Larry McDonough and Off Beat
"Live, Cooking at the Dakota"
By Mike Raymond, WTIP-FM Jazz Director
"While jazz is holding its own across the country, it is no longer as prevalent on the airwaves and in nightclubs as it once was. Fewer radio stations carry a jazz format since it is no longer a popular music genre. It has fallen out of style with all but the most esoteric music listeners. Yet, new jazz music is still surfacing, as evidenced by prolific CD releases by new artists on small jazz music labels. In the Twin Cities, thanks to venues like the Dakota Bar & Grill, and The Artist's Quarter, the Minnesota live performance jazz scene continues to survive. Thanks to these venues young jazz players and little known artists are fostered and encouraged to prosper. Great jazz is played here. Major artists who pass through frequently inspire young musicians. It is refreshing and rejuvenating for the Minnesota jazz scene to find this caliber of jazz thriving in our small corner of the world.
When pianist Larry McDonough of St. Paul sits at the 88's and releases his inner vision, and explores his musical insight on jazz classics, the true nature of jazz as an art form is evident. Larry's dedication and inspiration with music comes from heroes like Brubeck, Tyner and Evans. The same explorations of mood, time and music flavor are exhibited by this young family man that earns his livelihood as an attorney for the Legal Aid Society in Minneapolis. McDonough has dedicated a significant portion of his life to music, and the music makes the rest of life sing too.
From jazz venues around the state, Larry has been booking his gigs and playing his art to anyone that will listen. Fellow musicians have taken notice. This past Spring Larry compiled some of his new material, which changes the time signature on familiar jazz classics, pop tunes and original works. This project, which he calls "music in odd meters", was the catalyst for the creation of Off Beat, a group of 4 accompanists to Larry's piano. The outstanding musicianship of trumpeter Phil Holm and saxophonist Jeff King, along with the cookin' rhythm section consisting of Bruce Heine on bass and Dave Stanoch on drums, fits perfectly with the sound Larry was attempting to create. The project culminated in "Live! Cooking at the Dakota", a compelling demo CD featuring the group's repertoire of slightly altered tunes that the listener will find recognizable, yet see them as inspired and challenging with their new meters and improvisations. How refreshing to hear someone molding a fresh sound in a rich jazz style right here in Minnesota.
Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train in 5/4" is a good example of this interesting take on jazz standards. The traditional A-Train melody remains evident and is expanded upon with personal expression that the time change facilitates, and which allows the musician to express and improvise with a freshness that this tune has not seen before. Other familiar but transformed tunes on the demo CD include Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" done as "Cantaloupe Island in 7/4", an old favorite "Linus and Lucy", and the classic orchestral piece "Adagio", made famous in the movie Platoon.
Off Beat hit the road and performed a concert in Grand Marais, Minnesota in May of this year, with trumpter Jeff Levine filling in for Phil Holm. Their unique musical style was received enthusiastically by the audience, as they were treated to jazz transformations like Steely Dan's "Aja" done as "Aja in 5/4, and other recognizable tunes with a new time signature and fresh vision. An original tune by Larry titled Tuscarora, named for a Gunflint Trail lake, was a hit with North Shore crowd.
Other tunes performed live included a McDonough original titled "Small Steps". It is a unique complementary image of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" that was recorded on Larry's previous solo CD also titled "Small Steps," and is included on this new demo CD. Larry describes it as "...written in response to Giant Steps, replacing giant leaps in melody and harmony with small chromatic movement. It incorporates elements of So What, String of Pearls, Stolen Moments, and Strawberry Fields Forever, with everyone trading 8's." This blending of echoes from other tunes is an interesting stylistic component of Larry's music.
I'm sure that jazz fans, and the jazz curious alike, will find the tunes on this demo CD "Off Beat, Cooking at the Dakota" interesting and inspired. Hopefully, these talented musicians will treat even more jazz fans to a live performance. They are inspired musicians that put out some very impressive original jazz. Maybe there is a rich jazz wellspring here in Minnesota. Larry McDonough and Off Beat certainly give hope to that idea."
