{"id":403,"date":"2006-03-16T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-16T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/?p=403"},"modified":"2006-03-16T01:05:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-16T09:05:00","slug":"fathead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2006\/03\/fathead\/","title":{"rendered":"Fathead"},"content":{"rendered":"

One minute and twenty-six seconds into a blues called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bu Bop Bass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on his new CD, Cityscape<\/em><\/a>, the tenor saxophonist David \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fathead\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Newman begins his solo with a phrase that consists of two quarter-note Fs, a quarter-note A and a half-note A\u00e2\u20ac\u201dan interval of a major third in the key of F concert. How simple; except that it is not simple. It is complex, because Newman gives each note a customized time value that no annotator could capture on paper. They are Fathead Newman quarter notes and a half note. In addition, he gives the half note a slight downward turn, not so far that it becomes A-flat, just far enough that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a David Newman moan, a characteristic of his expression. Furthermore, he plays the phrase, as he does all of his music, with a tone that manages to be full and airy at the same time, not quite like anyone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tone. Newman has invested a one-bar phrase with his personality, so that anyone familiar with his work will know in that instant who is playing.
\nThis sort of thing is what experienced musicians, fans and critics have in mind when they say that there was a time when they could recognize a soloist after a few notes. Except in the nostaligic minds of older listeners, that time is not gone, although it must be conceded that there are plenty of young soundalike players on every instrument. Is that a new phenomenon? Aside from specialists, could anyone really tell apart all of those disciples of Coleman Hawkins in the late 1930s and early forties, the herd of alto saxophonists in the 1950s who wanted to be Charlie Parker, the 1960s trumpeters who aspired to be clones of Freddie Hubbard? Imitators are eventually lost in the crowd. Individualists stand out.
\nOn Cityscape<\/em>, Newman places himself in the context of a seven-piece band similar to the six-piece Ray Charles outfit <\/a>in which he became well known in the 1950s. He hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recorded in that setting in a few years, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to hear again. The sound and feeling are reminiscent of the Charles days, but Newman and pianist-arranger David Leonhardt have collaborated to make the harmonic atmosphere fresh. Howard Johnson fills the crucial baritone saxophone chair. Benny Powell, often sidelined by illness the past few years, is on trombone. He and Johnson solo infrequently but well. With Winston Byrd on flugelhorn, they fill out the rich ensembles behind Newman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tenor and alto saxophones. On alto in a piece called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here Comes Sonny Man,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Newman recalls \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hard Times,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d one of the records that made him famous with Charles.
\nThis is basic music mining a rich tradition that grows out of jazz, rhythm and blues and the expansive territory band history of the American Southwest. No one alive does this sort of thing better than Fathead Newman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One minute and twenty-six seconds into a blues called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bu Bop Bass\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on his new CD, Cityscape, the tenor saxophonist David \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fathead\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Newman begins his solo with a phrase that consists of two quarter-note Fs, a quarter-note A and a half-note A\u00e2\u20ac\u201dan interval of a major third in the key of F concert. How simple; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}