''Obbligato'' is the third album by American jazz drummer

Tom Rainey Tom Rainey (born 1957) is an American jazz drummer. Career After attending Berklee College of Music he moved to New York in 1979. He has played with Tim Berne, Nels Cline, Drew Gress, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, Simon Nabatov, T ...

, which was recorded in 2013 and released by

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. 16. In the ea ...

. He leads a quintet with the same lineup as the collective LARK quartet (Rainey on drums,

Ralph Alessi Ralph Alessi (born March 5, 1963) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and ECM recording artist. Alessi is known as a virtuosic performer whose critically-acclaimed projects include his Baida Quartet, with Jason Moran, Drew Gress, and Nashee ...

on trumpet,

Ingrid Laubrock Ingrid Laubrock (born 24 September 1970) is a German jazz saxophonist, who primarily plays tenor saxophone but also performs and records on soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. She studied with Jean Toussaint, Dave Liebman and at the Guildh ...

on sax and

Kris Davis Kris Davis (born 1980) is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Early life Davis was born in Vancouver in 1980 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She studied classical piano from the age of six and discovered jazz while a high school student. She ...

on piano), expanded by

Drew Gress Drew Gress (born November 20, 1959) is an American jazz double-bassist and composer born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in the Philadelphia area. Biography Gress studied at Towson State University and Manhattan School of Music. In the late ...

on bass. The album features a selection of standards, most of them taken from the

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" i ...

.''Obbligato''
at Intakt Records

Reception

The ''

Down Beat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' review by Peter Margasak says that "The most satisfying quality of the session is hearing the band members expertly blend together, suggesting the agile and empathic lines of West Coast jazz applied to fuzzy melodic shapes."Margasak, Peter. ''Obbligato'' review. ''Down Beat'' April 14: page 56. Print. The

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

review by Troy Collins states "Though unconstrained by formal concerns, the musicians always maintain some key aspects of the underlying structure of each piece, be it melody, harmony or rhythm. Such awareness of the tradition enriches the depth of their interpretations, making ''Obbligato'' one of the most persuasive modern recordings of established standards in some time."Collins, Troy
''Obbligato'' review
at

In a review for ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growt ...

'', Lloyd Sachs notes that "While the melodies are sometimes minimized, sometimes disguised, they always illuminate the core of the tunes."Sachs, Lloy
''Obbligato'' review
at ''

Track listing

# " Just in Time" ( Jule Styne) – 3:10 # " In Your Own Sweet Way" ( Dave Brubeck) – 6:16 # " Long Ago and Far Away" (

Jerome Kern Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...

) – 5:13 # "Reflections" (

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

) – 5:21 # " Secret Love" ( Sammy Fain) – 3:25 # " Prelude to a Kiss" ( Duke Ellington) – 7:56 # " Yesterdays" (Jerome Kern) – 6:10 # " If I Should Lose You" (

Ralph Rainger Ralph Rainger ( Reichenthal; October 7, 1901 – October 23, 1942) was an American composer of popular music principally for films. Biography Born Ralph Reichenthal in New York City, United States, Rainger initially embarked on a legal career, ...

) – 4:58 # "

You Don't Know What Love Is "You Don't Know What Love Is" is a popular song of the Great American Songbook, written by Don Raye (lyrics) and Gene de Paul (music) for the Abbott and Costello film '' Keep 'Em Flying'' (1941), in which it was sung by Carol Bruce. The song was ...

" ( Gene de Paul) – 6:59 # "Just in Time Again" (Jule Styne) – 2:36

Personnel

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

– sax *

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

– bass *

– drums

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Intakt Records albums Tom Rainey albums