Artist: Tobin Mueller
Album: Standard Deviations, Vols. 1 & 2
Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Fusion
Origin: USA
Released: 2018
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Tracklist:
- God Bless the Child / What a Wonderful World
- St. Louis Blues
- Eleanor Rigby
- Birdland / Long Distant Runaround
- Moanin' / Blue Monk
- After Hours / Monk's Point
- Cool
- Take Five
- Straight, No Chaser
- Take The "A" Train
- Autumn Leaves
- Stardust
- Am I Blue / Summertime
- Moon River / Somewhere over the Rainbow
- Georgia on My Mind
- Sophisticated Lady
- Fly Me to the Moon
- The Way You Look Tonight / The Nearness of You
- Secret Love
- My Funny Valentine
- Rhythm Medley: It Don't Mean a Thing / Fascinating Rhythm / I Got Rhythm
- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes / People
- Where Is Love
- A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
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"Standard Deviations" takes a fresh look at the greatest Jazz Standards of the 20th century. These unique arrangements combine jazz, funk, blues and post-bop harmonies, letting one melody "deviate" into another, showing how many of these definitive tunes are related. 33 songs are woven into 24 tracks over 2 discs.
The arrangements are hip, modern. The players are superb; their solos both surprise and satisfy. The recording is clean and exhilarating. The song list displays a breadth of influences and excellence that can be played over and over again.
Instrumentalists include: Grammy winning guitarist Paul Nelson (Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Paul Nelson Band); Mueller's long-time collaborator saxophonist Woody Mankowski (The Muller's Wheel, Come In Funky, Rain Bather); bassist Kenny Cash (After the Rush); percussionist Lamar A. Moore (Lettuce, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe); and drummer Mike Nappi (J Geils Band, The Orion Experience). Tobin Mueller is on all keys (pianos, synths, organs) as well as occasional hand percussion, etc.
Volume One (disc 1) features uptempo takes on the most requested ensemble classics of all time: "Take the 'A' Train" (this version, however, is hard-bop fusion), "St. Louis Blues" (funk-blues), "Straight, No Chaser" (conceptual piece) and "Take Five" (a 'simple' drum-piano duet). In addition, Mueller combines the newer standard "Birdland" (by Weather Report) with a progressive rock classic "Long Distant Runaround" (by Yes) to create an unexpected high energy masterpiece. His moody-emotional arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby", combined with Mankowski's soprano sax and Lamar Moore's driving congas, captures the desperate longing behind the Lennon-McCartney lyrics like nothing before. Combining "God Bless the Child" with "What a Wonderful World" brings new meaning to each of these timeless tunes. Blues takes on "After Hours" and "Moanin'" that both morph into famous Monk tunes ("Blue Monk" and "Monk's Point", respectively) feature some of the best playing. An atypical big band version of "Cool" (West Side Story) fills out the first disc, reminding the listener of Mueller's theater roots.
Volume Two is more chill, featuring quieter arrangements of the greatest vocal ballads of the swing era and beyond: "Summertime", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Georgia on my Mind," "Fly Me To the Moon", "Stardust", "Autumn Leaves"... more. Although Mueller's acoustic grand is the central instrument, he frames many of these pieces with vintage electric pianos and synths, B3 organ, prepared and altered acoustic pianos, generating a wide variety of textured settings. Each track is more cleverly crafted then the last. Mueller weaves "The Way You Look Tonight" into "The Nearness of You" with loving grace (with the help of drummer Mike Nappi.) Mankowski's sax solo on Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" is the height of elegance. The Rhythm Medley, combining "Fascinating Rhythm", "I Got Rhythm" and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" not only displays Mueller's talent as a pianist but his oft-cited ability to meld genres into a new sounding whole. The same could be said of his medley combining "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" with "People", although this one is more toward the Chopin side of things. Disc 2 is over an hour long; there is much to mine!
The album is produced by Factory Underground Studio's Kenny Cash. His previous achievements in the worlds of Hip Hop, EDM, Alternative, Rock, Soul and Gospel helped shape the sound and style of this collection. All arrangements are by Tobin Mueller.
In a way, "Standard Deviations" becomes an extension of Mueller's "Masterworks Trilogy" ("Flow", "Of Two Minds", "Impressions of Water & Light") - in which he used his jazz chops to reimagine the likes of Bach, Chopin and Debussy. "Standard Deviations" could be considered its fourth installment.