Track Listing

1. November
2. You Don't Know What Love Is
3. Like a Dream
4. Time Caf�
5. Blues For Eden
6. Precious Moments
7. Before The Journey
8. Gift
9. That Night
10. Conclusion Part 1
11. Conclusion Part 2
12. Conclusion Part 3

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293398 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .18 pounds

Album Description
Pianist Brad Mehldau is featured on five piano/bass duos. Bassist Darek Oles has toured the world with such noted musicians as Brad Mehldau, Charles Lloyd, Bennie Maupin, Dianne Reeves, Shiela Jordan and many others. Darek now offers his first CD as a leader, which features several of his well known colleagues in duo, trio and quartet formats. This is a profound CD by one of the most important bassists and composers in jazz today.

AllAboutJazz.com, September, 2004
"Oles proves that he has what it takes, as a performer and composer, to reach the next level..."

liner notes
"a virtuoso bassist, a wonderfully evocative composer, and a mature and lyrical improviser of the first order"

Customer Reviews

Smart jazz from an emerging monster bassist
Bassist Darek Oles is a mainstay of the SoCal jazz scene, analogous, perhaps, to the great Kieran Overs's position in Canadian jazz. That this should be his first disc as leader is nothing short of remarkable. Here's a man whose playing sums up nearly the whole history of jazz bass, from Paul Chambers through Charlie Haden. Cryptogamophone deserves praise for having the foresight to sign him and release this wonderful disc.

That he's managed to snag Brad Mehldau for the piano chair for nearly half the total time on this disc proves he's not only got good taste, but a certain standing in the jazz community. And Mehldau delivers, big time. Almost always someone worth listening to for his tasty comping, bizarre sense of time, incessant solo ideas, and monster technique, he really digs deep here, especially on the standard, "You Don't Know What Love Is," and comes up with some of his finest playing on disc.

The rest of the recording is about equally divided between a quartet featuring Oles, Chuck Manning (saxes), Larry Koonse (guitar, a man with whom Oles has played extensively), and Mark Ferber (drums), and a trio comprising Oles, Adam Benjamin (piano), and Nate Wood (drums), with Bennie Maupin (tenor sax) sitting in for five-and-a-half minutes. One would think it difficult to maintain continuity between three different sets of players, but Oles's ability to do exactly that bespeaks his substantial bandleading abilities as well as his compositional, arranging, and playing capabilities.

Though nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary is going down here, this music always engages and often beguiles. What more do you want from jazz?

a treat for a fan of Jazz Bass
I recently heard of Darek on Pandora and was immediately intrigued. I looked him up on Amazon MP3 and found this album. After sampling several songs, I knew I would be purchasing this one. I have long been a fan of jazz bass, and Darek carries on in a long tradition (Ray Brown, Scott Lefaro, Charles Mingus). I would liken Darek's style to Lefaro's, but that is only my impression. I judge solely by how it sounds to me, and I like this one...give it a listen