McGill Manring Stevens - "What We Do" Review

Artist/ Band: McGill Manring Stevens
Title: What We Do
Label: Free Electric Sound
Year of Release: 2006
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

‘What We Do’ is my first exposure to the music of McGill Manring Stevens and I wasn’t really sure how I would like it. At first the music was very foreign to my ears, mainly due to my lack of jazz exposure (that will be remedied soon). They’ve played some jazz standard on a recent tour and that was the beginnings of this new CD. Some of these standards by the likes of Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ralph Towner, Sonny Rollins, and others. Being I‘ve never heard the originals, I‘ll base my views on current music I‘ve listened to in this genre.

Carefully, Scott McGill, Michael Manring, and Vic Stevens use their modern approach to these standards and make them their own. Some of the songs they ‘own‘ are Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti", Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage", John Coltrane’s "Naima", Sonny Rollins' "Oleo" and Ralph Towner "Icarus". These songs alone captivate me and I often during this review returned to them.

There’s a bonus CD on this pressing, from MMS’ very first show in 2001 at the “famous” Orion Sound Studios in Baltimore, Maryland. Songs included are some McGill and Manring solo material, as well as some early songs the trio wrote together. ‘What We Do’ is the perfect modern introduction to the wonderful world of jazz as well as an intro to an amazing trio of musicians. Needless to say, I would without any doubt, recommend all true music fans to get this today!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on November 24th, 2006

Cool link: Scott McGill on YouTube

1. Cherokee; 2. Footprints; 3. Blue In Green; 4. Solar; 5. Gloria's Step; 6. Icarus; 7. Naima; 8. Invitation; 9. Nefertiti; 10. Bessie's Blues; 11. Maiden Voyage; 12. Oleo
Bonus Disc: Live at Orion Sound Studios 2001: 1. Conflict Resolution; 2. The Ripe One; 3. Pools; 4. Improv 1; 5. The Voyage of St. Brendan; 6. Improv 2/Drum Solo/In a Gadda DaVinci; 7. Bad Hair Day; 8. Addition By Subtraction