Michael Mason Albums (5)
What The Critics Say
Like fellow Chicago indie Delmark, Southport has been great about documenting the sort of talented Windy City improvisers who are usually neglected by larger labels. Michael Mason is a perfect example; the flutist, who started recording for Southport in 1993 and was still signed to the label 11 years later, would be a hard sell at most major labels (at least in the United States). He is neither a well-known veteran like trumpeter Freddie Hubbard or saxman Wayne Shorter nor an Armani-suit wearing Young Lion -- Mason is a lesser-known veteran, and while that would tend to scare major labels away, it hasn't prevented him from building a catalog at Southport. Recorded in 2002 and released in early 2004, Signal is Mason's fifth Southport release. Signal isn't as essential as Angels of Fire (which is arguably Mason's most inspired album), but it's a solid post-bop effort that underscores the flutist's talents as both a composer and a soloist. Unlike so many straight-ahead jazz artists, Mason doesn't inundate listeners with overdone Tin Pan Alley warhorses -- actually, Signal doesn't get into Tin Pan Alley repertoire at all. Mason interprets Shorter's "Mahjong," but most of the album is devoted to his own compositions -- and he brings a healthy amount of spirituality to thoughtful pieces like "Turbulence," "The Pulse of Life's Heart," and "Amend." The word "spiritual" describes much of the post-bop that was recorded in the '60s and '70s, and Mason's work is quite mindful of that era; compositionally, his work owes a lot to post-bop explorers like Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner. Mason isn't innovative, but he's good at what he does -- and Signal is a respectable addition to the Chicagoan's Southport catalog. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A survivor of the Our Lady of Angels school fire in Chicago on Dec. 1, 1958 in which 92 children and three nuns perished and another 100 persons were injured, Mason, on this, his fourth session as a leader, dedicates music to those lost souls and people associated with the tragedy. This cathartic music stems from various areas: improvised jazz, folk, and ethnic themes or rhythms, and desperate, hopeful and sorrowful emotions. Mason's flute work has a dour quality; it is not at all bright or pretty, but rather lurks under a pure tonal center, and this is perhaps the intent, to illustrate the circumstances of this unfortunate event by remembering it in remorse-riddled timbres. Mason also plays electric keyboards in one-minute prelude setups for four of the pieces. The procession-like "A Touch of Rain" segues to "Courage of the Heart" as a soured flute and Ernest Dawkins' much more tonally in-synch alto sax lead the way. "Kingdom Come" is awash in Eno-type ambiance, leading to spirit dances "The Light, the Heat" and "Firefight," the latter piece with Scott Ashley's electric guitar evoking Irish jig or reel inferences. A spacy "Deep Atmosphere" is a prelude for the 5/4 unison dance between Mason's flute and Steve Berry's trombone during "Youth of a New Day." A swelling synth "Fire Dance" introduces the standout track "Brotherhood," replete with Scottish uilleann bagpipe drones from Sean Ryan which buoy a 5/4 to 6/8 dancing framework. In this composition, Mason's flute is more in tune and hopeful. The rest of the pieces stand alone. "Flame Front" is a 12/8 flute-trombone workout jam; "The Healing" is a ballad which finds Mason and guitarist Ashley in a reflective mood; and the seemingly highlife-influenced title cut and tranquil, optimistic finale "Children's Song" note vegetation and signs of new life growing from where the ashes lay some 40 years ago. An admitted primitivist, Mason's highly personalized music has raw edges. This was an important project to him, and to others who experienced the repercussions of the second most significant Chicago fire to date. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Stylistically, John Coltrane's work as a leader can be divided into three main periods: (1) his hard bop period of 1957-1959, (2) his modal/post-bop period of 1960-1964, and (3) his radical free jazz period of 1965-1967. Of course, the saxophone giant also had a long list of credits as a sideman, and that includes everything from his membership in a navy band in the '40s (when he was a Charlie Parker-ish alto player) to his work with Dizzy Gillespie in the early '50s (when he was a very Dexter Gordon-minded tenor man) to his association with Miles Davis from 1955-1960. Much like Davis, Coltrane wasn't one to rest on his laurels -- he maintained an obsessive desire to forge ahead, and anyone who pays tribute to Coltrane has a variety of styles to choose from. Recorded in 1993, Visionary is primarily a tribute to the saxman's modal period. Most of the pieces that flutist Michael Mason interprets on this CD are well-known gems that Coltrane originally recorded for Atlantic or Impulse! in the early '60s, and that includes "Equinox," "India," and "Impressions" as well as "Naima" and the peaceful "Central Park West." Visionary doesn't get into the scorching free jazz that Coltrane provided during the last few years of his life, and his pre-'60s hard bop only receives a little attention. Mason does tackle the title song of 1957's Blue Train, but he does so in a '60s-like fashion. Visionary is hardly the only Coltrane tribute that was recorded in the '90s, but it is among the more memorable. The very fact that Mason is a flutist makes things intriguing; the flute was hardly a top priority on Coltrane's albums, but it's an instrument that enables Mason to provide an unusual, fresh-sounding acknowledgment of the influential saxophonist. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
One of the frustrating problems with some straight-ahead acoustic jazz (be it hard bop, post-bop, swing, classic jazz, or Dixieland) is what could be described as "the warhorse syndrome" -- in other words, an artist will record an album of nothing but the most overdone standards and approach them in a totally predictable way. That isn't to say that every improviser who comes along needs to be totally groundbreaking or that warhorses must be excluded altogether, but it is nice when jazz artists do their homework and find some worthwhile songs that haven't been recorded hundreds of times. Thankfully, Michael Mason does his homework on Deluge, which was recorded in 1992 and was the Chicago-based flutist's first album for Southport. Deluge demonstrates that even if a jazzman isn't innovative, he can still keep things interesting by offering a healthy combination of familiar songs and not-so-familiar songs. The CD's well-known standards include John Coltrane's "Cousin Mary" and Wayne Shorter's "Footprints"; those pieces are hardly obscure, but they haven't been beaten to death by flutists -- and in Mason's expressive hands, they don't sound the least bit stale. Of course, a song doesn't have to be a standard to be worthwhile -- some of jazz's lazier singers and instrumentalists seem to forget that, but not Mason. Again, Mason does his homework, which is why Deluge also finds him unearthing some lesser-known instrumentals such as Coltrane's "Mr. Knight," Joanne Brackeen's "Heidi B" and Billy Taylor's "Cag." If jazz is "the sound of surprise" (to borrow Whitney Balliett's term), Mason is on the right track because he offers his share of surprises on this enjoyably promising disc. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
