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MUSIC
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No doubt about it, Crittenden is a real
Renaissance man—a painter, composer, musi
cian and former technical designer for an engi
neering firm. But he has decided to forsake the
“ugly world of corporate America” and concen
trate on his first loves: music and art.
And, oh yeah, he’s also an accomplished
tarot card reader, which he uses as a form
of meditation. “There are analogies to
music; each card in the major arcana is
associated with a note,” he explains. As for
his artwork, you might have seen it on dis
play last month in the Art Tent at Pride
2001 .
Deeply felt
Portland bass player
reveals himself in an
album rich with beauty
by
O r ia n a G r e e n
y work presumes that the deepest
mysteries lie in the unexplainable
attractions to beauty,” Rick Crit
tenden wrote about his paintings of
European landscapes. But after hearing his new
CD, I believe it also applies to his lush music.
Although he’s played for years as a tal
ented sideman and recorded for Windham
Hill and Narada, Crittenden finally has released
his own CD, Passages. His compositions on this
disc were inspired by an earlier tour of Europe
he made with the great jazz band Oregon.
The tunes also date back to a time when
he was “coming to terms with and realizing
that I am g ay ...I was
coming out, so Pas
sages seemed an ap
propriate title for the
project.”
Fans of Oregon
quickly will recognize
the lilting horn work
of Paul McCandless,
which dominates— in
a good way— the first
upbeat tune on the
disc, “Swiss Bell.”
Sprightly keyboard
work by Art Lande
contributes to the
overall tone of opti
mism. That mood is
not surprising consid
ering the inspiration
came when Critten
den was awakened
one morning by the sound of 10 tolling church
bells in Bern, Switzerland.
Track two, “The Place Between,” takes us
down a slower, more thoughtful path and at
times almost feels like a lament. Drummer
Chris Lee does some sensitive brushwork, and
the whole quartet sounds very cohesive. This
beautiful tune was inspired by the view of a
Venice canal.
On the next cut, “Crittendude," the group
revs the tempo back up to full speed for some
impressive experiments with chords and a lack
of chord changes. On this one you really can
hear why the piano is classified as a percussion
instrument.
With the fourth track, "Touching the
Stone,” Crittenden finally takes the lead. This
moody duo with tablas is magical and reflective
and pays homage to a
small stone chapel in
Assisi, Italy.
Crittenden’s mentor
is player extraordinaire
Glenn Moore (also of
Oregon fame), who
joins him for an unusu
al bass duet on the
contemplative “Trans
parent Child.” You
can feel the vibration in
your bones from the bowing of the strings in
what feels like a meditation, and you almost
can hear a steady mantra in the overtones.
Then just when you think you can peg this
album as a spiritually toned essay, Crittenden
offers “Now That You’ve Gone,” a languid and
dreamy tunt that for me paints a mood of mar
tinis in hand-blown glasses at sunset. It’s a per
fect soundtrack for seduction— or just unwind
ing after a rough day.
ates an airy confec
tion and an air of
excitement. It would
be easy to visualize
this music in some
fabulous foreign film.
After eight original
compositions, the CD
ends with the standard
“Body and Soul” featur
ing Nancy King on
vocals. Although it’s a
fine performance, for my
taste it distracts from the
cohesive feel of the rest of the album. (At least
Crittenden didn’t try to sing it himself, unlike
the well-known Portland jazz pianist who can’t
resist vainly inserting his own weak vocal
tracks into his otherwise fine discs.) It also feels
a shame to end with a vocal number, which
suddenly reduces the instrumentalists to
accompanists instead of allowing them to final
ize the album with a
strong musical statement.
Crittenden has an ear
for fresh melodies and
interesting arrangements.
And unlike some albums
by bass players, this one
doesn’t force the instru
ment into a lead position.
Crittenden is a generous
player who accepts that
his instrument of choice
often works best in a sup
porting role.
Overall, whichever
combination of instru
ments are in play, they
always blend well, mak
ing for a tight group that
sounds like they’ve
Rick Crittenden with
jammed together for a
two of his paintings
long time. This nicely
paced C D would be great to play at a cock
When he carries the melody as he does
tail party, because jazz always sounds better to
with this one, Crittenden plays in an emotive
me as the day wanes. Then again, it’d also be
way that makes you feel as if you are hearing
nice to wake up to.
lyrics. Imagine my surprise when I read the
Crittenden continues to work steadily as a
liner notes and learned this tune was suggested
sideman doing recordings and live gigs. As for
not by some hunk in his past but by the death
playing his music locally, he says, “The direc
of his mother! (When I confess this to him,
tion I’m leaning toward is putting together a
Crittenden quips that it just proves “how
concert-type show and touring with it.” In the
multipurpose music can be.”)
meantime, check out Passages at any area
The next cut revisits the same piece but as
music store. j n
a lively, uptempo number you’d expect to hear
wafting out of some chic penthouse. It features
O r ia n a G reen always has been a huge jazz
the sophisticated, breezy touch of pianist
fan, even to the point of toting a trap set around
Lande, who puts out some stylish solos.
in her hatchback for a special drummer back in
Next stop: Florence and the “Uffizi,” where
her hippie days. Now she’s the Entertainment
Crittenden gets inside the artist’s mind with
Editor of Just Out and can be reached at
some fun, fast, pizzicato harmonics work on the
oriana@justout.com.
bass played off soprano sax and oboe. This cre
Crittenden
is a generous
player
who accepts
that his
instrum ent
of choice
often works
best in a
supporting
role
P R O G R A M M IN G H IG H L IG H T S
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