Ximo Tebar: Celebrating Erik Satie (2009)

Celebrating Erik Satie represents a creative and stimulating selection of jazz arrangements and improvisations. Ximo Tebar is a respected guitarist and creative force from Spain who has taken the compositions of the eccentric, irascible, and innovative French composer and transmuted them into jazz ensemble performances. Tebar shakes things up while retaining enough straight-ahead jazz to appeal to the masses; it's no accident that "En Habit de Cheval" possesses a clear reference to John Coltrane's magnum opus, A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1964). Like Coltrane, Tebar is fortunate enough to have recruited other outstanding musicians who can implement his complex ideas.

The watchword of this album is "plays," with the implications of irony and humor, tinged with Chaplin-esque sadness that characterizes what Tebar and his ensemble, taking a cue from Satie, offer. Satie was an inventive, experimenting composer who influenced musical impressionism and minimalism, which in turn strongly impacted modern jazz. For a period of time, he played in cabarets in the Parisian district of Monmartre and wrote popular songs.

Tebar, however, is careful not to imitate Satie. Rather, he takes rhythms, extracts, ideas, and motifs from Satie's compositions, gives them ironic twists, and transforms them into his own and the group's thoughts and sounds. On "Gnossiene 3," for example, Tebar begins with an outer space, sci-fi movie intro, and then drifts off with his group into a relaxed, easy-going, straight-ahead set of improvisations. Then he adds a unique plunger mute "talking" effect on the guitar, which he makes use of periodically throughout the album.

Tracklist:

01. Gnossienne 3

02. Idylle
03. Gymnopedie 1
04. Embryons Desseaches
05. Croquis et Agaceries D'un Gros Bonhomme en Bois
06. En Habit de Chaeval
07. Airs a Faire Fuir 2
08. Veritables Preludes Flasques (Pour Un Chien) 2
09. Gnossienne 1
10. A Solas con Satie.
Personnel:
Sean Jones: trumpet;
Robin Eubanks: trombone;
Stacy Dillard: soprano saxophone;
Ximo Tebar: guitar;
Jim Ridl: Rhodes, synthesizer;
Orrin Evans: Rhodes;
Boris Kozlov: bass;
Donald Edwards: drums;
Ramon Cardo: soprano saxophone (1);
David Pastor: trumpet (1);
Carlos Martin: trombone (1)
Celebrating Erik Satie
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Ximo Tebar: Steps (2008)

Playing jazz guitar involves mastering the tradition laid down by the modern masters of the instrument from Montgomery to Metheny while applying those concepts to create an individual voice that expresses itself in a myriad of stylistic inventions, conceptions, and dimensions. The Spanish-born, New York-based guitarist Ximo Tebar meets all of the aforementioned criteria with the release of his latest Sunnyside release, Steps; an invigorating and engaging record date that demonstrates what the guitar can do in the hands of a master at the top of his instrumental, interpretational, and compositional game.

Tebar is backed by an impressive array of American and Spanish musicians: Acoustic and electric bassists Alex Blake and Boris Kozlov, Orrin Evans and Santi Navalon on Fender Rhodes and keyboards, drummer Donald Edwards, vocalist Ester Andujar, Ramon Cardo and Kiko Berenguer, on soprano and tenor saxophones, respectively, Stefan Braun, cello, and David Pastor, trumpet. With Tebar s fleet-fingered, pan-genre guitar approach, supported by an ensemble that effortlessly leap-frogs fusion, Latin, and straight-ahead contexts, this disc delivers an outstanding aural document that is, in the words of Duke Ellington, Beyond Category.

Well-worn standards like Henry Mancini s The Pink Panther, are rendered in a perky medium tempo, with a sly bebop quote from the leader, while several jazz classics are reincarnated with a zesty, twenty-first century sonic sheen. Wes Montgomery is given an impassioned and rhythmically intricate, Azymuth-style shout-out on Tebar s Four on Six For Wes, along with the title track; a sheets-of-sounds re-reading of John Coltrane s 1959 classic Giant Steps, a Latin take on lesser known Trane track from that same period, 26-2, and an electro bolero/bossa nova look at Wayne Shorter s Nefertiti. Tebar and his crew jump to the early seventies, and polyrhythmically resurrect the Herbie Hancock gem Actual Proof, originally released on the Hancock/Headhunters LP, Thrust. The Hancock vibe can also be heard on Tebar s original composition Zap, which can be described as a quiet-storm friendly bookend to Tell Me a Bedtime Story. And on Essential Passion, composed by the drummer Edwards, Ximo and his cohorts swing like a weather report predicting clear skies unencumbered by clouds of musical doubt.

Given the vast range of Tebar s artistic expression and experience, it should come as no surprise that he could create a recording of such complexity. Born in 1963 in Valencia, Spain, he first studied flamenco guitar at the age of seven. He turned professional ten years later, touring with his own group, The Ximo Tebar Band in Spain, Europe and America, and accompanied a number of prestigious jazz stars, including Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, Eddie Henderson, Tete Montoliu, Lou Donaldson, Jan Ackerman, Lou Bennett, and the late Louie Bellson. In 1989, he was a founding member of Big Band Jazz Europa, an ensemble consisting of twenty-two musicians from across Europe. In the nineties, Tebar toured extensively throughout Europe including Germany, Ukraine and Russia.

Personnel:

Ximo Tebar (guitar);

Stefan Braun (cello);

Ramon Cardo (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone);

Kiko Berenguer (tenor saxophone);

David Pastor, David Pastor (trumpet);

Orrin Evans (electric piano, Fender Rhodes piano);

Santi Navalon, Santi Navalon (keyboards);

Boris Kozlov (electric bass);

Donald Edwards (drums);

Ester Andujar, Ester Andujar (background vocals)

Tracklist:

1. Pink Panther

2. Four And Six For Wes
3. Zap
4. 26 - 2
5. Actual Proof
6. Nefertiti
7. Essential Passion
8. Steps
Steps
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Ximo Tebar: Eclipse (2006)

Spanish guitarist Ximo Tebar is clearly so enthralled with all forms of American jazz, he attacks it--excuse the mixed ethnic metaphor--like a hungry man at a smorgasbord. Though he tilts mainly toward bop and postbop in choosing his source material--there are pieces by Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter and an original tribute to Pat Martino--he's a dyed-in-the-wool fusion player who incorporates flamenco and Brazilian forms, adding electronics and scat vocals. There are times when his affection for pretty, synthesizer-enhanced melodies smacks of smooth jazz, but with vibraphonist Dave Samuels cutting some hard-swinging grooves and organist Rob Bargad pumping up the atmosphere, there's too much energy in the musicianship for it to linger too long in any soft spots. Tebar's guitar can take on an unusual toy-like tone, which makes his demonstrative dissection of Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" all the more interesting. --Lloyd Sachs

Personnel:
Ximo Tebar (guitar, synthesizer);
Ximo Tebar; Rob Bargad (piano, electric piano, organ);
Dario Boente (synthesizer);
Anthony Jackson (bass guitar);
Dave Samuels (vibraphone, marimba);
Donald Edwards (drums)
Tracklist:
01 Inner Urge
02 Martino
03 Mensaje
04 My Evidence (about monk and trane)
05 ESP
06 Ralladura
07 Eclipse
08 Pinocchio
09 One step ahead
10 Pure de patata
11 Tricotism
Eclipse
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