RUDY ROYSTON – FLATBED BUGGY

“Flatbed Buggy is a true masterpiece sure to elate the most discerning of jazz aficionados with its unorthodox and novel ideas and its unparalleled level of musicianship.” – Sébastien Hélary, Nextbop

The third album from drummer Rudy Royston features a new chamber-like quintet playing music inspired by Royston’s upbringing in Texas. The album was released on October 26.

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Rudy Royston, first-call drummer with Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Dave Douglas and a host of other jazz greats, has honed a thoroughly engaging voice as a composer and bandleader with his compelling debut 303 (2014) and the raw and bracing trio follow-up Rise of Orion (2016). To these fine releases, both on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music imprint, Royston now adds his third, Flatbed Buggy, rich in tonal contrast and mood yet steeped in the supple, enduring swing and groove that has driven his writing and playing from the start.

Right away the instrumentation is a striking departure: Royston leads a compact, almost chamber-like quintet featuring Gary Versace (accordion), John Ellis (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello) and Joe Martin (bass). “I was going for something that was more about melodies,” Royston declares. “I wanted to illustrate a story.” And indeed, the melodies flow forth on Flatbed Buggy, with rich harmony and surpassingly subtle orchestration and interplay occurring at every step as well.

Of the album title, Royston says: “Flatbed buggies to me mean country, they mean home, they mean earth. We lived in Denver but my father lived in Texas, and I would spend time in the country there. I remember riding on this kind of flatbed buggy thing when I was a child. The whole feeling that brought me … it was comforting, it was outside, this bitter shrubbery smell, my friends are there, my family’s there. So it’s about that, but the album also has to do with time: a time in my life, the beginning of things, the process of them. The buggy moving along up a road represents the movement of time. And the titles on the album really have to do with time and motion.”

The warmth and immediacy captured by Royston and the group, the unorthodox sound of the instrumental combinations themselves, marks Flatbed Buggy as a creative breakthrough. “Ron Miles is always my major influence,” the drummer offers, “because his music is so sing-able and melodically rich. I wanted that melodic quality but also moments underneath in the harmony where it was a little scratchy, a little dusty. My neighborhood in Texas was a little dusty.”

Together with the deep and woody instrumental timbres of Flatbed Buggy, there’s the way Royston keeps them continuously in play, beyond conventional jazz-combo roles: “I wanted us all to be constantly playing. I wanted us all to orchestrate or color or have a little input regardless of who is soloing. So if you check out the little stuff Hank is doing on Gary’s solos, for instance — all these neat little themes are happening. It sounds very orchestra-like for me. Some of it is written but 90 percent is those guys just interjecting their own taste into what’s going at the time

At points in the program are short, rhythmically propulsive interludes — “Bed Boppin’,” “Dirty Stetson,” “Hold My Mule” (an old church expression), “I Guess It’s Time to Go” — that serve as what Royston calls “leaps of time.” “They remind you that you’re moving forward,” he says. “I hope there’s no ending on anything: a lot of these pieces fade out, because even when we pass away things still seem to be going forward somehow.”

In particular, the thematically related “Boy…Man” and “Girl…Woman” bring the passage of time further into focus, each a musical story not only of growth and maturation but eternal life: “That’s why I fade out, because it’s not about endings. It’s not like, ‘She lived her life and then passed away.’ It’s kind of like nothing ends, not yet.”

While Flatbed Buggy presents far more than a succession of virtuosic solos, the passion and technical depth of the performances themselves — including standout improvisations from all involved — can’t go unremarked. John Ellis, among the great saxophonists of his generation, plays mainly bass clarinet throughout, achieving a remarkable sound and impact. Gary Versace, a top organist and pianist of our time, is equally stunning on accordion, bringing a reedy melodic sustain and full harmonic weight to the music. On the low strings, whether bowed or pizzicato, Hank Roberts and Joe Martin contribute a wealth of subtlety and energy as well, intersecting and digging in, never in the expected ways. And Royston, even though he lays back and never dominates here (he notes there’s only one drum solo on the record), still offers what amounts to a master class on the jazz drummer’s art.

