Nick Maclean Review: Rites of Ascension

Jazz

Nick Maclean Review: Rites of Ascension 2

Nick Maclean is a Toronto-based pianist, synthist, composer, arranger, educator and band leader that has just dropped his new CD, Rites of Ascension. His quartet explores a set of modern standards and original repertoire. Maclean’s foursome delivers jazz between the two poles of thoughtful introspection and hard-swinging post-bop era improvisations. With self-declared influence from Herbie Hancock’s primordial 1960’s Blue Note era recordings. The quartet’s debut 11-track full-length album Rites of Ascension, features six Maclean penned compositions, one Ali original and four re-imagined Herbie Hancock classics, all recorded at the renowned Canterbury Studios in Toronto and produced by Brownman Ali. With a balanced mix of originals and arrangements of well-known modern standards, this quartet is a joy to listen to and has a stunning group chemistry. The music covers many styles: complex metric divisions, feel changes, funky grooves, tempo changes and plain and simple swinging. One thing that never changes though, is the logical and orderly way the compositions and improvisations are presented. That’s the short of it!

Positives:

Great group interaction and chemistry. Strong original compositions that have many surprises in store for the listener.

Bottom Line:

The Nick Maclean Quartet is a modern straight-ahead hard-swinging group that features original compositions and creative arrangements with a modern twist inspired by the exploratory spirit of Herbie Hancock’s primordial 1960’s quartet. All four players perform in a musical manner that is both virtuosic and melodic, combine that with an electric band chemistry and you have a winner with this one!

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