Platypus

Platypus

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Little known in the States, London-born trumpeter and flügelhornist Gerard Presencer cites Clifford Brown as an early influence and Miles Davis as a role model in his own early-stage evolution as musician and composer. Before Platypus, Presencer had already participated in four recordings with Charlie Watts and had performed or recorded with Ray Charles, James Brown, Sting, and Kula Shaker--as well as soloing on the US3 hit "Canteloop." Backed by a skilled quartet (piano, guitar, bass, drums; sometimes plugged in, other times acoustic), Presencer takes up the flügelhorn exclusively on Platypus and weaves, floats, darts and stings his way through the eight tracks (he wrote seven of them) with a bracing mod-bop originality. Presencer's expressive solos are fluid, responsive, and intelligent, and his interaction with his foursome yields faint evidence of his professional sidetrips into funk, pop, and rap. How to classify it? Think of the strangely cohesive, mix-and-match characteristics of the mammal on the disc's cover. Presencer himself shrugs at the notion in the liner notes: "Rather than it being a rather natty little crossover album," he writes, "I consider it in our post-modern era to be a mixture of simply what I like." A highlight: "Afterthought." --Terry Wood

Platypus,Gerard Presencer,Linn Records,Contemporary Jazz,Fusion,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Smooth Jazz

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