Cheap Home Speaks to the Wandering (Music) (Dead Cat Bounce) Price

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Customer Reviews of Home Speaks to the Wandering

Yowza!
These guys have a few albums behind them, but this is the first time I've caught up with them. A "dead cat bounce", I'm told, is sardonic stock market lingo for the principle that if a stock drops from a high enough height it'll _eventually_ have a slight rebound. The bandname also suggests a parodic retro sensibility, like a nightmare version of the Stray Cats, & actually for all the modern-jazz sensibility of this disc it's also got much of the flavour of rockabilly or jump bands. It's something of a hydraheaded beast: four saxophonists, led by Matt Steckler (the others are Charlie Kohlhase, Jared Sims & Drew Sayers), who switch as needed between a wide variety of horns (Steckler himself plays 5 different instruments, including pennywhistle); this big, bruising hornsection is perched on top of a sinewy, hungry-as-a-shark rhythm section (bassist Arie Werbrouck and drummer Bill Carbone). The two most obvious influences on the music are Sun Ra's most bruising charts for the baritone- & tenor-heavy 1950s Arkestra, & Mingus--there are indeed a few direct borrowings from _The Black Saint & the Sinner Lady_ & "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting". Maybe a little Roland Kirk in there too. The pace is relentless, but Steckler's an inventive enough arranger & the players are pungent enough soloists that the album doesn't come off as one-dimensional. I would imagine that fans of the Vandermark 5 would get a lot out of this one--actually, this is streets ahead of the disappointing _Airports for Light_. This is one of my most pleasant discoveries of the year so far--highly recommended for those who like a little caffeine in their jazz.