Martin’s Answer & Puente Remembered

Jazz Fest ended two months ago, but great CDs by New Orleans artists are still coming out. Case in point: the debut from Peter Martin. For years, fans and fellow musicians asked the much in-demand jazz pianist when he would put out his own CD as a leader. With The Answer, his recent self-produced record, Martin heeds the call.

Born in Florida and raised in St. Louis, the 29-year-old first moved to New Orleans a decade ago to work with trumpeter Marlon Jordan’s band, a gig which eventually led to associations with Mark Whitfield, Betty Carter, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves and other major jazz figures. In 1995, Martin, along with bassist Chris Thomas and drummer Brian Blade, formed the backbone of Joshua Redman’s quartet, which, with the release of the acclaimed Spirit of the Moment: Live at the Village Vanguard, became one of the busiest and most influential touring modern jazz groups in the world.

Since the end of 1997, when that incarnation of Redman’s group disbanded, Martin has had the opportunity to become more of a fixture on the local scene. He’s also participated in some interesting side projects, such as 4-Sight, a collaboration with drummer Greg Hutchinson, saxophonist Ron Blake and bassist Rodney Whitaker (the same group that, along with Martin, backed trumpeter Roy Hargrove for a stint in ’94). Their ’98 release on the now defunct N2K label was exceptional in that it featured all original compositions that touched on many styles, including pop and R&B, enabling it to cross over into “smooth” territory without becoming bland and boring.

Despite all this experience, it wasn’t until this year that Martin felt ready to “put out a record that really represented me, that was something really enjoyable for a jazz fan to listen to,” he says.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a big rack of CDs, and you make a choice. You put on what it is that resonates with you, and I know I keep coming back to certain records, and I started thinking about why. It wasn’t really a stylistic thing. I mean, most of the stuff I’ve got is jazz, but I’ve got a lot of classical, a lot of pop stuff, you know like Stevie Wonder, and the themes that run through all that is this kind of organic directness with the music, and making a statement from the beginning to the end, a really rich, resonate statement. That’s what I was looking for with this record, and it wasn’t until recently that I felt that I had learned enough.”

On The Answer, Martin succeeds in making a cohesive statement, but much of the inspiration for this achievement came from an unexpected source: Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. “It just so happened that while I was writing this music, I was reading this book of his, Los Versos del Capitán, that I had lying around by the piano,” he says. “It’s a bunch of love poems written to his wife at the time, really beautiful stuff. I love the flow of it, the rhythm of the verse. I didn’t set out to write music to match it, but as I was writing, I’d go and read some, and then I’d write some more music. When I thought to give it titles, I realized how much I was influenced by reading this stuff, so most of the titles are derived from that, especially this one poem called ‘La Pregunta,’ which means ‘The Question.’”

“La Pregunta” is the first tune on the record, followed five original tracks later with “The Answer,” which resolves many of the melodic and harmonic themes introduced earlier. The final track, “Theme from Blow Up,” is an obscure, though eloquent, composition by Herbie Hancock, one of Martin’s primary influences. Throughout the program, Martin, along with fellow young hot shots Brice Winston on tenor sax, bassist Roland Guerin and drummer Adonis Rose, plays with the kind of consistent intensity and grace associated with much older players.

In fact, it’s difficult to discern that this is a piano-led session, since the other musicians, especially the rapidly ascending Winston, play such a strong, defining role. “For a minute I thought about switching it up and making it more of a pianists’ record,” says Martin. “I was like, ‘Let me do some more solo piano, let me do some more technical stuff so people will know I’ve got a lot of chops.’ But I decided against all that. I tried to subordinate all the personnel decisions and who plays what where to what’s going to make the best record. It features my music, but from a performance standpoint, it really features everybody.”

This collaborative approach is perhaps most evident on “The Infinite One,” a soulful, 11-minute excursion at the center of the record. “I think that tune has the most emotional weight,” he says. “It’s kind of the meat of the record in a lot of ways. There’s some spiritual, emotional highs, in terms of everybody’s playing, and there’s a lot of interplay between the musicians. We only did it in one take, and at the end there were a couple of things that didn’t go exactly the way I would have planned. In fact, it almost falls apart at one point. It’s like, we took some unexpected turns, and the places we went were so much more exciting.”

“The Infinite One” was one of the highlights of Martin’s record release performance at Snug Harbor on June 10. With Jason Marsalis on drums instead of Rose (who was out on the road with Nick Payton, his regular gig), the quartet took their time and had plenty to say. On piano, Martin displayed his clean, fluid style that retains a tangy bite. He’s able to groove hard even as he plays soft and pretty, evoking a dreamy, romantic atmosphere that never diffuses into abstract nonsense.

Other highlights included “The Unusual Suspects,” which, with Marsalis playing bare handed on his kit, took on a sublime, strutting blues quality. Later in the second set, reedman Victor Goines (who was recently appointed director of the new Jazz Studies Department at the Julliard school in New York) joined in on tenor sax for a few songs, including a zesty version of Monk’s “Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues Are.”

Martin hopes to lead similar gigs in the future, both locally and abroad, but recognizes that scheduling with these busy musicians will be a challenge. “The problem with getting guys that are so good is that they’re so in demand you can’t really count on them until you’ve got enough work,” he says.

Puente Remembered

By now, most people know that Tito Puente, the renowned Latin jazz bandleader and percussionist, died on May 31 at the age of 80 (his exact age is disputed somewhat). After six decades in the business and over 100 records, the “The Mambo King” had an immeasurable impact on twentieth century music from this hemisphere, and will not be easily forgotten by the bulk of music fans, including this writer.

For the September, 1996 issue of this magazine, I had the pleasure of interviewing the master timbalero as he prepared to bring his big band to House of Blues for a two night stint. He spoke with great humor and the same infectious enthusiasm that is so evident in his spicy, danceable jazz. Seeming to possess more energy than most teenagers, he talked rapidly about many of his plans for the future, including a Latin-meets-New Orleans session which, had it occurred, could have yielded wonderful results.

“For my next album, I was thinking of doing a New Orleans Dixieland thing or something, with a tuba,” he said. “You know, get the bongos and the congas in there, too. But I have to analyze that a little more, you know? I have a lot of records that I buy down there and bring them back with me and listen to. The music, it’s beautiful.”

When I asked him if he had any intention of slowing down or taking a break, he said, “No, I haven’t thought of that yet… The only thing I feel like I would like to do is to be the first Latin jazz orchestra to play on the moon in the year 2000. And leave my timbales up there. Something like that.”

(Contact Jonathan Tabak via e-mail: [email protected])