Oakland, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Patois Records) - Wallace's recent placement in DownBeat Magazine's "Critic's Poll" has gotten the word out about his virtuosity as a trombonist, and on The Nature of the Beat, (available digitally now; hard copies out August 19 on Patois Records), we hear him stretch out on an eclectic mix of tunes. Latin classics such as Besame Mucho find their place next to jazz standards like Fascinatin' Rhythm, here recast in a afro-cuban timba style. In addition to four Wallace originals, the disc features tunes by Earth Wind & Fire, Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, and Gerry Mulligan, all reframed in Wallace's scintillating Latin arrangements. Wallace's enduring love of Afro-Cuban music brings us another soul-stirring disc that celebrates the universal rhythm of life. As Wallace puts it: "The lure of the drum is difficult, if not impossible, to resist."
The Nature of the Beat is the second part of a trilogy that began with Wallace's critically acclaimed 2007 album The Reckless Search for Beauty. Both discs highlight the multi-faceted nature of his musical vision by bringing together three genres of music from the Americas - Jazz, Latin Jazz, and R&B - and joyfully celebrating their interconnectedness. The disc opens festively with Mis Amigos, a Wallace original that features bristling percussion, energetic vocals, and sparkling brass lines. Fantastic solo turns by Wallace, Melecio Magdaluyo on alto sax, Frank Martin on synthesizer, and Louis Fasman on trumpet increase the excitement. On Jeru, a Gerry Mulligan tune from Miles Davis' groundbreaking album The Birth of the Cool, Wallace pays tribute to the sound that eventually came to be known as both "Cool Jazz" and "West Coast" jazz. Wallace slightly changes Mulligan's recipe by substituting Post Horn for French horn, and Wagner Tuba for Trombone; in honor of the composer, Ron Stallings takes a beautiful bari sax solo here. The Earth Wind & Fire hit Serpentine Fire receives an ingenious re-working from Wallace and Michael Spiro in a hard-grooving homage to the brilliance of E.W.F. and its leader/drummer Maurice White, whom Wallace got to watch first-hand in the studio while playing on the E.W.F. album "Touch the World." To honor the themes of universal love and mystical spiritualism that E.W.F. embraced, Wallace presents a tri-lingual version of the song, with lyrics sung in English, Spanish, and Yoruba, a West-African language. Wallace takes a blazing solo here, while vocalists Claytoven Richardson and Orlando Torriente sing with soulful exuberance.
Yet more connections are revealed in Wallace's brilliant treatment of George Gershwin's iconic tune Fascinatin' Rhythm. Gershwin was a musical polyglot whose oeuvre spanned popular songs, classical music, jazz, and musical theatre. Fascinatin' Rhythm originated as a show tune that jazz musicians quickly adopted, and here, Wallace reframes it as an ebullient and head-bopping Cuban timba. Wallace points out that Gershwin was inspired to write "The Cuban Overture" after hearing Afro-Cuban music in his visit to the country in 1932, so he says it is only fitting to "return the favor" and recast one of his tunes in this way.
Wallace's No Esta Complicado! is a tune inspired by his band mates, and the title is a bit of an inside joke: His fellow musicians often say that his arrangements are difficult, to which he replies that they aren't - thus the title. However, after Murray Low's blistering piano solo the brass section burns through what is clearly a devilishly difficult and complicated passage! The fire continues to roar as John Santos takes a brilliant solo on the timbales. The classic Mexican song Besame Mucho, written by a girl not quite sixteen, has captivated many a performer with its poignant romance. Wallace offers a sumptuous arrangement and takes a gorgeous solo, highlighting his lyrical abilities on the horn. Wallace revisits the work of Herbie Hancock (another musical chameleon) by turning his tune Come Running to Me into a mid-tempo, funky cha-cha that references Hancock's "Watermelon Man", which was also a cha-cha. John Worley takes a lovely turn on flugelhorn here.
Ray Charles, yet another musical great who was at home in numerous styles, had a huge hit with Unchain My Heart, which Wallace transforms here into a simmering timba-funk tune. Saxophonist Ron Stalling trades in his horn for gritty vocals and is backed up by a high-powered choir that sings the chorus in both English and Spanish. It is a more than fitting tribute to this king of American music. That Walk is a hard-swinging original by Wallace and John Santos that is based on Afro-Cuban folkloric music with some Jazz and Funk thrown in for good measure. The disc's closer, Oshumare, is an homage to the Rainbow God of Yoruban/Nigerian folklore. The rainbow is a universal image of hope, and this touching and grooving song is a beautiful affirmation of the healing power of music. Indeed, Wallace is known to many in the business as "The Doctor", and clearly he is out to do his part to heal our souls.
San Francisco native Wayne Wallace has a long and distinguished resume that includes three Latin Grammy nominations and an N.E.A. grant for jazz composition to write a three part suite entitled "Digging Up the Roots" that reflects the diverse musical cultures of the San Francisco Bay Area. While noted for his prowess as a performer, producer, arranger, and composer, he is also active as an educator, teaching at institutions such as Stanford University, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Antioch College, as well as numerous workshops in the US and abroad. His own teachers included Julian Priester, Bobby Hutcherson and Will Sudmeier. In addition, he also studied at La Escuela Nacional in Havana, Cuba, and continues to travel to the culturally rich island nation as both an educator and student. His independent label, Patois Records, has released critically acclaimed CDs by artists including Kat Parra and Alexa Weber Morales.
