WILL BOYD
“And make a joyful noise unto the Lord. . .” Will Boyd, you make me enthusiastic about listening to new music again. Not since the advent of Anthony Hamilton or Bruno Mars, have we experienced such an eclectic combination of Black music styles wrapped up into the Soul Jazz sound.
REVIEW – SOULFUL NOISE
“And make a joyful noise unto the Lord. . .” Will Boyd, you make me enthusiastic about listening to new music again. Not since the advent of Anthony Hamilton or Bruno Mars, have we experienced such an eclectic combination of Black music styles wrapped up into the Soul Jazz sound.
SOULFUL NOISE is a musical rapture into the sounds Will loves the most: Blues, Gospel, and Jazz.
Spending some time on the Chitlin’ (Chitterling) Circuit, has allowed Will Boyd to wittingly marinate such flavorful sounds into this tasty stew we have right here.
Starting with dots and dashes of Tabasco and funk—Hard Bop, Straight Ahead and Swing skillfully makes its way into this soulful ingredient, in a sly way that Will Boyd could.
This is definitely new innovative stuff, but if we had a time-capsule that could transport Will’s contribution back to the days of Jazz Masters like Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Art Blakey and McCoy Tyner; Will Boyd’s SOULFUL NOISE would have been viewed as a futuristic piece which would fit in with nicely with the things the Masters were doing at the time; with the sense of its’ own progressive flair.
This quartet of studious heavy hitters is definitely making its’ rounds as a ‘young gun’ on the come up for sure. Will Boyd’s use of Woodwinds is very impressive.
Boyd’s selection CHARIS had me locked and loaded from the start; strapped into the chair—as it were; for the adventure. . . Just pure magic.
There are very few albums where a person is captivated from the first composition to the last…but this one is definitely it.
Boyd’s use of various woodwind instruments puts flutter, airiness and a spacious feeling to Jazz.
In CHARIS Will’s use of the flute, delivers a spatial relationship to the quartet in this composition whilst still providing a traditional Jazz sound. The sound of butterflies and romantic rapture is evident in this arrangement.
HIS EYES IS ON THE SPARROW is a spiritual interlude on soprano sax of Will’s dexterity and devotion which is not overly-stated, but appreciated, Leading into the SPARROW POSTLUDE featuring Will Boyd on soprano sax, with the rest of the group as a soulful, Straight-Ahead excursion on an up-tempo cue—landing you back into a jubilant, spiritual sound.
LOW COUNTRY LULLABY delivers a Trane-like journey with Will leading the way on oboe/alto flute, with a bass-walk keeping stride; blowing out funk, aided by sophisticated keys on a spiraling flight and thunderous crashes on drums. You can get wisped-away by that flute. A very tasty tune indeed.
I was wondering when I as going to get hit with that Funky-Blues style that only Soul can bring—MOORE DIRTY BLUES sets it off in a Jazz way; with Will bringing it on tenor sax.
COMING DOWN makes no excuse for what it’s doing—it’s just a Funky way of delivering the Blues; with a fresh approach to Spoken Word element in Jazz. That flute is provocative, but the drums are “on the one” and the tune is swinging!
Talking about excursions for our folks, FUNGII MAMA has an African Calypso, Trinidadian sound and feel, peppered with dashes on soprano sax and a banging rhythm section that makes you want to get up and move your feet…limbo baby!
Whereas TANGO FOR BARB AND JANICE is an adventure into Tango, a music and dance recognized in Uruguay, where Big Bands and Jazz orchestras courted European immigrants—but originating from African Candombe and Cuban Habanera. . . But Will Boyd takes it elsewhere with modern Jazz embellishments, signature and tempo changes; supercharging the composition…intriguing!
We take a stroll with MR. MAC by means of a soulful bass-walk accompanied by a funky Blues-boogie with Will Boyd on baritone sax, with his stops and starts; giving us quite an excursion.
We have the devotion spiritual of STEAL AWAY – noteworthy of mentioning; along with BEAUFORD DELANEY, which is a brilliant blowing of hues on a delicate dance. A musical delight.
Will Boyd and the quartet are an accomplished group of current Jazz musicians, disciplined with knowledge and awareness of modern Jazz developments equipped with a knowledge of Jazz’s past.
Their innovative approach combines the two skillfully and seamlessly; similar to the past developments of the MJQ (Modern Jazz Quartet). Outstanding stuff!
Soul music, a variant of the Blues, is some penetrating heart-felt, soul-stirring stuff. It as had its’ lasting effect on Gospel/Spiritual music as evidenced on the legendary Sam Cooke and incomparable Mahalia Jackson. Jazz, America’s only true Classical music art-form, was birthed out of America’s social conditions upon people of color. Soul-Jazz is that classical interpretation brilliantly delivered by Will Boyd and company on this note-worthy accomplishment SOULFUL NOISE.
