Catechism is a jazz album by the Dennis González Dallas-London Sextet. The recordings, made on July 14, 1987 at the Boathouse Studios, London, were first released in 1988 on the Daagnim Records label, founded by González, Bill Emery and Gerard Bendik. The album was re-released on Music and Arts Programs of America in 1996.
Dennis González ‘ Dallas-London Sextet was a jazz group put together by Dallas native trumpeter Dennis González during a visit to London. His dream was to put together a group like Elton Dean did on his album Boundaries from 1980 had done. All members of the Elton Dean Quintet who had played on “Boundaries” were invited, except for the cornet player Marc Charig, who was living in Germany at the time. The group’s music was composed by Gonzalez over a period of twelve months, and the recording sessions planned by him before they could finally all get together. The group actually only existed for a few hours, the time it took them to rehearse and record their album Catechism.
Gonzalez played alongside saxophonist Elton Dean with pianist Keith Tippett, trombonist Kim Corbet, South African drummer Louis Moholo, who lives in England, Brazilian bassist Marcio Mattos and fellow American trumpet player Rob Blakeslee, who also contributed arrangements. “Hymn for John Carter” is a tribute to the American clarinetist John Carter. “Catechism,” which consists of six sections, begins with Tippett’s piano playing in “Burning Faith”; he assimilated a harpsichord or gamelan sound by placing blocks of wood on the strings to create a muted effect, noted Michael G. Nastos.[1]
- Dennis González Dallas-London Sextet: Catechism (Daagnim Records (CD) 1; Music & Arts – CD 913)[2][3]
1 Surely Goodness and Mercy (Kwela for Carol) Take One 3:15
2 The Sunny Murray – Cecil Taylor Dancing Lesson (Gerard Bendiks) 9:11
3 Hymn for John Carter 13:19
4 Catechism (Part One) (14:35)
4.1. Burning Faith 3:03
4.2. The Limits of Wildness 3:05
4.3. Birth of the Stream 3:23
4.3. Improvisation 4:58
5 Catechism (Part Two) (9:04)
5.1. Testimonies of Injured Histories 3:49
5.2. The Voice Crying in the Wilderness 5:15
6 Surely Goodness and Mercy (Kwela for Carol) Take Two 3:10
7 The Names We Are Known By (Reprise: Catechism IA) 3:22
Unless otherwise noted, the compositions are by Dennis González.
Michael G. Nastos gave the album four stars in Allmusic and wrote that this was an exceptional band, one of the best of many that González has assembled in the past three decades. He has written all (but one) of the seven compositions, which range from mainstream structures to free jazz to South African township music, or are simply vehicles for his friends to showcase their considerable improvisational skills. But the most ambitious are the long pieces “Hymn for John Carter” and the two-part title track “Catechism”. Even if this was certainly only a short-term band project, it was a dream come true for González. His sound is a synthesis of bop and don cherry, but in the case of this recording his instrument is composition and his way of expressing it is clearly expressed through these masterful musicians.[1]
The critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton awarded the album in 1993 in the second edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz three and a half stars, saying “The Sunny Murray – Cecil Taylor Dancing Lesson” (written by Gerard Bendiks) and “Catechism” were of the highest quality, only the rather flat sounding of the recordings and the likely limited number of releases did not lead to a top rating of the album.[4]
- ↑ a b Review of the album by Michael G. Nastos at AllMusic (English). Retrieved March 1, 2022.
- ↑ Dennis González Dallas-London Sextet – Catechism bei Discogs
- ↑ Dennis González Dallas-London Sextet – Catechism (1996) bei Discogs
- ↑ Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD; Second Edition, London, Penguin, 1993, ISBN 0-14-017949-6, S. 508 f.
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