2006 marks the release of Nate Brown’s Third recording to date, North Country Mile. This album finds Nate in the company of the amazing bassist Anthony Cox, and the always wonderful always musical drummer Jay Epstein, also joining the group is Hand percussionist Aaron Barnell, who adds a wonderful flavor to three of this CD’s nine tracks.
For more details on the artist and his music please visit his website at www.natebrown.org
nate brown | R E V I E W S
Nate Brown
North Country Mile
Copycats
By Nils Jacobson
Published April 24, 2007
Nate Brown has played banjo, mandolin, ukulele and lap steel over the last few years. But on this mostly trio jazz record, his exclusive axe is an effected custom Nielsen guitar, from which he coaxes fat tones and watery blurs. Bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Jay Epstein play mostly supporting roles, albeit highly unconventional ones, in service of the leader, who composed eight of these nine pieces. The relatively spare accompaniment is entirely appropriate given Brown’s predilection for open spaces, harmonic stasis, and the sort of relaxed reverberation that has come to define modern Americana in the hands of electric guitarists like Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell. The hard-swinging “Skyline” and the mellow “Another Time Remembered” are the most overtly jazz-oriented pieces; the ringing tones of “While It Lasted” work particularly well with Aaron Barnell’s light hand percussion. Overall, subtlety seems to be Nate Brown’s cardinal virtue.
Nate Brown: Traveling the North Country Mile
Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
Saturday, 15 July 2006
I’m sorry to say I never heard Nate Brown when he was based in the Twin Cities, and now, as a New York area transplant, his busy Broadway schedule (particularly, playing for the upcoming production of Mary Poppins) is keeping him from a local celebration of the release of this charming trio CD. A native of Alexandria in outstate Minnesota and graduate and one-time faculty member of McNally Smith College in St. Paul, Brown released his first group recording five years ago and a solo venture in 2002. Over the past four years, Brown has played banjo, mandolin and ukulele for a touring company of Chicago, and guitar and lap steel for the traveling troupe of Swing. Before making the move to the east coast two years ago, he played with several Twin Cities’ jazz ensembles (including the Hornheads).
North Country Mile, as the title may suggest, seems to be a return to his Midwest jazz roots, and a most welcome “homecoming” it is. Pulled together largely to showcase an the custom “Skyline” guitar built for him by Dale Nielsen of Nielsen Guitars of Duluth, MN, this recording finds Nate in the company of stellar Twin Cities-based magicians of bass and trapset, Anthony Cox and Jay Epstein; hand percussionist Aaron Barnell appears on three of the nine tracks. Not even in the Big Apple could Brown ask for better collaborators: Anthony Cox’s reputation extends globally, as the Minneapolis resident/McNally Smith instructor spent his professionally formative years in New York and on the international touring circuit, playing and/or recording with the likes of Elvin Jones, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Sam Rivers, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, and Geri Allen. Drummer Jay Epstein has stayed closer to home, a long-time member of the Phil Aaron Trio and first-call timekeeper for area vocalists and a wide range of ensembles. Aaron Barnell, with extensive training in a variety of world percussion instruments, teaches world percussion at McNally-Smith College in St. Paul.
With the exception of Pat Glynn’s “Union,” the recording gives testimony to Brown’s skills as a composer as well as performer, including 8 original compositions. Overall the structures are largely modal with flowing lines over assertive bass textures and shimmering percussion, with nods to Pat Metheny and Jim Hall, but the leading hand clearly belongs to Nate Brown. The opening title track is built on repeating phrases, laid back noodling guitar over a fine wash of Epstein’s cymbals and subtle percussive fills, and Cox’s rich basslines. A more upbeat pulse with a hint of blues appears after the first two minutes, and the pace accelerates as it moves toward the final note. The last track, the solo “Omni Car” (“inspired by the mind and thoughts of Anthony Cox” notes Brown) feels like a companion to “North Country Mile,” with repeating tones that vary in pitch, creating a reverberating echo.
In between, the pace varies. “Port Authority” might be renamed “Bass Authority” as Cox provides counterpoint to the guitar’s looping lines and an intricately exploring solo. “Skyline” (presumedly named in honor of Brown’s new custom guitar) swings more toward bop than modal (more in the vein of Wes Montgomery or even Emily Remler), with a wonderfully angular undercurrent driven by Cox and Epstein. “Intro/Emulsion” has two distinct segments, initially a slow moving set of elegant verses that becomes a more complex midtempo modal swing with some extraterrestrial pedal effects.
The remaining tracks take the listener on a float trip in rural backwater, or, if truly a fantasy ride, drifting through a distant galaxy of stars. Brown uses his electronic gear to good effect on “While It Lasted,” producing a hymnal tone poem with Barnell popping and clicking on his claypots--just enough to keep it out of church, while Epstein keeps the cymbals active but far in the background like a distant choir of crickets; a marvelous solo from Cox adds to the rustic reverie. “Wake” is a classical mesh of polyharmonic tones and gentle movement that bends and revolves from an internal starting point, sending musical ideas outward; Barnell and Cox play off each other in a subtle dance. Based on the changes of Bill Evan’s “Time Remembered,” “Another Time Remembered” features a dark and gorgeous bassline. The only tune not penned by Brown, Pat Glynn’s “Union” fits into this set perfectly, a languid poem taking the listener on a ride through a galaxy where there is no gravity. The celestial effects here are due in no small part to Epstein’s rippling cymbal wash and the counterpoint of Cox’s bassline, and to Brown’s various electronic strategies that create a small symphony.
I’ll eagerly await Nate Brown’s next homecoming.
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