# Ranky Tanky brings a good time, while Taylor McFerrin plays it effortlessly cool: Photos, Videos, Sound

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/07/15/ranky-tanky-brings-a-good-time-while-taylor-mcferrin-plays-it-effortlessly-cool-photos-videos-sound/
- Published: 2019-07-15T14:30:10+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Along with gripping new music by the avant-garde super trio Alcorn / McPhee / 
Vandermark, pianist Victor Gould, and the late alto saxophonist Art Pepper.**

**Ranky Tanky, “Good Time”**

Jazz meets the Gullah culture of the Carolina coast in the exuberant music of Ranky
Tanky, which has come a long way in a few short years. The band, a five-piece, just
released its second album, _Good Time_ — an aptly titled clutch of songs that proudly
show their roots, evoking a Lowcountry blend of deep spirituals, West African folk
songs, rustic country, and creolized soul.

As with Ranky Tanky’s self-titled debut album, which was released to high acclaim
in 2017, _Good Time _puts Quiana Parler’s commanding voice front and center, to 
strong effect. But this is a group that also touts its supporting players: the rubbery
groove of drummer Quentin Baxter and bassist Kevin Hamilton, the smart trumpet work
of Charlton Singleton. And this album draws a bit more focus on Clay Ross, both 
as a guitarist and a singer.

In fact, Ross takes the vocal lead on the title track, sounding the call in a spirited
call-and-response. It isn’t until the back end of the song that Parler steps up 
to the plate, using her gospel chops to kick everything instantly into a higher 
gear. A music video for the song, shot in the band’s hometown of Charleston, S.C.,
dramatizes this moment with a narrative about a juke joint on the verge of foreclosure.(
Spoiler alert: the endangered spot, actual Charleston landmark The Commodore, is
saved by means of a killer show, rent-party style.)

_Good Time _is available now on Resilience Music. Ranky Tanky performs in Hanover,
N.H. on Wednesday; in Ventura, Calif. on Saturday; and in Phoenix, Ariz. on Sunday.

**Susan Alcorn, Joe McPhee & Ken Vandermark, “Invitation to a Dream”**

Susan Alcorn, an exploratory ace on pedal steel guitar, and Joe McPhee, a boundless
explorer on saxophone, trumpet and valve trombone, made news together last summer
as the inaugural winners of the Instant Award in Improvised Music. The award, conceived
and presented by the Chicago art gallery Corbett vs. Dempsey, came with an unrestricted
prize of $50,000, and no small amount of prestige. What wasn’t at all clear, at 
the announcement of the award, was the intention that McPhee and Alcorn had to collaborate—
an intention that has now yielded _Invitation To A Dream_, a forthcoming album with
multi-reedist Ken Vandermark, a MacArthur fellow and linchpin of the Chicago improvised-
music scene.

[[

Recorded in Austin, Tx., and due out on the Astral Spirits label on Aug. 23, _Invitation
to a Dream _can be understood as a marvel of spontaneous communion. That much is
apparent on the title track, which unfolds at a gradual pace but with a clear intensity
of focus, as Alcorn and Vandermark seem to carefully test the air in the room. McPhee
finally joins the fray just after the seven-minute mark, on trumpet — and it couldn’t
be more effective an entrance. His partners give him space for a few moments, and
then Alcorn creeps into the background, providing him with a foil. There’s a severe
beauty in the exchange, and in the remainder of this recording, a true document 
of musical interplay as a developing story.

**Taylor McFerrin, “Now That You Need Me”**

The producer, keyboardist, DJ and vocalist Taylor McFerrin has been an increasingly
visible force over the last several years; perhaps you’ve encountered him alongside
Robert Glasper, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and others in the jazz-R&B supergroup
R+R=Now. McFerrin is now poised to deepen his impact with a second solo album, Love’s
Last Chance, due out Aug. 16 on AWAL.

On the album’s lead single, “Now That You Need Me,” McFerrin creates a dreamy soul
entreaty, with flickers of influence from the 1970s (e.g. Shuggie Otis), the 1990s(
e.g. Maxwell), and the 2010s (e.g. Frank Ocean). His singing is understated but 
assertive, and the musicianship on the track is effervescent and seamless.

**Victor Gould, “Thoughts Become Things”**

Victor Gould has established his reputation as an astute pianist and a thoughtful
composer, on his own steam and as a sideman to artists like trumpeter Jeremy Pelt.
Gould has just released his third album, _Thoughts Become Things_, on Blue Room 
Music, and it shows every sign of strengthening his stature.

The title track features a string quartet alongside Gould’s all-star ensemble, featuring
Pelt, flutist Anne Drummond, saxophonists Godwin Louis and Dayna Stephens, bassist
Vicente Archer and drummer Rodney Green. Listen for the keening glimmer of Susan
Mandel’s cello, which leads into Gould’s piano solo, a study in articulate cool.

**Art Pepper, “A Song For Richard”**

Laurie Pepper, the widow of alto saxophonist Art Pepper, has made a veritable cottage
industry out of his previously unissued music: she has now released 10 albums under
the series banner _Unreleased Art Pepper_, the most recent of which was recorded
in Toronto in 1977. Laurie, the essential coauthor of Art’s ageless autobiography
_Straight Life_, has also taken it upon herself to share the occasional stray gift,
free to any and all. Last week she shared two such tracks, including this version
of “A Song For Richard,” composed by Joe Gordon.

[[

The song, a contrafact of “Autumn Leaves,” finds Pepper at the helm of a sensitive
quartet featuring the Bulgarian pianist Milcho Leviev, and a regular rhythm team
of bassist bassist Tony Dumas and drummer Carl Burnett. It seems likely this was
recorded at Ronnie Scott’s in London on June 28 or 29, 1980, during the same engagement
that yielded _Blues for the Fisherman: Unreleased Art Pepper, Vol. 6_. The playing
is first-rate, relaxed and direct, with plenty of grease on the wheels. (Check out
the approving yawp in the crowd at 2:22, just after the rhythm section shifts into
a walking swing.)

![Ranky Tanky's new album, 'Good Time,' is out now on Resilience Music.](https://
i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/201907/181121_rankytanky_s1_0364_2__1_.
jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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