Regeneration in Bloomington, MN

Doug Miller
, longtime point man for bass on the
Origin
label, takes his first turn as leader for an album with
Regeneration
, enlisting multi-instrumentalist
Dave Peterson
, horn player extraordinaire
Jay "Bird" Thomas
, and drummer
Phil Parisot
for the effort. With the exception of
"Invitation"
and
"Bye Bye Blackbird,"
all pieces are
Miller
originals, and display a healthy range of styles all executed perfectly by the band. The album opens with some straightforward quartet jamming. Following that though,
Parisot
's drums make their exit for a bit and the trio switches to a
bossa nova
, anchored by
Peterson
's guitar, that gives
Thomas
a couple of lengthy interludes on flute and
time for an extended solo on bowed bass that's far more lyrical than one might normally expect. In
"Ice Cave,"
gets to show off his piano skills in a fairly straightforward setting, anchored by
and the return of
, and
introduces
"Blues for Junior"
with a strong thumping bassline that leads into a sultry sax groove by
.
"Avenue C"
is split between an exploratory jungle sound-effect portion (with
's bass transformed into a berimbau of sorts) and a still-exploratory but less sound-effect-driven portion.
' sax leads a restrained
just before the restraints are removed for a jumping run in
"No Jazz."
Bye Bye Blackbird is played entirely on the bass, a treat that's fairly rare for any song. A breathy ballad for
Don Lanphere
is led by
, again on sax, and the album closes on
"Lighten Up,"
a piece that could just as well come from
Tadd Dameron
's pen. Overall, a fairly exciting album. Even when bassists stand as bandleaders, their sounds are usually restricted to rhythmic accompaniment and the occasional solo (with the exception of a select few --
Pastorius
,
Stanley Clarke
).
has pulled the instrument out in front, even in its acoustic form, and kept up with an exceptional band for the duration. ~ Adam Greenberg