Notes With Attachments
Pino Palladino is the kind of musician who elicits more than a few "I LOVE YOU PINO!"s from the audience. He's a seasoned session bassist, a chameleon, who has worked with everyone from D'Angelo to John Mayer to The Who. But Notes With Attachments, his 2021 instrumental collaboration with guitarist/producer Blake Mills isn't just another 'bass album'; rather it's a tasteful, textural journey through a rich soundscape of musical influences.
Notes With Attachments is Palladino's first solo album in a long and accomplished career. He'd been working on these songs for some time, compiling ideas in his phone or jamming with drummer Chris Dave. Blake Mills - also an accomplished session musician as well as producer – brought in Palladino when he produced John Legend's 2016 album Darkness and Light. The two hit it off and enjoyed working together. Palladino liked Mills's experimental nature, which brought a fresh take to the tracks Palladino had accumulated over the years. The collaboration proved to be a smart choice - Notes With Attachments is a breathy, free, amalgamation of different musical traditions, including African, Brazilian, as well as jazz and rock.
Blurry photo of Palladino, Mills, Rounds at LPR, NYC July 30th, 2022
Show Review
A friend secured tickets for us to see Palladino and Mills for this past January's Winter Jazz Fest. Rescheduled due to COVID, on Saturday July 30th the group took the stage at Bleeker street's Le Poisson Rouge to perform tracks off Notes With Attachments. Accompanied by fellow bandmates Abe Rounds on percussion and Sam Gendel on saxophone, the group played a dynamic set lasting just over an hour. The group's live performance offered more room for improvisation and felt less produced or sterile than the album. Before seeing the group perform, I might have struggled to identify a genre for this music (if there is only one), but I'm certain this can be called: JAZZ.
The show began shortly after 8pm with Icelandic folk singer/songwriter Arny Margaret. Margaret played a heartfelt, moving set of songs, accompanied only by her guitar. She was received well by the audience and mentioned that it was her first time to New York City. Her softly-sung lyrics and mellow chords showcased an intense attention to life's emotions and colors. During Margaret's set, someone suddenly fainted and fell backward. Someone yelled for a medic. The person rose to their feet with some help and all was well. Margaret started her tune over and played it to completion this time.
Around 9pm, Mills, Rounds, Gendel and Palladino took the stage opening their set with a mellow improv which evoked a nature scene. Over the course of the set, the musicians built the dynamics up and down, seamlessly morphing from one genre to the next while still remaining locked together. Mills and Palladino took turns handling the hook or melody of the tunes, while at other times sitting back and providing the foundation. Rounds played a hybrid drum kit/percussion setup, using a variety of drums, congas, bells, shakers and sticks. He kept the rhythm while adding punctuation, fluidly moving between swing, rock, afrobeat, and afro-cuban rhythms. Gendel played his sax through a pedalboard hooked up to a guitar amp and approximated the sound of polyphonic strings or a Fender Rhodes. Mills, Palladino and Gendel blended their textures and painted a portrait of whichever landscape they wished – whether the dusty roads of the northern Sahara to the mountains of India. This seamless transition from one style to the next is the hallmark of talented session musicians, which is showcased on the album as well. Sometimes it was hard to figure out what Mills was playing, but he perfectly fit his playing to the music. Palladino's precise tone glued the band together, only stepping out occasionally to provide some tasty licks. Between songs, shouts of "I love you Pino!" were heard.
The set lasted just over an hour and ranged from soft, clean kalimba melodies to dense, loud power chords, providing a multitude of textures and samplings from various world musics. This music is transportative – one moment, the band is visiting West Africa and the next moment, jamming on a funky, neo-soul groove. Pino Palladino, with the help of Blake Mills, created a soul-satisfying but easy-to-listen-to, layered style of jazz and its influences, the low frequencies of Palladino's delicate bass playing providing the cushioning for the music to leap from.
Notes With Attachments - Album Review
Just Wrong
The album begins with a beautifully orchestrated, lush garden of sounds inviting us on a journey. Palladino's acoustic bass carries the hook while Mills adds sitar and other guitars. The mellotron is especially dreamy. The track builds to a crescendo but then backs off as if to ask - are you ready to jump yet? - then builds again. Then the unmistakable sound of Chris Dave's drums enters, making us bob our head but quickly returns to the lush garden the musicians have tilled. The effected saxophone repeats it's line over and over and brings us to the conclusion.
Soundwalk
Starting with the sound of a needle hitting vinyl, this composition is reminiscent of the neo-soul movement which Palladino famously took part in during the early 2000s, playing on D'Angelo's Voodoo album among many others. Mills adds a distinct distorted guitar which plays off the sax and organ. Shakers keep the rhythm, following Palladino's bass groove, which briefly starts 'walking' near the bridge section. Towards the end, a distorted bass clarinet captures our attention, playing over the hook before an abrupt end.
Ekute
Ekute draws heavily from Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti. Stabs from a clavinet and a bass clarinet (?) is heard. Mills's stark guitar line blends with Palladino's bass to cement the groove before Chris Dave hammers out a classic Afrobeat rhythm. A distorted guitar trades with a sax while the bass and drums sit on the groove. Some effect madness happens with a drum loop on the breakdown, allowing some room for the sax, guitar and bass to vamp a bit. The bridge keeps the Afrobeat vibe but rebuilds it with more instruments entering before building back to the groove with Dave's drums. Some string stabs provide a mellow but interesting contrast to Dave's drums. Some bluesy guitar licks sit at the end of the track with the bass tying things together and bringing it home.
Notes With Attachments
In what sounds like the end of Side 1 (I don't have the vinyl yet!) this tune has an ambient character to it, making it hard to tell who's playing what. Equally beautiful but subdued and not as lush as the first track on the album.
Djurkel
Palladino approximates the sound of a one-stringed Djurkel on this track which is especially transportative, taking us to dusty desert roads in Africa, the bass guiding us along our trip. Mills and band add punctuation with loud, powerful hits in the middle section. Percussion fills in the gaps and creates the layers necessary to transport us – shakers, bells, triangles, evoking different scenes. A laid-back but heavy bass and drum groove enters allowing the sax to conjure up some magic. Mills's guitar subtly brings us back to that dusty desert road.
Chris Dave
Named after drummer Chris "Daddy" Dave, this groove is a quintessential Dave groove. Palladino and Dave play off each other so well - it's no wonder their groove has served as the foundation for many amazing records. This is a fun, rhythmically rich, head-bopper of a tune. Some funky bass slaps occur at the end of the tune, one of the rare moments on the record where Palladino's bass stands out.
Man From Molise
The man from Molise could be from anywhere – there are many clues to his origins on this track. It's a laidback, Brazilian or coastal-sounding tune. The sax plays a smooth jazzy line while the bass anchors the tune. Mills seemingly can play any guitar and effortlessly moves from one to the next.
Off The Cuff
Perhaps a return to that groovy neo-soul sound, the sparse instrumentation allows Palladino's trademark fretless bass tone to shine through. This track sounds like an old jazz record that’s been sampled. As the track fades out, it's time to replay the record from the beginning.
Until next time,
KW
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