There’s an endless amount to discover: the melodic development and final triumphant letting-loose of the opening “Soul Train”; the hint of New Orleans rhythm in “Flatbed Buggy”; the picture of innocence in a young child twirling, on “Twirler,” with a startlingly brilliant tempo shift into slow swing; or the fast, twisty bop theme and soprano sax showcase of “Bobble Head” (where that lone drum solo crops up).

Another major statement is “The Roadside,” inspired by memories of a drive through wide open space in Texas, with great expanses of weeds and wildflowers. “It was very beautiful to be in the midst of all that,” Royston says. “It was moving, it was in motion, these flowers on the side of a dirt road, sprawled everywhere. My dad loved to fish, so we were driving somewhere to some pond, in the back of the country somewhere. The piece takes you back to that moment and reminds you that no matter where you are now, you’re on a journey someplace.”

TRACK DETAILS
1. Soul Train (9:44)
2. Bed Bobbin’ (0:35)
3. Flatbed Buggy (5:45)
4. boy…MAN (5:43)
5. Twirler (5:24)
6. Dirty Steson (0:32)
7. Hourglass (7:15)
8. Bobblehead (5:51)
9. The Roadside Flowers (6:54)
10. Hold My Mule (0:36)
11. girl…WOMAN (11:07)
12. I Guess It‘s Time To Go (1:35)
13: I Wanted To Be Home Soon (9:26) * Bonus track, Bandcamp download only.

PERSONNEL
Rudy Royston, drums
John Ellis, bass clarinet / saxophones
Gary Versace, accordion
Hank Roberts, cello
Joe Martin, bass

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Rudy Royston
Executive Producer: Dave Douglas
Engineered, edited and mixed by David Kowalski at Teaneck Sound Studios, Paramus, NJ, April 2018
Mastered by Kevin Blackler at Blackler Mastering, Brooklyn, NY, May, 2018
All songs by Rudy Royston (Rudy Royston Publishing / ASCAP)
Cover Design by Rudy Royston
Cover Buggy Photo by Isabella Oprete.

PRESS

“Flatbed Buggy is a true masterpiece sure to elate the most discerning of jazz aficionados with its unorthodox and novel ideas and its unparalleled level of musicianship.”
– Sébastien Hélary, Nextbop

“… the quintet’s artistry is so richly imbued with intricate layers of melody and rhythm. One of the more memorable and enjoyable releases of 2018, to be sure.”
– Troy Dostert, All About Jazz, 4.5 stars

“Flatbed Buggy is one of those albums to listen to all the way through.  There’s so much to “hear”, so many stories and histories embedded in this music that it’s impossible to appreciate what Rudy Royston has so majestically created on one pass through.  At times stunning, at others times, joyful yet always melodic and rhythmically rich, this album deserves your full attention!”
– Richard Kamins ,Step Tempest

“On Flatbed Buggy, there is room for full improvisation, as the quintet blends seamlessly, and the interplay keeps the mood invigorating. … There is a lot to like here, and Royston succeeds in setting a mood to explore one’s happy youth experiences with instruments seldom found together in a jazz setting.”
– Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition

“Mildly sentimental, often cinematic, the program boasts a willful sense of grace that sustains itself, even when the momentum truly starts to percolate. The band’s cozy approach to interplay is spot-on, harking to pastoral beauty … utterly refreshing.”
– Jim Macnie, Downbeat

“Who can resist the reedy mix of accordion and bass clarinet? Not me, especially when there’s a cello on hand to make like a walking bass or a singing violin. Wonderful chamber jazz writing, with moods ranging from bebop to Americana.”
– Paul de Barros, Downbeat Hot Box review

“Royston has an unusual instrumental palette for this jazz-come-Americana-album-wistful accordion, temperate cello, smoldering sax. His unflagging attention to the beat defies most of the moodiness. But his playing directs each tune toward the satisfying endgame: a soft landing on the ear.”
– Suzanne Lorge, Hot Box review

“The leader wields as much power from his dynamic and often delicate drumming as he does from his enticing compositions, which elicit a sepia-toned, cinematic allure.”
– John Murph, Downbeat Hot Box review