Songbook standards can offer a blank canvas. Even straightforward renditions can reveal artists in a new light, like when Willie Nelson tackled the Great American Songbook on his immaculate Stardust at the height of outlaw country, or when John Coltrane countered claims of being “anti-jazz” with his luminous Ballads. They can serve as a bold statement, as when Oneohtrix Point Never deconstructed the Harry Warren/Al Dubin ballad “I Only Have Eyes for You.” After a few years bubbling under with work for Vampire Weekend, Ry Cooder, Lonnie Holley, and Atticus Ross, Los Angeles-based jazz saxophonist Sam Gendel takes the latter tack with his Nonesuch debut, Satin Doll.
Recorded live over the course of three days with bassist Gabe Noel and electronic percussionist Philippe Melanson, Satin Doll pays tribute to everything from Duke Ellington to Hoagy Carmichael, with Gendel dismantling each standard and reassembling it. You’ve never heard so many glitches, hiccups, and pregnant pauses in “Afro Blue” before; Gendel's trio stretches the frame as far as it can go while keeping the tune recognizable. The result feels as weirdly expansive as Coltrane’s famous nine-minute exploration of the Mongo Santamaría original, even as it wraps up in just over three.
Rather than extrapolate on the original melodies, Gendel’s group instead reveal alien qualities inside them. Gendel’s closest predecessors might be Jon Hassell and Ben Neill, but he also nods to the slurred aesthetic of West Coast and Southern rap. You only need to hear two notes—burred and squished though they may be—to perk up with recognition at “Freddie Freeloader,” which Gendel couches in the pneumatic wheeze of G-funk. His tactile playing reveals all manner of new textures within the title track: candy-paint gloss, soap bubbles, Jeff Koons’ balloon dogs. But beneath all that shine, his horn captures the swoon of the original.
It doesn’t always work. Their sputtering take on Charles Mingus’ Lester Young homage “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” is intriguing, but the synthesized vocals—delivering the lyrics that Joni Mitchell penned years later—feel like an A.I.’s attempt to “swing.” A better Young homage comes one song later with “Stardust;” Gendel’s buttery vibrato burrows beneath the track’s otherwise-impenetrable sheen, evoking the late tenor saxophonist’s essence.
Gendel and group coyly slot original tunes like "Glide Mode" and "Saxofone Funeral" into the mix. They melt the familiar timbres of horn, bass, and drums into blobs and add samples, making explicit their love for Madlib and chopped ‘n’ screwed music. That playful approach makes their rendition of “Cold Duck Time” feel even drunker than Eddie Harris’ woozy original (a tribute to the titular treacly fortified wine). Gendel and group pile on with UFO whooshes and garbled vocal samples. The trio lets loose, Noel’s bass propelling them into deeper, weirder space. Throughout, Satin Doll warps these standards delectably, leaving you pleasantly dizzy.
Buy: Rough Trade
