May 2, 1998

"The T.O. pianist needs documenting as leader, though he's a sideman on many recordings. With bass Steve Wallace and drummer John Sumner he pursues rarer tunes, letting a neat, relaxed group sound develop as he supports his own precise yet involved declarations of melodic and harmonic intent.

Always imaginative, Eisenman is alternately upbeat and bluesy (Jubilation), hard swinging (the title track), lively yet tender (The Wind) and unfailingly inventive (Django). The album is often exhilarating, with thoughtful solo forays on Round Midnight and Everything Happens To Me."

Rob McConnell has a new band. And what, you might well ask, wrong with the old one, the redoubtably illustrious Boss Brass? Nothing that a few clubs with bigger music budgets couldn't fix & work has been scarce for the 21 -piece jazz orchestra. So, without shutting the Boss Brass down, the Toronto trombonist and arranger now has fixed himself up with a tentet- as if a 10 piece band will be easier to sell.

Regardless of it's employment prospects, the new group, which made it's debut Monday night before a full house at the Montreal Bistro in Toronto, is a wholly likable proposition for it's Kansas City swing and California colouring. Of course, in these early days, it will be compared to the Boss Brass. And the senior band which is coming up on it's 30th anniversary next August, is surely a tough act to follow with both Grammy and Juno awards to stand for its achievements.

It's not as though the two bands aren't related. Six players, including the leader, are common to both, and while McConnell may be writing less per piece for the tentet, he is still setting out his arrangements with the skill and sophistication that have defined the fluid sound of the larger orchestra.

If there's a significant difference, payroll aside, it's the smaller band's looseness and it's potential for spontaneity. McConnell has always liked the effortless swing of the Count Basie Orchestra, and it was surely no mere coincidence that the first tune of the new band's first set on its first night, The King, was drawn from the Basie repertoire. Nothing complicated here; the soloists were allowed plenty of room, (the horns line up seven abreast across the stage) chipped in the prompting riffs, and the rhythm section (pianist Mark Eisenman, bassist Steve Wallace and drummer Barry Elmes) kept everything moving on an easy roll.

McConnell reserved the fancier stuff - the buffed melodies and harmonies that immediately bring the Boss Brass back to mind - for tunes such as speak Low (adapted from an arrangement by Toronto bassist Neil Swainson), Lush Life and Ornithardy. Just as there have been times when the Boss Brass has sounded like at least 40 musicians, there were moments on Monday when the tentet sounded like a good 20.

There are however, no section players in the smaller band. Everyone involved is a soloist of some impact - Eisenman, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte and tenor saxophonists Alex Dean and Mike Murley stood out in this debut performance. Here, as with the Boss Brass in recent years, McConnell finds himself in the midst of musicians a generation his junior; in good humour he describes his role in the proceedings as that of "chaperone." Truth is , though, he seems to be having the most fun of all.

Globe and Mail

Fri. Aug 7, 1998

The Mark Eisenman Quartet featuring Campbell Ryga

At the Top O' The Senator

Mark Miller

When Campbell Ryga last graced the stage at the Top O' The Senator in April - and "graced" is the word - the Vancouver alto saxophonist was a member of the heads-up, hard-bop Hugh Fraser Quintet. Ryga and Fraser go back nearly 20 years together, virtually to their teens; theirs has been one of the more enduring partnerships on the Canadian jazz scene and Ryga's unflappable calm in the face of Fraser's unflagging energy is one of the keys to the quintet's success.

Ryga has made a quick return to the Senator this week as the guest of the Toronto pianist Mark Eisenman. The two men go back only as far as Tuesday night, but by Wednesday everyone present - Ryga, Eisenman, bassist Steve Wallace and drummer John Sumner - had settled in quite comfortably together.

Eisenman, Wallace and Sumner are a stylish trio of several years standing and work together with a sort of supple give and take. They bear down and tighten up only where absolutely necessary - as required, for example, by the Victor Feldman tune The Chant that closed out their first set on Wednesday night. More often though they go efficiently about their business in an unhurried manner.

To the extent that Eisenman has certain hard-bop inclinations of his own, they come with a soft melodic centre. That suits Ryga just fine; the saxophonist is a supremely melodic improviser given to chorus after effortless chorus of lyricism. As such he can step onstage with the Eisenman trio without disturbing its internal balances in the least.

Ryga was given the honour of counting in the evening's first tune, the safe old standby All The Things You Are. After that, though, Eisenman called the shots, asking his guest to handler material quite specific to the trio's own repertoire - Leroy Vinnegar's Walk On, Junior Mance's Jubilation and the classic ballad Everything Happens To Me.

Of course the trio by its very nature, was not pressuring Ryga, any more than it was pushing itself. Eisenman worked some judicious "locked-hands" effects into his solos for power and a few bluesy inflections for bite, but otherwise refrained from throwing his weight around the piano. Meanwhile a steady Wallace and always methodical Sumner kept things on an even keel rhythmically, giving Campbell an easy ride, perhaps, but still a good one.

Cam Ryga always maintains the decorous ways of the alto sax tradition, but he has always managed to quick-change from voluptuous lyricism to driving intensity.

His dynamic sense and melodic vitality is upfront at the Senator, where he's guesting with pianist Mark Eisenman's fine-honed trio, with thick-toned bassist Steve Wallace, and precise drummer John Sumner providing an arresting, solid pulse over which the pianoman indulges ideas that are harmonically advanced.

It makes for satisfying music, Ryga incisive and tirelessly engaged on cheery chestnuts (I've Never Been In Love Before") and the sensitive possibilities of a ballad like "Old Folks".

Everything essayed in the group's keen-edged opening set worked with tunes that were attention-gripping but free of bombast.

With the artful Eisenman often taking a number into new and adventurous territory after relatively straight-ahead opening statements, the uptempo flourishes of one of the players were instantly matched by another's.

As a result, this unit sounds as if it has been playing together for years--and also as if its members are clearly enjoying themselves.

The foursome shifted gears numerous times during the pairing of "The Duke" and "My Ship".

The soulful lines of "Jubilation" were delivered with a zesty eloquence that pumped new life into the Junior Mance anthem and here, as in the rest of the set, there was no danger of any patron dozing off.