Stefon Harris is the one of the leading vibes players of his generation and an important figure on the New York jazz scene. He’s less well known this side of the pond but has built up an impressive back catalogue, mainly on Blue Note Records, since his emergence in the late 1990’s.

“Urbanus” is Harris’ first recording for Concord and follows much the same template as his 2004 Blue Note release “Blackout”. The title has now become the name of the band with the core group here being Harris on vibes and marimba, Marc Carey on keyboards, Casey Benjamin on saxes and vocoder, Ben Williams on bass and the mountainous Terreon Gully at the drums. Various guest performers drift in and out of the proceedings with extended line ups featuring on a number of tunes. Although Harris is the nominal leader there is a strong group identity with other members of the band contributing to the writing process.

The title “Urbanus”  mirrors the group’s origins in an urban environment and like it’s predecessor “Blackout” the record extends it’s web to include elements of soul, hip hop and other forms of black popular music. Jazz however remains at the core but you do get the impression that Harris is trying to reach out and embrace a wider audience.

From the jazz fan’s perspective some parts of the album work well, others less so. The album begins with a heavily mutated adaptation of the Gershwin’s “Gone, Gone ,Gone”  featuring an extended line up incorporating flutes and clarinets. Hip hop grooves tussle with free jazz interludes and more orchestrated passages. It’s interesting stuff and impressive in it’s scope, sometimes reminiscent of Weather Report or Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. There’s little conventional jazz soloing although we do hear from Carey on Fender Rhodes and Harris on vibes. Gully is impressive throughout, demonstrating both flexibility and an enormous nascent power.

Benjamin’s vocoder is the dominant element on Buster Williams’ languid ballad “Christina”. Benjamin used the instrument extensively in the Joe Zawinul Syndicate and more recently deployed it on pianist Robert Glasper’s “Double Booked” album. He certainly uses it in more imaginative ways than most but to me it still sounds like a relic of the 70’s and I’m still not entirely convinced. “Christina” is a pretty decent offering though, the rest of the band are impressive, particularly Harris on both vibes and marimba and the spirit of group interplay is good.

“Tanktified” is Gully’s compositional input to the record. Inspired by his “Tank” nickname it’s a groove orientated piece that also incorporates some sophisticated musical and rhythmic ideas. The interplay between Benjamin on alto and guest Mark Vinci on bass clarinet is impressive and Harris dazzles with his vibes solo. In the main this is enjoyable stuff.
The clipped rhythms of Tim Warfield’s “Shake It For Me” also catch the attention. Harris specialises on marimba here but this is a fine group effort with the rhythm section particularly impressive in a series of bass and drum breaks.

The arrangement of Jackie McLean’s ” Minor March” is a real nod to the bebop tradition with suitably martial rhythms plus sparkling solos from Carey on piano, Benjamin on alto and Harris on vibes. 

Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Go When I Go” marks the return of the vocoder plus the additional horns. Despite an intriguing arrangement I’m afraid the “Sparky’s Magic Piano” vocals rather put me off. Memories of “Trans” era Neil Young plus Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton and those bloody voice bags don’t help either. Nice vibes solo though, Stefon.

“The Afterthought” by pianist Marc Cary incorporates shuffling funk grooves and some booming bass lines from Ben Williams. These frame some sparkling solos from Cary on acoustic piano and Harris on marimba. Appropriately Williams also features as a soloist and effectively steals the scene from the two frontliners. This is scintillating stuff.

The ballad “For You”  co-written by Benjamin and Sameer Gupta features the vocoder again but the piece is partly redeemed by the lush instrumental sections featuring the expanded line up. Harris features strongly on both marimba and vibes but the vocoder still puts me off.

Harris’ own “Blues For Denial”  features a pared quartet line up of vibes, piano , bass and drums and for me is all the better for it. It’s not a particularly inspired piece but with it’s jaunty, boppish theme it’s one of the most orthodox jazz pieces on the record.

The closing “Langston’s Lullaby”  credited to Harris and Benjamin is played by the extended line up .This is a slow burner of a tune and ends the album on an elegiac note. Harris makes a strong contribution on both vibes and marimba and Benjamin’s keening alto is also prominent. The vocoder is mercifully absent.

There is some excellent playing throughout “Urbanus” and plenty of clever musical ideas in the arrangements. Occasionally the music strays into the kind bland territory that gave the CTI and GRP labels a bad name but in the main there is plenty going on to maintain the listener’s attention. Harris and his colleagues make a decent job of straddling the musical boundaries and may well win some new converts to the jazz cause in the process. I have to say Benjamin’s vocoder is a step too far for me and I could happily do without it. However the good moments outweigh the bad making this ambitious record a qualified success.

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