices on tenor sax from the NY jazz scene. “A young saxophonist sets down the new sound coming from music schools and New York’s farm-team jazz bars: a hybrid of structure and free improvisation influenced by Ornette Coleman, Paul Bley, and possibly even Mr. McHenry’s influential contemporary, Mark Turner” said Ben Ratliff in The New York Times (01/13/00).

Tracklisting:

1. Not What It Seems - 2:47
2. Art/Omi - 5:02
3. Blocks and Dots - 6:01
4. Casi Te Amo - 8:33
5. Old Tune - 3:52
6. C Major Tune - 6:08
7. Eleven Eleven - 4:29

Reviews:

"Graphic is more compositionally varied and a good deal more laid back than Rest Stop, Bill McHenry's previous effort. Again, guitarist Ben Monder shares the front-line with the leader while bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Gerald Cleaver undergird the sonorous tenor/guitar blend with solid rhythmic interplay.
"Blocks and Dots" and "C Major Tune" are the album's most aggressive tracks. On the former, McHenry wails like a free jazzer but leaves plenty of space. On the latter, Cleaver provides a subtle, bouncy African flavor that pushes Monder and McHenry in unexpected directions during their respective solos.

The other five tracks are far more placid, beginning with "Not What It Seems," a slowly evolving, dissonant yet pretty opener. "Art/Omi" and "Casi te Amo" feature finely crafted melodies that recall the pop-like balladry of Keith Jarrett. "Old Tune" begins with McHenry stating the melody; Monder begins to flit around the theme with flurries of notes while the rhythm section slowly but surely eases into a defined groove. McHenry's tenor playing here is particularly subdued and tasteful. The meditative "Eleven Eleven" closes the record; Monder and McHenry solo simultaneously, bouncing ideas off one another as a slow swing tempo develops underneath.

More so than on his previous release, McHenry synthesizes the different aspects of his musical personality with profundity and grace."

— David R. Adler (All Music Guide)