METALJAZZ review of "Green-Wood" by Greg Burk
METALJAZZ.COM / August 25, 2007 / by Greg Burk
James Carney Group, “Greenwood” (Songlines).
From New York to L.A. and back to New York, James Carney has never stopped pulling in at least two directions at once, geographically and musically. Always an original composer and a sensitive pianist, he has a chance here to explore his other main talent, as an arranger: His onetime job as a film editor has taught him how to examine a situation from several angles in rapid succession, so you get a sense of constant motion. It helps that he’s got some of his favorite musicians -- saxists Peter Epstein and Tony Malaby, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, trombonist Josh Roseman, drummer Mark Ferber and bassist Chris Lightcap -- blowing clean yet sensual lines and grappling with overlapped rhythms. Carney’s main influences, New Orleans and Hollywood, are all over his generous landscape, and he waxes both nostalgic and avant as he spatters funky acoustic jaunts and electronic spurts hither and yon. Visit soon, Jim.