Myron Walden's 'Momentum'

Saxophonist Myron Walden, who is known mainly for his alto playing, switches to tenor on Momentum, the first of three records Walden is releasing over the course of the next few months. The music on Momentum is inspired by 1960s Miles Davis, but bound with more rhythmic cohesion, and with a heartier helping of soul.

Unlike Davis’ explorations with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter, Walden’s band never quite finds itself steeped in such unresolved tension. This is in part thanks to Davis, whose music traversed mysterious bridges, making them less daunting for today’s jazz musicians to cross. Walden enters similar territory with a clearer sense of direction, sacrificing trailblazing tumult for the ability to bring about more finely tuned moods.

Walden and trumpeter Darren Barrett play keening melodic arcs in “Longing,” in a cyclical way reminiscent of much of the material on Nefertiti. But there’s a boiled-down simplicity that makes it less disorienting.

The introduction of soulful hard-bop elements also gives Momentum something to grasp while first becoming acquainted with the album’s melancholy musings. “Vision of a Visionary” involves a dry, propulsive pulse over which a languid and bluesy melody is draped, arriving at an odd-meter apex consisting of exclamatory jabs among the horns. “The Road Ahead” is similar in feel and in its undertones of Lee Morgan and Horace Silver.

Momentum is an album that invites the listener back, precisely because of this counterbalance of the settled and the agitated, the risky and the sureness of traditional references. Walden’s stirring improvisations mirror the compositional parity. To loquacious lines that reflect the current trend of saxophonists bubbling over with harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic ideas, Walden brings a wise, patient, and homespun approach.

Release Date:
November 17th, 2009 on Demi Sound Records

Personnel:
Myron Walden – Tenor Saxophone
Darren Barrett – Trumpet
David Bryant- Keyboards
Yasushi Nakamura – Bass
Kendrick Scott – Drums

Track List:
Of Three Worlds
The Road Ahead
Pulse
Vision of a Visionary
Miles
When Time Stood Still
What Goes Up Must Come Down
Longing
Like a Flower Seeking the Sun
Memories
Carnage
When Time Stood Still (alt)